Spicing up SA’s comedy stages

Published Aug 30, 2012

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Sans Moonsamy is a father of infant twins, a Five Roses tea lover and “a firm believer in the old adage that laughter is the best medicine”.

But he’s not all that convinced about the methods of laughter therapy. You know, those sessions with a professional who pretends he has a starter pistol in hand and counts down when people should start laughing.

Moonsamy, an actor and comedian, isn’t a fan of this process.

“You have to find the funny,” he says, “you have to know what you’re laughing at and besides, then [as comedians] we’ll be creating material for nothing.”

Fortunately, he’s not in the business of therapy. He’s in the business of making people laugh. His latest venture is another Curry On Laughing show which will be on at The Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City in Joburg this weekend. The brainchild of Moonsamy, Eubulus Tracy (of 3 Standing Up!) and Queens Of Comedy’s own Jailoshini Naidoo, this is the third show in the franchise. Curry On Laughing – which is a play on the Carry On Laughing British TV series – will feature new material.

“It’s a mixture of sketch comedy and stand-up,written by the three of us,” says the University of Natal drama graduate.

“You see, the three of us have been friends for a very long time.

“We always wanted to do something together, but we never got the right time to do it,” he continues.

“Old-school brands like Monty Python and Carry On Laughing – a lot of our stuff is based on that. I just gave it our Indian feel by adding ‘curry’ to it.” Ethnicity and culture seems to be a central theme for Moonsamy’s shows which travel all around the country. For instance, he has shows that bear the titles Karma Komedian and Those Indian Guys. Does this mean he gets a predominantly Indian audience?

He says: “It’s weird because all of the stuff we do is geared towards a South African audience. It’s South African humour with an Indian flavour. It’s so amazing that as a country, we are so different, but if you grew up at a certain time together, we’ll find we are so similar.”

Moonsamy says he is working on new comedy shows and has a starring role in the forthcoming Blitz Patrollie film so you’ll curry on seeing him on stage and on screen.

• Curry on Laughing is at The Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City, on Saturday. R150 at Computicket.

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