IF you haven’t lol’ed at him during one of his stage performances, it’s likely he’s had you rolling with laughter at his writing on a few popular TV series and sitcoms.
We’re talking about Emmy Award and Comic’s Choice Award nominee, Mojak Lehoko. The funnyman will soon be bringing his popular Inner City Comedy Tour to Durban stages.
Since he entered the comedy arena in 2009, Lehoko has swiftly advanced to taking to hot property stand-up stages like Parker’s Comedy and Jive (Joburg), Tings an’ Times (Pretoria), Zula (Cape Town), Jou Ma Se Comedy Club (Cape Town) and others.
He also ventured into scriptwriting for shows like Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola – which earned him an international Emmy Award nomination – he’s penned a screenplay for e.tv’s eKasi stories and appeared on SABC1’s sitcom, Ses’Top La, among a host of other achievements.
In a chat with Tonight, he explained how his writing is evolving: “I think when you are writing for a show like LNN, the key is not to over-think it. There are some boundaries. You want to make sure your story, and the assertions from there, are factually correct. But I don’t write as much political stuff as I used to. There’s been a general shift to what I do. Last year I wrote for The Real Jozi A-listers, I also wrote for some sitcoms, so there’s been a shift in my writing towards more sitcoms and screenplays.”
Juggling the two careers, he said they both have their own rewards: “When you do stand-up you get to see the results of your work immediately.
“With the scriptwriting process, I like working in isolation and trying to figure out characters.”
Durban is set to get a taste of the comedian’s original comedy when he performs at The Playhouse soon, a career he never foresaw as a possibility.
“I like being able to get on stage and make people laugh.
“And I have the freedom to say what I want, when I want. There’s something really addictive about being in a room full of strangers laughing…
“I didn’t really know what stand-up comedy was when I first started out. I had watched some VHS tapes of Def Comedy Jam in the ’90s and I’d watched Kings of Comedy, but I didn’t really know it was an industry.
“When I first did it, it was a fun experience that I wanted to try.
“It took a while to build or etch a career of it, but I did not know that it would be a possibility by any means.”
Lehoko will bring his Inner City Comedy Tour to Durban on Saturday, June 13: “This is a touring venture which we started last year.
“We are basically trying to take comedy to the heart of every city in the country.
“The Durban run will feature myself, Dusty Rich, Robby Collins, Skumba Hlophe, Lazola Gola and other comics.
“After Durban we go to East London, back to Gauteng, Pretoria and we’re working on dates for Bloemfontein and Cape Town during the course of the year as well.”
l Tickets are R120 to R150 and will be available at Computicket soon. To keep tabs on Inner City shows, visit www. facebook.com/innercitycomedytour.