His gift of the gab aside, the most unique thing about comedian Jason Goliath is his smooth baritone voice. When he speaks, whether it’s on stage or over the phone as we’re doing right now, he demands your attention. He’s commanding yet earnest, like a gentle giant of sorts.
Given this skill set, it’s hardly a surprise that Goliath has been announced as the new voice of Comedy Central Africa.
One of South Africa’s most loved comedians of the past decade, Goliath will now be tasked with voicing some of the channel’s most iconic moments, specials and features.
Having long admired the Comedy Central brand, Goliath has over the past several years worked with them on many projects, including his first international film special which featured at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, Canada.
“I think it’s a cool and exciting role for a comedian to be integrated with a comedy brand and a brand that understands my craft, my heart and supports that, and also to be the voice of a platform that allows you a little bit of creative licence to add funny to the funny,” he says.
“The role is actually quite basic. Essentially, my voice provides continuity on the channel, announcing not only what’s next but what you can look forward to. Also announcing all the projects, shows and promos that Comedy Central is involved in on air.”
The popular comedian has also worked with the channel on the most recent seasons of the Safta-nominated Comedy Central Live at the Savanna Virtual Comedy Bar.
“Comedy Central Live was incredibly exciting. I think as a comedian one of the bucket list things to achieve in terms of a career highlight would be a piece of content with Comedy Central’s logo attached to it and essentially an endorsement of your comedic talents from the biggest comedy brand on Earth.
“So to say I was excited is an understatement, to say that this is a big tick on my bucket list: absolutely.”
Dillon Khan, the vice-president of Comedy Central Africa, said: “We are excited to welcome Jason Goliath to the home of 24-hour comedy in Africa as the all-new voice of Comedy Central.
“We have been able to grow with Jason, having worked with him over the years on a number of projects, and it was only fitting that officially we welcome him to the family. As a channel we are proud to give local comedians the platform to shine.”
South African comedy has been heavily affected by the pandemic over the past two years. While it’s still trying to find its feet, Goliath is optimistic, given the calibre of comedians we have here at home.
He explained: “I think the pandemic hit us hard. We obviously didn’t have a very established comedy market when compared to First World markets like the UK, the US, Australia and some of Europe.
“So we were in the process of building and I think we took hits at a very integral part. But the state of our comedians on the other hand is amazing.
“I think we have world-class comedians and I always confirm that by saying the major difference on stage is that Third World comedians are better storytellers – we’ve got more substance and texture,” he continued.
“Whereas I believe First World comedians all seem to sound the same — same rhythm, same cadence, same schooling system, same experience, same stories, perhaps told differently, whereas South African comedians have much richer texture on the whole.
“So the state of the industry is fragile. We’re in the process of building and are looking forward to welcoming live audiences again. But we have some of the best comedians in the world here.”
Overall, 2022 has already been an incredible year for him so far. In November, he’ll be embarking on a one-man show and a Goliath Comedy Club Tour across the country.
Goliath revealed: “This year has seen live comedy starting to come back. We’ve been faced with audiences after a two-year break, which is terrible.
“We normally suffer from rustiness after the kind of four-week break over the December holidays, so imagine the rustiness after two years of not being able to do our favourite thing.
“The year’s been good for me so far, though. I’ve been nice and busy with lots of projects under way. Goliath and Goliath as a business turned 10 and we celebrate that on July 29 with a huge ‘30 in 5 showcase’ – 30 comedians doing five minutes each at the Lyric Theatre.”
They will be selling tickets at R50, which is a throwback to the first tickets they ever sold on a Wednesday at the same price.
“It’s just a celebration of South African comedy and all the acts that have played a role in Goliath and Goliath or had us play a role in their careers. Just a big celebration of the industry and a big thank you to the industry for the open arms with which they’ve embraced Goliath and Goliath.”