POPULAR Durban comedian Robby Collins debuts his first one-man show this weekend at the BAT Centre.
Collins has cemented his presence on the stand-up comedy scene, especially since moving to Joburg a few years back, sharing the stage with some of South Africa’s most revered comics.
He featured on the Comedy Central Live at Parker’s event and toured with Trevor Noah on his That’s Racist tour. He also works as a writer on the Late Night News Show with Loyiso Gola on e.tv, and was twice nominated for a Comics Choice Award.
Having been in the industry for a while, we asked Collins why he’d chosen not to do a one-man show earlier: “I think everything in comedy works because of timing. I needed to learn a lot more and grow as a performer.”
Commenting on why he’s chosen to launch his show in Durban, he said: “I’m very much a Durban boy. Everything about me, from the way I talk to the stories I tell on stage, comes from Durban. And it feels right to come back home and do the show here. I started stand-up here so it’s good to do the first one-man here.”
That Bushman’s Crazy is the show’s name and I was keen to hear more about the title.
“I always wanted to call my one-man That Bushman’s Crazy, even before I started stand- up. But as time has gone on it started making sense. It’s me trying to find my own identity in this world. Being a young coloured man in this country, we are called a lot of different things. So it’s just me growing and my opinion of what I see and am exposed to,” he explained.
So what can we expect from this crazy Bushman’s first one-hander?
“It’s a good mix of old and new. I’m just trying to put on the best show I can right now. There is lots of material I haven’t done here before.”
Respected for his razor-sharp comedy and innovative style, a press release said the audience can expect Collins to “pull no punches as he addresses a variety of everyday issues in a way you’ve never heard before. You haven’t seen crazy until you’ve seen this bushman on stage”.
• That Bushman’s Crazy, at the BAT Centre, Small Craft Harbour, on Saturday at 8pm. R100 at Computicket and Shoprite. The show will tour Joburg next year.