The Next Generation Comedy Show, which is aimed at unearthing fresh local talent is ready to introduce the acts to an audience on August 31 and September 1 at the Garden Court Marine Parade Hotel.
The exciting new line up features youngsters looking to tap into the comedy scene and among the many is MTV’s, You Got Got, prankster Darrien Asbury.
Asbury was introduced to stand up comedy when he accompanied his parents to local shows at the Bat Center.
“I watched Bruinous and and fell in love with it. I watched a lot of stand up from there mostly local. Then a couple years after school I just decided to put some material together and saw open spots available at Parkers in Johannesburg and sent through an email and that's where it started,” said Asbury.
The Durban born funny man said the thing he loved most about comedy, was that it put smiles on peoples faces.
“And when I'm on stage it makes me happy to know that I'm making all these people laugh, especially since we all going through our own drama in life, we all deserve to smile, and laugh and forget our problems in the moment,” he said.
Asbury will be sharing the stage with Thami M Dlamini, Shanray van Wyk, Cyril Basker, international Comedy talent, Dustin Moore with Goldstone hosting the shows.
Aside from performing on stage, Asbury is apart of the prank show, You Got Got, which airs on MTV, Mondays at 9.40pm- however he says he prefers live comedy compared to TV.
“If you've been following me on social media, you'd know I sometimes post videos of myself doing stuff a normal person wouldn't dare to do, and a guy who I met at a comedy gig in Johannesburg who is now a producer for You Got Got messaged me on Facebook and told me about the whole thing and I was down for it from the get go,” said Asbury.
“I prefer on stage, live comedy. Because you're there and you're apart of the crowd, it becomes a lot more personal and the atmosphere of people laughing and having a good time just influences you to have a good time yourself. I sometimes will sit in the crowd after I've done my set at a show,” he said.
This show will also focus on women coming up in the comedy industry - with three South African comediennes as well as a funny lady from Namibia joining the lineup.
The series of stand-up comedy shows was conceptualised by Carvin Goldstone to help develop Durban's young comedy industry.
“It started three years ago as a small scale Durban initiative to unearth local comedy talent. It has since developed and gone national, with The Cape Town Comedy Club and Goliath Comedy Club, in Joburg, also holding their own regular Next Generation Comedy shows,” said Goldstone.
He said his new focus with this series is to have more women in comedy, telling their stories.
Catch the Next Generation Comedy Show at Garden Court Marine Parade, on August 31 and September 1 at 8pm on both nights. Tickets at quicket.co.za or call 0614450123 to book.