Meet the 'Queen' at the Jive Funny Festival
“HER Majesty the Queen of England” pays a month-long visit to the Mother City from July, where she will officially open the Jive Cape Town
Funny Festival, sponsored by Turkish Airlines. The popular festival, now in its 14th year, runs from July 9 to August 5 at the Baxter Theatre.
Her Majesty impersonator, Australian actor and comedian Gerry Connolly, travels the world officially opening major events as the queen of England. He will attend every performance at the festival, and of course perform there.
The Jive Cape Town Funny
Festival has become Cape Town’s winter comedic tonic, and is well known for presenting top class, international acts and South Africa’s top comics. The official line-up of local performers includes master of ceremonies Alan Committie, Marc Lottering, Tats Nkonzo, Rob van Vuuren, Khanyisa Bunu and Siv Ngesi. The international acts include Connolly, former Cirque du Soleil lead clown Mookie Cornish from Canada, French clown Raymond Raymondson, and British comedy duo Goronwy Thom and Richard Garaghty.
This year’s festival is the 21st comedy project that festival director Eddy Cassar has produced. The initial festival, the first modern comedy festival in the country, took place in 1997 and was known as the Smirnoff Comedy Festival. Many young comics who performed at the festival in its early years have gone on to become global mega-stars. They include Jimmy Carr, Ross Noble, Nina Conti, Lee Mack, Adam Hills and, more recently, Trevor Noah. Noah’s ascent to the US’s The Daily
Show has focused the international comedy spotlight on South Africa. “Diverse countries like South Africa breed great comedic artists and I am confident that many more will follow in Trevor’s supersonic footsteps,” said Cassar.
Over the years, the local and international comedians who have graced the stage at the festival have become ambassadors for the City of Cape Town and the festival.
More information, and performance details, are available from www.funnyfestival.co.za Booking at webtickets. Generous discounts are offered for group bookings, which can be received through webtickets or by calling the Baxter on 021 685 7880.