Hilton tickles EL funny bone
FUNNY man and South Africa’s “cousin” Barry Hilton had his East London crowd in stitches on Friday night at the Guild Theatre with his one-liners and clean language as part of his Evolver show.
After serving up top notch entertainment for 35 years Hilton does not see himself retiring anytime soon because he is still committed to entertaining people.
The packed auditorium was kept entertained when Hilton shared new and relatable comic material about his family life and experiences.
Not only was Evolver a hit among his fans but they could not wait to take selfies with the “father of comedy”.
Hilton – known to several generations as a gentleman comic – believes in respecting his crowd.
“The show is called Evolver because I don’t know what I am going to say, it is sort of in the moment.
“I enjoy engaging with my audience and having a discussion with them instead of singling out a selected few and this works well because it makes the people feel that they are involved too.
“We came to enjoy ourselves so why not have a nice discussion,” Hilton told the Daily Dispatch.
His stage presence set the mood with a laid-back and relaxed appeal which gave the audience permission to do the same.
The seasoned comedian attributed the success of his shows which are never vulgar or malicious to being respectful.
“Two words, Trevor Noah. He never curses and he is successful. People love him, and I believe in that too because you need to respect your crowd.”
Hilton said it was a massive honour for him to be dubbed the ‘father of comedy’.
“It gives me great pleasure to see people laughing and having fun. I love what I do so it doesn’t count as work anymore and I want to keep entertaining people for as long as I can.
“If I can make the youngsters laugh with my material and fill rooms why should I retire?”
Hilton said he appreciated the love of the South African public but he admitted that it did get lonely on the road.
“Sometimes I do think about retiring because of the loneliness of the road but then I am reminded of why I do what I do and it is such an honour to make people laugh.”
Lisa Botha of Vincent Park said Hilton’s material was relatable and she enjoyed his relaxed stage presence.
“He is one of my favourite South African comedians and although I have seen him many times, I really enjoyed this show because he was very natural and not trying too hard.
“Barry always delivers quality jokes which makes him one of the best in the industry,” Botha said.
Bertie Cavanagh of Greenfields enjoyed the one-liner jokes most. “Seeing him live is much better than on TV. He was brilliant, I couldn’t stop laughing at the oneliners.”