Disabled Cape Town comic trades his pain for laughter in ‘Find ing Archie’
CAPE Town comedian Altaaf Sayed is turning his sorrows into laughs with his comedy show called Finding Archie.
Sayed, from Athlone, first performed this show at a sold-out Baxter Theatre in 2020 but said the last two years had seen him go back to the drawing board to craft this latest version of this one-man comedy show.
Partially paralysed from the waist down, Sayed, 36, said six years in comedy took him on a journey of discovery and acceptance with his disability.
“Most people don’t know me as a comedian. In the show I touch on my disability a lot as it is who I am and I speak about how I learnt to deal with it,” he said.
Ten years ago, Sayed was diagnosed with a rare degenerative neurological disease, which has degraded the nerves in his lower body.
“This has made my movement and mobility an issue, I use crutches and a wheelchair. Funny thing is someone thought, for over two years, that I just had a broken leg.
“The disability is not that visible so people don’t know and end up asking the most ridiculous questions, which is part of the disability learning aspect of it all. It’s a story of me making sense of my world as a disabled man.”
But Sayed said it was the passion for comedy that carried him through.
“Comedy has been a coping mechanism because as I joke about it, hearing people laugh, it makes me feel better, so I strive for those laughs.
Sayed said he will share his hurdles of the past six years with the audience.
“This show is all about my life and the things that have happened to me in my six-year comedy journey.
“It includes ending up in court, being robbed, getting divorced (which kicked my comedy off), things I have to deal with being disabled, and more.”
Sayed said he didn’t mind being laughed at for his disability, in fact, it was the thing that kept him striving.
“In comedy, it’s okay to laugh at it because a disabled dude is saying it.
“Also the craft of stand-up comedy is beautiful; taking a concept you think is funny, writing, taking it to stage, rewriting it until you hear the laughs … that is a beautiful process I love. Comedy is modern-day philosophy and I’m here to teach you through laughter.
The show takes place at Ground Zero, 122b Lower Main Road, Observatory, on November 12. Tickets are R150 from Quicket and include a free taco and spot prizes.
CAPE TOWN Party Show Night
Singer Ramaine Barreiro turns 45 and celebrates 40 years in music with a Party Show Night.
Ramaine’s style and gigantic personality will have you enthralled from the minute she steps on stage. At the age of 5, she was already performing with a live band on the nightclub circuit in Cape Town.
Known as the Tina Turner of South
Africa, Ramaine boasts powerhouse vocals and a sassy on-stage presence.
Where: The Music Café at Koffi Terapi, 1st floor, Willowbridge Centre, Tyger Valley.
When: November 18.
Cost: R150 a person. Book at www. koffiterapi.co.za.
DURBAN umongo Msindo Exhibition isupport Creative Business, in partnership with the Music In Africa Foundation, presents its second exhibition as part of the umongo Msindo project that aims to commemorate, showcase and bring the story of part of the country’s musical heritage to life.
This installation, designed by exhibition architect Issa Wessels, brings musicians into conversations with their instruments through videos, textiles that function as interactive wall pieces, steel materials and a QR portal that expands on their work – all presented through a mobile museum structure.
Where: The Chairman,146 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Point.
When: Fridays and Saturdays in November.
Free.
Cost: Concerts South Africa
This month, Concerts South Africa (CSA) is hosting a regular Sunday afternoon live music gig presenting homegrown talent.
On November 13, performer Sheila Da Bluenote is on the bill.
Next Sunday, November 20, the band Milkyway Galaxy will be in the spotlight.
The band is made up of Mzamo Zungu on drums, Bonga Xulu on bass guitar, Sbonelo Nxumalo on keyboard and Phumeza Nkosi as the vocalist.
Rorke and Red Robyn wrap up the CSA live spring music season on November 27. Robyn is a multiinstrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer, and an electric performer with a background in theatre and dance.
Where: Rhumbelow Theatre in Umbilo.
When: Sundays in November. Cost: R100 at the door. Booking is essential, call 082 499 8636.
JOHANNESBURG
Minister of Entertainment Comedian Kevin Fraser returns to Mzansi with his new show after touring the UK, Europe, Australia and North America.
The art of creating a title of tales as a collective for the most unpolitical state of no affairs leaves a lot to the imagination. Or so Fraser thinks.
He trailblazes a path of absurd comedy, hilarious satire and forward-thinking connectivity in plugging his shows into a code of comedy.
Where: The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City.
When: November 18.
Cost: Tickets cost R250 or R300 and are available at www.kevinfraserofficial.com
Set the Night to Music
The cream of the crop of Cape Town’s music scene are jetting up to Jozi for Set the Night to Music.
The stellar line-up includes Nur Abrahams, Don Vino, Emo Adams and Mujahid George. The show includes several genres of music and will keep the crowd dancing and singing along.
Where: The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City.
When: November 11.
Cost: Tickets are R180-R250 per person via Webtickets.
Kwenzekile exhibition Kwenzekile is a solo exhibition by Sinalo Ngcaba.
With works produced in oil pastel on paper, Sinalo’s Kwenzekile began with an a desire to visually imagine and create alternate realities for South African women.
This shifted from wanting to tell a collective story to wanting to tell an intimate and personal story rooted in the journey of the self, peppered, however, by an acute knowing that the self is always implicated in the political.
The exhibition opening will be open to the public, thereafter bookings can be made by emailing zahra@ bubblegumclub.co.za.
Where: Bubblegum Gallery, Transwerke, Studio 12, Sam Hancock Street, Johannesburg.
When: November 12.
Cost: Free.