Making light of love

Comedians Tumi Morake and Ndumiso Lindi share their experiences in hit show

WHEN touring together to comedy festivals, stand- up comics Tumi Morake and Ndumiso Lindi were repeatedly asked if they were married. Their response: Yes, but not to each other. That tag line led to their successful show –

– which has been on the road since February.

What has been your highlight from the tour?

Lindi: We get a lot of couples coming to the show so it’s always great to hear that they enjoyed it.

With this show we get instant feedback from our audience: how it just relates to everyone, from single to married people. We have a Q&A segment in the show and the questions we get always crack us up. For this show to work, it needs a lot of audience participation and so far it’s been working according to plan.

Morake: Every audience has surprised us from the types of questions we’ve been asked, their willingness to partake in the show and the humour that’s come from the floor.

Where was your most responsive audience?

Lindi: Every town or city we played for has been great in their own way. Also their energy and audience participation adds something new and different to the show.

Morake: Probably Mafikeng and Port Elizabeth. I think probably because they were home town audiences. Ndumiso is originally from the Eastern Cape. He grew up in Zwelitsha, King William’s Town.

Can you tell us more about the moment when the idea for the show germinated?

Lindi: Tumi and I have done a lot of shows together and travelled to comedy festivals.

So it happened that we were flying back from playing in London and connecting in Istanbul.

We get there and our flight to Jozi had left us, so I take our passports and gave them to airport customs trying to fix this.

First question he asked was if we were married and we instantly both answered “yes”, then realised what just happened a second later and replied again: “Not to each other”.

We laughed about it, then we looked at each other and had a light bulb moment, realising it’s a good tittle for a show.

It took us a while to get it going because of commitments, but it’s awesome to see it on the road now.

Morake: And that’s how it started. We’ve been friends for many years and it just made sense to us to explore this.

What is the format of the show? Do you each do separate sets or you do sets together?

Lindi: This format was something new for us, hence we had to test it in small rooms to make sure it worked. Sometimes we’re on stage at the same time, other times we each do separate sets.

Then it’s the Q&A with the audience. You can expect lots of improvisation with that segment. People don’t want to miss this fun Date Night, full of laughter and all that you can relate with when it comes to relationships.

Usually people see us tackling country issues like race or political topics.

With this show, it’s all about men and female – whether you’re married or single. I’ve seen couples walk in not talking to each other and walkout laughing.

will be at the Baxter on November 16 at 8.15pm. No under 16s.

Tickets are R160 and R180. Book at www. webtickets.co.za.

TUMI MORAKE