The Goliath’s giant love affair

“We started AWEdnesday three years ago at a little restaurant at Town Square next to Hillfox in Roodepoort,” says Jason Goliath.

“At a squeeze, the place held 200 people, which we got to on the first night, which was crazy. It’s also the three-year anniversary of our business as Goliath and Goliath, which started with that show. Nicholas [Goliath] and I had just started doing some comedy and, over some beers, Nick came up with this idea that we needed to run our own gig. We were still very wet behind the ears but we had this feeling a lot of South Africans loved comedy but didn’t understand how to access it other than through the big shows.

“Our dream was being able to take the best comedy to the audiences for next to nothing. We wanted to make it nearly impossible for you not to show up.”

Bringing in a number of different performers helps sort out the problem of audience members being exposed to the same sets week in and week out.

Donovan Goliath. Pictures: Supplied.

“With AWEdnesday, we started to have around a 70% repeat audience. Now the show is also about educating audiences, so we were inviting every single comedian in the country to come and play, but everyone knew that if they were repeated they couldn’t come with the same jokes. So it forced us to come up with some new stuff once a month, which is a big deal.”

That’s a challenge for the performers, but a boon for fans wanting fresh laughs.

“With music, if you write a new song and somebody loves it, you can play it week in, week out and people will sing along. And they request that song every time you play live. With comedy, people don’t do that. They don’t have the same emotional attachment to the gag they did the first time they heard it,” says Jason.

“On the other hand, you have to hold on to good material for as long as possible, because you’re playing to different audiences and they’ll be hearing the stuff for the first time. It’s about understanding what the shelf life of a gag is.”

Nicholas Goliath. Picture: Supplied.

Adds Nicholas: “We’re also always in the process of polishing the jokes and making sure the material is perfect. It changes every time you perform.”

“You also develop your signature style,” says Jason. “I have a section of a joke I’ve been doing since the first time I performed and, if I don’t include it, I get people coming up to me afterwards to complain that they brought their uncle from Hillbrow and now I haven’t told the story and they’re mad.”

The original idea behind AWEdnesday remains the same, even though Jason, Nicholas and Donovan Goliath (the first two are cousins; the latter is, bizarrely, not related and comes from a completely different part of South Africa) are now enjoying mainstream success.

“If you want to get better as a comedian, you need stage time and you need to practice, which is why those platforms are important. We’re now running about six gigs around Gauteng. And we want to keep developing grassroots talent.”

How do you tell if the beginners are any good?

Jason Goliath. Picture: Supplied.

“Usually, at a gig all the comedians who aren’t on stage are sitting at the bar talking because they’ve all seen each other’s acts. That stops, though, when somebody new steps up to the mic. And if the comedians in the audience are still engaged after 60 seconds, there’s something there.

“The discipline makes your mind fit,” says Jason.

“We’re blessed because there are three Goliath comedians and we spend a lot of time together and we’re always looking for the punchline. We often end up at the same punchline, but then the race is to see who gets there first. The forfeit is not getting the laughs – that’s the drug for us.”