Comedy that cuts right down to the chase

NELSPRUIT – Never mind taking the gloves off, comedian John Vlismas has never even bothered to put them on. He left a hall full of Lowvelders roaring with laughter at the Emnotweni Arena on Saturday evening.

I popped in at the arena during soundcheck a few hours before the gig for an interview with the renowned comedian.

John boasts quite a list of achievements on his CV like various performances for Comedy Central, including a few Roasts, the SA Comedy Award for Stand-up of the Year in 2007 and shows in Dubai, London, Dublin, Montreal and Berlin. I commence the interview with a bit of an icebreaker by asking him about the weirdest thing an audience member has done at one of his performances. He mulls it over for a minute then seems to settle on an answer. “An old guy had an angina attack. We thought it was a heart attack but before I could stop the show, the person who had arranged it motioned that I should go on,” he says.

We continue to chat about the audience and John’s expectations for the evening. He comments that he’s interested to see which people turn up for the show. The evening’s themes, he says, are current events, being 40 and just overall about being South African.

The comedian calls out to some of the people working with him, who are chatting nearby, and asks if people know the show has an age restriction. They reply that an age restriction of 16 was put on the posters. He turns back to me and says that he uses a lot of foul language on stage. “But I don’t see them as bad words. They’re just words from a broken home – they also need a chance,” he jokes.

This is not John’s first visit to the Lowveld. As a child he used to spend time with his cousins in this region. “It’s a beautiful part of the country but on the way here it looked like one orange farmer owned everything,” he remarked. Upon asking what he’d still like to do in the area, he answers with a grin. “I’d like to run a marathon naked. It seems like something that should be done.”

The conversation turns to John’s brand of comedy and he tells me that he reads everything, from newspapers to online articles, and researches topics to keep up to date with current events and to obtain material for his shows. “You can also get a good idea of what’s going on if you follow the right people on social networks,” he remarks.

Some of his “right people” are Mark Banks and Pieter Dirk Uys. Banks is one his favourite people to work with. “He’s the reason I do comedy and I think he’s the funniest guy in the world,” he says.

Uys on the other hand, is someone he’d still like to work with. “He is one of the best examples of a gentleman and a great artist,” he explains.

His favourite performance venue is the Royal Albert Hall, which he says is amazing because of the history, and his favourite show has to be when he was on stage with Drew Carey in Montreal. “It was exciting because I’d never performed with a famous person and he’d just dropped by unexpectedly. After the show we went to his birthday party.”

He’d still like to perform in New York and just for the hell of it, somewhere completely weird like Greenland or Iceland.

There are still many performances featuring him this year and he says there are many things he’s looking forward to. “There’s two Comedy Central comedy specials that I’ll be producing and the Comic Choice Awards. I will also be touring with Mass Hysteria as the ‘Public Attacker’ which is a tribute to Thuli Madonsela,” he says.

Although his performances are not everybody’s cup of tea, there is no denying the presence of the sharp wit and silver tongue characteristic of great comedians.

Judging by the reaction of the audience, I’m sure quite a few Lowvelders agree and will be first in line to buy tickets for his next local show.