VIDEO: Meet Darren Maule’s ‘other side’

DARREN Maul’s goal for 2016? ‘Take over the world… well, at least try.’

And so far, the East Coast Radio breakfast jock (and one of South African’s top stand-up comedians) doesn’t seem to be making too bad a job of it!

On Tuesday morning this week, he urged the province’s people to help make a difference in the lives of the tens of thousands of residents who are bearing the brunt of one of KwaZulu-Natal’s worst droughts.

Residents and businesses were urged to donate brand new, sealed bottles of water to ECR towards the project #WaterShare until today, Sunday, January 31.

The Herald spoke to Darren, (while he nibbled on a muffin or two) at ScubaXcursion in Scottburgh, about his love for diving with sharks and his passion for the environment. Yip, you read right.

There is a lot more to Darren than the consummate performer, who is equally comfortable in front of a microphone, a camera or a live audience.

“If I can get people to care about this creature (shark) everyone thinks is the bad guy, I can get them to help save other species,” he said.

He added that diving is ‘so lekker’, it makes him stop thinking about the world’s problems. “I switch off… I must just remember to breathe, which is kinda hard when a four metre raggie swims past me,” he said.

Darren is also a budding socialist, and also, in his words, ‘the ultimate idealist, ultimate extremist, constantly confronted with undeniable capitalism and consumerism’. “This conflict of mine is real. That is why I need my meditation (diving),” he said.

Darren feels like Superman under water, occasionally given a ‘fish kiss’ from an inquisitive giant-sized potato bass. “I love diving for different reasons – it is the closest I will come to flying.”

He has tried everything from horse riding to Zumba – but the diving bug has bitten. “Just like stand-up comedy, I kinda fell into it. It’s nerve-wracking, so I don’t really know why anyone would want to do it,” he said.

“That moment you jump into the water seething with  30 to 40 black tips you have to make an agreement with yourself that this could be it. There have been a handful of sharks that have bitten legs, arms and the midriff, but I have never heard of vocal cords being bitten by a shark – so I will be alright.”

Recalling his first experience of ‘meeting’ a shark – Darren said he has a new respect for wetsuits (which keep everything in), especially when your bowel is churning with fear.

On to a more serious topic. About a year ago, Darren asked his listeners ‘do you think climate change is man-made?’ He was gob-smacked when he received hundreds of calls and only about five percent of the callers said ‘yes’. (A year on, the poll is up by 20 percent.) “I felt defeated.” he said. “If 95 percent of our listeners didn’t believe there was a problem, then how would I be able to get people behind the cause or tackling bigger issues?”

Last year it was ‘save the rhino’, the decade before it was ‘save the elephant’, then later this year, it will be ‘save the lion/leopard’. “It seems we only have the capacity to save one species at a time. We aren’t aware that we are losing some 55 species every single day.”

Changing the topic again: “South Coast people are lekker… when you think of the East Coast experience, the South Coast comes to mind… laid back and chilled,” said Darren.

“A lot of the people we interact with are from the South Coast. We like to make fun of the South Coast, as they have a long way to travel to pick a fight, however it’s a bit tricky when it comes to the Bluff or Umbilo,” he said, jokingly.

Yes, Darren loves to make people laugh. The only problem is, he says, that when he tries to be serious, no one takes him seriously.