By Hannah Fortune and Emily Reid
How do you prepare for a tour? Do you adapt your stand-up between countries?
“Not really. I do find the humour in everything to be quite universal. I figure, or what I found mostly, is that funny is funny. In the same way, I guess, a lot of countries will digest American or British humour. It’s not like the UK offers what’s only funny in the UK, or what America offers is only funny in America.
I think the biggest challenge is really just references. Even small things, like referring to a chocolate bar or a type of bird, you need to make sure that they have that in the country you’re going to.
For example, once in London, I told a joke about an Indian Myna, which is a bird we have here, and they thought I was talking about an Indian child, which are two very different things.
What are some of the comedic differences or similarities you see between South Africa and Scotland.
I find Scottish people more similar to South Africans. They’re very laid-back, they don’t keep their laughter in, they let it out. The Brits are a little bit more held-back and reserved, if I can put it that way.
Scottish people, I don’t find them too different from South Africans, they’re also people who enjoy a drink, they don’t take themselves too seriously and they’re just cool, nice people.”
One of the main themes of your new show is divorce – how important is it to you to draw on real-life experiences for your comedy?
“Very. This will be the first time that I do a themed show. Normally, I will talk about a variety of topics from some relationship stuff; my dogs; a funny experience that I had at the airport or in another country. But last year, I went through a divorce, and it kind of just felt right to do a show about it because there is a lot to talk about.
Obviously, for my fans, those who attend my shows regularly, and follow me on social media, I think it was a big shock to them, and I think they would enjoy unpacking it with me.
And then just on a personal level, I think the same way that a musician will write a break-up album if they are to go through a divorce, you know, this is sort of my divorce album.
I think, in the end, it would also just be quite therapeutic being able to, sort of, close this chapter of my life in a show that’s both funny but also quite vulnerable and real.”
You are starring in and writing The Office South Africa – how important is it for you to honour and be influenced by other comedies whilst still making it your own?
I think that was the big challenge – still honouring the original flavour of the show and still keeping that essence that people know and fell in love with in the first place. But at the same time, we also needed to change it enough so that it feels like an original show.
So, it’s a very fine line between not making this show so different that it’s unrecognisable as The Office, but at the same time, creating an original show. I think we did a brilliant job of that, to be honest.
Our company doesn’t do paper; firstly, we do Paloni. Paloni is like the cheapest processed meat. So our company is a completely different thing, and the characters; we also have a boss, we have two young people who have a love story line. So there are some similarities, but other than that, our characters are completely original and different.”
What has it been like working with Netflix and Amazon, creating the specials? Do you prefer doing Netflix specials or stand-up and touring?
“Yeah, you feel that it’s on a bit of a different level – there’s way more hoops to jump through, and it’s not just a thing of getting up there and doing what you want, you have to share with them your thoughts and ideas. But then at the same time, it’s great, because you can feel like everything is on a different level – the production, the PR behind it when it comes out, is amazing to get the show out there, and get the word going.
“Both have stuff that is so nice about them. I do obviously love stand-up, but it is also quite hectic to be on the road and in a different city every night. I really love my house and dogs in South Africa, so when I’m away, like when I am in February, it’s tough, cause I miss them. I think, also, as you get older, you start enjoying more and more, just having some sort of routine. And obviously with touring, there’s no routine
So that’s all really fun, but sometimes it’s nice to do something like The Office, where you actually have almost literally an office, and it feels more like an actual job. You get up at the same time, go to the same place every day, and see the same people every day – you feel like a part of a team. When you tour, it’s sort of just you.”
Scotland has a culture of entertainment, especially concerning small, upcoming artists. Do you have any advice for students and/or young people looking to get into stand-up?
“I think people make too much of a big deal out of it, in terms of trying it for the first time. You really don’t have much to lose, other than a bit of your ego that might get bruised if it doesn’t go well. Honestly, the worst thing that could happen is you embarrass yourself in front of a few strangers but, they are strangers, you’re probably never going to see those people again in your life. I mean, if you suck, you won’t be memorable, so it’s not like they’ll even remember you the next day anyway.
I think people have this fear of doing stand-up comedy – that they’ll go on stage and it won’t go well, and for the rest of their lives, every five seconds, someone’s gonna jump up from behind a bush and be like ‘you were that person that sucked so bad at that gig’, but it’s really not a big deal. Otherwise, people go through their whole life going ‘I really want to try it one day’, and they never end up doing it, and that’s silly. You could be keeping yourself from a possible career by just being too scared to just give it a shot.”
One final question – why should people come to see you in Edinburgh and Glasgow?
“It’s hard to say, I think this is just my humble side speaking, I think it’s hard for me as a comedian to say ‘you’ve never seen anything like it’. I’d like to say I’m good, I genuinely do believe the shows are funny.
This specific show, not that people haven’t spoken about deeper, more vulnerable things on stage, I think it does fall in the more unique category where I am speaking about my divorce, which is a deeply personal, and I’d even go as far as to say, a traumatic thing. It’s not light and cotton-candy floss; it’s got some gravitas to it, it’s got small balls.”
Tickets for “Hey Hey divorce” UK & EU tour can be found here. https://www.mickperrin.com/tours/schalk-bezuidenhout-hey-hey-divorce/