{"id":6799,"date":"2026-02-04T11:41:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/?p=6799"},"modified":"2026-02-05T19:31:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T19:31:50","slug":"this-is-like-my-divorce-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/features\/2026\/02\/04\/this-is-like-my-divorce-album\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is like my divorce album\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/strong> Hannah Fortune and Emily Reid<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do you prepare for a tour? Do you adapt your stand-up between countries?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cNot 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\u2019s not like the UK offers what\u2019s only funny in the UK, or what America offers is only funny in America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019re going to. <\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are some of the comedic differences or similarities you see between South Africa and Scotland.<\/b><\/p>\n

I find Scottish people more similar to South Africans. They\u2019re very laid-back, they don\u2019t 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scottish people, I don\u2019t find them too different from South Africans, they\u2019re also people who enjoy a drink, they don\u2019t take themselves too seriously and they’re just cool, nice people.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cVery. 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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. <\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s both funny but also quite vulnerable and real.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You are starring in and writing <\/b>The Office South Africa<\/i><\/b> – how important is it for you to honour and be influenced by other comedies whilst still making it your own?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, it’s a very fine line between not making this show so different that it’s unrecognisable as <\/span>The Office<\/span><\/i>, but at the same time, creating an original show. I think we did a brilliant job of that, to be honest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our company doesn\u2019t do paper; firstly, we do <\/span>Paloni<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>Paloni<\/span><\/i> 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What has it been like working with Netflix and Amazon, creating the specials? Do you prefer doing Netflix specials or stand-up and touring?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, you feel that it’s on a bit of a different level –\u00a0 there\u2019s 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth 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\u2019m 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\u2019s no routine\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So that\u2019s all really fun, but sometimes it\u2019s nice to do something like <\/span>The Office<\/span><\/i>, 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\u2019s sort of just you.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI think people make too much of a big deal out of it, in terms of trying it for the first time. You really don\u2019t have much to lose, other than a bit of your ego that might get bruised if it doesn\u2019t go well. Honestly, the worst thing that could happen is you embarrass yourself in front of a few strangers but, they are strangers, you\u2019re probably never going to see those people again in your life. I mean, if you suck, you won\u2019t be memorable, so it’s not like they\u2019ll even remember you the next day anyway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I think people have this fear of doing stand-up comedy – that they\u2019ll go on stage and it won\u2019t go well, and for the rest of their lives, every five seconds, someone’s gonna jump up from behind a bush and be like \u2018you were that person that sucked so bad at that gig\u2019, but it’s really not a big deal. Otherwise, people go through their whole life going \u2018I really want to try it one day\u2019, and they never end up doing it, and that\u2019s silly. You could be keeping yourself from a possible career by just being too scared to just give it a shot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One final question – why should people come to see you in Edinburgh and Glasgow?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say, I think this is just my humble side speaking, I think it’s hard for me as a comedian to say \u2018you\u2019ve never seen anything like it\u2019. I\u2019d like to say I\u2019m good, I genuinely do believe the shows are funny.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This specific show, not that people haven\u2019t 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\u2019d 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets for “Hey Hey divorce” UK & EU tour can be found here. https:\/\/www.mickperrin.com\/tours\/schalk-bezuidenhout-hey-hey-divorce\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Fortune and Emily Reid How do you prepare for a tour? Do you adapt your stand-up between countries? \u201cNot 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":6800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[1358,220,1655,183],"wf_post_folders":[322],"class_list":{"0":"post-6799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"tag-comedy","9":"tag-interview","10":"tag-schalk-bezuidenhout","11":"tag-university-of-aberdeen"},"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Gaudie Staff","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/gaudie-staff\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DSC07872-300x201.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Features<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Features<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["comedy<\/a>","Interview<\/a>","Schalk Bezuidenhout<\/a>","University of Aberdeen<\/a>"],"unlinked":["comedy<\/span>","Interview<\/span>","Schalk Bezuidenhout<\/span>","University of Aberdeen<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 7 months ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 4 February 2026","modified":"Updated on 5 February 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 4 February 2026 11:41","modified":"Updated on 5 February 2026 19:31"},"featured_img_caption":"photograph of a microphone on stage via The Gaudie","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6799"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6847,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6799\/revisions\/6847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6799"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}