Seriously funny stand-up

Top comedian Nik Rabinowitz hits Joburgers where it hurts – he’s talking  the ‘republic’ of Cape Town, emigration and, of course, Julius Malema

The newspaper backdrop to Nik Rabinowitz’s latest stand-up comedy stint hints at Serious Times, although you wouldn’t say so  based on the roars of laughter and outbursts of applause that Rabinowitz garnered after almost every joke.

Following a sold-out season in Cape Town, Rabinowitz successfully opened   You Can’t Be Serious in Joburg with the witty one-liners and spot-on facial expressions that have come to be his comedic signatures.

The key to his comedy is quite simply based on the old adage that the truth hurts – Rabinowitz condenses the current affairs of the week, the month or even the year and puts such a funny and frank spin on the facts that even the protagonists on the other end of his jokes would have a chuckle at the state of affairs in South Africa.

Rabinowitz expertly plays up the Joburg versus Cape Town dichotomy, peppering his favourite topics of emigration “down under” and  the 2010 Soccer World Cup in review with cracks about Helen “The Madam Cockroach” Zille and Cape Flats impersonations that absolutely undo his audiences.

He took a liking to one audience member in particular, the young 13-year-old Josh who was playing it cool, sitting alone in the front row while his parents were confined to the “cheap seats” in the back. Any political debacle that proved to be quite complex caused Rabinowitz to quickly cast his eye on the young Josh for approval. If the comedian was met with a blank stare instead of a smile – as was the case with Rabinowitz calling Malema a pot of tea that one sometimes needs to leave alone “to draw” – then Rabinowitz would promptly say “Google it Josh”, much to the youngster and many audience members’ delight.

Some of the highlights of the evening included  Rabinowitz’s harsh truths about what the likely South African  taxi airline is going to do to our skies, as well as his energetic rendition of various rugby and soccer sports commentators and finally his Survivor analogy of Mbeki  and how the “ANC tribe has spoken”.

Rabinowitz is intelligent, witty and exceptionally well versed in SA current affairs. He attacks everyone equally  – black, white, coloured, Indian, Muslin, Jewish – with the same stinging tongue and playful prod of humour, yet strangely  leaves them all feeling  optimistic and excited by the potential that this country holds. 

This article first appeared in CitiVibe in The Citizen on Monday 11 July 2011.

You Can't Be Serious is on at the Market Theatre until July 16. Visit www.computicket.com to book tickets.