Internationally celebrated comedian and television personality Loyiso Gola has been doing stand-up comedy for almost 23 years. Speaking to Sunday World about his career Gola said he wants to continue doing it until he is at an age where he has dementia.
“Comedy is unlike sport, you can do it for a very long time, and I think I just want to continue doing it. There are also other things outside of stand-up comedy that I want to do such as writing, directing and producing for other people,” he said.
Gola got into comedy at the age of 17 through a school project where he had to shadow a bunch of comedians for the project. He said he tries to stay consistent as a comedian by keeping his hand on the pulse by reading up on the things happening around him.
“Right now, I am really trying to educate myself on artificial intelligence of what my opinion on it will form and I will share. I just read a lot and observe my surroundings to try and stay consistent in my craft.”
Performing for an international and local audience is not challenges on his craft as he believes the platforms are the same. He tries to keep his topics relevant to the human experience as much as possible.
“I try to make it relevant to everyone globally a good example is heartbreak. Everyone experiences heartbreak from all parts of the world and as a stand-up comedian you should be able to transcend and connect to any audience.”
As a comedian there are challenges along the way and for Gola, he believes they are not worth highlighting. The one way that he deals with them is to persevere, so he does not look at them as external.
The Cape Town-born star was in London and said this was a big deal for him as Covid-19, which saw events being prohibited, has taught him life lessons.
Gola has returned to bring his show Popular Culture to the Theatre on the Square at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton from 17- 29 April.
“I have been looking forward to this for so long, Covid-19 made us open our eyes to the importance of community and how we value our work and people. This show is brilliant, honest, raw and I cannot wait to share it with my Joburg community,” said Gola.
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