Arye Kellman was MC and warmed up the crowd before welcoming the first of three comedians, Claudine Ullman. Ullman was voted one of Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans for 2017. In a unique and somewhat daring skit, she picked out one or two guests from the audience to add to her entertaining storytelling style, keeping the crowd in stitches.
Up next was Gilli Apter. She started her career as a comedy writer in 2005, covering a variety of platforms. In 2015, after having made a name for herself in the industry, Apter decided to start writing for herself. The audience connected with her humour and stage presence almost immediately as she delved into what it’s like to be single and dating in today’s age.
Mojak Lehoko was the final act of the evening, and was just as funny. A young, up-and-coming Johannesburg comedian, he was nominated in the Newcomer category at the inaugural Comics Choice awards in 2010. And at last year’s event, he received the Comics’ Pen Award for his outstanding writing on several local television productions, pipping the likes of Trevor Noah and Karabo Lediga to the post. Lehoko spoke about his discovery of challah and how he’d like to be invited to the fun holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, not the hard-knock ones like Pesach.
Everyone left on a high, and a few audience members went home with raffle prizes.
