Kagiso Lediga ventured into comedy while studying at the University of Cape Town 9 years ago and over the ensuing years set about establishing himself as one of South Africa’s top comedians. Not only is now lauded amongst the best comedians in the country with an impressive body of work behind him but is also now celebrated as one of South Africa’s pioneering and most recognizable black comedians

His talent and ability can easily be confirmed by an exhaustive trail of achievements and accolades. Testament of this is the fact that he has graced the stages of all the biggest comedy events in South Africa including the most prestigious one in the Cape Town International Comedy Festival ( 100000 people over 3 weeks ) where he won the People’s Choice Award in the company of acclaimed comedians from all over the world. Other comedy events he has performed at are Laugh Out Loud, Comedy Blackout, Kingsize Heavyweight Comedy Jams, Blacks Only, Freshest Comedy Festival, Pure Monate Comedy Jam, Let Durban Laugh Festival….the list is endless. He has also entertained corporate crowds all over the country with his refreshingly intelligent and thought provoking brand of comedy, a list boasting a wide spectrum of companies from various sectors of the economy. His talents can be further confirmed by the fact that he has performed successfully overseas as well, performing at the internationally renowned Edinburgh Comedy Festival as well as in the famous comedy clubs of New York and Toronto. He is in line to perform at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2007. His ability to adapt his material according to his audiences but leave them in raptures has always been a strong feature of his repertoire wherever he performs.

He also has a flair for writing brave and entertaining content and he has also been working towards producing content that is shaking up the South African film industry. It is testament to his creative ability, that he is now recognized as one of the young, up and coming television and film producers in the country. This was first evident when the sketch comedy series, the Pure Monate Show which he produced, wrote and performed in was voted in the top 5 most entertaining local programmes on SABC 1 for 2004 and was nominated in 8 categories of the South African Film and Television Awards. As the anchor of the show, he fast became a household TV personality nationwide and is now recognized wherever he performs. He went on to play roles on various other tv shows such as Sorted and Hard Copy.

His successful foray in TV led to Kagiso’s involvement in films. He has already acted in two but it is with a movie called Bunny Chow which he produced and also was the lead actor that he once again finds himself in the headlines. This movie which will be screened in local cinemas nationwide from Feb 2007 has already attracted attention globally and promises to be a huge hit. It has already achieved great successes in being selected to the following prestigious film festivals; Toronto Film Festival, American Film Institute Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival and the Melbourne Film Festival. It was also the opening film at our very own Cape Town International Film Festival ( Sithengi ) where Kagiso’s inspired performance saw him being awarded with the “Best Actor Award” beating off competition from accomplished and revered actors from all over the world. Such has been the impact of his film that MTV Films Europe recently put pen to paper to be the global marketing partner of the film. He has also been cast in the 2007 release South African movie – Good Fellas which is gaining in pre – release hype.

Another huge feather in Kagiso’s cap was his recent selection as one of the judges for the internationally recognised Emmy Awards, a massive accomplishment and endorsement of his growing stature as a talented producer worldwide.

In 2007, Kagiso Lediga is recognized as one of the country’s headlining comedy and screen acts. He was referred to as a national asset at a recent performance for the city of Durban by its mayor. As he continues to hone his craft both locally and internationally, he remains in the top tier of home grown comedy talent and has left a hard act to follow. 
Performance Summary

Live Events

Oppikopi Rock Festival Worcester, Up the Creek Rock Festival, 5fm Kingsize Heavy weight Jam Johannesburg, Cape Comedy Collective University Tour, Heavyweight Comedy Jam Durban, Cape Town Smirnoff International Comedy Festival, Kingsize Comedy Festival, Laugh Out Loud concert, Comedy @ the Playhouse : Durban 2004, Metro FM Music Awards, Oppikoppi Festival 2005, Music at Constitutional Hill 2005, Blacks Only Comedy Festival 2005, Cape Town International Comedy Festival, Pure Monate Comedy Jam, King Kong Tower Festival, Amahlaya Etheku Comedy Festival, Golden Scissors Awards 2006, South African Film and Television Awards Nominee Junket, Botswana Charity Comedy Event, Blacks Only 2006, Cape Town International Comedy Festival 2006, Let Durban Laugh Festival “06, Let Durban Laugh Festival 07, North West University Comedy Extravaganza 07

Corporates

Transnet, Black Business Executive Circle, Speakers Corner Caltex, M-web, Blue Moon, Black Accountants Forum, Ster Kinekor, Alstom, Mail & Guardian, Sunday Times, Khaya Majola Craven Week, Spescom, SABC, Old Mutual, Centricity Dinner , Internet Solutions, Octogon, Nike Social Responsibility Launch, , African Access Holdings Golf Day , Torque I.T. Golf Day, ABSA Fun Day, Coca Cola Year – End, Momentum, Eskom, Santam Child Art Function, SABC Marketing

Interviews

Top Billing, Channel O magazine, Pace Magazine, Mail and Guardian, New York Times, (with Cape Comedy Collective), BBC (with Cape Comedy Collective ), Channel 4 (with Cape Comedy Club ), Cape Review, Toasty Show, The Star, Pretoria News, Drum Magazine, Sawubona, Cape Argus, Cape Times, E-news, Phat Joe Live, CNN, World Online.co.za, 5 fm, SAFM, Y fm, Y – Mag, Metro fm, East Coast Radio, Isolezwe, The Mercury, Cape Talk, German Public Radio, JHBlive.co.za, Cosmopolitan, E-news, SABC Africa, Lotus FM, Destination SA, Channel O, Hey SA, Elle, Jozi FM, , Screen Africa, Good Hope FM, P4 Radio, Night Life, 702, GQ Magazine

Television

Evita Live and Dangerous (E-tv 1999), Comedy Showcase (SABC 3), Comedy Show Barry Hilton (SABC 3), Toasty show. (E-tv), Phat Joe Live. (E-tv), Phat Joe Show. (SABC 1), Laugh out Loud (SABC 3), Quickies 2 (SABC 3), SOS (E-tv), H20 Music video, The Pure Monate Show 1 & 2, Documentary on Zola ( Channel O ), Leanne Liebenberg interview for FHM ( MNet ), Creative Direction Strategist for Loerie Awards 2005, Sorted, Hard Copy, Shift ( SABC 1 )

Commercials

Parmalat Yoghurt, Vodacom, Aero-spatialle French Airports Company.

Movies

Crazy Monkey 2004, Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon 2005, Bunny Chow 2006, Footskating 101 2006, Good Fellas 2007

Comedy Clubs

Blues Room, The Armchair, The Underground Cool Runnings, Dachs, Comedy @ 88, Tanz Café, Carnival City, Horror Café, Cherelee’s, Morula Sun, , Funny Bones, Carolines ( New York ), Yuk Yuks ( Toronto ), The Laugh Lounge ( New York )