Loyiso Gola’s one man comedy show; “Loyiso Gola for President”
Winner of a South African Comedy Award 2007
He was nominated for the Best Comedian of the Year in the inaugural instalment of the
Stars of Mzansi Awards 2008 ( SA’s version of the Emmy Awards )
Loyiso Gola’s unique sense of humour, affinity towards openly frank and observational commentary has carved him into a comedy genius elevating his status to that of one of South Africa’s most talented comedians.
Loyiso has been performing comedy for 8 years and has graced the stages of all the major festivals and events on the local comedy calendar. In being invited to perform for 2 years running at the Cape Town International Comedy Festival, South Africa’s most prestigious comedy event, he announced his arrival as one of the country’s most talented comedians. His talents were also recognized and honoured further when he was selected to perform in the “Best of the Festival” line up which included all the best acts at the festival, mostly internationally acclaimed acts.
In 2008, Loyiso is also wowing audiences nationwide as he tours the country with his critically acclaimed one man show, interestingly titled “Loyiso Gola for President” He has received rave reviews in his Joburg and Durban runs of the show. The success of the show culminated in it winning him a South African Comedy Award in 2007. He is also was asked to perform at this inaugural instalment of this event. He has also been invited to perform in London, Dubai, Gaberone and Lusaka.
His rise on the comedy local rankings has been nothing short of meteoric. From humble beginnings performing with the Cape Comedy Collective on the Cape Town comedy circuit “while he was still at school”, he has evolved into a comedy phenomenon performing all over the country as well as having been on television, radio and the big screen. The comedy fraternity was first made aware of his talents when he won the Sprite Soul Comedy competition and was the runner up in the professional category of the Freshest Five Comedy Competition literally upon his arrival in Johannesburg in 2003 at the age of 19.
Since then, he has gone on to perform in events such as the Kingsize Comedy Jam, Comedy Blackout, Pure Monate Comedy Jam, Blacks Only Comedy Show, Sprite Soul Comedy Jam as well as many other comedy events all over the country. His physical comedy skills have not gone unnoticed and he has landed roles on SABC 3’s Comedy Showcase, drama series Mthunzini.com as well as popular local soapie, Backstage. However, his on screen popularity really grew when he became a writer and performer in 2 seasons of SABC 1’s cult sketch comedy series, the Pure Monate Show ( recently nominated in 8 categories of the South African Film and Television Awards.) which had millions of viewers and served to make Loyiso a household name, increasing his fan base significantly nationwide . He was also entrusted with hosting the Metro FM Music Awards and a year later was given the honour of being one of the hosts of the more prestigious South African Music Awards. In addition, he has been granted with the honour of opening for international superstar comedians, Russell Peters and Sugar Sammy in their respective tours of South Africa.
In 2005 he also landed a cameo in a locally produced comedy feature film Bunny Chow, that was theatrically released in 2007 and was a huge hit on the local as well as international movie circuit. Last year also saw Loyiso being given his own tv show to co-star with iconic comedy great Pieter Dirk-Uys. Aptly titled Dinner with the President, it was a sitcom meets talk show which saw them interviewing various celebrities and well known public figures for 13 episodes on prime time South African television. It received great ratings and may be commissioned again this year.
Today you can find Loyiso Gola performing at numerous corporate functions, live shows and club gigs all over the country. He is now recognized and lauded wherever he performs and is sure to grace the higher echelons of comedy talent in South Africa for a long time to come.
Live Events
Loyiso Gola for President ( Joburg ), Loyiso Gola for President ( Durban ), The BIG International Comedy Week 2007, Pure Monate Comedy Jam, Mentos International Comedy Festival , Blacks Only, Freshest Five, Forget What You Heard – One Man Show, King Kong Tower Festival, Sprite Soul Comedy Jam, UP Yours Comedy Night, Heavyweight Comedy Jam ( Joburg ) Heavyweight Comedy Jam ( London ) , Kingsize Comedy Christmas Jam, Metro FM Music Awards, Comedy Collective University Tour, Cape Town International Comedy Festival, Arts Alive. Frolic Festival, Comedy Blackout, Arts Alive 2006, Amahlaya Etheku Comedy Festival, Botswana Charity Comedy Event, Masana Petroleum Golf Day, Dubai Comedy Series, Celebrate Durban 2007, Vodacom Campus Tour, United Nations Comedy Tour 07, WOW Comedy Jams, Life Is A Joke Comedy Festival amongst others.
Corporates
Hosted Metro FM Awards, Hosted South African Music Awards, Clover Year End Gala Function, State of the Station ( MNet ), ABSA Choir Festival, Toyota Golf Day, Hewlett Packard, MTN Campus Tour, MTN SAMA Launch Party, Sowetan, Dept of Trade and Industry, FNB, SABC Airtime Sales, Sprite Campus Tour, Nokia June 16 Celebration, Urban Brew, ABSA Fun Day, Edgars, Muncipality of Durban, YFM, Ningabo Media, Mojo, University of Cape Town, Masana Petroleum Gala Evening, Choir Festival National Tour, UCT Graduate School of Business, SAFA 2010 Gala Event, Proudly South African Awards amongst others.
Television
Pure Monate Show, Mthunzini.com, Backstage, Comedy Showcase, Dinner with the President
Movies
Bunny Chow
Comedy Clubs
Dachs, Horror Café, Morula Sun, Carnival City, Sibaya Casino, Comedy@88, Coco Bongo – Montecasino, Funny Bones, Back Room, Comedy Underground, Armchair, Tanz Café, Horror Café, Blues Room |
