Gqeberha audiences will get the chance to laugh for a good cause when the Thanks For Sharing stand-up comedy tour arrives at The Music Kitchen on August 21, with 10% of proceeds going to Walmer-based Zanethemba Charity Foundation.
The foundation is a baby haven providing temporary safe care, therapeutic support, education and love for abused, abandoned or neglected children from newborn to six years old.
The tour kicks off on August 14 at the Wilderness Beach House Backpackers before moving to Plettenberg Bay and then Gqeberha. It will visit a total of five locations.
Tickets cost R150, with 10% of every ticket sale going directly back into the community where the show takes place.
The Gqeberha leg will be hosted by well-known local personality Roland Gaspar.
The night will begin with Thanks For Sharing, a tighter, road-ready version of the show comedians Brendon Roux and Sabrina Titus first debuted at Ground Culture in Cape Town.
Roux returns from three chaotic months living in the forest with a hoard of stories too good to keep to himself, covering deep-woods misadventures, unforgettable characters and the kind of oversharing that has audiences laughing until it hurts.
Titus, a comedian who never planned on becoming one, joins him with her own brand of chaos, turning the awkward, messy and hormone-related into comedy gold.
Once the laughter settles, Liam Tuffy will take the stage and turn the night into something else entirely.
Fresh from the main stage at the SPAR Kirkwood Wildsfees, the Cape Town-born, Gqeberha-based singer-songwriter brings pop, indie, folk and rock with honesty that never wavers.
Audiences can also expect meet-and-greets.
“Literally, words cannot describe it. We have a lineup of people who have been doing it for years, and I mean artists are struggling in SA,” Roux said.
“Now we are there to get all these kids going around the country making money for their art, and we give back to charity, and it all just feels unreal.
“So we are still finding the words, but I think after the first show it will all sink in.
“So now it is just trying to stay regulated and not get too excited because there’s still a lot of work ahead of us. But beyond excited, dreams are coming true.”
The company was built by Roux, a comedian and media entrepreneur, co-founder Vincenzo Mazzola, the creative force behind the Lekker Lekker Media brand, and Tamlyn Thomas, founder of the LMB Online network.
With Gaspar as director, the company signs artists at zero upfront cost, giving them a full marketing, branding and PR team, along with access to 11 tourism and lifestyle platforms nationwide under the LMB Online network.
Roux said the selection of comedians and artists for the tour came from relationships built throughout his career in the entertainment industry.
When his life “fell apart a bit”, he met Thomas from LMB, and they joined their marketing agencies.
Living between Gqeberha and Plett, Roux, whose business operates locally, said he realised the partnership had given his own career a resource boost.
Reflecting on how he was brought up, he said when one person received something “magic”, they shared it.
The artists in the lineup are people he met along his journey, including Tuffy, who he met while living in the Bay.
“I had just fallen in love with his music and his passion for the art. Then I met Sabrina at a comedy gig and it was just this raw talent,” Roux said.
“She got into comedy accidentally. She joined a competition because she saw R5,000 as the prize but did not know it was for comedy.
“I met all the artists five years ago at media events.
“There is literally a no-ego rule because we are getting more artists by the week, but the whole thing is built around collaboration, and it feels like God has provided them.”
He said Thanks For Sharing began as a full-hour comedy show he performed with Titus.
The stories were relatable, he said, including those about a woman from the Cape Flats who was a single mother, unemployed and facing various trials and tribulations.
At the same time, audiences could find positivity in those realities through humour.
“I nearly lost everything in my business not so long ago and have fought tooth and nail to get out of it.
" So the stories are real, they are of hope and magic.
“We truly just love SA. It feels like there is a turn in this belief in what Mzansi can do.
“Every show, every musician we choose, has that little magic in them.
“If you can feel someone’s set or their music between your heart and your stomach, they will be at a Lekker Lekker Media performance,” Roux said.
At least eight artists will be paid through the tour, while sponsors will be announced soon.
Roux said some of the musicians and comedians would change from show to show, ensuring each performance was different.
For the Cape Town show, Anton Taylor was also added to the lineup, along with a drag queen performance.
The Gqeberha show will feature Titus, Roux and Gaspar on comedy, before Tuffy closes the night with a 45-minute music set.
Roux said the team also aimed to bring big-name comedians to the metro while building relationships with venues in the Bay.
Explaining the decision to support Zanethemba, Roux said the team was obsessed by the foundation’s work.
“And so for this first show as well as every other show in the future, we have devoted all proceeds to them, and we will choose another charity after a year of making a tangible difference.”
Tickets are available online through Fixr.
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