After his exams end on Thursday, Mount Pleasant schoolboy Wildon Badier is ready for a laugh and he hopes his comedy show in Walmer on Tuesday will hit the funny bone.
Hill College grade 11 pupil Wildon, 18, has put together The Let’s Call it a Comedy Show, Show with stand-up comics Nkosinathi Maki, Niven Spence, Athenkosi Tshiseka, Tsepiso Nzayo and Roland Gaspar.
“Stand-up comedy is important and doesn’t get enough attention in Port Elizabeth,” the funnyman-in-the-making says.
“It really has a lot of potential to grow, giving new guys open mic slots on my shows, giving someone a chance to do comedy in front of a crowd in PE, which was virtually non-existent before this.”
The show, at the Bru Bar in Walmer, is already his fourth event only 18 months after his first foray into comedy.
Algoa FM presenter Gaspar will add his professional experience to the night and said Wildon was “prepared to learn his craft”.
“He is a modern young man with an old-school work ethic,” Gaspar said, describing the teen’s sense of humour as “club funny” with an edge.
“He has put in the hard yards to make it actually happen and I’m happy to help as long as comedy is the winner. He goes to township taverns and performs and that takes some courage!”
Spence, a professional MC, voice-over artist and radio talk show host, is another comic on the lineup.
“Niven is a cool guy who I met at the DockSide open mics that I used to organise,” Wildon said, recalling how their friendship started over an exchange of deeply personal insults.
Maki, who will MC The Let’s Call it a Comedy Show, Show, has been a stand-up comic since 2011 and has presented two Bay comedy fests.
“Athenkosi is a guy I perform in Motherwell with and he’s been doing comedy for three years now,” Wildon said. “He’s a great MC and makes comedy internet videos.
“Tsepiso is from Grahamstown but performs here [Port Elizabeth] the most. He recently ran a marathon, is a great athlete and is probably one of the funniest people I know.”
Wildon first took the plunge a year and a half ago during a road trip to Cape Town with his grandparents.
“I started by performing at the Armchair, an open mic venue,” Wildon says.
Since then he has performed at Parker’s Comedy and Jive, and Kitchener’s in Johannesburg.
“That is a gig that Lazola Gola organises and the night that I went there I was lucky enough to see him, that was exciting.
“I’ve also travelled to Durban twice by myself and stayed at backpackers. I perform at the Amsterdam comedy club with Jem Atkins and also the Winston underground comedy spot.”
However, the national appearances are not what he considers the most important.
“My biggest achievement is performing on Wednesdays at a place called KwaMalume in Motherwell NU1. I perform there because I think it’s important to understand people’s situations before I try to make them laugh.”
He is also a regular performer at Pata Pata in New Brighton, and in KwaNobuhle.
“One of the greatest things about comedy is that people who are totally different can sit and watch a guy they should hate but who instead makes them laugh.
“It’s just jokes and that’s what will keep us together.
“But I don’t just want my show to do well – I want this to start a chain reaction for PE to be somewhere where people with the talent of making people laugh can flourish.
“Of all places PE is a place that needs stand-up, laughter, people to look at the funny instead of the sad and happiness instead of disappointment.” The Let’s Call it a Comedy Show, Show is on Tuesday at 8.30pm at the Bru Bar in Walmer. Tickets are R30 at Quicket, and at the door.