• Cape Town
• 3 Wiser Men
• Director: David Kramer
• Cast: Marc Lottering, Nik Rabinowitz, Riaad Moosa
• Where: Baxter Theatre, Rondebosch
• When: November 18 to January 9

"Oh yes," he said, when asked about the look. "I've always admired him ... I was fascinated by Chaplin and how he balanced those things (actor, director, producer, writer) and how he also understood this dilemma of being trapped in the character of the Tramp. If he wasn't the Tramp then people couldn't understand what he was about."

For a while, in the '80s and '90s, Kramer was trapped in the character in long-running kombi advertisements.

"I became known for that," he said. "And people still ask me: 'Where are the red shoes?' But that identifies me and I just know that I have to be totally comfortable with it."

Nevertheless, when fans meet him, it is the "serious" David Kramer that most surprises the public. "They're amazed, they think they know me, and then here's this guy who produces theatre, who writes, who directs and it's not just the comedy stuff."

Kramer was wearing his producer/director's hat and discussing his new Baxter show, 3 Wiser Men, starring Marc Lottering, Riaad Moosa and Nik Rabinowitz - three of South Africa's hottest comics. The show is a sequel of sorts to 3 Wise Men, last year's holiday season box-office smash.

"Marc was keen to work with other people," Kramer said. "He'd done these pantomimes up in Johannesburg and he said he liked to do something with other people and not just have the sole responsibility. "

Rabinowitz and Moosa weren't chosen to work with Lottering because of their religious backgrounds, Kramer said.

"No, the reason we wanted to work with them was because we liked their different styles ... But then it became kind of obvious. It is a nice angle. Marc's father was a Pentecostal preacher, and so we thought of a Christmas show, and the three wise men.

"We explored that for quite a while. 'Are we going to do a take on the Nativity? Do we go for a Christmas theme?' Those were the kind of ideas that we started with."

Eventually, they fell back on straight comedy - but with a twist.

"I didn't want it to be stand-up comedy-festival-type show," Kramer said. "They come through here every year, at least two or three of them.

"I thought that I'd like to do a show that had more variety ... a comedic 'variety show' but with not too much 'variety'. I didn't want to have a juggler and so on."

But there was a musical element - Donveno Prins and his band - and, in addition to three separate stand-up routines, there were topical sketches.

"Last year's most successful sketch was Auntie Merle's tea party," Kramer said. "She's very much a churchy person, Auntie Merle, from Belgravia Road. The preacher had said it was Christmas, and they should reach out to other people.

"Her way of doing this was to invite a Muslim and a Jew to her home and they would have this tea party to get to know one another better. So along comes Beryl Rosenberg from Sea Point, and Aysha from down the road.

"But the point of the sketch was that it was just after the xenophobic attacks. What we had outside was a Somali family camping on the sidewalk. So (Auntie Merle and her guests) keep looking through the window at these people. And it's a man and a pregnant woman and a donkey. So it was that kind of comment. 'Where does this Christmas spirit really start and end?' Audiences really liked that.

"That's the kind of comedy that I'm interested in doing. Holding up a mirror and exaggerating the characters of Cape Town ... so the audiences identify (with) and laugh at what they know. But ... there should be some kind of purpose or message in the sketch and that's what we're aiming for."