Kurt Schoonraad has just completed a successful run of his comedy show Spiders and Mayonnaise at The Fringe at the Joburg Theatre. The show takes a unique look at the lighter side of being South African, from our every-day fears and pet hates to bloomer panties.

"It's a great time for comedy in South Africa right now, there's just so much material. Yes, I guess you could say that it's a strange and wonderful country that we're living in and you have to laugh or else you'd end up crying," he said.

Schoonraad adds new material to his shows every day: "It's a stand-up based show with characters, music, myself as the star and about 14 of my personalities."

He is part of Jou Ma Se Comedy Club in Cape Town, which started about 10 years ago. There are lots of differences between performing in Cape Town and performing in Johannesburg, admits Schoonraad.

"I've never performed for an all-black audience before I did my stint in Joburg, the guys here obviously need a laugh. I'm coloured, so it's the best of both worlds. We guys are bent on world domination, so we're trying to hook up all our white friends and all our black friends in multi-racial relationships. Soon the whole world will be coloured."

Schoonraad says there's something that any newcomer to Johannesburg will agree on: "There's just no way to navigate around this city. They've put two big circles of highway around the city and renamed the roads in between while people were on them."

But he should know his way around. He is best known as the accidental tourist in the ever popular hit TV show, Going Nowhere Slowly.

So, what does he think of this beautiful country? "Well, in Cape Town all the salt in the air slows down the human anatomy. People are seriously lacking in energy. In Joburg the gold deposits in the ground don't absorb any excess energy, so it fills up the air and everyone is walking around all charged up."

We asked him to test some toothbrushes to see what brand he'd be taking on his next trip.

He says of the Colgate 360 degree toothbrush with tongue and cheek cleaner: "It has all the grips in the right places and is very good to look at. It's the eye candy that sells this product. It really gives you that fresh, clean feeling. If ever I was asked to go on a trip with the Star Trek enterprise, this is the toothbrush I would take with me.

"The Pick n Pay FlexiHead Oral Care toothbrush looks like the kind my grandma used. It's not great quality. The bristles are too hard. This one is probably good for dentures, but I wouldn't choose it."

The Oral B Delcate White 3-Effect toothbrush doesn't impress Schoonraad either. "It has a comfortable handle, good design, has a tongue cleaner and the bristles are comfortable. It's a pretty average, garden variety, straight down the line, can't-go-wrong toothbrush, but it doesn't have any of the extra gimmicks that sell toothbrushes today."

The Aquafresh 3-way Head toothbrush certainly does impress him. "Man, this is two toothbrushes in one. This is the Porsche 911 Turbo of toothbrushes. It's amazing, the technology. All the head parts move separately. I'm sold. This is a skrik-vir-niks toothbrush, three heads and two shoulders above the rest."