Rich aims to be 'Charlize of laughs'

A tattoo artist from a small KwaZulu-Natal coastal town wants to be the Charlize Theron of the comedy world.

Dusty Rich, a 27-year-old from Amanzimtoti, is appearing alongside US and national comedy heavyweights at the Nando's Comedy Festival after claiming first prize in the KwaZulu-Natal leg of the Graca Comedy Showdown.

Rich's rebel-without-a-cause routine had the audience in stitches during the national festival's opening night in Durban on Tuesday. But the new kid on the block said his physical expression while talking like an enthusiastic teenager is no act.

"I don't fear the stage because I am not acting. When I am on the stage, I am myself, but if you put me at a dinner table at a social event, I wouldn't know how to act at all."

Though he started mimicking Jim Carrey ages ago and always kept family and friends in fits of laughter as a boy, the comedy bug only bit him three years ago.

"But I feel like I have been a comedian all my life, and I know I was born to do this," he said.

Rich is honoured to share the stage with US comedy giants Finess Mitchell, Mitch Fatel, Christina Paszitsky and Tom Segura at the festival, but said South Africans should take note of local talent.

"Look at Trevor Noah going all the way to the Jay Leno Show . If you watch South African comedy, you realise what a funny nation we are and that our comedy is smart."

Rich wants to take his humour to the Edinburgh Comedy Festival next year.

"I just want to be a comedian. When I make it big internationally I want to be the Charlize Theron of the comedy world, without breasts of course."