Agent Funny: Family business is a big laugh

17 October 2014 - 02:30 By Yolisa Mkele
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
JOKES ON US: Nick, Jason and Donovan Goliath ponder their next move for domination of the local entertainment industry
JOKES ON US: Nick, Jason and Donovan Goliath ponder their next move for domination of the local entertainment industry

Thousand of years ago a man named Goliath got into a quarrel with a young sheep herder and came off second best. Had he possessed a sense of humour, things may have turned out differently.

Having taken that lesson to heart, a clan of local Goliaths have taken a childhood of perpetual jest and are turning it into a comedy empire.

''Growing up we were always laughing. Our dads loved teasing and if you couldn't take a joke and give one back then you were the outsider," said Jason Goliath, one of the founders of Goliath and Goliath, a local talent management agency.

Started three years ago by Goliath cousins Jason and Nick from Johannesburg, and a comedian from Mthatha, Donovan Goliath, who just happened to share the same surname, their comic conglomerate has grown from doing small club gigs to managing other Comic Choice Awards winners and tickling audiences at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

''The same week that Nick and I started doing comedy we met Donovan. At first we thought he was crazy, but we liked him. The Goliath and Goliath thing evolved from doing AWEdnesday and seeing a gap in the market,"Jason said.

AWEdnesday is a comedy show that happens at different venues around Johannesburg on the last Wednesday of each month. Later this month it will celebrate its third birthday with a first theatre performance that will include Chester Missing, Trevor Gumbi, Stuart Taylor and all three Goliaths.

''I can't believe how much it has grown since we started. For us the best part is that it has become such a great gig for audiences and comedians," said Jason.

Part of the Goliath success story has been sifting through mounds of silt to unearth comic gold. This year's Comics Choice Savanna Newcomer award winner, Loyiso Madinga, and fellow nominees in the category Alfred Adriaan and Glen Biderman-Pam, are all groomed in the Goliath stable, as is The Times's resident agony aunt, Nina Hastie.

''We like to be seen as friends with our comedians first before we're considered their talent managers. A lot of the comedians we signed were not great at the start but they all have something we believe audiences will like," said Donovan.

Formerly a creative in the advertising industry, Donovan possesses nifty rap skills. He was recently a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing , and can lay claim to the snake-hipped powers that made Ricky Martin famous.

''Individually we all pride ourselves on being the best at whatever we are doing and try to use our different talents to make sure of that," he said.

The Goliaths seem determined not only to take over the comedy industry, but to extend into other entertainment avenues as well.

  • AWEdnesday's third birthday celebration will take place on October 29 at Gold Reef City. Visit www.computicket.com
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now