In the mid-1960s a young black man who entertained his friends by re-enacting the movies he'd seen, sat his father down and told him he wanted to keep doing it as a profession. Said Joe Mafela: "When I told him I wanted to be an actor he told me 'No, that's not work. Work is when you go to work at 8am and leave at 5pm'."But as it turns out he was wrong. Mafela is collecting the Comics Choice Lifetime achievement award tomorrow .In his father's defence, black males did not really have the luxury of slaking their thespian thirsts. Yet, half a century later, Mafela's career stands as ammunition for frustrated teenagers railing against their progenitors' false omniscience.Said Mafela: "I initially started out as a salesman. I think I was very successful but it didn't work out. By 1965 I had gone full force into acting."Since then Mafela has gone on to star in, direct, produce and write a slew of films, plays, TV series and dancing theatre productions with arguably his most famous role being that of S'dumo in the hit SABC Zulu language sitcom 'Sgudi 'Snaysi (It's Good, It's Nice). He also starred in South Africa's first homegrown all-black movie Udeliwe.He said: "I had done some stage and film theory so it was quite easy to adapt to any position behind or in front of the camera. Back then we did a lot of learning on the ground as well."The fruits of all of this learning on the fly work can be seen bulging out of a cabinet in his home near Bramley. A constellation of awards vie for prestige of place. Perhaps the most surprising member of Mafela's trophy cabinet is a Loerie Award."I won a Loerie in 1983. I think it was the first time a black person got it. One of my biggest roles was translating brand ideas into something that would work for people in the townships," he said.During his tenure as a creative director at ad agency BBDO, Mafela handled the accounts for brands like Cremora, Checkers, Crinkle Cuts and, of course, Chicken Licken.But comedy can have a bitter side.Mafela said: " It has occasionally been difficult to get people to take me seriously in everyday life. Sometimes I would be speaking at a funeral and I would have to remind people who were laughing that someone has died here."It took a long time for me to realise that sometimes that is what people want in those moments."Despite this it is unlikely he would take any of it back. Having graced televisions and stages for roughly two generations, Mafela has entrenched himself as one of the country's founding pillars of on-screen comedy.The Savanna Comics Choice Awards take place tomorrow at Montecasino. For more information visit www.comics-choice.com..