You may have noticed last week that Comedy Central is running a special event of sorts.
Every Monday night from now until mid-October you can catch Famous Last Words, a charity- focused comedy show pairing up local comedians and decidedly less-comedic celebrities. The idea is that the comedians mentor the celebs in the art of comedy and then wipe away a tear of pride as they send their crash course protégé out in front of the audience and cameras to hopefully use all they've learned to make us laugh.
I think the unspoken other side of the coin is that we might be just as likely to extract amusement from their awkward attempts at comedy. The celebs will also take the comedians into their respective worlds to have a crack at whatever it is they do for a living.
This week's master-apprentice duo on Comedy Central, channel 122, Monday at 21h00 is Kagiso Lediga and John Robbie. Lediga is a local stand-up comic who doesn't think his name is sexy, to the point where it kills the mood during amorous congress if the woman is required to speak it.
You may have seen him in that weird Die Antwoord music video Fatty Boom Boom, as a doctor who extracts a parktown prawn from a Lady Gaga lookalike's, you know, down there.
I knew Robbie as a host for 702 Talk Radio, the station my dad listened to while driving my sister and me to school every day for our entire school careers, but I lost track of him after he retired.I don't remember Robbie being funny on 702, although it's likely I may have been too young to understand the jokes. Still, it'll be interesting to see if Lediga can turn him into a genuine comedian.
FAMILY AFFAIRS
You might find it hard to believe, but we've got new sitcoms on SABC1. I waited for them to air first because I've been bitten too many times by promises of "upcoming" shows. They're here now so let's start with Rented Family, SABC1, channel 191, Monday at 19h30. It stars an ensemble cast of comedians including Gabriel Mini, Nkanyiso Shezi, Trevor Gumbi, Samkhe Makhoba, Swankie Mafoko and Siyabonga Mabuza as a dysfunctional step-family held together by their well-to-do patriarch Muzi (Mini), who seems to be the only reliable bread- winner in the household.The second new sitcom on SABC1 is on Wednesday at 19h30. Thuli noThulani is about family members encroaching on one another. Playboy bachelor Thulani (Wright Ngubeni) takes in his sister Thuli (Tango Ncetezo) and her daughter Mbali (Pride Tshabalala) after her marriage fails. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but it draws itself out - and nothing throws a wrench in a playboy's plans more than an impressionable kid hanging around.
DOWN TO THE WIRETo make the last item something a bit different, how about Life on a Wire, on Discovery Family, channel 136, Monday at 21h10. It features the exploits of daredevil Nik Wallenda who keeps his family tradition of death-defying tightrope artistry alive by performing crazy feats of balance over vertigo-inducing drops all over the world...