As part of 041Online’s partnership with Fineprint to spotlight emerging young voices, this piece explores the rise of female comedians in South Africa’s male-dominated scene. It looks at how women are finding their voice, carving out space, and making audiences laugh on their own terms.
Nolwazi Nkwandla
I have been a comedian since 2019, when I did my very first open mic night in Sybrand Park, Cape Town, at a coffee shop called Timbuktu Coffee. The event was run by top comic Yaaseen Barnes but was run by his friend Stuart Cairns that evening. I remember asking Stuart after the show how he thinks I did and he said something about working on my flow and not being so stiff. I took the comment in my stride and decided that I thought comedy was going to be my thing.
Now as a female comic, when you’re new and shiny to the industry, the OGs are welcoming, and the male comics are friendly. Fellow female comics are also welcoming, but everyone has varying degrees of warmth. There are those who will let you jump on their lineup,s and there are those who will give you flimsy excuses when you reach out and ask for a 5-minute slot.
As women in a male dominated space such as comedy, we do tend to flock together, but there is also politics within the bubble of what being a female comic is. There are those who want to be seen as equal to the male comedians, and there are those who want to carve out a niche for themselves entirely independent of the male comics. But South Africa is a patriarchal society, and the boys club exists in every industry, so of course, it exists within the comedy space too. As women, we are competing and vying for select spaces, but the men are almost always accommodated or given more opportunities by showrunners or by their peers. It’s not that women are not funny (as some male comics believe), but sometimes it’s a case of not being given the chance to play with the big boys. And let’s face it, being kept in class and not being allowed to play with the rest of the kids at breaktime was never fun for anyone, girl or boy.
Women in the comedy space are now taking agency and space by making their own shows. Where the lineup is mostly, if not only, female and showing the boys that we too can be bold and freaking hilarious too. We speak about a vast array of topics, and the things we say are relatable to all and not just men (sorry boys, but sometimes your jokes are a bit niche). We also find the funny in surprising places, whether it’s being a mom or just living as a woman in a country that is still so steeped in male dominance.
Television is catching up too, with shows like The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, which centres on Midge Maisel, who is a frustrated housewife who has a rant on stage one night at a comedy club and becomes a world-class comedian. The world is also evolving and finding that women are wickedly funny, we always have been but television shows are being created by women for women and the rest of the world is slowly catching on. We are getting the recognition we have so richly deserved for so long. It’s really cool to get the kudos you’ve quietly longed for, but to get the clap on the back to say, “Hey, you’re pretty funny and not just cute.” So ladies, I know it often feels like a thankless job, but we are getting to where we need to be, show by show, laugh by laugh. Tits up and knock ‘em dead eh?
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