By Helen Herimbi
“I won’t say f*** in every second sentence,” assures Cokey Falkow. With his one-night only stand-up comedy show taking place at The Wits University Great Hall in Johannesburg this evening, Falkow wants big laughs from open-minded people.
“I’m not a really, really, really rude comic, I mean, some of my content is a little out there, but if you’re a prude and words are going to offend you, then please don’t come.”
However, if you don’t fit the above description and are game for a night of hysterics with a seasoned comedian (he’s been at it for almost 10 years now) who explains that his is “not a stand-up show with props because he’s on a bigger stage and performing a better show”, then this is exactly the show for you.
What the untitled show will feature is a bunch “of really personal stuff”. Having come off a successful and critically well-received one man show about his life, Odd One Out, Falkow describes how different tonight’s show will be.
“As soon as people see that this will be a one-night only show,” starts Falkow, “everyone looks for the punchlines and, in this show, I talk about growing up Jewish and being a part of the ANC Youth League.
“You see, when I did the one man performance in Cape Town, it was an hour-and-a-half long and then I had to cut it down to 55 minutes for Grahamstown.”
And various bits of this one man show will form parts of the stand-up gig at Wits.
Joining him on stage is the UK comedian, Martin Davis, who is famous for daring crowds to heckle him. Perhaps it’s because he knows how good he is that chances of anyone taking the dare up are minimal.
Even Falkow is a fan, saying: “He’s a good friend of mine and gave me a lot of gigs when I was starting out in London, so I’m just returning the favour.”
Travelling the world delivering your comedy in spots like London is always great, but not greater than being embraced on home turf.
Which is why he’s thrilled at the idea of the first SA Comedy Awards, which take place in Cape Town next month.
“It’s a great thing for the industry” shares Falkow before adding, “but I know this year they’ll award the older comics, like Pieter-Dirk Uys, who’s been in the game since before I was even a foetus – which is cool!”
Staying with cool, Falkow wants only cool people at his show tonight. “Get some black people in the audience because they laugh louder than whites,” he chuckles. “I don’t want any inward laughing like white people do, when I do shows in places like Gugs (Gugulethu, Cape Town) the people there don’t just laugh, they explode.”
This article appeared in Tonight on 27 August 2007.