NANDO’S COMEDY FESTIVALS

INTERNATIONAL COMEDY AT ITS BEST AT THE 16^TH ANNUAL NANDO’S CAPE TOWN COMEDY FESTIVAL

PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

The longest running Comedy Festival in South Africa is back with another star-studded line-up to rock the Mother City! The 16^th Annual Nando’s Cape Town Comedy hosted at the Artscape Theatre from the 3^rd to the 9^th of September 2012 will feature seven of the best straight-up stand-up comedians all on one stage. International acts like Orlando Jones, Louis Katz, Brian Haner, Lil Rel and Loni Love will be joined on stage by local funny man David Kau.

Orlando Jones began his Hollywood career as a writer on NBCs “A Different World”, Fox’s “Martin” starring Martin Lawrence and writing/producing Fox’s “Roc Live” starring Charles Dutton. Orlando later combined his writing and acting talents on Fox’s “Mad TV”. Oscar winning director Barry Levinson cast Orlando in his first feature film Liberty Heights. Orlando has continued working with visionary film directors including Paul Weitz, (Cirque Du Freak: the Vampire’s Assistant), Peter Hyams (Beyond a Reasonable Doubt), Ivan Reitman (Evolution), Mike Judge (Office Space), Harold Ramis (Bedazzled) and Oscar Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia).  Orlando was nominated for an Ovation Award by the LA Stage Alliance for his performance in August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Fences. From his portrayal of Clifford Franklin in the classic football film The Replacements to the hugely successful Drumline to singing and dancing in the Broadway revival of The Wiz, Orlando Jones continues to thrill and entertain audiences.

Michael Winslow is a master of vocal gymnastics, can imitate over 1000 sound effects using his voice alone. Famous for his roles in the “Police Academy” movies, “Spaceballs” and several voice-overs for Disney and Universal Studios such as “Gremlins”, “Back to the Future”, “Terminator” and the TV hit “Robo Chicken and Family Guy” he entertains all ages with his hilarious impressions.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Louis Katz’s comedy career began at the incredibly early age of 9 when, as part of a school project, he submitted several jokes to “The Tonight Show,” two of which were read on air by Johnny Carson. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he began performing stand-up throughout the Bay Area and quickly made a name for himself. He is now a professional comedian based in New York who can be seen at clubs and colleges across the country. Louis has performed at the Montreal “Just for Laughs” Comedy Festival, the Atlanta “Laffapalooza” Comedy Festival, the Amsterdam “Toomler International” Comedy Festival and the Vancouver Comedy Festival. He has appeared on NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly,” Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” Jamie Foxx’s “America’s Funniest Comics,” and HBO’s “Down & Dirty w/Jim Norton.” His half-hour “Comedy Central Presents” special airs in early 2011, coinciding with the release of his debut comedy album, “If These Balls Could Talk,” on Comedy Central Records. Louis also produced a series of short films for Adult Swim’s superdeluxe.com, which can now be seen at youtube.com/louiskatzcomedy.

Best known as Guitar Guy from The Jeff Dunham Show, Brian Haner is that perfect combination of skilled guitar player and stand-up comedian. While many guitar comics simply play chords while they do their comedy act, Brian is a whole different kind of musician. Brian spent twenty-five years as a guitarist, recording and touring with musicians ranging from Avenged Sevenfold to Frank Zappa. For the last four years he has opened for The Jeff Dunham Tour on more than 500 shows, in just about every city in America, as well as South Africa, Australia, and a tour across Europe. Brian is now headlining clubs across the country in his own rock ‘n’ roll comedy show. With over 4.2 million views on his YouTube page, Brian has created a rabid fanbase for his live shows.

Chicago native Milton “LilRel” Howery recently was casted for the re-boot of the return of In Living Color to FOX television. Howery who excels at character comedy has gained a high amount of recognition over the past couple of years as he has appeared on numerous stand up television shows highlighted by performances on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central’s Russell Simmons Presents and Starz Martin Lawrence 1^st Amendment. In 2011 he also participated in the New Faces Show at the prestigious Montreal Just For Laughs Festival.

Howery has also developed quite the product catalog which includes a comedy album currently available on iTunes titled, “I Know You Hear Me, But Are You Listening” along with other independently produced titles such as “The Lil Rel Show Volume 1”and “Lil Rel: A True West Side Story” both available on Amazon.com.

Just how funny is comedian and actress Loni Love? Ask both Variety and Comedy Central, both of which have named her among their Top 10 Comics to Watch, or Campus Activity magazine, which honored her as its Hot Comic for 2009. Love is not only one of the most hilarious and lovable comics performing stand-up on the comedy club and college circuits but also a busy TV host, guest and actress who has also appeared in films and dramatic plays. Love starred in her own half-hour special for Comedy Central in 2007 and has also been seen on the channel’s “Premium Blend,” “Weekends at the DL” and “Chocolate News”. Her many television appearances include “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn,” “The Best Damn Sports Show Period”, VH1′s “I Love the 70′s/80′s/90′s,” “Vh1′s The Great Debate” and “Comics Unleashed” among numerous others. Love has recently appeared in the pilot episode of NBC’s hit show “Whitney” and has enjoyed a recurring role on the Nickelodeon show “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” as well as a recurring role on Disney XD’s “Kickin’ It.” She’s had guest starring roles on UPN’s “Girlfriends” and the CBS sitcom “Worst Week.” She was host of the “E! Wildest TV Show Moments” and guest host on “GSN Live,”.

In 2009 Loni became a CNN correspondent for the show “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News” covering the inauguration of President Barak Obama as well as doing correspondence for the “Dr. Oz Show” and ”The Doctors”. Currently Loni is a regular panelist on E!s hit show “Chelsea Lately” and TruTV’s Presents: The World’s Dumbest”. Loni taped her first one hour special for Comedy Central ” America’s Sister” which premiered in 2010. Loni’s first love is performing for live audiences. She puts it quite simply “I love to make people laugh!”

One of the most sought-after comedians in South Africa, David Kau’s name is synonymous with many firsts. He stormed onto the scene with a performance at the first Nando’s Comedy Festival in 1998 (then called the Smirnoff Comedy Festival), becoming the first black stand-up comedian on this coveted comedy stage. He wrote and performed “The Rainbow Nation Tour”, his first one-man show in 1998, and never looked back. He continued with politically-savvy comedy with his next play, “Introducing The Peoples Comic”– he left Cape Town for Johannesburg where he performed in “Heavyweight Comedy Jams” from 2000 and “Comedy Black Out” in 2002 until 2004.

Comedy Central is proud to present another favourite part of the festival: the very popular local stand-up competition “Graça Comedy Showdown”. See contestants fight it out on-stage during the “heats” with nothing more than their quick wit, a mic, and a burning desire to become the newest comedy hero of the festival. The winners of the annual-search-for-SA’s-new stand-up-star will get the chance to perform alongside the international comedy heavy weights for the duration of the festival.

Graça Comedy Showdown Dates – CT:

Heats:     7^th, 14^th and 21^st of August at Mercury @ 8pm

Final:      28^th of August at Mercury @ 8pm

Venue:   Mercury, Zonnebloem, 43 De Villiers Street, Cape Town

R40 (Final) – available at Door.

For more info call 0763928734

 BOOKINGS: Open today at www.computicket.com or any Computicket outlet

WEBSITE: www.comedyfestival.co.za for full line-up, show schedules and information

NANDO’S CAPE TOWN COMEDY FESTIVAL:

3 – 9 September 2012 at the Artscape Theatre

Cast:
• David Kau
• Orlando Jones
• Michael Winslow
• Brian Haner (Host)
• Lil Rel
• Loni Love
• Louis Katz
• Graça Showdown Winner (to be announced)

Tickets:  From R180 – R220