KEEPING YOU IN STITCHES

As part of the University of Cape Town Medical School’s Centenary celebrations, Rondebosch Medical Centre will present a stand up comedy show called Keeping You in Stitches, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Saturday 17th November at 8pm.

The show will be hosted by doctor-turned-comedian Riaad Moosa and includes SA’s premier Ventriloquist Conrad Koch (eTV Late NIte News with Loyiso Gola), Kurt Schoonraad (Skeem, Going nowhere Slowly), Stuart Taylor (Money’s too tight to Mention, Learner Husband) and upcoming comedy stars in Cape Town.

Riaad Moosa is one of South Africa’s most popular, award-winning and innovative comedians and happens to be a qualified medical doctor as well, graduating from UCT Medical School in 2001.  Recently, he has flexed his comedic and dramatic acting muscles, playing the lead role in the acclaimed South African movie Material opposite comedians Joey Rasdien and Nik Rabinowitz. Previous sold-out one-man shows include Strictly Halaal and Riaad Moosa For The Baracka, and Three Wise Men and Three Wiser Men, the hit comedy shows created by David Kramer. Riaad has appeared in various TV and film productions, such as Laugh Out Loud and was also a writer and performer for SABC 1’s Pure Monate Show which achieved cult status amongst South Africa’s youth. He featured in the Anant Singh/John Vlismas produced comedy-collective feature film Outrageous in 2009. Along with SA’s other top comedians including Trevor Noah, David Kau, John Vlismas, Tumi Morake and Marc Lottering, Riaad was one of the headline acts supporting international superstar Eddie Izzard for the 46664 It’s No Joke concert in February 2010. Riaad has since become a regular presenter of a segment entitled The Second Opinion – with Dr Riaad Moosa on the E News Channel’s satirical news programme Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola. In March 2011, Riaad was awarded the Comics Choice Award at the 1st Annual South African Comic’s Choice Awards. Riaad recently stared in the acclaimed move The Material with Joey Rasdien-it is currently being screened at festivals in cities around the world, including in London, and Montreal.

Stuart Taylor became known to South Africans as the presenter of SABC 3’s hit travel show, Going Nowhere Slowly. But this Stellenbosch University science graduate swopped life in front of the camera for stand-up comedy in SA and abroad at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Berlin International Comedy Festival, the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and his sold-out one man comedy theatre productions throughout South Africa. Taylor’s delightful potion of enigmatic entertainment has mesmerised audiences from theatres to boardrooms across the globe, performing for many multinational companies. Stuart is a past recipient of the prestigious Overall Best Comedy award at the National Arts Festival and the Show Time award for the best solo performance.

Conrad Koch won Entertainer of the Year award in 2012 for 2010. Over the past 15 years he has combined hilarious comedy with world class puppetry, to international acclaim. He has worked all over the world, been featured on local and international television and is a frequent guest at some of South Africa’s biggest comedy events: The Smirnoff Comedy Festival, the Vodacom Comedy Festival, King Size Comedy, The 94,7 Heavyweight Comedy Jam, Blacks Only, SA London Comedy Festival, and more.

Hailing from Mitchell’s Plain, Kurt Schoonraad’s earthy humour makes him a real South African boykie in every way. He performs a clean act focusing on the widespread diversity of our rainbow nation’s varied cultures and the funny situations in which we find ourselves. Kurt pioneered Jou Ma se Comedy Club, a popular and ground-breaking weekly showcase that is truly benefiting Cape Town culture and the comedy industry as a whole. On television, Kurt is best known as the quirky accidental tourist on the hit SABC TV series Going Nowhere Slowly and for his role as the whacky protagonist on the popular game show Crazy Games for 3 seasons (2006-09). Other TV accolades include hosting a season of the ever popular Comedy Showcase on SABC. 2011 saw Kurt play a leading role in the Tim Greene movie “Skeem”, where it won the “peoples choice award” at the Abhudabi film festival. Look out for Comedy Central presents Kurt Schoonraad at Parkers in Jhb, due late 2012 on the Comedy Central channel on DSTV.

The Faculty of Health Sciences in the University of Cape Town was 100 years old on the 6th June 2012 and this show will form part of the Faculty’s Centenary celebrations. The aim is to raise funds to extend community based education activities in Family Medicine which we hope will encourage students to practice in rural areas; to create opportunities for students to learn the other two official languages of the Western Cape (isiXhosa and Afrikaans) to enable them to communicate more effectively with patients who speak these languages and lastly, to build on our research endeavours to improve service delivery to the most marginalised communities.

Book now to see the “the Comedy Doctor” and his hilarious co-stars for an evening of top class comedy that will beat the nation’s ills with a healthy dose of laughter, straight up – hold the aspirin.

Keeping You in Stitches is on for one night only on 17 November 2012 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), at 8pm. Tickets cost from R100 to R250 via Computicket with discounted tickets available for students on presentation of a valid student card. There is a 10% disclount is available for group bookings.

All funds raised by the show will go towards the UCT Department of Family Medicine’s Community Health Projects.

Keeping You in Stitches
Presented by the Rondebosch Medical Centre
Featuring the ‘Comedy Doctor’ Riaad Moosa, with Stuart Taylor, Conrad Koch, Kurt Schoonraad and others
Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)
17 November 2012, 8pm