What: Phillip Dikotla LIVE (HERE) – a Christmas Holiday Special

Where and when: 

Johannesburg: December 6, 2024 at Hyde Park Corner – Nu Metro Cinema
Cape Town: December 12-14, 2024 at the Homecoming Centre (limited 3-day run)
Time: 7pm – every show
Tickets: R250
Bookings:  www.phillipdikotla.live

Phillip Dikotla (34) has made a huge impact in the arts world – in theatre and on the big and small screen. His multi-award winning play Skierlik has become a contemporary theatre classic, with recognition in South Africa and abroad. At the heart of his work, Dikotla is a storyteller and stand-up comedy is a medium and genre which he loves and embraces. The entrepreneurial young creative took ownership of his comedy in 2016, when he produced his first one-man stand-up comedy production, Kulneck In 2021, he founded Dikotla Originals, the company behind the establishment of the Big Comedy Live, a diverse comedy promotion brand and platform, producing his new shows, such as Phillip Dikotla LIVE (HERE) – a Christmas Holiday Special, which will be on in Johannesburg (December 6, 2024, Hyde Park Corner, Nu Metro Cinema) and in Cape Town (December 12-14, 2024 at the Homecoming Centre). Dikotla admits that as young boy, he was a “handful” until he joined the drama and debate clubs in high school, where he began to to shape his humour. Over time, he learned to channel the disruptive energy, which led to his first comedy routine. Comedy he says is “is an act of purging – the self-induced vomiting type.” Read on for more by the unwaveringly candid Dikotla:

TCR: You have said that comedy is your “primary passion” and that it came first before the acting and work as a playwright? What is your earliest memory of being funny and people laughing at you?

Phillip Dikotla: When I was about 7- 8 years old, after every soccer practice, when the coach was addressing us, somehow, I always found a moment to steal the spotlight from my coach, impersonating him and entertaining the team at his expense with the creation of ridiculous and random songs. I still have no idea where I got those songs.

Though I was a very shy and reserved kid, maybe because I always felt somehow without coming from a family of my economic circumstances – Yes! Where my mother was a ‘billionaire’ – it was hard. My mother became a single parent of four, without a job, following the untimely passing of my father, in the same year that I was born. 

In my life, I learned to shine-through life, acting out through moments of laughter. This became me, and my way of fighting through life – not wanting to allow my circumstances to define and limit me. I was making jokes, acting-up and clowning through life. It was a character trade of mine everywhere I went – school, church -and any other place where I could get some attention. I was making fun of teachers, priests, my mother’s friends, but this “thing” I do was hardly ever appreciated for what it was (or what it could be). It was described and commonly understood as being borderline disrespectful, disruptive…. It was called  Anything but COMEDY, until I joined the drama and debate clubs in high school, FINALLY – I had found the two rooms where I belonged – discussing burning important social-issues through debate- and revealing/discovering myself through humour -eventually creating my first ever comedy routine. That routine went on to win a local cultural festival award – for comedy. This was when I realised my potential. I knew I was the guy I thought I was. I realised I could be good at something. I did not just feel good. I felt special. My bravery was rewarded and it was at this same moment, where someone (Marlon Khoza) who was judging the festival, recognised and ‘argued’, that I had a great potential as an actor.

He loved my comedy, but he was more interested in me as an actor and he did prove his case. With his foundation, I went on to become the youngest recipient of the Olive Schreiner Prize for drama, for my writing. I was awarded a Fleur Du Cap Theatre Award. I worked with celebrated directors such as Lara Foot. At this point comedy was in the past, a thing I did on the side,

TCR: Can you talk about making a conscious decision to focus on your comedy as a career – and shift away from acting?

PD: Shifting from theatre, having built a well-recognised career, to pursuing comedy as ‘my love language to South Africa’ was not easy. It came with me losing the community that I had.  But at the core of that decision, was the desire to find a lighter and easily accessible way to entertain and engage on important topics. Theatre/drama was just too intense for me. I missed that thing I discovered years ago as a high school kid, when I started going to the drama club – that experience of me talking and people laughing. It felt like I was not using my super-power.

I love having constructive and meaningful conversations through my work and I felt that with theatre, everything was just ‘too serious, too deep, too sensitive’ for my liking, I wanted to have the same discussions, but in a lighter way.  And I’m convinced people who loved theatre work, didn’t want to hear me say ‘comedy’ because of their preconceived notion of what comedy is/was to them. I realised that people just didn’t think it was possible for one to tell the same stories and have  the same meaningful-constructive conversations, in a lighter-way. Maybe they didn’t trust my capabilities. I don’t know.

In my decision-making process, I was liberated by my understanding that, what I can do with a play, I can easily archive with a joke. The hardest part was finding and creating a space in comedy, for this type of comedy.

TCR: When did you establish Dikotla Originals and BIG COMEDY LIVE? Is the idea to provide a platform for your comedy and the work of others or do you focus on your own work? Can you tell us about projects in the pipeline?

PD: Dikotla originals was founded in 2021, while producing The Regular Post – a satirical  weekly comedy series – and was formally registered in 2022, following the failure of my first company (FlipnFlap). As the creators of Big Comedy Live, Dikotla Originals is a media and entertainment company committed to innovation and growth, producing live and digital comedy-centric experiences.

The company has since spearheaded unique projects, such as the digital theatre project Skierlik produced in partnership with BOMB Productions and established the Big Comedy Live, a growing comedy promotion brand and platform, focussed on working towards positioning South Africa as the ‘Mecca of Comedy’ in Africa, and has since hosted two editions of the Big Comedy Live – Festival.

And there’s more coming, just stay on the lookout.

TCR: You are now 34. You grew up in Limpopo. Can you tell us about growing up?

PD: Growing up in Limpopo definitely had its own challenges, but it was the perfect environment for producing ‘diamonds’ like me. Being the last born, I was raised by my mother and two sisters. All of them gave me a fair share of spankings, because ‘apparently’ I was a handful.  My humour and comedy definitely come from my mother. Because that woman can talk and tease – with grace.

TCR: Can you talk about your studies at The Market Theatre Laboratory? Would you say that your theatre training has been instrumental in your career as a stand-up comic – how you present your material?

PD: I studied a two-year course at the Market Theatre Laboratory (2009 -2010), with 2009 also being the year I also debuted professional theatre career,  with the production of Sekwatlapa at the Market Theatre.

Yes, my theatre background does have an influence of my comedy, more because my comedy is driven/grounded in the art of storytelling, complimented with my ‘good performance abilities’, as they say.  My experience writing full length productions, allows me a grasp on how to select the right set(s) with varying narratives and string them together under one theme, allowing audiences an opportunity to enjoy a funny, multi layered narrative comedy experience, and be part of something special.

TCR: Can you talk about storytelling through laughter? You have said that we laugh at jokes when we let go of stuff. We can only laugh, if we let go? You have said that every joke is rooted in someone’s pain. In South Africa, there is a lot of pain to push through. Your comments?

PD: For me, comedy is an act of purging – the ‘self-induced vomiting’ type. Maybe not the best description, but it is how I confront and reflect on personal and social subject and observation without even thinking about it. Without even trying, that’s how I experience comedy. I think that’s why the first thing I do when I think of a writing a new show, is, reflect first.

In the beginning, all my reflections are not always funny. But the more I interrogate, trying to understand certain situations, and finding words to describe some experiences, perspectives, the ironies and create analogies in an effort to make my audience relate, naturally that’s where I find the humour; the funnier  the  ‘serious’ things start to become. Sometimes you realise that it (the issue) was not even that serious. Hence my belief that our inability to laugh at certain things, often comes with us having not reconciled with our experiences.

TCR: How do you deal with hecklers and people who take offense? 

PD: I am not perfect, none of us is, even with my best efforts and intentions, I could be wrong. I also understand that we ae emotional beings. There’s no template to dealing with that reality; you just try and make the best judgement in good faith, through any situation. After all I’m just like any other person – just a normal guy, with a mic, running his mouth, because he enjoys telling stories.

TCR: Comedy is a genre which facilitates uncomfortable conversations and can bridge gaps in terms of demographics. Pieter-Dirk Uys has said that comedy encourages us to laugh at our fears. As a young and successful artist/entrepreneur– what is your take on that? 

PD: That’s one way of describing it. But please tell Mr Dirk-Uys I said – laughter is how we acknowledge things we’ve over-come. In my comedy, laughter symbolises triumph.

TCR: The title – Phillip Dikotla – LIVE– for this show- is an affirmation of you being here and speaking out in 2024 as we head into 2025? 

PD: Yes, the (Here), it is just the small inner voice in me, that always feels the need to clarify everything, and over explain. Yes! It is an affirmation. 

TCR: Where can we catch Phillip Dikotla on a daily and weekly basis?

PD: @PhillipDikotla on Instagram, TikTok, X (hardly use it) and threads.

Otherwise, checkout our new project titled – breaking bad news on www.phillipdikotla.live  – it is free.

TCR: Anything else to add about your comedy and being a young South African sharing stories with diverse audiences – across demographics and cultures?

PD: I’m just looking forward to sharing stories and laughter, with comedy loving people of Cape Town, and Johannesburg, open to trying these experiences and to discovering their next favourite comedian.

Laugh lines in the serious: “Just because we are discussing serious stories, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t laugh. We can talk about serious matters, and still find humour … Laughter is how we acknowledge things we’ve over-come. In my comedy, laughter symbolizes triumph.” – Phillip Dikotla. See him live in Phillip Dikotla LIVE (HERE) – a Christmas Holiday Special, Johannesburg and Cape Town in December 2024. Bookings:  www.phillipdikotla.live

✳ Multi-award winning creative, Phillip Dikotla is performing Phillip Dikotla LIVE (HERE) – a Christmas Holiday Special, December 6, 2024, Johannesburg at Hyde Park Corner – Nu Metro Cinema and in Cape Town, December 12-14, 2024 at the Homecoming Centre. Bookings:  www.phillipdikotla.live