If, on 26 June, you feel a strange but oddly comforting burning sensation it’s likely you are in the hot seat at one of South Africa’s most scintillating comedy variety shows ever – Pants on Fire! which is headed to Port Elizabeth ahead of its debut at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown next week.
Pants on Fire! will be staged as a daily late night comedy variety show with a twist, situated in the heart of the Grahamstown National Arts Festival’s roaring cultural tornado and hosted by award-winning comedians Rob van Vuuren and Martin Evans, who both hail from Nelson Mandela Bay. A sneaky Port Elizabeth show will be staged in a riotous, once off preview on 26 June at the PEMADS Little Theatre.
“We couldn’t let our home town go without a night of fire. In fact, we decided it best to light the fire in Port Elizabeth and watch it spread to Grahamstown,” quipped Evans, a former Victoria Park High vagabond and infamous UPE campus radio deejay, turned real radio star and Cape Town local.
Brought to the city by NumbCity Productions, the event sees the merging of these two “2011 Standard Bank Ovation Award” winning comedians to bring both Nelson Mandela Bay and Grahamstown festinos a quintessential National Arts Festival experience.
Van Vuuren – once of Corne and Twakkie fame – said to think of the event as “the eye of the storm” and “…a late night comedown comedy café complete with bar and restaurant, serving platefuls of belly laughs and side-orders of the bizarre and beautiful.”
Evans and van Vuuren will present a smorgasbord of their best stand-up, their wickedest banter as well as a smattering of hilarious sketches and interviews.
The special preview happens at the PEMADS Little Theatre in the Athanaeum on Tuesday 26 June at 8:00pm. The dynamic and hilarious duo will be joined on stage by two ex-Port Elizabeth brothers, Gareth and Rhys Woods, who promise to bring their original and exciting comedic talents to the plate.
“We are bringing you have a recipe for an unforgettable night of entertainment,” added Evans. “Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of South Africa’s most exciting talents all on one tiny, beautiful stage in the heart of Port Elizabeth.”
The festival line-up is equally as attractive when each night, at 10pm, the Pants on Fire! hosts will be joined onstage by special celebrity guests who will perform a taste of some of their best stuff as well as be put through their paces in an interview unlike any other. Special guests include: Chris Chameleon, Andrew Buckland, Claire Johnston, Arno Carstens, Shannon Hope, Gary Thomas, James Cairns and many more.
To top it all off each show will boast guest appearances by the funniest comedians at the festival including Conrad Koch, Siv Ngesi, Stuart Taylor, David Kibuuka, KG, Mark Palmer, Vittorio Leonardi, Warren Robertson, Glen Bo and more. “It’s the most original show around. Also, it’s a place you can set your pants on fire… if you want to,” claimed Evans.
Tickets for the Nelson Mandela Bay Pants on Fire! preview will be sold at the door for R65. Doors open at 7:00 pm and the fire starts at 8:00 pm sharp. Bring underpants, advised event promoter Amy Shelver.
Alan Straton
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can’t wait…
hope to see the good people of PE there. Come support.