Werner is one of those. His story just amazes me. It isn’t a sad story of a bad childhood and how he made it against all odds. Hell, he hasn’t even made it yet. It is a story of a guy who was a fan of comedy, then decided to get up behind the mic and take on the monster. He didn’t stop there. He recently started running his own gigs, gigs that will play host to international acts soon. This guy is a go getter. Yes, it doesn’t take much to amaze me. I am easy like that.
RJ: How long have you been doing stand-up for?
WW: I started ... my very first stand-up night was I think in October 2009, at the end of October, at Pickwicks. Then I did it for a couple of months and then I kind of disappeared for a couple of months so all-in-all probably about 17 or 18 months or so all together, where I’ve played at least once a month.
RJ: So what made you decide to go into stand-up?
WW: I think pretty much the same as every comic... You went to a comedy show and think like “I can totally be funnier than that.” Then you realise you’re not. I think it was the same for me, and also I’ve always loved stand-up comedy. I’ve got a collection of stand-up comedy that’s probably, you know, bar none... I’m not really into like very obscure comedy, but like a lot of the mainstream stuff. I bought a Robin Williams Live on Broadway DVD even before I had a DVD player. That was just, like, the ultimate sort of starting point of me really getting into comedy.
RJ: You obviously work full time, I know you organise comedy gigs, you do comedy AND you’re working on a stand-up show... there are 24 hours in a day, where do you get the time from?
WW: Umm fortunately I have a Time Machine so I can stop time. I suppose ja, it’s like, I don’t know. It’s probably not that difficult to come up with the material. It’s refining the material which is something that you do on stage. So a lot of the writing of the material happens actually while you’re on stage. You come up with a concept and then you go write it there. Then as far as the organising and the nine to five goes, if you just set aside a certain amount of time per day , “Okay now for the next 45 minutes I’m doing just this and I’m not going to let anyone interrupt me “, you can actually get a lot done. I got a theory, people fail to prioritise and they get distracted way too easily and if you manage a very good schedule you’ll be able to achieve a hell of a lot. I don’t always stick to it, and sometimes I just do things at the seat of my pants, and it somehow manages to work itself out.
RJ: Tell me more about your upcoming show at On Broadway. What can people expect from it?
WW: The show’s title is Devolution: The Theory of Stupid and it’s a little bit about me and how I see my own evolution or rather like the lack thereof, and my personal life, and growing older and what comes with it. Being a 30-something male, and then just looking at society in general, and how I see the world going backwards as opposed to going forwards. We’re supposed to be the intelligent species, but all the evidence proves to be counter that. It’s essentially just me wanting to say how I feel about the world and doing it in a funny way so that people will actually listen. It’s kind of me just bitching really – but in a nice way.
RJ: What made you decide to do a one-man show?
WW: Well, after doing the Nando’s Comedy Competition, the Graca Comedy Showdown, I realised that for me it was impossible to compete in a competition where it’s up to the audience vote, because I can see from the audience’s response that I’m funny and I get the people laughing and everywhere I go people are always congratulating me, “That was well done, we really enjoy your stuff, you’re really a funny guy”. I really wanted to win that competition, I won’t beat about the bush, and when I didn’t make it through the first round I’ll be honest, I was gutted. Like jeez, this was a big opportunity and I blew it, not because I blew it, it’s just because I can’t rally the same amount of friends. Some other comics will say that if the people find you funny they’ll vote for you, but it’s not true. People vote for their friends because that where their alliance are. I’ll call a spade a spade. I’m not afraid to piss people off and that made me realise that even if I’d won the competition that doesn’t mean I would have made an impact there.
People came to see the likes of Pablo Francisco and the international acts and at the end of the day you’re the guy that goes up in front and unless you are able to absolutely slaughter them in those five, seven minutes that you have people are not going to remember you. So I realised I’d be far better, how can I say, to use my energy and time to write my own show, do my own show and get the people who come to see me walk away with an idea of what I’m really about in terms of comedy. If you watch me do comedy for five, seven minutes you’re not going to get an idea of who I am as a comic, you’re going to see, sure he’s funny, but a lot of comics can be funny doing five, seven minutes, even ten minutes. But the difference comes in once you have to keep an audience’s attention for 60... 70... 75 minutes. So that’s something I have to challenge myself and do it because I can’t sit around and wait for a lucky break because a lucky break only comes when you make that opportunity for yourself to create that lucky break.
For me the show is not about getting 200 new fans. For me the show is about going through the pains of doing that long set , keeping the people enthused, keeping their attention, and seeing where do I need to improve as a comedian. Because I know I can do a 25, 30 minute set with ease, but the question is can I double up on that? So that’s probably more the important reason why I do it.
If I can walk away from that show with two or three good reviews, or even just people going “You know what, that is very different, that was really good, if this guy does another show we’re going to come see him and we’re going to bring friends”, that’s what I want to take away from this. It’s not about the money, it’s not about anything else. It’s about proving that I can be just as good as an international act that comes out and that gets paid an absolute fortune. I can keep people entertained by not doing racial humour, by not doing the standard stuff that everyone else does, but by being different.
RJ: You’ve said that you’re a big fan of comedy, so how do you keep your own material separate from what you’ve already seen? How do you not accidentally steal something from someone else?
WW: I think you have to be very vigilant in terms of what you do, and it’s easy to. You know you’ll hear a little throw-away line and you’ll be on stage and it pops into your head and you think that you wrote it, so the kind of material that I do is not the kind of stuff that at least the South African comedians that I’ve seen and international – my style is different, I’ve got a much more chatty kind of vibe with the audience so almost every show is different. Even though I’ve got the jokes I kind of have more a conversation with the people as opposed to just doing the material. The things that I do are very personal, so if I’m doing things that are personal to me, that I know are about me and not anyone else, there’s no way someone else could have done it because it’s about me.
Sure there are bits that you make up here and there and invariably if you talk about social commentary it’s going to happen that two comedians will talk about the same thing, it’s going to happen. It doesn’t mean they stole from each other, it doesn’t mean that one saw the other one. If you talk about things that are in the news like Judge Mogeong Mogoeng, Gareth Cliff and Darren Scott, if you talk about those things, chances are some of the more politically orientated comics will talk about the same things but not necessarily in the same way. You can spot the guys that steal gags quite easily. If you’re in this industry long enough you can see which jokes are not original, because you will hear it’s not in their style, it’s something that they’ve picked up somewhere else. As long as you just stay honest and if someone calls you on it and says “hey, that’s my joke”, then fine… and I’ve never had that.
RJ: What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting out or wants to join in an open mic for the first time?
WW: Less is more. In the beginning keep it short, keep it punchy. Focus on the punchline and get comfortable with doing a short set. Nobody started out doing an hour’s worth of comedy. Nobody expects that of you. Also just be honest, have fun and don’t listen to what other comics say – don’t take advice from anyone.
RJ: Once your show is done at On Broadway what are you looking to do with it?
WW: Depending on how it goes I might, early next year, do another run, but I’m also planning on doing a lot more video-based content and internet-based content , doing skits and those kinds of things. Because comedy isn’t just about stand-up, comedy is so much more. Comedy is about writing open letters, comedy can be about writing blogs – as long as it’s funny it’s comedy. It can be a picture, it can be a one-liner, it can be anything. My goal is to try and build a comedy brand, not around me personally, but a recognised brand that builds comedy wherever it goes. That organises comedy gigs, some video production, an article, or whatever the case is. Because people can change and people can come and go, but a recognisable brand will always stay. So that’s where I’m hoping to go, is to use a fanbase that I build up to promote a brand which is not necessarily me. Because I also want to take the other comics that are serious about comedy and help them lift themselves up. Because there’s a lot of comics that have been in this industry five, six, seven years and still play open mic spots. Or still play support spots and haven’t done one man shows. If you don’t push yourself you’re always going to stay there. There’s no such thing as someone is going to see you and you’re suddenly going to get a lucky break – that only happens in the movies, in the poorly written movies. It’s all about making it happen for yourself.
You can catch Werner in his one man show, Devolution: The Theory of Stupid at On Broadway on September 26 to September 28. Book tickets at Computicket here...
Great interview and awesome perspective
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