Reader’s Digest UK – August 2019

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Stand

• Up

We chat to the effortlessly funny

comedian, Loyiso Gola

WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF YOUR

CURRENT SHOW? At the moment I

talk about pet peeves. The things that

really piss me off aren’t these grand

issues, they’re mundane, weird things.

Like, why doesn’t Wimbledon build

a roof? Man, just build a roof.

You’ve been stopping for rain for 30

years, at some point that’s just called

being disorganised.

WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE

HECKLE? What I tell the people who

heckle me is, if you heckle I will

pretend that you didn’t, and then I’ll

continue. If you weren’t there when I

was writing at home then it’s too far

gone in the process for you to get

involved, you can’t join me now.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ONE-

LINER? My favourite one liner I’ve

ever heard is one by Chris Rock that I

heard in high school and it still

makes me laugh to this day. He says,

“When your boss is paying you

minimum wage, what he’s basically

saying is: ‘If I could pay you less I

would. It’s just against the law.’ ”

DO YOU HAVE ANY FUNNY TALES

ABOUT A TIME YOU BOMBED ON

STAGE? There was this one time I was

at a casino and I wasn’t told that no

one there spoke the language—they

just stared at me the whole time. That

was probably the most painful one

because there’s nothing you can do.

WHO INSPIRES YOUR COMEDY?

The world, stuff that happens in it and

my engagement with people. I find

irony in a lot of things which

is how I would describe what I do at

the moment.

IF YOU COULD BE A FLY ON THE

WALL, WHOSE WALL WOULD YOU

BE ON? I’m happy being human.

I wouldn’t want to be a fly under any

circumstance, even in the case of it

leading to another conversation,

because flies eat s**t. That’s too much

to compromise for me. I wouldn’t

want to be a fly on any wall. n

Loyiso Gola: Pop Culture is playing at

Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s Pleasance 10

Dome during August

AUGUST 2019 • 143

60

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