Education & Skills Development News South Africa

Comedy Central launches charity initiative

Comedy Central is hoping to bring smiles to the faces of underprivileged youth in South Africa thanks to its first-ever comedy benefit, Comedy Central Cares, hosted by Gareth Cliff.
Comedy Central launches charity initiative

Featuring stand up performances by legendary stand-ups John Vlismas, Tumi Morake, Barry Hilton and Loyiso Gola, Comedy Central Cares will take place on Wednesday, 25 September 2013, at Parker's Comedy & Jive, Montecasino. An hour-long TV special of the show will premiere on Comedy Central in December.

All proceedings from Comedy Central Cares will go towards the Ntshulisa Foundation's "My First Scholarship" project which aims to provide scholarships and skills training to underprivileged youth about to enter the workforce.

All the comedians on the bill will be donating their time for free, while Parker's has agreed to donate the door takings; design company iClipse will design event branding for free and TV production company Mannequin will waive a percentage of their production costs. A prize raffle packed with fascinating prizes will also persuade the comedy punters at the gig to part with their hard earned money.

Transforming tears into smiles

Commented Evert van der Veer, channel director, Comedy Central, Africa, "Comedy has the power to transform tears into smiles and sometimes the other way around, and Comedy Central is looking forward to bringing smiles to the faces of some of the deserving youth helped through the Ntshulisa Foundation. This is our first comedy benefit gig in South Africa but we hope comedy fans will rally round to help us and our friends in the comedy community to raise R150,000 for this great cause and help us to turn Comedy Central Cares into an annual event."

Tickets for Comedy Central Cares are available at www.parkerscomedy.com, direct from Computicket, or at the door at Parker's Comedy & Jive, Montecasino, Johannesburg, priced R300 per person. Doors open at 6.30pm CAT and the show starts at 8pm CAT. Ten-seater corporate tables are available priced R4000 per table.

Comedy Central Cares premieres on Comedy Central (DStv Channel 122) on Monday, 9 December at 8.05pm CAT (repeat: Friday, 13 December at 8.55pm CAT).

For further information about Comedy Central Cares, go to www.comedycentralafrica.com.

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