Nonto Rubushe - a rising comedy star

Nonto Rubushe chats to us about her rising comedy career and being nominated in this year’s Savanna Comics Choice Awards.

By: Fundiswa Nkwanyana

I never thought that I would make a living from comedy. In 2015, I was asked to MC an event and to my surprise people were rolling on the floor with laughter while I was busy trying to be serious. Back then it didn’t register to me that this could be a career path even though I always did stand-up comedy for my close friends and family. However, seeing a poster calling for people to take part in a comedy open mic session made me eager to give it a try. To my surprise, I was very good at it and the rest is history.

Comedy has given me the freedom to express my crazy point of view. I’ve learnt to accept myself and to be honest about my emotions without fear of judgement. Before I became a comedienne, I was afraid to speak my mind but I now I have the confidence to say how I feel in front of people and it feels so good.

People didn’t take me seriously when I started out. It was so frustrating to wait for people to book me and I didn’t understand why. So, I decided to start doing my own shows after winning an award for the Best indigenous comedian in the South African Traditional Music Award (SATMA) in 2016. This award gave me a confident boost and I did my first show whilst pregnant and told jokes from a pregnant woman’s perspective. This was something I had never seen in South Africa and I was happy that people loved and enjoyed my show. After doing two one woman acts, I then started a woman in comedy concept which is receiving great support in Durban.

I’m excited to be nominated in this year’s Savanna newcomer of the year category. I’m so happy that South African comedians think I’m funny because they are the ones that voted for me to get this nomination. To get this type of recognition is humbling and this nomination feels like a win. I’m going to continue doing what I love.