The Almost Perfect Podcast

KG Mokgadi has been doing stand-up since 2010 and is one of the most respected comics working in South Africa. He's also the host of Politically Aweh, the independent political satire show that's been steadily growing into something significant. In this episode we get into how KG writes, which is mostly in his head, and how a 30-second idea can become 15 minutes of material a year later. We talk a...

Matt Kay is a Cape Town-based photographer who came up through photojournalism, spent formative years on a Texas ranch with a Pulitzer Prize winner he didn't know was a Pulitzer Prize winner, and has spent the better part of two decades thinking seriously about what photography is actually for. In this episode, we get into why a photograph is never real, the collapse of photojournalism and how wed...

Conrad Koch is South Africa's most well-known ventriloquist, and his puppet Chester Missing is more famous than he is - a character who has interviewed presidents on television, and who has spent years at the centre of a genuinely complicated conversation about race, comedy, and who gets to say what. In this episode, we talk about writing material that works in Gqeberha and Edinburgh, the implicat...

Chuma Bentele is a Cape Town-based animator and comedian who is part of the Comics Choice Award-winning That's Not Funny team, and has worked on the Disney animated Afrofuturist anthology series, Kizazi Moto. With a love of the absurd, and a fearless approach to dissecting race dynamics in South Africa, Chuma has steadily built a name for himself as one of the most exciting new voices in South Afr...

Sophie Joans is a theatre-maker, comedian, and the kind of performer who doesn’t just toe the line — she cartwheels over it. From playing the devil in a satirical German production where Elon Musk stands in for Faust, to getting her tits out for laughs at the Armchair, Sophie’s work blurs the boundaries between clowning, comedy, and full-blown chaos. In this episode, we talk about Sophie’s recent...

Reflections on death and dying. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melt Sieberhagen has been part of South Africa’s entertainment industry for over two decades - acting in beloved Afrikaans TV shows, performing stand-up, and dabbling in everything from insert directing to voice work. But beyond the credits, Melt is a sharp social observer and cultural critic who’s unafraid to talk about the complexities of identity, privilege, and navigating a creative career in...

I'm still in the trenches so we're running back this interview with Muzi from 2019. "Muzi is a musician who was successful long before you (or I) knew who he was. The DJ, producer, singer, and recent father is starting to blow up in South Africa, but he’s been making moves around the world for the better part of this decade. Muzi is the musician who I’ve interviewed the most in my career. His cont...

Fortunately for me, but unfortunately for those of you wanting new interviews, I've been hella busy lately. So, we're digging in the archives once again to bring you one of my favourite interviews, now with slightly better sound quality and a less annoying introduction. "Loyiso Madinga is a comedian, actor, writer, and MC. Loyiso is one of four South Africans to have a half-hour special with Netfl...

Things have been a little slow at Almost Perfect headquarters so I decided to re-release an old episode from the archives with updated audio. The original Loyiso Gola episode didn't have the best sound quality, but thankfully technology has gotten quite a bit better since then and I've been able to spruce up the audio a bit. I'll be back with new episodes soon enough, but for now, I hope you enjoy...

Yaaseen Barnes returns for the second half of our rather extensive chat. This time we get into the history of the Cape Town comedy scene and the important role the Armchair Theatre has played in South African comedy, we hear how Yaaseen handles the responsibility of being a prominent Muslim figure in typically haram spaces, and we discuss Zionism in South African comedy. Enjoy. Keep up with Yaasee...

Hey team, this week was a bit hectic what with me doing my solo show 'It's Not the End of the World', so I didn't have time to finish editing the second half of the Yaaseen Barnes interview. But, since I promised an episode this week, I figured I'd share my experience of doing the show on Wednesday and put it in the main feed instead of releasing it as a Patreon exclusive. Enjoy. Hosted on Acast....

Comedian Yaaseen Barnes has had a career most comedians would be jealous of, yet he didn't pull the ladder up behind him and instead has helped the Cape Town scene climb to new heights. As the Director of the Jive Comedy Championship, Yaaseen is able to focus his passion for building up the comedians around him. Comedy has given Yaaseen an incredible life, with just a matric, so he feels compelled...

Colin Moss knows all too well that fame is a prison. Thankfully, it's a prison he managed to escape when moving to New York to pursue his acting career. Colin took a massive risk by giving up a rather successful career on TV in South Africa to start at the bottom in one of the most cutthroat cities to be an actor. Judging by his extensive IMDB page, which features credits on Black Mirror, Jessica...

The multi-talented Andie Reeves has lived the kind of life where she just casually drops details that some people would write whole books about as if they're just backstory. Like the time she sailed halfway across the world on a catamaran as a private tutor, which she casually mentions while discussing the award-wining Two Freaks Notice podcast. The writer, podcaster, comedian, and crafter has kep...

Hey Almost Perfectionists, As some of you know, I occasionally drop bonus episodes of the podcast over on Patreon. If you'd dig to hear them, you can sign up for free. Here's a taste of what you're missing. Listen to the full episode: https://www.patreon.com/c/almostperfect Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Khanyisa JamJam aka JamJam The Comedian is the biggest cheerleader of all things South African, but especially sports. Who knew you could go from leading war cries at school to kicking it with the biggest names in South African sports, and selling out comedy shows in SA and abroad? JamJam's success is no fluke though as he's worked hard at being consistent both online and on stage. While everythin...

The South African comedy community is in mourning as we all found out about the passing of Ebenhaezer Dibakwane this weekend. Ebenhaezer was beloved by everyone in SA comedy and touched the lives of countless people with his infectious energy. Eb was a truly original thinker who never shied away from his truth. I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Eb at his flat in Joburg in early 2020 befo...

Not many people in comedy have an engineering degree to fall back on (they're usually doctors), but Céline Tshika is, uh, built different. You probably know Céline from her viral musical sketches that have skyrocketed her to online fame, but those videos are the culmination of years of experimenting and growing as a multi-faceted artist. After making her parents happy by earning an engineering deg...

Despite being called a "gimmick act" by older comedians early in his comedy journey, Phil de Lange has had a career many of them would be jealous of. He has a Comics Choice Award under his belt, performed as part of Trevor Noah's Nation Wild tour, and regularly headlines shows all across the country. All that while producing the breakfast show on Smile FM, and putting together his podcast, Petty C...

Comedian Di Frost is one half of the team behind Comedy on Kloof, a queer and women friendly weekly comedy gig in Cape Town that recently celebrated it's second birthday. She's also a creative strategist and content creator who helps other creative types with their online presence through Frost Creative. Oh, and she's double jointed, which, oddly enough, helped her when she was having a stroke. Sh...

You know what they say, it takes 10 years to become an overnight success. Comedian and actor Jaryd Pillay is living proof of the adage. With a decade of performing stand-up comedy under his belt, Jaryd finally had a breakthrough year in 2024 where everything he'd been working on started to click into place. He won the Jive Funny Championship after years of not making it past the first round, which...

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Anyway, I'm moving to Cape Town. See you soon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Loopy is a local legend. If you spent any amount of time at The Winston Pub in Durban, or Lefty's in Cape Town, there's no doubt Loopy would have hustled a sip of your drink at least once. Loopy has fully lived the skollie punk life, engaging in debauchery and crashing on couches around the country as a member of one of Durban's most chaotic bands, Fruits & Veggies. These days, she passes for...

You know Nina Hastie. You've seen her on TV, Netflix, social media, and you've no doubt her voice in countless ads and voice overs. She's been everywhere and done everything, yet she feels like she doesn't have a concrete body of work to point to. This has lead her putting all her focus on developing a new hour of comedy that tells the world exactly who she is. In this episode, we get into managin...