There are numerous critical moments in organising the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival.
Firstly, there is the creative, then the contracting, the marketing, and the selling, but now the critical point is presenting the creative on the stage.
That’s where, as the festival director, you need to step aside and allow the professionals to do their job, says Eddie Cassar.
The Funny Festival is blessed with four of those experts who make my acts look great”, says Cassar.
“I spend much time communicating my view of the show to the production director, Luke Ellenbogen. I theme most of the Funny Festivals, mostly for my own imagination, and to keep my thinking on track.”
"Luke understands how the show needs to be presented so the audience appreciates it to the maximum. He is a genius in movement, placement, lighting and communicating the creative,” says Cassar.
Musician Sean de Vries, who travels the world with Emo Adams as his musical director, takes over the music details for the Funny Festival.
He has shared his musical production expertise with many of South Africa’s music legends and will now do the same with the festival.
Besides his musical acumen, De Vries possesses an innate sense of humor which translates solidly on stage. “I am excited for what we are doing with this year’s edition of the Funny Festival”, says Cassar.
“Sound engineer, Carson Daniels, who has worked on sixteen Funny Festivals, has a fine understanding of how I like my sound. It’s not easy to plan sound in a three-tiered 650 seater theatre, so that every patron hears every word, clearly.
"At the end of the day, we are presenting stand up comedy and words are critical for the joke to be impactful”, continues Cassar.“Finally, Alan Committie is my fiercest critic. He doesn’t hold back on telling me what needs to be done and how it should be done. I have the utmost confidence in him as the Master of Ceremony. As a highly celebrated act or he understands the audience, delivery of a joke and comedy timing.
"We discuss the running order, the emotions the audience will feel and the message of the show. I learn so much from him” says Cassar.
“With these experts, I try to present a fresh comedy project every year, challenging ourselves to entertain a loyal audience who expect the best from The Jive Cape Town Funny Festival. This year it runs from Thursday May 28 May to Sunday June 21.”
Book through Webtickets.