Loyiso Gola
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Loyiso Gola | |
|---|---|
 Gola in 2011 | |
| Born | 16 May 1983 |
| Notable work | Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola |
| Relatives | Lazola Gola (brother) |
| Comedy career | |
| Years active | 2002–present[1][2] |
| Medium | Stand-up, television |
| Genres | Satire, parody[3] |
| Subject | South African politics[3] |
Loyiso Gola (born 16 May 1983) is a South African stand-up and TV comedian. He is the co-creator and anchor of the late-night satirical news television series Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola on e.tv and eNCA, launched in 2010, and has performed internationally.
Gola is Xhosa,[4][5] and was born on 16 May 1983[2][6] in the Cape Town township of Gugulethu.[7][8][9] He moved away from Gugulethu at the age of 14,[7][10] and attended Zonnebloem Nest Senior School in Woodstock.[11][12][13]
Gola describes himself as "very reserved and shy" before his exposure to comedy. After performing a stand-up opening act for comedian Marc Lottering at his high school, his drama teacher introduced him to the Cape Comedy Collective at the age of 17. He subsequently job shadowed stand-up comedians from the comedy troupe for a school work experience programme and began performing on stage regularly with the group.[1][4][13][14]
He matriculated in 2002,[12] and won the Sprite Soul Comedy Tour in December of the same year,[15][16] after which he relocated from Cape Town to Johannesburg.[17]
His younger brother Lazola Gola is also a comedian.[18]
Career
His television career began with appearances on SABC 1 in the Phat Joe Live talk show in 2002,[7] and subsequently on the SABC 1 Pure Monate Show sketch comedy series created by comedians David Kau and Kagiso Lediga in 2003.[4][14][19]
In 2007 he became the co-host of the SABC 2 Dinner with the President talk show created by Pieter-Dirk Uys, playing the role of the black grandson of the satirist's alter ego Evita Bezuidenhout.[19][20]
In 2010 he became the host of the Late Nite News satirical series he co-created with fellow comedian Kasigo Lediga,[21] which aired on e.tv and eNCA.[22][23]
Gola has performed stand-up comedy in various one-man shows on the South African comedy circuit since 2006,[24] as well as in several international comedy festivals.[13]
On 21 January 2022 he appeared on the BBC1 programme Would I Lie To You?, series 15, episode 3.[25]
Recognition
Gola won the Best Breakthrough Comedy Act South African Comedy Award for his 2007 one-man show Loyiso Gola for President, which coincided with the run-up to the election of a new leader of the African National Congress who would ultimately become the President of South Africa.[7][24][26]
In 2012 Gola was named one of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans, in the Media & Film category.[27] Men's Health describes Gola as having "divisive mass appeal" due to the openly critical nature of his humour, and being "a genuine thinker masquerading as a fool and the reluctant voice of a cynical generation".[4]
Late Nite News was nominated for an International Emmy Award for best comedy series in 2013.[28]
One-man shows
Filmography
Film
- Bunny Chow Know Thyself (2006)[29]
- Outrageous (2010)[17][32]
- Copposites (2012)[29]
- Catching Feelings (2017)
Television
- Phat Joe Live (2002)
- The Pure Monate Show (2003)
- Dinner with the President – co-host with Pieter-Dirk Uys (2007)
- Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola – host (2010-)
- Comedy Central Presents Loyiso Gola Live at Parker's (2012)[33]
- BBC Live at The Apollo (2018)
- Rhod Gilbert's Growing Pains (2024)[34]
