(Mel Miller, as featured on the poster!)Mel Miller, one of the country's most acerbic comedians, who comes from a long line of South African comedy greats such as Eddie Eckstein, Denis McLean and Cyril Green, is performing his new one-man show Malice In Wonderland, for one week only until February 5 at Heritage Theatre in Hillcrest.
It’s long been said that if there was a King of Comedy award, the recipient would surely be Mel Miller. Timeless, adored, and enormously funny, this giant of stand-up has been tickling the funny bones of South Africans for years and years. In 2011, Mel was honoured by a judging panel of his peers and awarded the Comics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award. And rightfully so.
Mel has been crossing the (sometimes delicate) lines of age, culture and colour for as long as we can remember; and his audiences continue to thrive on his particular brand of humour. A true legend of South African comedy, Mel started mixing comedy and folk music in 1964. He shot to fame in the country's first television comedy series, Biltong and Potroast, in 1976 - "It took me 12 years to become an overnight success," he crows.
With his gravelly, chain-smoking delivery and his habit of pouring undiluted vitriol on a vast array of targets, Mel pulls no punches. The faint-hearted and politically correct may bewail his brutal delivery, but at its heart lies the honesty of a latter-day Lenny Bruce. He strips away euphemism and stupidity to tell it like it is, leaving his crowds helpless and hysterical as they realise nobody is safe and nothing is too serious to laugh at.
In 1995 he brought the house to tears of laughter in the Smirnoff International Comedy Festival. He has performed at the Grahamstown Festival twice, toured with four of his own shows (Captain Chaos, Captain Chaos Flies Again, Divine Madness and Fat, Fiftyish, Pissed Off and Funny!), worked in Israel with Cyril Green and Eddie Eckstein, and in London as part of a South African Festival. He appears back at The Heritage Theatre after a sell-out tour at the Sydney Opera House last year.
Malice In Wonderland runs until February 5. Tickets R190 pp Wednesday to Saturdays (R165 pp Tuesday evenings and Sunday lunch time) include Heritage Theatre’s good quality two-course meal. Booking is essential on 031 765 4197 or online at www.heritagetheatre.co.za
The Heritage Theatre is situated in Hillcrest Heritage Market. There is safe parking in the undercover area which has direct access to the theatre.
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