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‘Face for radio’ on stage

Your last chance to see a smash hit stand-up comedy show is now on at the Baxter.

Dalin Olivers’ Face for Radio opened at the Baxter yesterday and will run until Saturday­.

Held at the Baxter Theatre Concert Hall for a back by popular demand final run following a successful nationwide tour last year, where he racked up laughs and rave reviews all over the country from Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and the National Arts Festival.

While he has performed at the Baxter before, the main hall is a huge step-up for the comic.

“My first gig was at Jokers Comedy Club in Athlone. It was above a bottle store. It is a very fond memory. In my mind, I had pictured a theatre, before my first gig I went to the funny festival and comedy theatres in the area. That is what I was expecting and here I was at Jokers. There I was in this room above a bottle store. There were no more chairs and they start bringing out SAB beer crates with beers still in them and they are unpacking them. It is so cool. My friends are drinking quarts and no one is complaining because the vibe is there. The atmosphere has been created in this dingy room on the underground circuit. There is good sound, good light and people who want to laugh,” he says.

“It was the craziest, coolest experiences in my life because it was then that I decided this is what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t die. I had a really good set. There were 80 people there. I invited all my friends and a lot of them still come to my shows.”

The show chronicles his life journey and was written by him, performed as a one-man show.

The former high school mathematics and history teacher from Retreat is a familiar voice to Mother City locals on South Africa’s oldest commercial music and lifestyle radio station, Good Hope FM, where he dons the hat of Sports Presenter on the weekday Breakfast Show. He is also one half of the station’s weekly comedy show, Happy Hour, which is into its second year as the first dedicated weekday daytime comedy show on a Cape Town based commercial radio station. It’s a two for one special at absolutely no cost every Monday from 11:00 to 12:00, with Oliver and fellow Comedian Carl Weber providing an essential dose of laughter that will make your day 50 shades lighter­.

His journey has been tough, but following his dreams has worked out for him, thus far.

“It is the toughest thing to explain. If you are a creative, there was a moment where you realised this was your thing even if it did not make sense. You live in faith. I had no idea how I was going to make it happen but I had the passion for it,” says Oliver.

He finished his undergrad studies in politics and history and focussed on comedy and the coloured identity for his thesis for this he interviewed several local coloured comedians that became his mentors.

“It dealt with identity politics on the comedy scene pre and post 1994. As a new comic, a fan, I did not consider myself a comic because I felt it was something I needed to earn,” he says.

“As an up-coming comedian, you play good venues and bad venues, but the bad venues build you up for the good venues. You only learn that throughout the journey. In the beginning you don’t see that. All you think is that you are going to die on stage. Now you are excited to die on stage because the material is going to grow. Perform with purpose­.”

Face For Radio has one of SA’s favourite comedians, Stuart Taylor, in the director’s chair.

The duo established a successful relationship during Dalin’s debut one man show I Came, I Taught, I Left, which too was a sell out success at the Baxter Theatre­.

The show has a fairly nostalgic feeling, with Oliver reflecting on life 10 years after matriculating. From tales about his French heritage, to the discovery of the concept of a play date when moving from a non-model C to a model C school and epic days at schools sports, Oliver is guaranteed to take you on a hilarious trip down memory lane.

The 29-year-old started his on-stage journey in 2010 and has captured audiences with his clean cut energetic brand of comedy that has been described as easily accessible, nostalgic and diverse in the best kind of way. Career highlights include being featured on Comedy Central Africa, writing, producing and performing two one-man shows, releasing his DVD for I Came, I Taught, I Left, making his big screen debut in cinemas nationwide as one of the lead actors in SA action comedy Finders.V Tickets are available via www.webtickets.co.za or in stores at all Pick n Pay outlets. Tickets cost R120 per person with R100 for block bookings, pensioners and students.

V Follow Oliver on Twitter and Instagram @dalinoliver or Facebook: Dalin Oliver.

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