Mel Miller

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. 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. You just can’t help yourself!

Another true veteran of comedy Mel’s history as an entertainer goes way back to the early sixties when, as a member of well known folk singing group Mel, Mel and Julian the entertainment ‘bug’ bit, cementing Mel’s entire future as a sought after entertainer!

In 1970 Mel returned to South Africa (after having spent a few years in Israel), once again entering the folk scene, albeit bringing with him a brand new dimension – comedy!!! Stints on television shows in the vein of Biltong & Potroast soon followed, as did a good 10 years working the Southern Sun circuit and the rest, as they say, became history!!

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 literally rips brave club and corporate audiences apart. The faint-hearted and politically correct may bewail his brutal delivery, but at its heart lies the honesty of a latter-day Lenny Bruce. With no time for pretentions or pomposity, Mel Miller 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. A great comedy option for corporate functions, pub evenings and even stag parties!

In 1995 he brought the house to tears of laughter in the Smirnoff International Comedy Festival. He has subsequently appeared in nearly all the Smirnoff Comedy Festivals, co wrote, produced and directed a show with the late Shaun Griggs – “Things to do in Jo’burg when you’ve forgotten that you’re dead” (packed three weeks), has been to 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.