Lihle Msimang on the highs and lows of being a comedienne

She is on The Lite-Show with comedians Donovan Goliath and Mojak Lehoko, violinist Davina Gordon, and rappers Rouge and Ginger Mac. The YouTube show is a wrap up of weekly news headlines with a comic twist. And because of its success in season one with over one million views, it’s set to make a comeback with season two.

Comedienne Lihle Msimang (31) is one of the witty humorists who keep people informed about the world of current affairs in a way that’s accessible and interesting. At the beginning of lockdown, Lihle’s online comedy skits, Surviving Lockdown, were a breath of fresh air at a time when many were suffocating from being stuck indoors.

“I was booked for shows that had to be cancelled during the lockdown, so I wanted to come up with a way of channelling my creativity and that’s when I started the online show,” she tells Drum.

Soon after, Castle Lite decided to bring her on board for The Lite-Show. “It’s a fun and educational show where we get to be ourselves. We plan scripts ahead of time but there is a lot of improvising, which is exciting and always adds more humour,” she says.

Read more l We spoke to Forest Whitaker about his new Netflix film – this is why you should add it to your watch list movie. When she started out in 2011, Lihle never thought she’d make a career out of making people laugh. Her parents wanted her to become an accountant. “I did accounting in high school but when it was time to go to university, I had to let my mom know that it was not my passion. I had to prove to her that I wanted to be in the world of television,” she says. So instead, she did a BA in scriptwriting at AFDA, the School for the Creative Economy.

Lihle has since written scripts for shows like You Got Got, Blacktax, Single Girls, Next of Next Week, and a few adverts and shows for Comedy Central. “Being part of the creative world of TV is something I’ve always wanted to do. But I never thought comedy or stand-up comedy even existed,” she says. “I would often see posters of Trevor Noah’s show Day Walker and assumed it was a theatre play or production, but I had no clue about comedy until a friend advised that I try it out.”

Her first live performance was at Parker’s Comedy and Jive at Monte Casino, where she won Nando’s Comedy Showdown. “Then is when I fell in love with comedy and I was confident enough that I could take it on as a career,” she says. Being funny also comes with its challenges, especially in a male-dominated industry. “People assume ‘female comedy’ is a genre of its own. The fact that there are few female comics is a problem,” she says. “When you think comedian, the first thing you see in your head is a man.

“For once, we get to have our voices unfiltered and unaltered. The show allows creativity, spontaneity, and for people to be themselves. And we brought laughs to people during a pandemic,” she says.

Jokes aside, Lihle is also a mom to a three-year-old son, Motheo Msimang, and a wife to visual artist Isang Mokolobate. “My son is too small to know what comedy is about. He still thinks people falling over is funny.

“But I want to believe I am the let-the-child-be type of parent who does not want to box myself or my child,” she says.