Xolo Black finds peace in making people laugh
Larona Makhaiza | Sunday November 20, 2022 06:00
Born in Selebi-Phikwe but raised in Mochudi, the talented comedian says he had to find solace in comedy in order to have peace of mind while dealing with life hardships.
He told Arts & Culture that the loss of his parents at a young age made him fall in love with comedy. “I grew up as an orphan the whole time of my life without both parents and the sad part is that I never really got to meet them,” Xolo Black said.
Reflecting on how he started comedy, the 25-year-old comedian explained that it was in 2013 when he decided to venture into comedy. At the time, he realised that it was the one thing that he could use as a coping mechanism in the whole situation that he found himself in.
However, it has turned out to be a smart move for him as he has managed to move on since and lead a better life. In his career as a comedian, Xolo Black revealed that he has worked with several comedians and make comedy content together. "I have worked with artists like William Last KRM aka Motsetserepa who is really one of the people that I blew up with and now he is one of the best in the industry even internationally," he added.
He further went on to clear the confusion that people have been having when they speculated that William Last KRM left him behind as soon as he got the big break but rather said they decided to part ways amicably as they both decided to go solo and push their own individual brands. He pointed out that indeed him and Motsetserepa are on good terms as recently they did a commercial for Kiwi together. Maatla Basha and Mingo are some of the other people that he has worked with. I have worked with several people in my career,” Xolo Black said.
He pointed out that the industry that they are in is really hard and not easy for people to make it as no resources availed to them to neither use nor even get sponsors to push their content. “In this industry that we are in, there is shortage of resources and we only do this because of the passion we have for comedy and I believe passion leads to good results of putting food on your table,” Xolo Black said.
Due to the challenges that they face in the industry, Xolo Black has not been really depending only on comedy for source of income as he revealed that in his spare time, he is offering advertising as he does commercial videos for the big companies like Choppies, Kamoso Africa and Yellow Card. Xolo Black says currently he is working on a production company for film as he wants to build a legacy for himself.