Ribcracker's long walk to stardom

KGOMOTSO MOLELEKENG
Correspondent | Friday June 21, 2013 00:00

 

Indeed Letsatsi has come a long way to be where he is right now.  A journey that started in his childhood days though, as a boy, he had no idea whatsoever that eventually the character he had would be the one paying bills for him.  Even though the skill he possesses may look easy to some people, Letsatsi is quick to mention that it takes courage and a strong will to succeed.He tells Arts & Culture that he used to be a naughty child while growing up. 'I was by far one of those pupils who the whole school knew were naughty and playful, I was everyone's favourite and my classmates often told me that it was always a dull day for them if I missed school as I always brightened the class up with my playful habits,' he reminisces.

This behaviour, which some thought was weird, saw him evolve into an actor at his secondary school. 'I joined drama club and traditional dancing when I got to high school and funny enough within a short period of time I had won the hearts of fellow students and surprisingly teachers, as the best drama student, and I used to get awards for it at every prize-giving ceremony,' he said.All the awards inspired the young man to consider acting as a career.In fact, many viewers may remember seeing him in the local drama series that used to air on Botswana Television (Btv) called Thokolosi.  Letsatsi won the directors' faith at the auditions and he got himself a role of a police officer called 'Sticks' who had similar characteristics.  Like Letsatsi, Sticks was forever joking around even when matters at hand demanded seriousness.

Somebody then hinted to him that he should consider doing stand up comedy, but Letsatsi had no clue what all that entailed by then.'I remember Boikanyo Pilane advising me that it was high time I started taking my craft and talent seriously and build a brand with it.  I think that is when it all started and reality set in that I could actually make it in life through jokes,' he said.In 2006, Letsatsi saw an advertisement for comedians who wanted to join the Maitisong Comedy Club, he applied and by sheer luck managed to make it to the top seven that were chosen to tour Johannesburg and learn comic skills there. The seven hopefuls arrived at New Breed Comedy Jam where they spent close to a week during which they were trained on how to become professional comedians. 'Out of these seven people I was always the one lagging behind, when we were required to tell jokes I always told internet jokes which are common everywhere and I remember I used to be crushed for it until I understood the concept behind stand up comedy which involves ridiculing real life situations, that is to say talking about real life situations but in a funny manner,' he said.

When he finally cracked the concept, Letsatsi became an rising star that impressed the trainers as he managed to improve in a short period of time.  Upon return, a graduation ceremony was made for them and they were required to perform for a live audience to demonstrate what they had been learning. This show proved to be the best night of his career ever since venturing into being a comedian. 'I had a powerful show that night and I am pretty sure that is how a lot of people and the media felt my presence because after that performance things were never the same - that was the time when Limkokwing University was opening and the jokes that I made were linked to the university and they were all received with a big laugh from the audience, I was by far the best that night,' he recalls with a smile.

Bookings started rolling in and pretty soon, the young talented man had earned himself some respect from people and other comedians in the industry, in a blink of an eye he was soon scaling mountains through comedy and his fan base was increasing by the day. This encouraged him to open a club, which focused only on comedy.  'I went into partnership with Modiri Mod Kesaabetswe and we decided to open a comedy club called 'Laugh Out Loud' which gives young comedians a platform to showcase their skills, the club so far has 15 comedians who have been touring the country to perform at different places and they are doing very well,' he said.He said the highlights of his career as a comedian was when he performed live at the Orange Botswerere Awards on Btv, when he again performed at this year's Miss Botswana pageant, when he was the master of ceremony (MC) at the South African (SA) acapella group The Soil. But the one that tops them all is when he shared the stage with South Africa's biggest and most respected comedian, Trevor Noah, when he held a show here.

'Trevor gave strict rules that he wanted to perform with the best comedians so, I suppose, the organisers felt me and my partner Mod were the best,' he said.Letsatsi mentioned that what sometimes makes him angry is that some people still do not take his craft or stand up comedy in general seriously. He narrates a recent incident when he was being interviewed on Radio Botswana (RB) about stand up comedy. He says even though the majority of the feedback from callers was positive, some listeners were rude as some woman called in and said she sees this career as a joke and she would never allow her children to venture into it.'That really made me sad as I figured that some people still have no idea how much money we make from being comedians. At the moment stand up comedy is the most paid career in the world, if one looks at the amount of money Chris Rock in the States makes, the money Trevor Noah makes from just one performance then I am sure everyone will start taking us seriously.  This craft pays my bills and satisfies all my needs and wants; so I am happy,' he said with a great sense of satisfaction.