Weber the storm: Comic’s new show to unpack his comeback after Covid trauma
|Published
ROUGH RIDE: Comedian Carl Weber, 46
Cape Town comic Carl Weber is gearing up to serve pure honesty in his latest stand-up show called The Raw Truth.
The 46-year-old comedian and actor says he has been through hell and back as the Covid-19 pandemic took away his family and income.
He went from comedian, to car salesman, to HR, to actor, and now all the way back to comedy again.
The Raw Truth is his account of how he survived the lockdowns, load shedding and alles in between.
Weber learnt to cope with his pain through laughter.
He told Independent Media: “William Shakespeare said ‘out of tragedy comedy is born’; this show is exactly that, my comeback story.
“The good, the bad and the funny. Especially the funny, no sugar-coating, it’s my tragedy turned into comedy turned into The Raw Truth.
“It’s the things we keep to ourselves. Those times when you feel you just can’t anymore, as most of us did during Covid.”
Weber recalls losing both his mother-in-law and father-in-law to the dreaded virus.
“We lost my in-laws four days apart with the first wave and [it] seemed like a bad dream.
“Then I lost all source of income as a comedian. Stages shut down, gigs dried up, I had to abandon my dream and all I achieved,” he explained,
“I had to start from scratch. I didn’t have it in me anymore and the next year when I lost my dad, that comedy spark in me died.
“As a man I felt my integrity and respect and all my hard work was wiped out by this virus.
“We went from having it all, to at the worst of times wondering what we would have for supper... friends slowly disappeared.”
Weber was deeply afraid and struggled to survive and even though he only had “faith like a mustard seed”, it was enough to pull him through: “Quitting was never an option, even though I was tempted so many times.
“This show is more to prove to myself I was born to do comedy, [I went] through the fire and survived.”
The Raw Truth plays at Kalk Bay Theatre at 8pm on Tuesday night.
Tickets are R155 via Quicket.