Grassy Park comedian Gino Fernandez says he’s stoked after bagging a Savanna Comic’s Choice Award.
Gino, 35, was among 13 funnymen nominated for the awards held at Gold Reef City last week.
Gino won the Best Friend of Comedy Award and says after four nominations over the past four years, he was very happy to finally win one.
This award is intended for the person, organisation or media platform that has championed South African comedy in the last 12 months in a non- performance capacity.
He says it’s a great honour to win the award as the comics themselves make the nominations.
“I am still overwhelmed by the love from fellow comedians and everyone in the industry,” he tells the Daily Voice.
“I run comedy nights, providing platforms for all comedians locally and internationally to perform and start out; the comics call me the Godfather of Cape Town comedy, lol.”
Gino is one of only two Capetonians who won awards this year.
The other is Phil de Lange, from Vredehoek, who won the Next Level Award.
Phil is also featured in a new show, called NationWild, by comedian Trevor Noah. The 13-part comedy showcase airs on Showmax later this month.
Phil co-hosts The Smile 90.4FM Comedy Hour between 9pm and 10pm on Saturdays with Angel Campey, and blends his dry, self-deprecating humour with a... ukulele.
“My first comedy set I ever did was at the Armchair Theatre in Cape Town,” says Phil.
“I was the first person, I think, in Cape Town to ever perform comedy with a ukulele. People laughed at me, not at my jokes, because my mic kept falling out of the mic stand and I broke my ukulele on stage. I was quite terrible, to be honest.”
Getting handpicked by Trevor and winning the Next Level Award is proof of how much that’s changed.
“I don’t actually like attention at all,” claims Phil.
Meanwhile, Trevor has been nomina- ted for an Emmy for Best Variety Talk Series for The Daily Show.
If he wins, he’d be the first black person to do so.