Loyiso Gola

Career

His television career began with appearances on SABC 1 in the Phat Joe Live talk show in 2002,

In 2007 he became the co-host of the SABC 2 Dinner with the President talk show created by Pieter-Dirk Uys, playing the role of the black grandson of the satirist's alter ego Evita Bezuidenhout.

In 2010 he became the host of the Late Nite News satirical series he co-created with fellow comedian Kasigo Lediga, which aired on e.tv and eNCA.

Gola has performed stand-up comedy in various one-man shows on the South African comedy circuit since 2006, as well as in several international comedy festivals.

Recognition

Gola won the Best Breakthrough Comedy Act South African Comedy Award for his 2007 one-man show Loyiso Gola for President, which coincided with the run-up to the election of a new leader of the African National Congress who would ultimately become the President of South Africa.

In 2012 Gola was named one of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans, in the Media & Film category. Men's Health describes Gola as having "divisive mass appeal" due to the openly critical nature of his humour, and being "a genuine thinker masquerading as a fool and the reluctant voice of a cynical generation".

Late Nite News was nominated for an International Emmy Award for best comedy series in 2013. One-man shows I'm Frank (2006) Loyiso Gola Live (2013) State of the Nation Address (2014)

Filmography Film Bunny Chow Know Thyself (2006) Copposites (2012) BBC Live at The Apollo (2018) Rhod Gilbert's Growing Pains (2024)

Awards 2002 – Winner of Sprite Soul Comedy Tour 2007 – South African Comedy Award – Best Breakthrough Comedy Act for Loyiso Gola for President 2014 – The Savanna SA Comic's Choice Award – Comic of the Year Award