Trippin’ with Skhumba

Showmax goes Original with Travel Series!

Filming is underway on Showmax’s first travel show Trippin’ with Skhumba. In each 30-minute episode, the Comic’s Choice Comic of the Year 2017 will get down and dirty with a fellow South African comedian in their hometown, exploring places that won’t make any tourism brochures and stories that would be edited out of any authorised biographies.

Skhumba mentions that as much as they love South African comedians, they are only exposed to what they do on stage as opposed to their backgrounds, hence on Trippin’ with Skhumba, he wanted to dig deeper into their lives and where they come from – far more than what he could ever get out of them by doing a normal interview, like on his radio show on Kaya FM.

The first season’s guests are Celeste Ntuli, who was the most nominated comedian with Skhumba, going into the 2018 Comic’s Choice Awards; the last three Native Tongue winners, Siya Seya, Salesman and Mashabela Galane; 2016 Comic of the Year winner Tumi Morake and 2015 Intermediate winner Schalk Bezuidenhout.

Director Vincent Moloi, who helmed the 2018 Best Drama SAFTA winner Tjovitjo and also took home Best Documentary Director last year for Skulls of My People, says Trippin’ with Skhumba is flipping funny – it’s real. It represents to him, the ultimate exploration of South Africa’s humour in a very honest and truthful way. It has an uncompromisingly authentic texture. Be ready to laugh at our misfortunes and our greatness…

The first season will end with an hour-long stand-up special, featuring Skhumba and his guests, as well as one new comedian from each hometown visited.

Trippin’ with Skhumba will be the third Showmax original, building on the success of Tali’s Wedding Diary in 2017 and 2019’s The Girl from St Agnes, which both set the record for the most first-day unique views of any show on the platform.

Showmax is rapidly becoming the home of South African comedy, with the roasts of AKA, coming soon, Somizi and Kenny Kunene; Trevor Noah Presents NationWild; and stand-up specials from the likes of Barry Hilton and David Kau.

Trippin’ with Skhumba is being produced for Showmax, by Diprente, which is co-owned by 2018 Comic’ Pen winner Kagiso Lediga and is also producing Netflix’s first original African series, Queen Sono.

Trippin’ with Skhumba will be coming first and only to Showmax from 28 February 2019, with new episodes every Thursday.