Cracking-open vernacular stand-up comedy: Reflections on Celeste Ntuli’s work on sexuality

abstract

After 1994, the South African stand-up comedy scene was dominated, shaped and defined by men. Stand-up comedy is now expanding in its various expressions. The insurgence of ‘vernacular’ comedy and visibility of women comedians are amongst the disruptions that signal the relevance of subjectivities. The central theme of this article is the location of Celeste Ntuli and her − award-winning comedy – within an exploration of Black cultural reproduction. Ntuli presents her narrative(s) through humour while critiquing the socio-political which stereotypes woman's subjectivities. Sexual and gender stereotypes feature heavily in her work, and so the article focuses on Ntuli's subversive counternarratives performed through self-reflective anecdotes. The article will further tease out women's sexuality as a confrontation between social and cultural limits. Ntuli's autobiographical style highlights the visibility of Black womanhood through the self, which is embroiled in a thoughtful critique of social issues. In the article I demonstrate how Ntuli positions her voice by questioning the existing hierarchies of power through playful narratives in comedy − and constructing sexuality as (re) negotiation, expression and subversion.

keywords:

• Celeste Ntuli
• stand-up comedy
• ‘vernacular’ comedy
• sexuality

Notes

1 See poster: https://www.nmbt.co.za/events/one_africa_comedy_experience.html (accessed 4 May 2020).

2 See clip of Moseley’s performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMFF8tW_BJk (accessed 4 May 2020).

3 Basket Mouth is the producer of Lord of the Ribs Comedy, amongst other related initiatives. See Ntuli’s first (2017) performance in Nigeria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nvONRdtPQ8&list=RDCMUCfNoF7MELBNt1Lviq3F8cZQ&start_radio=1&t=2 (accessed 4 May 2020).

4 On Letter 27 Productions (2018) ‘In Stitches: Exploring vernacular comedy in South Africa’.

5 Pep is a retail company that targets the mass lower- to middle-income end of the market; as such it seeks to sell low-cost clothes and is the largest single-brand retailer in South Africa.

6 One of South Africa’s biggest bookselling chain stores.

7 Khoza and Gola are prominent stand-up male comedians in South Africa; Khoza specifically uses isiZulu.

8 Africa's biggest telecommunications network provider.

9 Vusi Ximba was a South African musician best known for his comic style of music and skit-like performances. Ximba was born and raised in Mandini, in northern KwaZulu-Natal. He was a popular artist who mixed township jive and maskandi sounds with sexually explicit lyrics, some of the controversial songs were banned on the radio (Drum Digital, 2011; Mojapelo, 2008) Ximba’s music was rooted in narratives of labour migration that also made him popular for their social and political satire (Muller,2008).

10 A kind of Zulu folk music.

11 https://www.channel24.co.za/Music/News/heres-the-story-behind-sister-bettina-the-countrys-favourite-song-20180913 (accessed 15 April 2020).

12 This can be a derogatory word for a woman who is single. It can also mean a spinster.

13 Neocosmos rejects women’s experiences (along with identity) as a category or universal subject for historical analysis, but advocates for a return to theorising emancipatory practices that centre on the notion that people think.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Noma Pakade

NOMANCOTSHO PAKADE has extensive working experience in advocacy and documentation work in NGOs and research posts, with a focus on education, gender and sexuality. Currently, she is a Doctoral candidate at the Department of History and Heritage Studies, University of Pretoria. Noma is also a researcher at the Public Affairs Research Institute. Email: [email protected].