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Siv Ngesi
70 quotes
“Blacks in this country don’t believe they suffer allergies at all; they say that’s a white thing. They say only white people have sinuses.”
“How many white people have you ever heard doing this?Sinuses, black people! Those are sinuses!”
“With all these broken toys in the townships, a lot of black kids grew up thinking that Barbie was a half-blind paraplegic doll! Now you have these black girls [saying], ‘Ah, shame, poor Barbie! Poor white girls, man!”
“Afrikaners will complain about everything and blame everything on blacks.”
“Potholes – ‘It’s the blacks!’ No rain – ‘It’s the bloody blacks!’ Racial quotas in sports – ‘It’s the blacks’ fault, man!”
“You always seem to be walking around in two-tone shirts…chest out…stomach out!”
“They love buying wine in boxes, because of that plastic bladder inside. When they’re drunk on the wine, they blow up the bladder and use it as a pillow when they pass out.”
“I believe that I have a gift to present race issues and insults and so on in a comic way that doesn’t offend people.”
“If I say something that’s extreme and ludicrous, people will be like, ‘Hah; it’s just Siv; it’s just Siv.’ My show is not a show that anyone can do. Race is my thing; I am the Ace of Race. And you can’t just pick up my script and try to do the same thing because a lot of people will fail. There are people out there who can do it but it’s a certain kind of je ne sais quoi [special, mysterious quality] that you need to have.”
“Me being black does help me, but white people can tell the same jokes – but they have to tread lightly. By tread lightly I mean they must show a certain level of respect and must tell the jokes not in an aggressive, angry way.”
“I learnt that from David [Newton; a leading white South African comedian]. David says things about race that other white comedians would never have the [nerve] to say. But he puts on a smile and delivers his material in a way that somehow doesn’t offend people. It’s all about personality.”
“Truth, relate-ability, and just being able to laugh and chuckle [are important elements of my work]. I’m not the funniest; I’m not the most talented. But I can tell you one thing – I know how to put the two together with hard work.”
“So I got to experience white people, black people; all different shades of people. I witnessed that we are [all] the same – but we’re still very different and we need to celebrate those differences. In my show I want people to laugh, not just at other people, but they must laugh at themselves.”
“I have a mission and my mission is to take racism down, man!The only time there’ll be no racism is when we’re all coloreds [people of mixed race], from interbreeding. And I can’t wait that long. I have to do my bit now to make people realize that we’re all basically same, no matter what our skin color says. We all want to be happy in life, and to have food and shelter and safety and security.”
“I’ve met [white] racists who get along with me because they have seen that I’m ‘different’ [than] the other blacks; [the different] in inverted commas…. It shows you that it’s not about the color of your skin. It’s got a lot to do with background and upbringing and beliefs…. It’s a cultural thing, or even a class thing.”
“A lot of Afrikaans people love me because I love rugby and we have something in common. So if you can find a link with someone, a common purpose, that’s the most important thing…. Then skin color is insignificant,” said Ngesi. “So, simply because I love rugby, white people who profess not to like black people, like me. This shows that their dislike of black people isn’t based on skin color. It’s based on cultural differences.”
“I want people to leave my show feeling proud to be South African and knowing that in South Africa the only thing that should be separated by color is the laundry.”
Siv Ngesi (born 1985) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: South African Performer Combats Prejudice with Humor, VOA (April 5 2013)
“I think people don’t realise that comedy is an art – it really teaches you so much about engaging with people, and with the material one produces. Another thing with comedy is that the stakes are so high. You have to make people laugh. There is nothing that evokes quite as much pressure than when your performance depends on the reaction of the audience. Comedy is entirely dependent on the pace of the performer; while you are expressing one thought, another one has to be lined up already to land with the audience in a seamless way. It is a performance rooted in multi-tasking. It really brought me to engaging with politics, and South African history – it requires a lot of background knowledge, and unfortunately I feel that socially we are becoming incredibly sensitive; in which we have to remain correct in everything that is said even within the comedic format.”
“I am unapologetic about celebrating my achievements. I am one of the most underrated entertainers in the country – and people tend to call me controversial, but I find that quite unusual because I have only ever been me – completely so. I unapologetically believe I am one of the most talented people in the country. I have worked too hard and come to far to back down. The goal will always be to be remembered as one of the most talented performers to come out of the country. I am fascinated by improving, learning and being the best version of myself that can possibly exist. Will people recognize this? It’s none of my business actually, all I can do is continue to pursue this goal with the dedication that I do every-single-day. Doubt kills dreams, and I will not rest until I have achieved everything I have set out to, and to be remembered for that too. Having said that, what people think has nothing to do with me.”
“Masculinity is like nuclear power; it can be harnessed for both extreme destruction, while it can also be incredibly necessary and useful for the balance of life. In the right hands, it can do great and positive things. The problem is toxic masculinity. Around last year in lockdown, I came to this point of reflection about being 34 years old and having been taught such negative things about masculinity my whole life that I need to unlearn. So I started doing drag, ballet and pole dancing – and particularly with pole, I have been competing internationally. The perception is that these mediums are easy; ascribed to femininity, which is seen as fragile. I want to live in a world where my future son can wear a dress, and no one can say shit about it – nor question his masculinity. I will consistently help to grow drag in this country; that is part of my mission. I want to live in a world where people don’t have to “come out” – that spectrum of sexuality is normalized and nuanced, and respected for being so.”
Siv Ngesi (born 1985) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our Chat with One of SA’s Biggest Names in Entertainment, Siv Ngesi, September 20 2021