John
Vlismas - Comedian, MC, also offering Team Building
and Motivational Speaking - Johannesburg
Award-winning comedian, John Vlismas is one of South
Africa’s most prolific international comics. 2008
has seen him represent his country in Toronto,
finishing in the top eight at the Yuk Yuk’s Great
Canadian Laugh Off, and perform at Freedom Day
celebrations in Dubai, at the request of the South
African Business Council. John returned to the
Johannesburg stage with a long-anticipated one-man
show, entitled Lucky Plebian, in June 2008.
The year started with a bang, as John produced the
South African leg of Henry Rollin’s 2007/8 world
tour, taking in The Baxter theatre in Cape Town and
the Bassline in Johannesburg. John is currently
developing a primetime television comedy pilot at
MNet’s request.
John Vlismas
Of the stand up comedians working the circuit in
South Africa today, John has the widest
international profile. From his 2002 performance in
Berlin at the Maulhelden Festival, to his shows in
Dubai in 2006 and 2008; to 2007’s Shady Okes in
London and at the Bulmer’s Comedy Festival in
Dublin; to his appearance at The Comedy Store in
London in 2005; and his four trips to Canada, where
he has played at Montreal’s Just for Laughs
Festival and remains the only South African
comedian to be invited to return three times, having
impressed in Club Soda, Globecom and Bubbling with
Laughter, and performing by invitation in the
prestigious showcase Talk of the Fest with
Drew Carey; to his 2000 participation in the
Melbourne Comedy Festival, where he enjoyed a sold
out run of 28 shows in the highly regarded Best of
the Edinburgh Festival showcase.
John Vlismas
While outspoken and sometimes controversial, Vlismas
is a firm favourite in the corporate market, and
spends over 60% of his stage time entertaining
executives and their staff with tailored, material,
proving that he has the ability to adapt rapidly and
appropriately for diverse audiences.
“ I've never been one for herding. I firmly believe that grouping
humans together unnecessarily tends to encourage
dumbing down. I think the common term for group
stupidity is "small talk" - you'll know it when you
hear it - cobbled-together knee-jerk phrases
designed to establish a veneer of common
understanding, all based on very little thought,
opinion or idea. “ - John.
Not content with stand up and MC work, John also
writes for publications and spent 16 weeks in 2007
attempting to attract litigation for his weekly
column attacking the local Idols judges,
syndicated in Independent Newspapers. He also
completed a year-long column in the Star Newspaper’s
Business Report, called Funny Money with
Ronnie Apteker, and wrote a monthly column for In
London magazine, for 3 years.
John Vlismas
He has scripted and performed for the FNB Life
Start, and SAB Brand Power national road shows, and
regularly performs at his comedy club, The Comedy
Underground, now SA’s longest running regular comedy
event.
John has enjoyed much local success with his
previous one-man shows, all of which he wrote,
directed and produced: Whacked in 2001,
Aggravated Assault in 1999, Man in Black
in 1998, and Mr Ballistic in 1997. In 2001,
his two-hander with Bevan Cullinan, Grinder
confirmed his ability to sell tickets. The esteem
in which John is held by the comedy industry is
evidenced by such events as his role in Steven
Wright’s South African tour as support act, and his
performance for SA Tourism at the Sydney Art Museum
in 2004.
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John
Vlismas - Comedian, MC, also offering Team Building,
Motivational and Script Writing - Johannesburg
