Top 10 Richest Comedian In South Africa

The art of comedy has become a lucrative business on the continent as some of these rib crackers are among the richest comedians in Africa. It’s interesting to note that African comedians are some of the top performers in the world. Trust me, they’re as entertaining as ever and can change the dullest day into an extremely enjoyable one thanks to their funny and rib-cracking jokes.

In recent years Stand-up Comedy as a form of entertainment is gaining a lot of popularity and recognition in Africa. Like actors and musicians, comedians make up the major groups of celebs across Africa and all over the world. They are beginning to gain recognition, fame, and yes, lots of money.

South African comedians are very funny but the truth is not all of them can make you laugh. The South African comedy industry has seen a lot of promising young talents gain so much recognition and rise to stardom. Through this post, we will be taking a look at the best comedians in South Africa. They are not just only the top best comedians in South Africa but also one of the richest comedians in the country.

In this article, RNN will highlight the list of the Top 10 richest comedians in South Africa.

10. Tats Nkonzo – $200,000

Tats Nkonzo was born on the 19 march 1985. He is a South African Stand-up Comedian, singer and Tv personality. He is best known as the host of the E.TV reality competition SA’s Got Talent. He’s another South African comedian making it big in the Industry.

He was one of the Top 24 finalists in the third season of the M-Net reality competition Idols in 2005. In 2008, Nkonzo got his big break when he made the Top 8 of the SABC1 reality competition “So You Think You’re Funny”. Immediately after the show ended, he was asked to tour with the Top 3 from the season. He also performed at Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre, Johannesburg’s Market Theatre and the Pieter Torien Theatre.

Nkonzo received the BlackBerry Breakthrough Act Award at the 2nd Annual South African Comics Choice Awards, in 2012.

9. Riaad Moosa – $400,000

Riaad Moosa was born on 18 June 1977 in Cape Town. Moosa grew up in Grassy Park and has three siblings. He attended South Peninsula High School until 1994. His sister is a doctor, his Indian-born father is an orthopaedic surgeon, and his Cape Town-born Malay mother is a GP.

Moosa wanted to do medicine, he spent 6years training in medicine at the University of Cape Town medical school and did his internship in the hospital near Thokoza in Gauteng in Cape Town. Moosa was also known for being a doctor and an actor. He has also toured South Africa, Africa, and the UK.

Moosa has recorded immense success so much in his comedy career. In January and February 2013 he performed at the Baxter Theater with a show called “What’s Next”.

In March 2011 Moosa received the Comics Choice Award at the first annual South African Comics Choice Awards. He was also one of the nominees for the Comic’s Choice Awards. For his role in a film, he was named best actor at the 2013 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA), which was also named best film.

8. Mpho Popp – $500,000

Mpho was born in 1982, he’s one of the contestants on the show “So You Think You Funny”. In 2015 he started a one-man show Exhibit A at the Lyric Theater in Gold Reef City, and he also took part in the dance show on SABC 3, “Strictly Come Dancing.

His career highlight was in 2013 when he participated in the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Through SABC, he was able to portray his talent. SABC was the key for Mpho Popps to reach his dreams. Popps is a god-gifted guy with stupendous intellectual skills. But if he didn’t get the right platform to showcase his talent, then all would flow down the drain. Mpho Popps made his first appearance in 2009 in the show- “So You Think You Are Funny.” It was an SABC1 Competition.

7. Marc Lottering – $700,000

Marc Eugene Lottering was born on 4 December 1967, is a stand-up comedian from Cape Town, South Africa, and grew up in the Retreat townships of the Cape Flats. Marc Lottering is one of the most admired and respected Comedians in South Africa. The winner of the Vita Award for BEST Actor in a comedy film, Marc Lottering’s career began in 1997 and he was featured in the show Bafunny Bafunny at the Royal Albert Hall.

He also has four Fleur du Cap Awards to his name. Lottering’s first show when he went into comedy, was “AFTER THE BEEP” in 1997.

6. Skhumba Hlophe – $1 million

Skhumba Hlophe was born on 31 August, his year of birth is not yet known as at when this article is been writing. He his a comedian, radio presenter and an actor and he’s from Tembisa neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hlope has organized about four breathe taking shows in the past four years, and this feat has earned him more popularity and wealth as his fan base keeps increasing as the day goes by. He is also known for his role in the South African blockbuster movie Taxi ride and Trippin. As a result of his charisma and funny looking face, which always leave his audience cracking their ribs with laughter, Skhumba Hlophe was given the name “The Bigbang”.

5. David Kau – $1.5 million

David Kau is 42 years old as of 2021, he was born on 18 April 1978, in South Africa. Kau went to Pretoria Technikon in 1995, (now called the Tshwane University of Technology). While he studied electrical engineering but dropped the course in 1996. Afterward, he joined the University of Cape Town, where he pursued a speech and drama. As a result, David graduated with a speech and drama diploma in the year 1998.

4. Deep Fried Man – $5 million

Daniel Friedman was born 9 January 1981, known on stage as Deep Fried Man, is a South African musical comedian and writer based in Johannesburg. He describes what he does as “stand-up comedy with a guitar”. He adopted his stage name, a play on his real name, because “it went along with the kind of musical comedy I wanted to do, which was an unhealthy kind of comedy.

Friedman is the son of political analyst and newspaper columnist Steven Friedman, and is Jewish. From 1999 to 2002, he studied journalism, philosophy and drama at Rhodes University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at Wits University in 2010.

After university, Friedman worked in journalism and social media. He performed alternative folk music in Johannesurg prior to becoming a comedian. He made the transition to professional comedy after being declared joint winner of the 2010 Comedy Showdown hosted by Joe Parker, as a result of which he got to perform in the 2010 UN Comedy Show alongside top local and international comedians. He was voted Best Newcomer at the first Annual South African Comic’s Choice Awards held at the Teatro, Montecasino, in January 2011.

Top 3 Richest Comedian in South Africa

3. Tumi Morake – $5 million

Tumi Morake was born 22 December 1981, is a South African comedian, actress, TV personality, and a writer. She’s the only female to make it to the list of the richest comedian in South Africa. In 2018, she became the first African woman to have her own set on Netflix. She is also known to be the first woman to host Comedy Central Presents in Africa.

Morake studied Drama at Wits University, After completing her tertiary education at DUT, Morake started working at Arepp Theatre for Life, a touring educational theatre company. In July 2005, she joined the comedy industry.

2. Barry HIilton – $7 million

David Barry Hilton was born on January 1956, is a South African stand-up comedian. Referred to by his middle name, Barry aka The Cousin, he is also an actor, television personality and motivational speaker. After 6 years of initially working as an electrician he tried his hand at comedy – turning Professional in 1983 at the age of 26.

A French Mauritian descendant and Lancashire-born father Jack Hilton. In 1961 Hilton’s family moved from Southern Rhodesia to North Wales where he attended St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Junior School from the age of 5 (1961) to the age of 10 (1966).

Whilst working as the maintenance manager of a hotel frequented by the cast of the comedy television show ‘Biltong and Potroast’, Hilton met Johnny Noble who managed to get him into his first gig at The Holiday Inn, in Port Elizabeth in May 1983. This was followed by a six-month stint as compere at cabaret spot, the Millionaires Club in Cape Town after which he relocated to Johannesburg to perform at local pub.

1. Trevor Noah – $100 million

Trevor Noah was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on February 20th, 1984. His father Robert being of Swiss extraction and his Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah being of Xhosa ancestry made life difficult for the Noah family under the South African apartheid rule of the time, which had criminalized interracial marriage by the time Trevor was born, and his mother faced jail time and fines over the course of his childhood (he wrote about his experiences growing up under apartheid in South Africa in his 2016 book “Born a Crime”).

Trevor Noah’s career in show business began when he was just a teenager. At 18, he had a walk-on part on an episode of the popular South African soap opera “Isidingo” in 2002. Around the same time, he began hosting his own youth-oriented radio show entitled “Noah’s Ark;” after that, he hosted an educational TV series called “Run The Adventure from 2004 to 2006.

Richest Comedian In South Africa (infographics)