By Kristy Hesom and Michelle Strydom

Hosted on Thursday, 26 May, the venue for South Africa’s inaugural Roast Battle was packed. The ever-offensive host, John Vlismas, did not disappoint. He did, however, have to remind the audience that it was comedy and that they shouldn’t be offended, as a few people had to keep picking their jaws up off the floor.

Vlismas got the show started by roasting a few audience members (will people ever learn not to interrupt a comedian?), before introducing the judges. Earlier in the day, it was announced that Orlando Jones (Evolution, Sleepy Hollow) would be the international judge, but due to his schedule, he couldn’t make it on time. No stranger to a roast himself, Kenny Kunene served as a judge this time round, and was joined by comedy veteran David Kau.

Round one kicked off with Mo Mothebe beating Nqoba Ngcobo by a landslide, round two saw Dillan Oliphant just beat Dusty Rich, while Chris Forrest destroyed Nina Hastie in the third round.

Once the initial roastings were done, the winners of the three round’s came out to be judged by the audience, as there could only be two comedians to face off in the final round. Unfortunately, Mothebe had the least amount of cheers, and was kicked off the stage by Vlismas.

After a short break, Vlismas returned to the stage to once again introduce the panel of judges as well as the finalists of the Roast Battle, Oliphant and Forrest. Before the final round commenced, Vlismas announced that Orlando Jones had finally arrived and would entertain everyone with his American humour. Once Jones had warmed up the crowd, the finalists appeared and set the stage on fire (not literally).

Come the end, the vote was unanimous (We do love a good “Run Forrest, run” joke) and Oliphant walked away as the champion of the first Comedy Central Roast Battle.

The audiences left with sore abdomens and memories of an incredible experience, as only Comedy Central could provide.

The Roast Battle will be aired on Comedy Central later this month. 

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*Image courtesy of Comedy Central