The 2013 Comedy Central Roast will be held in September and broadcast on Comedy Central, channel 122 on DStv, on National Braai Day, Tuesday, 24 September, at 21:00. And as for the Roastee. Who will it be? Comedy Central’s not saying – at least not for now – although a Twitter poll taken by Comedy Central prior to the 2012 Roast stirred up lots of suggestions in terms of who might be the best candidate. Julius Malema, Gareth Cliff, Herschelle Gibbs, Nonhle Thema, Riaan Cruywagen, Danny K, President Zuma, Oscar Pistorius, Helen Zille and Kuli Roberts were all put in the frame by South African comedy fans at one time or another.

Comments Evert van der Veer, channel director, Comedy Central, Africa: “We are delighted to partner with Nando’s for our second Comedy Central Roast. The first South African Roast in 2012 exceeded all of our expectations, and saw South African TV audiences really taking the Roast concept to their hearts. It’s not going to be easy, but our goal this year is to raise the bar even further in terms of Roastee, Roasters, production values, ratings and overall LPM (laughs per minute).”

Says Ashley Stansfield, advertising and PR manager for Nando’s South Africa: “The Comedy Central Roast is a perfect sponsorship opportunity for Nando’s, because, like us, they take their work seriously - but not themselves. We love the idea of firing up the Roast and look forward to adding spice to the partnership.”

The 2012 Comedy Central Roast of Steve Hofmeyr was a landmark TV and entertainment event which saw controversial singer, actor, poet and polemicist Steve Hofmeyr well and truly spitted by Trevor Noah, Casper de Vries, John Vlismas, Anele Mdoda, Shaleen Surtie-Richards, Robert Whitehouse, David Kau, Kuli Roberts, and Minki van der Westhuizen. Comic provocation, good-natured ribbing, outrageous anecdotes (true and false) and some genuinely barbed remarks made the Roast great watching on both TV and video – achieving Comedy Central’s highest TV rating ever, and selling thousands of units on DVD.

Highlights of the show, taped in September 2012 at the Lyric Theatre, Johannesburg, included Hofmeyr arriving on set in a blinged-out, pimped-up “ossewa” or ox wagon to the unapologetically triumphal strains of Baas van die Plaas. A wicked stint as Roastmaster by comedian Trevor Noah, a supremely catty dissection of the singer by Casper de Vries, and sharp exchanges between John Vlismas and Hofmeyr – which ended in Hofmeyr literally cramming Vlismas’ script down his throat – rounded out the event.

Comedy Central Roasts are stand-out TV comedy events that have featured famous names from the worlds of entertainment, media, business and celebrity. US Roastees who have previously settled their eminent posteriors on the infamous Roast hot seat include: Roseanne Arnold, William Shatner, David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, Donald Trump, Joan Rivers, Denis Leary and Flava Flav. Filmed in front of a live audience, each Roast features a Roastmaster who presides over the event and introduces the guests (or Roasters), who dish out good-natured insults and hilarious tributes to the Roastee. The Roastee also joins in the fun, meets old friends, gets the chance to refute his critics and rounds up the show with a final closing statement.

To find out more about Comedy Central’s latest Roast, visit www.comedycentralafrica.com. Alternatively, visit the Facebook page or follow @ComedyCentralAF on Twitter. To join the conversation about the 2013 roasting, add #RoastZA to one's tweets.