Purpose, Prodding and the Comedy of Hope

I wonder how many times Pieter Dirk Uys has read the "I may not like what you have to say, but will fight to the death for your right to say it" line in reviews of his work (And let's face it, it may seem effortless to an audience but the man works it). As a youngster I never really appreciated the comedy of Dirk-Uys, but I understood and was in awe of the danger, the imminent arrest for anything he might say, and also awe for the thin veil of protection he seemed to enjoy. I found his jokes somehow a little obvious, a little crass. But Dirk Uys deals in politicians, which are, as he points out, a little obvious and a little crass. And now with the danger long gone, i wondered how relevant he could be. His new show, "Elections and Erections", may at first glance seem to be a collection of greatest hits and easy targets, but as we are drawn in deeper into his world, Mr Dirk-Uys (or Sir, as he should be referred to) never letting up the patter, slipping from himself, to this character, to that character, never so much as entertaining a crack in the flow, never revealing his purpose, making small points, draws a persons mind to having to consider all the givens of their own personal politics.

It's not straight comedy, he manipulates the audience from caricatures that challenge our own bigotry, to personal moments about the past. He let's us know what is happening on a small level, and then paints the bigger picture. He defines our place in the history of this country, makes us insignificant, then vastly significant and then let's us laugh about it. Pieter Dirk Uys takes to the stage as if the whole country is his living room, commanding hundreds of people as if he's having them over for tea. The audience is made comfortable, uncomfortable, jovial and then uncomfortable at being jovial. He exercises our dark thoughts, he shows us how to hope through a comedy of despair. I can wax lyrical about the man for hours. I could also merely describe the show, but why ruin it for you. You will go see it, I humbly command you.

HIs genius can be pointed out in a comparison, in a riff about the long stretched popular topic of road name changes he does, in three short lines, what I've seen younger pretenders have to stretch to fifteen minutes to do. And he's funnier. And he has a purpose. For all the seeming randomness of his wandering through all his characters, he has picked carefully what he wants to tell us, he uses jokes and languages understandable on all levels, and he guides the audience through a thought process that is primarily to amuse, yes, sure, but actually to enlighten. There is not much comedy that can claim such ideals, Sir Dirk Uys is up there with Bill Hicks and Andy Kaufman in this regard.

I'm not saying that "Elections and Erections" is a long political diatribe, far from it, Dirk Uys uses the comedy of politics to gently prod out complacency, and make us feel good about thinking again, he delivers a meal of humor with a spice of thinking. Moreover Dirk Uys shows us that the danger is not gone, that these same old dangers lurk, indifference, greed, lack of hope. He shows us what silly little concerns these are, what silly creatures we and our politicians are for focusing on ego, personality and he does it through ego's and personalities. I'm going on here. You simply have to see the man to understand the depth of his comedy. I may not like everything Pieter Dirk Uys has to say, But I like a lot of it, and yes, many have given their lives for his right to say it, so long may he continue to stand up, adapt and spread the hope, if not here, then Quo Vadis?


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