I wasn't born and raised in the Mother City, my Afrikaans is severely shit; and if it wasn't for the Cape Coloured 101 lessons from my friends, I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between a giemba and a bompie. Yes, yes, I know - he's a Cape Town comedian catering for a Capetonian audience, but some of his jokes were just full-on lame. Let me share an example with you so you get my drift: "What do you call a wolf in Cape Town? ... Aweh-wolf." Yes, he did just tell that weak joke.
Among other things, I'm not a Jew who lives in Sea Point, nor am I the mother of naughty waterslams, I've never been to a supermarket where the staff are indecipherable without their teeth. I'm not a White person in need of a Black friend, nor am I a Black person in need of a White friend, nor am I capable of cooking a breyani, so there. I'm also not the lead vocalist of a band called Freshlyground who just might have been smoking a spliff while writing the lyrics for the hit single that made my band famous (doo be doo, anyone).
Barring his impeccable voice impersonations (His Arch Tutu is right on the money!), I found the show lacking in direction - his material was too fragmented; half the audience laughed at half the jokes, half the time, while the other half nodded and smiled waiting for their turn. While Rabinowitz is able to tap into the zeitgeist, his material was flimsy with the delivery itself lacking any real conviction. Not impressed, I offered a courtesy laugh here and there - but in all honesty, it was like listening to an anticlimactic joke - no punch line.
For explanations to some of the terms used in this piece, go to http://kakduidelik.co.za/2008/10/22/cape-town-slang/.
