ONE of South Africa's most beloved comedians, Marc Lottering, returns to Nelson Mandela Bay next week – this time to celebrate the good people of the Eastern Cape. Lottering, whose latest show I Don't Work on Sundays has been well received, is MC-ing at The Herald GM Citizen of the Year awards on October 19.
Happy to depict a range of characters in his popular one-man plays – such as being pastor, cashier, taxi gaartjie or Mariah Carey wannabe – there is one role he is not interested in: that of being citizen awards judge.
"I'd be a pathetic judge," he said.
"With the newspaper headlines the way they stand, an event of this nature is significant and necessary.
"All good people with good hearts should be celebrated all the time."
For the past few weeks, readers have been introduced to the top 12 finalists in this year's awards. They include a high school principal who turned his school's matric rate around, an unemployed philanthropist, a young man who started a cricket club to keep youth out of trouble and a special needs teacher.
The winner will be announced at the Opera House in Port Elizabeth next Friday and Lottering will be there keeping things on a lighter note.
He has promised to be well-dressed, well-spoken, charming and decent.
"With clean underwear of course," he said.
Lottering has been in the funny business for 13 years and has relied on newspaper reports about what is happening to gauge what is relevant.
"This gives you somewhat of an idea as to what South Africans are talking about," he said.
"Also, and I have said this many times, I thoroughly enjoy people-watching as that makes me smile a lot."
In I Don't Work On Sundays, Lottering expresses his views about a range of topics, from dog whisperers to reality TV.
"The title simply came about because, well, I don't work on Sundays. It's generally a day I like to kick back with Sunday papers," he said.
Asked what he thought about an e-mail entitled Why Coloureds Can't Be Terrorists, which cites him as the author, Lottering said: "I simply wish that my fans would understand that I was not the author."
Tickets for the awards event are available from Computicket at R80.
