Riaad Moosa

Riaad Moosa, a silver medallion graduate of the College of Magic in Cape Town, started his comedy career as a comedy magician. Regularly enchanting people with his special blend of magic and comedy, he was presented with the 'Comedy Magic Award' at the Centre for the Magical Arts in Cape Town. He performed at many birthday parties where he was constantly tormented by uncles-who-think-they're-funny asking him, "Hey, Mr. Magician, you gonna make my wife disappear?" That's genius that...

Riaad, who is also a qualified medical doctor (yes, really!), started doing stand-up comedy whilst still studying at the University of Cape Town Medical School. He was an instant hit, receiving rave reviews at his first show. But then again, he failed his first chemistry test at UCT in Jameson Hall. He claims he was distracted by the birds...

Riaad started performing stand-up at the Cape Comedy Collective's free 'Comedy Lab' workshops, and just two months later, he was the winner of the hotly contested 'One City, Many Comics Talent Competition' held as part of the One City Festival in September 1999. Since then, Riaad has mended his ways and does not endorse bribery anymore.

Being one of the first members of the Cape Comedy Collective, Riaad became a regular headliner on the comedy circuit during his rookie year, where he was also invited to perform on Pieter Dirk Uys's 'Evita Live and Dangerous' eTV comedy show.

Alongside comedians David Levinson and Paul Snodgrass, he performed to sold-out shows (basically only the first show was sold out. Ok not really sold out. It was full on the opening night and they gave away a lot of comps), in his debut stand-up comedy theatre production 'The Paracomics' at Artscape in Cape Town.

Riaad's humor is based on his experiences as a young Muslim relating to post-911 Islamaphobia (sounds fun doesn't it), growing up in Cape Town and general observational and opinion-based humour. Skirting around the relatively taboo topics with charm and ease this comedy doctor will split your sides and keep you in stitches at the same time.

Now, a regular headliner on comedy circuits all over South Africa, Riaad is also a sought-after act for the bigger productions. He has starred in the Alex Jay 5fm 'Comedy Jams' and Real Concert's 'Winston King Size Comedy Show', headlining the 'Sprite Soul Comedy Jams' in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

Riaad supported Marc Curry of 'Hanging with Mr. Cooper' fame, rocking the crowd at the Durban Playhouse in 2001. In 2002, he supported Russel Peters in his show 'Made in India' at the Luxurama theatre where he received excellent reviews from his parents and critics alike.

In 2002, Riaad was part of the largest stand-up show in the history of South African television, 'Laugh out Loud', where he joined nine of SA's top comics to raise half a million Rand (about $5) for the 'Reach for a Dream' foundation.

In 2003, Riaad performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, headlining in the Cape Comedy Collective – 'The new South Africa Stands Up' production. During his month at the festival he performed with the top comedians on the planet (ok, not with – he performed relatively near them... the top guys were in one theatre and Riaad was in another – close to the toilet), displaying his special brand of South African humour on a world stage.

In 2004, Riaad was a writer and performer for SABC 1's the 'Pure Monate Show', which achieved cult status amongst the South African urban youth.

Riaad also featured in the 'Crazy Monkey – Straight outta Benoni' movie – one of the biggest grossing SA Movies in 2005... he had one line in the movie – impressive.

In September 2006 Riaad Moosa performed his first one-man show 'Strictly Halaal', at the Nelson Mandela Civic theatre. The run was sold out a week before it started and 5 extra shows over one weekend were added to meet the huge public demand.

In November 2006, he continued the 'Strictly Halaal' tour in Durban at the International Convention Centre and in March 2007, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, packing both houses to capacity and adding on extra shows.

Riaad repeated the run in Johannesburg in May 2007 and made a DVD. There was a DVD out already, but he didn't make it. It's just that a lot of Indians come to his show and they have cell phone cameras. Riaad did a show in Durban once – after the show there were bootleg DVD's of his show available in the foyer!

In 2008, Riaad appeared alongside Marc Lottering and Nik Rabinowitz in the hit variety comedy show, '3 Wise Men'. The show was directed by David Kramer and was one of the fastest selling shows in 2008.

Moosa, one of the country's most popular and acclaimed funnymen with a style all his own, is known as "the Comedy Doctor", and he certainly seems to have the remedy for the nation's ills at the moment: a healthy dose of laughter, straight up – hold the aspirin.

Duration of comedy show: 30-40 minutes

Also much in demand as a comedic Master of Ceremonies.

WATCH OUT FOR RIAAD IN MATERIAL THE MOVIE - OPENING ON 17TH FEBRUARY 2012