AS part of Celebrate South Africa Weekend in frome, comedian Tony Stewart will perform at the Cheese & Grain on Saturday 11th June.
Tony began in showbiz early on in life as he started in the circus at the tender age of 15, in Scotland.
Jimmy Logan, the comedian from the great Scottish Logan family, put Tony on stage when he was 17 years old at the famous Metrapole Theatre in Glasgow and the rest is history.
Tony moved to the North East of England in Sunderland to start doing the ‘school of hard knocks’ in working men’s clubs. After years of schooling there, he started in a theatre where a great singer called Issy Bonn, who had an agency, saw Tony working and booked him for a summer season with the best ventriloquist act at that time, Ray Allen and his famous doll, Lord Charles.
Here, Tony had 26 weeks of sheer fun and then merely a year later, Tony had his own show on the Isle of Man. Here, his first Master of Ceremonies gig was for a pop star now known as Engelbert Humperdink.
After that, Tony was blessed to be the opening act for the stars, Mat Monroe and Sir Cliff Richard. He has even had the pleasure of working with stars such as the Late Dusty Springfield, American star and film actress Jane Russell from ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ and even with Marilyn Monroe. Then in 1972, Tony was invited to work on TV as a comedian through the summer season in Jersey for 28 weeks.
Before going to live in South Africa, Tony worked on a show called ‘The Wheeltappers And Shunters’, with Bernard Manning and Collin Crompton and Dianna Dors.
Tony travelled to Australia and back touring with cabaret shows until 1975, after which he finally came to live as a resident in South Africa working at the Crazy Horse Hotels in Durban, Cape Town and Pretoria. In 1976 he was on the S.A.B.C. (South African Broadcasting Association) as one of the most popular people in television, especially as he worked on the famous show ‘Biltong and Potroast’.
When Sol Kerzner opened the Sun Hotels, Tony was so popular, that he did stand-up in every Sun hotel including Sun City six times. Tony then hit the high seas cruising on many of the luxury liners with his hit comedy shows.
He made three films, all shot in South Africa, one of which he played the Town Crier with the star Oliver Reed who he became friends with while he was living in Guernsey.
The South African community in the South West is proud to introduce Tony Stewart as their headline act for the Celebrate South Africa Comedy Night at the Cheese and Grain on Saturday 11th June.
Tony has toured South Africa and the UK with his classic style of comedy which is sure to make ribs hurt and people gasp for breath. Tony is considered to be one the godfathers of South African comedy, so don’t miss this genius of hilarity with his amazing blend of British and South African comedy.
Tickets for the event will be on sale soon. Celebrate South Africa is on Facebook.
