Top 10 Richest Comedian In South Africa; Africa’s comedy industry is booming, and some of its comedians are among the wealthiest in the world. African comedians have a reputation for transforming a dull day with their funny performances.
Stand-up comedy is gaining popularity in Africa. As with musicians and actors alike, comedians also enjoy fame and fortune. South Africa’s Comedy Scene is flourishing, with many young talent achieving recognition and success. This post highlights the most successful and best comedians from South Africa.
| No. | Name | Net worth |
| 10 | Tats Nkonzo | $200,000 |
| 9 | Riaad Moosa | $40o,ooo |
| 8 | Mpho Popp | $500,000 |
| 7 | Marc Lottering | $700,000 |
| 6 | Skhumba Hlophe | $1 million |
| 5 | David Kau | $1.5 million |
| 4 | Deep Fried Man | $5 million |
| 3 | Tumi Morake | $5 million |
| 2 | Barry Hilton | $7 million |
| 1 | Trevor Noah | $100 million |
10. Tats Nkonzo – $200,000
Tats Nkonzo is a South African stand-up comedian, singer and TV personality. He is a South African stand-up comedian, singer, and TV personality. He is most well-known as the host of E.TV’s reality show SA’s Got Talent. Another South African comedian who is making it big.
In 2005, he was among the Top 24 Finalists of the M-Net Reality Competition Idols. Nkonzo’s big break came in 2008 when he reached the Top 8 of SABC1’s reality show “So You Think You Are Funny”. He was immediately asked to join the Top 3 of the season on tour after the show concluded.He performed at the Pieter Torien Theatre, Johannesburg Market Theatre, and Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre.
Nkonzo won the BlackBerry Breakthrough Act Award in 2012 at the South African Comics Choice Awards.
9. Riaad Moosa – $400,000
Riaad Moosa was born in Cape Town on 18th June 1977. Moosa grew in Grassy Park with three siblings. He attended South Peninsula High School until 1994. His sister is also a doctor. His father, who is Indian, is an orthopaedic surgeon, and his Cape Town Malay mother, who is Malay, is a general practitioner.
Moosa was interested in medicine and spent six years training at the University of Cape Town Medical School. He completed his internship at a hospital in Gauteng near Thokoza.Moosa is also a doctor, and an actor.He has toured South Africa and Africa as well as the UK.
Moosa’s comedy career has been a huge success.He performed “What’s next” at the Baxter Theater in January and February 2013.
In March 2011, Moosa won the Comics Choice Award in the inaugural South African Comics Choice Awards.He was nominated for the Comic’s Choice Awards.He was awarded the best actor award at the 2013 South African Film and Television Awards. The film he starred in was also named as best film.
8. Mpho Popp – $500,000
Mpho is a contestant on “So You Think You Funny”. He was born in 1982.Mpho started his one-man show, Exhibit A, at the Lyric Theatre in Gold Reef City in 2015. He also participated in the dance show “Strictly Come Dancing” on SABC 3.
In 2013, he was a part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.He was able showcase his talent through SABC.Mpho Popps was able to achieve his dreams thanks to SABC.Popps has a gift for intellect and is gifted with a lot of it.If he did not have the platform to show off his talent, it would all be a waste.Mpho Popps’ first TV appearance was in 2009, in “So You Think you Are Funny”, a SABC1 Competition.
7. Marc Lottering – $700,000
Marc Eugene Lottering, born 4 December 1967 in Cape Town, South Africa is a comedian who grew up the Retreat townships on the Cape Flats. Marc Lottering, one of South Africa’s most respected and admired comedians, was born on 4 December 1967. Marc Lottering, the winner of the Vita Award as the BEST actor in a comedy movie, began his career in 1997. He was also featured in the Royal Albert Hall show Bafunny Bafunny.
Four Fleur du Cap Awards are also to his credit. Lottering began his comedy career in 1997 with “AFTER BEEP”.
6. Skhumba Hlophe – $1 million
Skhumba Hlophe was born on 31 August, his year of birth is not yet known as at when this article is been writing. He his a comedian, radio presenter and an actor and he’s from Tembisa neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Hlope has organized about four breathe taking shows in the past four years, and this feat has earned him more popularity and wealth as his fan base keeps increasing as the day goes by. He is also known for his role in the South African blockbuster movie Taxi ride and Trippin. As a result of his charisma and funny looking face, which always leave his audience cracking their ribs with laughter, Skhumba Hlophe was given the name “The Bigbang”.
5. David Kau – $1.5 million
David Kau is 42 years old as of 2021, he was born on 18 April 1978, in South Africa. Kau went to Pretoria Technikon in 1995, (now called the Tshwane University of Technology). While he studied electrical engineering but dropped the course in 1996. Afterward, he joined the University of Cape Town, where he pursued a speech and drama. As a result, David graduated with a speech and drama diploma in the year 1998.
4. Deep Fried Man – $5 million
Daniel Friedman, born on 9 January 1981 and known as Deep Fried Man on stage, is a South African musician, writer, and comedian based in Johannesburg. He calls his style “stand-up with a guitar”. He chose his stage name as a play on the name he was born with, “because it went along with my kind of musical humor, which I wanted to do. It was an unhealthy type of comedy”.
Friedman is the Jewish son of Steven Friedman, a political analyst and newspaper journalist. He studied journalism, philosophy, and drama from 1999 to 2002 at Rhodes University. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts. In 2010, he also obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Wits University.
Friedman began his career in journalism after graduating from university. Before becoming a comic, Friedman performed alternative folk music at Johannesurg. After being named joint winner of the 2010 Comedy Showdown, hosted by Joe Parker and performing in the 2010 UN Comedy Show with top local and international comics, he made the transition into professional comedy. He was named Best Newcomer in the First Annual South African Comic’s Choice Awards, held at the Teatro Montecasino in January 2011,
Top 3 Richest Comedian in South Africa
3. Tumi Morake – $5 million
Tumi was born on 22 December 1981. She is a South African comic, actress, television personality, and writer. She is the only woman to appear on the list of South Africa’s richest comedians. In 2018, she was the first African woman with her own Netflix show. She was also the first African woman to host Comedy Central Presents.
Morake studied drama at Wits University. After completing her tertiary studies at DUT she began working for Arepp Theatre for Life. She joined the comedy world in July 2005.
2. Barry HIilton – $7 million
David Barry Hilton, a South African comedian born in January 1956 is David Barry Hilton. Barry, also known as The Cousin or The Barry, is a South African stand-up comedian, actor, TV personality, and motivational speaker. He began his career as an electrician for six years before deciding to try comedy. At the age of 26, he became a professional comedian.
Jack Hilton, a Lancashire-born descendant of French Mauritians. Hilton’s family relocated from Southern Rhodesia in 1961 to North Wales. He attended St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Junior school from the age 5 (1961-1966) until the age 10 (1966).
Hilton met Johnny Noble in Port Elizabeth, while working as a maintenance manager at a hotel that was frequented frequently by the cast members of the comedy TV show Biltong and Potroast. In May 1983, Hilton got his first job in the Holiday Inn. Then, he spent six months as a compere in the Millionaires Club cabaret venue in Cape Town. After that, he moved to Johannesburg and performed at a local pub.
1. Trevor Noah – $100 million
Trevor Noah was born on February 20, 1984 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Noah family was made to suffer by South African apartheid, as his father Robert, who is of Swiss descent, and Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, a Xhosa woman, were both of Xhosa ancestry. His mother, Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, also faced prison time and fines during his childhood.
Trevor Noah began his career in the show business when he just turned 18. In 2002, he played a small part in an episode of “Isidingo”, a popular South African soap opera. He began his youth-oriented radio program “Noah’s Ark” at the same time. From 2004 to 2006, he hosted a TV educational series entitled “Run The Adventure”.