Tshepo Mogale

This is Tshepo Mogale, a comedian, writer, actor, business man, the kwaito star known as Spykos, and as he puts it, “what ever it is that can lead to me sending an invoice - I’m very willing to get involved in that”. He was born in Durban, South Africa, his dad’s  a doctor, mom’s a nurse, they were the fist family in his neighbourhood to get a Mercedes Benz. When he was still very young the family moved to Bloemfontein where he did his primary school years, he was one of only a handful of black kids at a white school. At twelve he moved to Cape Town where he finished his schooling and went on to study a B com at university. In the late 90's he finished with a diploma and then moved to Joburg where he got a job in financial services. Part time in the evenings Tshepo would do stand up comedy which was his hobby and real passion. As Thepo puts it, “most of my friends are either comedians, or investment bankers”.

In 2003 a show that he pitched with other comedian friends was accepted by the SABC, so he bid farewell to the bank and became a full time writer and entertainer. The series was called the Pure Monate Show, or PMS (check out the facebook group), his profile exploded as soon as it hit the tube. He had by now created himself a character called Spykos who was a mock kwaito star and poked fun at some of the lower end stuff being made (see an interview with Noleen), however the streets loved the character and ironically he was signed and an album was released. Hear him talk about it…

After the Spykos phenomenon died a sudden death, Tshepo tried various other business’s, from cell phone video content to creative consulting, but settled in comedy event management. He has a regular comedy festival which he throws in SA’s capitol city, the Tshwane Comedy Festival. To date he’s thrown 20 shows of which 16 have been sold out, he also continues to do his own acts, see for yourself…

Tshepo also co-owns New Ground Distribution, a DVD movie distribution company launching soon in SA but with long term plans of distributing across Africa and even into the UK. Here’s Tshepo's advice to people trying to crack it in the TV or music industry...

That said, for those who have made a decent establishment and name for themselves, who’ve made their own films or have a solid comedy act, get in touch with Tshepo, and if you’re good, he’s keen to look at marketing and selling you or your product, look for him on facebook, twitter or email him on comicaltshepo@gmail.com. Lastly, here it is, Tshepo breaks down his stand on African politics, thank you Tshepo…

P.S. Tshepo is currently shooting a film about a guy in a financial institution who works as a stand up at night and ends up being a super famous kwaito star... hmmmm, sounds familiar :)