An architect and comedian
Living in Glenvista for about five years now, Rabin Harduth (40) has worked with the likes of Loyiso Gola, Eugene Khoza, Barry Hilton, Trevor Noah, Riaad Moosa, Dave Levinsohn, David Kibukka, Chris Forrest, Jason Goliath, Darren Maule, Nik Rabinowitz and Joey Rasdien.
THE South is proud to introduce its own comedy producer and architectural service provider who is attempting to put the South on the map by introducing regular quality stand-up comedy in the South.
Living in Glenvista for about five years now, Rabin Harduth (40) has worked with the likes of Loyiso Gola, Eugene Khoza, Barry Hilton, Trevor Noah, Riaad Moosa, Dave Levinsohn, David Kibukka, Chris Forrest, Jason Goliath, Darren Maule, Nik Rabinowitz and Joey Rasdien.
The husband of the first female fellow of INSOL International in SA, Nastascha Harduth, and father of a little boy, was born in Lenasia. Harduth moved to Saxonwold where he completed Grades 10 to 12 at Hyde Park High.
Read: Under the ComaroScope with Nastascha Harduth
Professional career
Harduth studied architectural drafting and started working at an engineering firm in Northcliff as a draftsman. After a year he went into architectural practice and stayed in architecture from 1996 to 2010.
In 2001 he moved to Ireland and worked at an engineering company for a year. In 2002 he entered Big Brother South Africa
Comedic journey
While in Ireland in 2001, Harduth always wrote comedy as it was one of his passions.
He attended his first comedy club in 1997 which was at Hurricanes in the Fourways Mall. He heard about it because Alex Jay (5fm at the time) played South African comedy on the radio which sparked an interest in him .
It was only after Big Brother that he started to attend more comedy nights.
In 2003, Harduth did his first open spot comedy gig at Roxy’s Rhythm Bar in Melville. The host at the time was the late Mathew Stewardson who gave him his first opportunity.
“Once you start your comedy set and get those first laughs, everything is smooth sailing. It builds up your confidence to carry on performing. I’m thankful that my first gig went well. It’s similar to architecture. When you design shopping centres and malls you get a sense of gratification but only after months of work. With comedy it’s instant gratification,” he said.
The comedian then tried to get more gigs and tried to get more local comedians on stage. He organised his first comedy club gig at Colony Arms in Craighall Park and then started doing more shows, organising between three to four gigs a week. This snowballed into him wanting to do a bigger theatre style show and that is when he managed to produce Barry Hilton Live in Lenasia in 2005.
He successfully sold 950 tickets by standing at robots and by word of mouth and that’s how he continued doing more shows and bigger shows by 2009. This helped him create a knowledge base which helped him put together a national tour for Trevor Noah in three days. He arranged it all in terms of production, venues and logistics. The architect, comedian and DJ on weekends had his hands full with three crazy jobs.
“I love to do the production, event organising and the comedy festivals. I have been fortunate to travel to comedy festivals around the world and to learn from them and to help make stand-up comedy in South Africa a more memorable experience,” said Harduth.
Clarens Comedy Festival and R99 Show
Harduth will be hosting the third Clarens Comedy Festival in October with great media partners and loads of talent on board and the aim will be to encourage comedy tourism. With comedy being his current focus he is rolling out The R99 Show across the country at various casinos and live venues, and he is also the festival director of Just for Laughs Africa festival which will be in held Durban this year.
The R99 Show delivers a variety of quality shows with more diverse line-ups and more entertainment value. The R99 Show showcases an ever-changing line-up of quality live comedy, musical guests, and a chat show element to start the show and a food and drinks market, all for just R99 with no t’s and c’s. This is what Harduth wants to bring to the South, he is currently finalising local venues and businesses to partner with and will be going on sale shortly.
Family life and business meet
The work from home house husband also strives to maintain a balanced and happy home life. After marrying a South girl in 2014, Harduth moved here and simply loves it compared to the North where he previously lived. His son attends a play school in Mulbarton.
Apart from the comedy and family life, Harduth also runs AIM2 which is Accurate Independent Measurements. This is his architectural services company that specialises in on site building measurements and issuing area certificates for landlords and tenants.
His third passion apart from comedy and architecture is food. He met his wife at a food and wine appreciation group and also featured on Come Dine With Me South Africa a few years ago.
For more information email rabin@R99.co.za, rabin@AIM2.co.za or Whatsapp 082 800 5982.
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