WATCH : @chestermissing in conversation with himself
Conrad Koch and puppet Chester Missing. Conrad Koch and puppet Chester Missing.
You would be forgiven for not knowing who Conrad Koch is. But Koch is in fact Chester Missing, who is one of our country’s toughest political commentators.
Koch talks to The Sunday Independent about his plans to go back to the lighter side of comedy ventriloquism in his latest offering, ‘Puppet Guy’, at Montecasino.
The show is in association with Comedy Central Africa and takes place for the first time in Joburg at the Pieter Toerien Studio Theatre at Montecasino on Wednesday until May 27.
“I’m not actually a puppeteer, I’m a ventriloquist, so my real interest is in work that is bigger than that and bigger than Chester’s political analysis, so I’m creating a show that is global and includes Chester’s awesomeness and more.
“So it’s just really a fun show. I do Snapchat on stage, I do DJ Hoodie (made from sunglasses and a hoodie). He is an actual DJ puppet, so I DJ live. I put my hoodie on my feet, it’s insanely funny. He says he was inspired to do the show, which is in its third year now, to broaden his horizons in comedy beyond Chester, after he did a Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.
“It’s a big comedy fest and it was really inspiring to see comedians so committed to being hilariously funny.
“So Chester lives in a suitcase and we all understand what it’s like to live in a suitcase, what it’s like to have someone speak for us.
“Now I’m less interested in lecturing people about how to be and creating a really joyful space.
Koch’s journey into ventriloquism began when he went to the the College of Magic in Cape Town.
“They teach you all sort of circus-type art like magic, juggling, cycling and ventriloquism. Ventriloquism, though, is slightly different and it takes years to be good at it, which is why I’m probably the first one you’ve even interviewed. It takes a long time to get right and it’s also just like magic, so it came up and I was the only person doing it in South Africa. And then comedy kind of took off after apartheid. We were in the right age.”
Koch’s career spans 17 years, and he says his journey together with Chester has been complex, and he has had to ask himself tough questions about the puppet.
“It’s been miraculous, really amazing things have happened. There have been times where it has been difficult and it has been complex so, from a political point of view, a lot of it has been working out and I’ve asked myself what is my place as a white man in South Africa within this conversation in South Africa. Why am I relevant?
“Black South Africans were silenced for so long or were not given a platform to speak. What right do I have to say anything, really? That doesn’t just affirm privilege back to me. This show has been a growth to me, so Chester and I were a conversation with myself, my race, my privilege and just my relationship with South Africa and politics as well. .
“I think I’m really happy with where I’m at right now.”
Chester Missing | Puppet Guy at Montecasino