Lesego Tlhabi

Lesego Tlhabi (born 13 December 1988) is a South African writer and comedian best known for creating the character Coconut Kelz.[1]

Early life

Tlhabi's parents, Brian Tlhabi and Penny Osiris, were both doctors.[2] She was born in 1988, in the last years of apartheid.[3] Her parents divorced and in 2010 a journalist, Redi Tlhabi, became her stepmother.[4][5] Her comedy is influenced by her experience growing up as a relatively affluent black child attending mostly white institutions: for example, in junior school she was one of only two black girls in her grade.[3] Tlhabi studied theatre in London at Brunel University and musical theatre and television writing in New York at the New York Film Academy and Columbia University before returning to South Africa to work as a screenwriter in 2014.[2][6]

Coconut Kelz

She was writing for television and performing as a DJ (as Dame the DJ) when she started vlogging on YouTube as her alter-ego, Coconut Kelz.[6][7] Kelz is a "caricature of a self-loathing black person who hilariously articulates collective white anxieties in post-apartheid South Africa."[6] Tlhabi sees the over-the-top character as a way to "play these [racist] sentiments back to them [white girls] in a funny way so they'd actually listen and not get defensive."[7] She cites Issa Rae, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling and puppet Conrad Missing as her inspirations and comedic influences.[6][7][8] Others have compared her race-bending comedy to Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G.[3][9]

The act took off on the internet and she was noticed by conventional broadcasters: in 2018 Coconut Kelz started appearing in a regular slot on Phemelo Motene's Radio 702 weekend program[2] and in 2019 the South African Broadcasting Corporation announced that Tlhabi would join Bongani Bingwa on a new show, Democracy Gauge.[5] In May 2019 Kelz hosted a televised "election special" on BET Africa.[8][10]

Towards the end of 2019, Tlhabi published a satirical book, Coconut Kelz's Guide to Surviving This Shithole. Reviewer Nkosazana Dambuza wrote that, while the book may not "seem that deep", Kelz's character is a "reminder that the daily struggle of being black is far from over."[11]

Works
  • Coconut Kelz's Guide to Surviving This Shithole. Jonathan Ball Publishers. 2019. ISBN 9781868429882.

References
  1. Nkanjeni, Unathi (13 December 2019). "Redi Tlhabi to stepdaughter Coconut Keltz: 'You have been nothing but love to me'". Sunday Times. South Africa. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  2. Mnganga, Tholakele (1 February 2019). "'It's like, so much fun' – Lesego Tlhabi on her vlogging sensation Coconut Kelz". DRUM. Channel 24. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  3. Amato, Carlos (1 September 2018). "Coconut Kelz is not 'whiteface' comedy, says joker Lesego Tlhabi". Sunday Times. South Africa. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  4. "Wedding bells for Redi Direko". Independent Online. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  5. Nkanjeni, Unathi (1 July 2019). "Redi Tlhabi denies she's the reason step-daughter Lesego 'Coconut Kelz' is a success". Sunday Times. South Africa. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  6. Hlalethwa, Zaza (1 Mar 2018). "The millennial satirist: Lesego Tlhabi". Mail & Guardian. South Africa. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  7. Senne, Busang (February 2018). "YouTube Vlogger Coconut Kelz is 'Every White Person's BFF'". Cosmopolitan. South Africa. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  8. Samanga, Rufaro (10 May 2019). "Lesego Tlhabi is Coconut Kelz: "We need to keep the Blacks away from our suburbs."". Okay Africa. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  9. Thamm, Marianne (8 May 2019). "Licence to offend: Coconut Kelz, the best thing to happen to SA comedy in a long while – are you ready?". The Daily Maverick. South Africa. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  10. "Coconut Kelz Election Special Parkhurst" (Press release). BET Africa. 30 April 2019.
  11. Dambuza, Nkosazana (18 March 2020). "Coconut Kelz's Guide to Surviving This Sh*thole: Book Review". YFM. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
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