Faced with lockdown limitations and unable to tickle the funny bone of his fans on stage, former PE comedian Siya Seya has taken to YouTube to connect with his supporters and broaden his offering.
The comic now uses his YouTube channel, Siya Seya Vision, as a platform beyond comedy, sharing motivational videos and book reviews as well as breaking down some of his most popular jokes.
Seya joined YouTube in 2011 and only started uploading videos in 2017. At the time, he said, he planned to only upload clips of the standing ovations he received after his shows.
Inspired by fellow comedians who were dominating online space, he started to share his stand up comedy shows on the channel.
When in 2020 he could no longer perform on stage, Siya Seya Vision took a slightly different direction.
“I had to train my mind to create other things because if I can write jokes then I can write TV shows and create content.
“As there was no stage I started thinking about creating more for the channel and it has helped because I now have concepts that I think are ready to be pitched for television,” Seya said.
Seya kicked off 2021 with a motivational video, encouraging his audience ahead of what is expected to be another unusual year.
“When you're an artist you automatically become an activist and looking back at how painful 2020 was to many of us I thought to just put the jokes aside for once and share my own struggles that I faced in 2020 while encouraging my audience to be strong.
“It's very easy to lose hope these days,” he said.
This year he also introduced a book reviewing segment to his channel with a review of Siyabulela Ngcangca's Before You Get Married.
He said the lockdown had given him more time to read books again.
“When I lived in PE I used to read a lot of books but I stopped reading as much when I started being too busy. I didn't write a lot last year and I realised that it's because I had lost the source of my writing because to be a good writer you must be a good reader,” Seya said.
He said he introduced the segment to encourage his audience to read books and promote authors' works.
His style of reviewing is informal and humorous.
The award winning comedian said he would not stop doing what he loves on account of the lockdown. He is now working towards improving his online presence by developing a website and investing in the necessary equipment.
“The fact that theatres and clubs are closed doesn't stop me from working. I can still entertain people while I'm at home. I'm a comedian and creator by nature, I was born to do this. YouTube has just helped me to keep going,” he said.
Seya who had just over 1,000 subscribers at the start of the lockdown, is now sitting on more 11,000.
To keep up with Seya's content, subscribe to Siya Seya Vision on YouTube.
HeraldLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.