Conrad Koch

Combining hilarious comedy with world-class puppetry, Conrad Koch is one of South Africa’s most in demand comedy talents. With over 15 years' experience, this internationally acclaimed entertainer has worked all over the world, been featured on local and international television and is a frequent guest at some of South Africa’s biggest comedy events, including the 94.7 Heavyweight Comedy Jams, Blacks Only, the Smirnoff Comedy Festival, the Vodacom Comedy Festival, etc.  His most famous character, Mr. Chester Missing, is a regular on the hit etv show, Late Night News with Loyiso Gola; and his hit one man show, Puppet Asylum, has received standing ovations around South Africa.

Conrad, winner of the 2010 Entertainer of the Year award as well as a 2012 Standard Bank Ovation Award,  learned his craft at the College of Magic in Cape Town and started doing comedy with the UCT Comedy Club, and then the Cape Comedy Collective. He is the only ventriloquist on the local circuit today, and  - with a masters degree in corporate anthropology - he is probably the world’s only anthropological ventriloquist.  He has had extensive experience implementing culture change programmes for the likes of FNB, Goldfields, Sun International, SAA, and so forth.  His blogs on the politics of culture have been widely read and have even been quoted in WITS Drama courses!

Using a variety of extremely eccentric characters, Conrad has audiences in stitches talking to and ridiculing himself through Ronnie (the precocious monster), Chester (the 51% BEE partner), and Hilary (a bad attitude ostrich), covering everything from politics to skin disease (Both funny ‘till you scratch deeper!).  Another highlight in the show is when Conrad takes two members of the audience, trning them into the stars by forming their very own Boy Band, there and then! Conrad will provide the voices, they provide the moves. 

His outspoken political analyst puppet, Mr. Chester Missing, is fast becoming a household name. His television interviews with SA’s political elite have received wide acclaim. The use of a puppet to get political players to let down their guards is completely unique. In fact Chester Missing has been asked by the likes of City Press, Natal Witness, Reuters, the Mail and Guardian, etc, to comment on political affairs. 

His unique ability to combine razor sharp comedy with an understanding of human dynamics to create effective corporate communication is the sugar to effectively deliver the medicine of your message.  His edu-taining talk, “Making Laughter Work” (on techniques to make the office a more pleasant, playful and productive environment), has received standing ovations around the country. This fun-filled interactive talk focuses specifically on creating a client-focused culture, where diversity, customer-centricity and corporate citizenship are lived, rather than just spoken about!