Kalk Bay’s Big Boys bring the laughs to Jive Funny Festival

Brothers Ashley and Bradley Searle, known as the Big Boys, are back at the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival this June, performing their now-famous Naked Towel Act.

Although they now live nearer to Noordhoek, Kalk Bay is still their creative home, and where their act first began.

“We’re real-life brothers,” said Bradley, who was born in 1990, seven years after Ash.

“We started as professional dancers when we were just eight years old. Comedy came later.”

Ashley, whose career in musical theatre includes roles in productions like Fame, Chicago, and We Will Rock You, says the pair officially teamed up in 2010.

“That’s when we wrote Big Boys Don’t Dance - our debut show as a duo,” he said.

“We performed it at the National Arts Festival and ended up touring with it for the next 10 years. It took us all over the world,” said Ashley.

The Big Boys have been performing together professionally for 15 years.

Their act, a fusion of comedy and dance, was initially new and untested.

“Our first show? A disaster - for us,” Bradley said. “But the audience loved it. And that gave us the confidence to keep going.”

Their connection to Kalk Bay deepened when the owners of the old Kalk Bay Theatre invited them to perform.

Ashley and his wife later took over running the venue, turning it into a family affair.

“My dad ran front of house, Bradley performed, and it became this really special, intimate place for people to experience theatre who might not usually go,” said Ashley.

After the Covid-19 pandemic forced the theatre to close, the brothers rebuilt the space at the Brass Bell.

“We’re basically performing in the ocean now,” said Ashley.

It was during a performance at the Kalk Bay Theatre that organiser Eddy Cassar spotted their towel routine and invited them to debut at the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival in 2016.

They returned in 2019, and now, nearly a decade after their first appearance, they’re back.

“Performing at the Funny Festival shaped our careers massively,” said Bradley.

“We were so nervous at our first tech rehearsal - we were performing next to legends like Alan Committie and Marc Lottering - but it ended up being the best run ever.”

Ashley added that returning to the Baxter stage this year means “everything.” He said.

“We never say no to Mr Cassar. The energy, the audience, the calibre of talent - it’s always the highlight of our year.”

Now in its 26th year, the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival runs from Monday June 2 to Sunday June 29 at the Baxter Theatre.

The festival celebrates diversity in comedy, with South African stars like Robby Collins, Kagiso Mokgadi, Tumi Morake, and the Big Boys sharing the bill with international variety acts including magician Charlie Caper from Sweden and Italy’s Campagnia Baccala.

As for adapting their material for festival crowds, Ashley said they don’t hold back: “We go full Big Boys.”

And when asked for a one-liner to sum up their act, Bradley said: “Come watch Ash and I perform at the Cape Town Jive Funny Festival… doing the Naked Towel Act… in winter.”

Tickets are available via Webtickets.