A passion for deep fries

At the moment I’m reading a lot of Hustler and Heat magazines — when I want something lighter I go for Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

Seriously though, The Road by Cormac MacCarthy blew my mind, although it’s a bit depressing. I’m obsessed with Nick Hornby. I recently read How to Be Good and I just have Slam left before I’ve read them all.

I am useless at sport (both playing and supporting) — the men in my family are huge Manchester United fans but I have never understood the idea of supporting a massive team that basically functions like a multinational corporation. They can buy any player they want, so what’s the point?

At school I was in the rugby team for about three months. I hated it because I was the hooker, which for obvious reasons makes you the butt of many jokes. The hooker doesn’t get any respect. And I was much better at debating than rugby.

I don’t know if I could choose one restaurant. I am big fan of Thai and Indian food. I could live on bunny chows, although my digestive system would probably rebel. And my current obsession is with any kind of deli food.

I like certain parts of the Jo’burg CBD and Newtown. I love places where you can check out different cultures, like Fordsburg, little Ethiopia on Jeppe Street and Chinatown in Cyrildene. I think Kensington and Troyeville are very interesting. I do spend a lot of time in Norwood, Greenside, Melville, Linden and Rosebank, suburban white boy that I am, but those places bore me.

The last movie I saw was the cartoon Megamind, directed by Tom McGrath. I am in a phase where I switch off when I watch anything heavy. I can’t wait to see Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Paul, because I’m obsessed with Edgar Wright, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz).

If I were the minister of arts and culture — I would put a stop to massive, overblown musicals like Umoja and the Lion King because they’re a waste of money and ban Steve Hofmeyr albums. I would organise some kickbacks for myself and get the government to invest millions in the work of Deep Fried Man.

I do try to support South African fiction and my favourite writer is the late Sello K Duiker. Also Erica Emdon, because she’s my mom. My favourite local non-fiction writer is Ndumiso Ngcobo — his stuff is hilarious without being obvious and I think our comedians could learn from him.

I used to get out a lot when I was an arts and entertainment journalist — I would go to the theatre and other cultural stuff — but now I spend a lot of time in my bedroom watching TV series on my laptop. A bit sad, really. I got into comedy a year ago, but before that I was a serious singer-songwriter. People used to laugh at me and now my aim is to make them laugh on purpose.