Best South African comedy series

LOL: Last One Laughing South Africa (2024)

Ten well-known South African comedians and performers compete to discover who can maintain composure while simultaneously trying to make their opponents laugh and lose.

Proesstraat (2010)

Proesstraat is an Afrikaans Television-Show which airs on kykNet based on the German improvisational comedy show Schillerstrasse. It is recorded without a script, in front of a live audience and broadcast unedited to a large extent.

Willem (1976)

The first Afrikaans comedy series for television, about a bumbling private detective with a good heart and a talent for grabbing the wrong end of the stick. Willem would like nothing more than to be an average P.I. who focusses on simple divorce cases, but he keeps getting mixed up in more adventurous and dangerous affairs. His secretary Pennie is a kind, simple girl with her head in the clouds.

Vetkoekpaleis (1996)

Frikkadel Delport starts a take-away business when he is retrenched. In the process of finding his feet in his new venture, he appoints two staff members without really meaning to.

Liefste Kayla (2013)

An Afrikaans sitcom about the talented 12-year-old Kayla Venter, her musical dream and her diverse family.

How to Ruin Christmas (2020)

Prodigal daughter Tumi tries to make things right after completely ruining what should have been her sister's picture-perfect Christmas wedding.

Yoh! Christmas (2023)

Single, 30 and under pressure, Thando lies to her family that she has a boyfriend. Now she has 24 days to bring one home for Christmas. Can she do it?

Miseducation (2023)

After a public humiliation, a wannabe influencer enrolls in a small-town university, where she aspires to regain her social status.

How To Ruin Christmas: The Wedding (2020)

Prodigal daughter Tumi tries to make things right after completely ruining what should have been her sister's picture-perfect Christmas wedding.

Underneath Turns The Devil Around (1997)

Beautiful people, good wine and respected neighbors who live on the banks of the Hartebeespoort Dam with lives that are seemingly idyllic quiet and romantic, but that contain deep secrets just below the facade.

Geraldina Die Tweede (2007)

Geraldina die Tweede (Geraldina the Second) is a South African comedy-drama television series created by Esta Steyn about a woman who hatches a plan to get her hands on her recently deceased step-sister's fortune.

Koek (2024)

When Cape Town housewife discovers evidence her husband is having an affair with a stripper, her investigation takes her to a world poles apart from the suburban utopia she knows.

Boarding House No. 24 (2014)

Orkney Snork Nie (1989)

Orkney Snork Nie, a popular Afrikaans sitcom, originally broadcast by the SABC in South Africa. The name translates directly into Orkney Doesn't Snore, but the message being conveyed in Afrikaans is that the town isn't sleepy, there's always something happening.

Poena (2022)

Poena is a South African, Afrikaans-language television sitcom based on a character created for the 2003 sitcom Gauteng-alêng-alêng, which spun off into the 2007 film Poena is Koning (Poena is King), as well as the follow-up TV movies Poena (2020) and Poena en Poenie (2021).

Hotel (2016)

Fictionally in the heart of Mpumalanga, in the small town of Fransenburg, stands the Fransen Hotel. Once the town's pride. Once a beacon. Once. Now barely a one out of five star on Trip Advisor. Ferdie Kruger, the middle-aged hotel manager and his small-town staff, struggle to keep the substandard hotel's doors open.

Tali's Wedding Diary (2017)

Tali’s Wedding Diary follows a self-obsessed Sandton princess who’s moved to Cape Town and is filming the build-up to her wedding to her property-agent fiancé Darren.

Only Jokes Allowed (2022)

Six of South Africa's top comedians take center stage and showcase their talent in this collection of short stand-up sets.

How to Ruin Love (2024)

Suspecting infidelity, Zoleka plans to catch her boyfriend in the act, only to ruin her own surprise proposal. Now she must win him back.

Nommer asseblief (1979)

This popular series follows the lives of the De Waal family, friends and rivals in the small town of Overberg. The resident town gossip, Tant Lissie, spends most of her day listening in on people's phone conversations through the phone exchange causing much mayhem and confusion.

Transkaroo (1984)

Light-hearted drama series following the adventures of the refreshment personnel on the long-distance train between Cape Town and Johannesburg. Three of the staff members, Vollie, Boeta and Braam, are university students spending their December holidays on the train. Doep is the boss of the restaurant car, and Kolonie Cloete is the chef who spends his hours crammed into the tiny kitchen with his assistant, Fensham. During their voyages across the Karoo, their lives become entangled with those of the passengers - from beauties and fortune tellers to thieves and diamond smugglers.

Magda Louw (2023)

Magda Louw tells the story of Magda and her husband Erhard, who participate in a reality series, where a camera crew follows them to document their day-to-day life - with a few unexpected twists and turns.

Barry Hilton (1999)

With a track record of 30 years in comedy, Barry Hilton has raised the world’s laughter level considerably.His delightful knack of finding the ludicrous and the humorous turns daily situations on their head to make us laugh at life.His face is as funny as his repartee, with lugubrious looks tailor-made for mirth. Barry’s gregarious personality makes him a people’s person, happy to engage with the audience before and after his shows.Barry is a seasoned comedian who’s as streetwise as any youngster. He’s remained at the top by continually coming up with fresh material - and by having six children to keep him hip and happening.

Boarding House No. 24 (2014)

The Coconuts (2008)

A South African television sitcom which tells the story of a white family who transform into a black family after violating the burial grounds of an ancient tribe.

Koöperasiestories (1983)

Kooperasie Stories was an Afrikaans TV series that was short-lived by the well-known Afrikaans author P.G. du Plessis was based. The series deals with the daily events and people in the village of Gezinasrus, which is discussed by three people who sit on the cooperative's porch every day.

Molly & Wors (2009)

Molly en Wors is a situation comedy (sitcom) that was broadcast on kykNET from 2009 to 2011. The program revolves around the dysfunctional Visagie family who live in a luxurious Tuscan Villa within Johannesburg. The family members consist of Wors, Molly, Vaatjie and Blapsie. The underlying humor lies in irony, the exposure of double standards, allusion, as well as the "parvenu" that comes out.

The Coconuts (2008)

A South African television sitcom which tells the story of a white family who transform into a black family after violating the burial grounds of an ancient tribe.

Die Munisipaliteit van Gwarra-Gwarra (2014)

The Municipality of Gwarra-Gwarra is a situation comedy that takes place in the municipality of Gwarra-Gwarra's offices. This kykNET sitcom is a Willie Esterhuizen series, with, among others, Frank Opperman and Lizz Meiring.

Andries Plak (2007)

Andries Plak is a South African comedy-drama television series about a farmer who lost his farm in a legal dispute and is forced to squat in a shack with his former farm manager, which slowly changes his attitude towards people and life.