Coffee with Chris Forrest
SANDTON – He’s the name on everyone’s lips … not only has he just scooped up the trophy and title of first winner of Celebrity Masterchef South Africa, but Chris Forrest also has a rib-tickling new stand-up comedy show hitting the stage.
He snatched the title of Celebrity Masterchef from fellow contestant and local pop star, Patricia Lewis by a nail-biting two point lead in the finale.
So it’s hard to believe that before the show, this funny guy could produce a menu consisting simply of steak, lamb stew, omelettes and braaivleis.
“If you’re a South African male, you have to know how to braai or they take away your passport,” Forrest joked.
“When I found out I was in the show I phoned a friend of mine who runs a cooking school and I gave her a panicked cry for help and she showed me a few of the basic things,” he later admitted, along with the fact that learning to cook, properly, was the biggest challenge he faced while filming the show.
“I was being thrown completely out of my comfort zone, to do this insanely pressurised kind of thing.”
Despite the pressure of being in the kitchen, Forrest managed to raise a whopping R185 000 and a brand new Volkswagen Jetta for his charity of choice, The Villa of Hope in Eldoradopark. The Villa of Hope is a social upliftment and development initiative that cares for abused and abandoned children and is a charity close to Forrest’s heart.
He also managed to make a few friends along the way such as Terence Bridgett.
“Me and Terence, we’d stay up, having a couple of glasses of whatever, practicing in the kitchen and just talking about life.”
So why didn’t this man don a big white chef’s hat earlier? After his fist gig in 1999 at The Funny Farm at what is now The Bright Water Commons, Forrest knew he wanted to be a comedian and his new show, Who’s Your Daddy? is something he admits to being very proud of.
The title kind of gives it away but the show was inspired by Forrest becoming a father. Basically the hour-long show is full of everything people don’t tell you about pregnancy and raising babies.
“As a comedian, you always write about what’s happening in your life, so the whole thing was quite hectic. Everyone just goes on about how awesome it is and they don’t tell you what really happens … the nitty gritty.”
Who’s Your Daddy? will be showing at the Auto & General Theatre on the Square from 19 to 31 May and promises to be an evening of chuckles, blushes and eye-openers.
Details: www.strictlytickets.com
