Barry Hilton

Barry Hilton
Pseudonym	The Cousin
Birth name	David Barry Hilton
Born	(1956-01-29) 29 January 1956 Harare, Zimbabwe
Medium	Stand-up Film
Nationality	British (SA residency)
Years active	1983–present
Genres	Observational comedy Satire Physical comedy
Influences	Mel Miller Richard Pryor Billy Connolly Morcombe and Wise Two Ronnies Ben Elton Lee Evans Rock ‘n Roll Comedy
Spouse	JMS McKirdy 1972–1980 JB Tweedie 1980–2006 Sandra Hilton 2007 – present
Website	[http://www.barryhilton.com

David Barry Hilton (born 29 January 1956 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia) is a South African stand up comedian. Referred to by his middle name, Barry (aka ‘The Cousin’),^[1] actor^[1][2] and television personality.^[1] After 6 years of initially working as an electrician he tried his hand at comedy and turned professional in 1983 at the age of 26.^[3] Inspired by comedians Richard Pryor and Billy Connolly, Hilton's personal style can best be described as a combination of observational, satirical and physical comedy.

Early life and education

Hilton was born in 1956 to Irene Natalie Lieveaux, a French Mauritian descendant and Lancashire-born father Jack Hilton. In 1961 Hilton's family moved from Southern Rhodesia to North Wales where he attended St Joseph's Roman Catholic Junior School from the age of 5 (1961) to the age of 10 (1966). Ages 11 to 12 were spent at Blessed Edward Jones RC High School in Rhyl until the family relocated to Newlands in Cape Town, South Africa where his father worked as a bricklayer. From March 1969 to December 1971 Hilton was a pupil at Observatory Boys (now Rhodes High School) but left at age 15 to start an apprenticeship at Joffe Electrical, which he completed in 1974.

Early career

Whilst working as the maintenance manager of a hotel frequented by the cast of the comedy television show 'Biltong and Potroast'^[4] Hilton met Johnny Noble who managed to get him into his first gig at The Holiday Inn, Port Elizabeth in May 1983. This was followed by a six-month stint as compere at cabaret spot, the Millionaires Club in Cape Town after which he relocated to Johannesburg to perform at local pub, The Jolly Roger.^[5] It was here where agent Josie Broude(of the "Don Hughes Organisation" run by Maurice Fresco^[6] discovered Hilton and represented him for 10 years up until her death in 1994. Performances at the Runway Bar, Royal Swazi Sun and Wild Coast Sun followed, making Hilton the first South African comedian ever to perform at the latter.^[3] Hilton is also the first South African comedian ever to perform at the Sun City Extravaganza.^[7] There he shared the stage with eccentric French actress / dancer / singer Jacqueline Du Gay from Las Vegas whilst continuing to perform as a relatively unknown comic at the Sun City Super Bowl in 'Laugh Aid' 1989.^[8] Due to his mother's illness with cancer, Hilton returned to South Africa from a four night gig called 'In on the park' at St Helier on the Channel Islands Jersey where he opened for Billy Connolly. In 1990 he moved back to South Africa permanently, returning to the Runway Bar for four years to continue his work in a new Connolly inspired direction. Here Joe Parker advised him to book sets and take money from the door rather than working for guaranteed money gigs. Basil O'Hagen gave Hilton the opportunity to do so at Dan Keld West, and after having performed for only six people on the first night, gigs picked up steadily and Hilton's career in comedy started to look promising. To date Hilton has opened for comic greats such as Bob Monkhouse, Bobby Davro, Billy Connolly and Les Dennis and is also the first South African to perform at London's Comedy Store.^[9] To this day Hilton continues to fill 4000 seat theatres with his solo shows.^[10]

2001 – present

TV

Besides comedy, Hilton has also contributed to television by hosting talk shows 'Catch a wake up' and 'Funny you should say that' and TV game show 'The generation game' in 2008.^[1][11] More recently Hilton guested on TV game show – I love South Africa.^[12] He has also guested twice on The Expresso show.^[13]

COMMERCIALS

Hilton was the Savanna cider brand face from 1999 to 2011.^[14][15] He reprised his role as Larry the Bartender for thirteen commercials in those 12 years.^[16] The “Schoolkids” ad was placed ninth in the Millward Browns 2012 Best Liked South African adverts.^[17] Since 2011 Hilton has featured in eight commercials in an ongoing campaign for newly re-launched fast food outlet, Romans Pizza^[18][19] The “Schoolkids” ad was placed ninth in the Millward Browns 2012 Best Liked South African adverts.^[17] Chevy 2012 – 2013 Hilton featured in radio voiceover and print adverts for the Chevrolet Campaign ^[20] 2014 Three television commercials for Lasher Tools.^[21]

MOVIES

At the Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood, Hilton was nominated for best actor in a lead role for 'Finding Lenny'^[22] which also ended up winning best narrative feature in the Pan African Film Festival in Cannes.^[23] In 2010 he starred in a South African stand up comedy feature film titled 'Outrageous'^[24] with fellow comedians John Vlismas and Mark Banks. Barry hosted and performed an episode for Comedy Central Africa in June 2012 filmed at Parkers Comedy and Jive^[25][26][27] and was shortlisted, alongside John Cleese, for Best Comedy Act Dubai TimeOut Night Life Awards in 2013.^[28] Hilton has over seven signature comedy DVDs attributed to his name^[29][30] and celebrated 30 years in comedy in 2012.

AWARDS

In June 2013 he was invited back to Live at Parkers and again filmed for Comedy Central with the top rated headlining acts from the past season.^[31] In July Hilton received the Comics Choice Lifetime Achiever Award.^[32][33] Winners of the prestigious awards are voted by fellow artists and receive a “Waldo” statuette of which only 6 are made each year, however only the “Lifetime Achiever” recipient receives the ring called the “Charles” named after Charlie Chaplain ^[34] and are 'honoured' at a special grilling at Parker's a few weeks before the formal awards ceremony. Zimbabwean born Hilton qualified for a nomination in 2014’s Zim awards for the Personality of the year award. Other nominees included John Vlismas, Getmore Sithole, Melgin Tafirenyika and Leroy Gopal. Hilton won, and was at the prestigious ceremony in Johannesburg to collect his award.^[35]

LIVE SHOWS

September 2013 saw Hilton as the first South African comedian to be invited to perform at The Improv at Harrah’s in Las Vegas.^[36] Hilton also performed MC duties for the famous South African singer, Steve Hofmeyr in January 2014. In February Jami Gong from Take Out Comedy Club invited Hilton back to perform his new show, The Way I see It in Hong Kong and Vietnam.^[37] Hilton was invited to attend and perform at the Top Gear Festival in Durban, South Africa in June.^[38] After a tour of the UK in June,^[39] Hilton returned to Hong Kong as one of the headlining acts at the 8th International Comedy Festival in September 2014 with shows in Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau.^[40] He followed this up with performances in Australia and New Zealand.^[41] Hilton’s audio track of his famous joke, “Nou Gaan Ons Braai” was used on the “Lag n Slag” CD. The CD is a compilation of South African jokes and short stories told by their often famous creators. Other artists featured on the CD are Tolla van der Merwe, Leon Schuster, Nico Nel, Nataniël and Kobus Galloway to name a few. The CD was released for sale in July 2014 and is still for sale at all major music outlets.^[42] In 2012 Hilton launched an online store dedicated to the sale of Braai merchandise. His Nou Gaan Ons Braai clip on YouTube has received over 400000 views.^[43]

MISCELLANEOUS

Having six children of his own, Hilton is an avid supporter of the ‘Little Fighter's Cancer Trust’^[44] and continually takes part in charity events to raise money and awareness for the West Rand Heart and Organ Transplant Foundation. Hilton is married to third wife Sandy Hilton (2007 – current) after two previous marriages to Janet McKirdy (1976–1980) and Jane Tweedie (1980–2004). He presently resides in Hermanus, South Africa with his wife and children.

Toured Shows	Year	Note
The Way I See It	2014	Cruiseliner MS Volendam
The Way I See It	2014	Secunda Graceland Arena[45]
The Way I See It	2014	Pretoria Atterbury Theatre
The Way I See It	2014	Centurion Theatre
The Way I See It	2014	Mauritius Le Suffren Hotel
The Way I See It	2014	Pietermaritzburg Golden Horse Casino[46]
The Way I See It	2014	Johannesburg Silverstar Casino[47]
The Way I See It	2014	United Kingdom tour[48]
The Way I See It	2014	Cape Town All Star Theatre
The Way I See It	2014	Singapore The Vault [49]
The Way I See It	2014	Hong Kong Comedy Festival[50]
The Way I See It	2014	Australia New Zealand Tour [51]
The Way I See It	2014	Cruiseliner Pacific Pearl
The Way I See It	2014	Zimbabwe The Glasshouse
The Way I See It	2014	Doha The Golf Club
The Way I See It	2014	Pretoria Atterbury Theatre[52]
The Way I See It	2014	Johannesburg Lyric Theatre [53]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Macau Comedy Masala [54]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Singapore Mink Bar [55]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Hong Kong Take Out Comedy Club [56]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Macau Lions Bar [57]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Johannesburg Sun City
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Dubai Madinat Theatre [58]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Cruiseliner SEA PRINCESS[59]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Cruiseliner SUN PRINCESS[60]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Cruiseliner DAWN PRINCESS[61]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Cape Town Baxter Theatre[62]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Durban Sibaya [63]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Live studio audience at Parkers Comedy Club for Comedy Central[64]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Las Vegas Hurrahs [65]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Cape Town Grandwest Arena [66]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Bahrain[67]
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Dubai
Best Of Everything Ever	2013	Johannesburg Gold Reef City Lyric Theatre [68]
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Amsterdam Comedy Theater
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	London Clapham Grand
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Bournemouth
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Dublin Laughter Lounge
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Australia New Zealand tour
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Johannesburg Emperors Palace
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Durban Sibaya
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Pretoria Atterbury Theatre
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Botswana Grand Palm Casino and Resort
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Zimbabwe 7 Arts Theatre
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Johannesburg Sun City
Stand Up Chameleon	2012	Johannesburg Gold Reef City Lyric Theatre
Serial Comic Tour	2011	Grand Arena at Grand West Casino CT Solo performance SOLD OUT
Serial Comic Tour	2011	South Africa Tour SOLD OUT
Serial Comic Tour	2011	Australia and New Zealand
Serial Comic Tour	2011	United Kingdom and UAE
Serial Comic Tour	2011	National Theatre of Namibia
Serial Comic Tour	2011	Grand Arena at Grand West Casino CT Solo performance SOLD OUT
Bafunny Bafunny	2011	Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town
Serial Comic Tour	2011	Public Event hosted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

DVDs	Year	Note
Lag n Slag	2014	Featuring Tolla van der Merwe, Leon Schuster, Nataniël [69]
Serial Comic	2011	Live at The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City[70]
Working Class Cousin	2008	Live at Port Elizabeth Opera House
Afri-Cousin Live	2005	Live at Emperors Palace
Here we go again	2001	Awarded gold disc for sales exceeding 25,000[71]
Live and Switched On	1999	Filmed at Barney's, Randburg Waterfront

TV	Year	Note
The Expresso Show	2014	Talk Show Guest[72]
I love South Africa	2014	Game Show Guest[73]
The Generation Game	2008	Host (SABC2)[23]
Funny you should say that	2003	Host[11][23][74]
Catch a wake up!	1996	Host with Liz Meiring[75]

Commercials	Year	Note
Chevrolet campaign	2014	National South African TV advertisement[76]
Lasher Tools	2014	National South African TV advertisement[77]
VW Fox	NA	National South African TV advertisement
Romans Pizza	2011	National South African TV advertisement[78]
Savanna Cider	1999	Face of the brand 1999 - 2011[79]
Sunday Times SA	NA	National South African TV advertisement
Spray and Cook	NA	National South African TV advertisement
Nashua Printers	NA	National South African TV advertisement

Film	Year	Note
Outrageous	2010	Comedy stand-up movie[80]
	Cast	Mark Banks, Loyiso Gola, Joey Rasdien, Riaad Moosa, John Vlismas
	2010	Screened, The Taormina Film Festival, Sicily Italy
Finding Lenny	2009	Lead role nomination, Best Actor, Feel Good Film Festival, Hollywood
	2009	Winner best narrative feature at the Pan African Film Festival in Cannes[24]

References