WINDHOEK – With a career spanning over 25 years in the entertainment industry, Neville Basson is probably the most sought-after comedian and corporate honcho Namibia has to offer.
What started as a joke between him and Lazarus Jacobs back in the day, with their first show at the Warehouse Theatre in the 1990s, would bud into a career that has proved very fruitful in a cut-throat industry that has not hit its peak yet.
Basson’s humour has, over the years, propelled him as a businessman and sometimes a man in a corporate suit.
“People feel comfortable to do business with the ones who make them feel at ease about themselves. It is obviously a blessing I never take for granted. You have to treat every relationship out there with the utmost respect because that is what you want in return,” he says.
Year 2017 marked Neville’s return to the stage with his one-man comedy show titled ‘Sobiso’, which he took to different cities around the country.
He hopes to do a major production this year again, as stage has always been in his blood.The Head of Corporate Communications at Trustco Group Holding still dabbles in writing his humorous columns for Informante.
He said it gives him immense pleasure to entertain people on a weekly basis to share about stuff that people do not always talk about freely. “Talking about water being cut off is a candid way of sharing one’s personal experience with people, an experience we can all relate to,’’ he said.
Criticism is sometimes a norm with comedy, which he says he used to take personally in his early years. At the age of 48, he has accepted that he cannot please everyone. Basson’s comedy style appeals to some, and to others he sucks.
On his friendship with long-time best friend Jacobs that spans over 25 years, he feels that he is not a friend “but a brother”. “I love him to death. But I hope he dies before me one day, I’ve already written his memorial service speech. The problem is Aawambo have a longer life expectancy than people with Herero bloodline. It seems only a car crash might take him out before me, esses man mxm!” he concluded with a humorous jibe.