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If you haven't yet heard the name Wayne Mckay, you will soon get to know it very well.

With a sense of humour and talent that has taken him from the stages of comedy shows to various theatre and television appearances, and earned him a weekly comedy slot on Heart 104.9 FM, Wayne is proving to be a force to be reckoned with on the comedy front.

Wayne attributes some of his success to his up-bringing in Mitchell's Plain.

"It was a great area at the time to grow up in and develop," he says. "In fact, most of the humour in my shows comes from that area."

"Although I try keep my act varied, most of my shows are based around so-called coloured humour. The Cape Flats community is so full of character and there is a lot of material to work with just from observing."

Even as a young boy at school, Wayne was very involved with drama and enjoyed performing, and though he went through various stages where he wasn't sure what to do and could have chosen a very different path, he believes that he was always meant to be on stage.

"A great mentor in my life at the time was Peter Dirk Uys," admits Wayne. "His work was so frank and honest at a time when the country was in the midst of turmoil."

Mckay says he was influenced by Uys's use of various characters and the nonchalant way in which he approached politics.

In 1998, Mckay got together with good friend and fellow comedian Kurt Schoonraad and the two joined forces to perform at various functions. Not long after that, Kurt became involved in the Cape Comedy Collective (CCC), formed by well known stand-up comedian Mark Sampson, and convinced Mckay to join the Comedy Lab - a free workshop presented by the CCC every week to develop young talent. With their support and new skills learnt, Mckay went on to perform various gigs of his own and so began his budding career.

Amongst his accolades to date, which include taking part in various national comedy festivals and guest appearances in plays such as Taliep Petersen's Ali Barber, Mckay and many of his fellow CCC comedians were also featured on the SABC's "Comedy Showcase".

"It was great because there is a great camaraderie between all of us backstage," says Mckay. "We all knew each other well by then and we were able to support and encourage each other before going on stage."

These days, Wayne Mckay is hard at work perfecting and adding to his latest show, Going back to my Roots. The show, written and performed by himself, opened to enthusiastic audiences recently, and although he is happy with the response it has so far received, Mckay says it needs a little work.

"Its very short at the moment. I want to build on it, add more characters and make it longer," Mckay explains. "I have loads of great ideas milling around and simply want to release it again in when I know it has reached its full potential."

Until then, fear not Mckay fans: if you want to catch the man in action, simply tune your radios to Heart 104.9fm between 15:00 and 18:00 daily and invite Mckay into your living rooms as he pranks the community on the Lee Downs show.

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