Conrad Koch is one of South Africa’s most in demand comedy talents. He combines hilarious comedy with world-class puppetry, and has done so for over fifteen years to local and international acclaim. Conrad was the winner of the 2010 Entertainer of the Year award, and of a 2012 Standard Bank Ovation Award from the National Arts Festival. He was a nominee for 2014 SA Comic of the Year, and won The Times Comic’s Pen Award for 2014, a double International EMMY nominated comedian.
What drives Chester Missing? | A man with a suitcase. I am a puppet.
What is your LIFE-MISSION in one sentence? |It’s my life mission to end racism.
What do you think is often the difference between people who are good at what they do and people who are great at what they do? | Commitment and focus. I’m not a fan of the word focus, because it’s cheesy, like cheap Ford type cheesy, but the truth is that very little beats the power of singular intent. And I know how to focus, mainly because I am a puppet and have no eyelids. We can’t control what life will throw at us, what suitcase you will be put into, or what airline will lose you (in my case it was Air France, true story), but you can control what you do each morning. Focus, feedback, calibrate, repeat is the secret to all success, unless you are Donald Trump. Then just wait for your dad to give you the cash.
What is one talent or strength of yours, which has been critical to your success? | Being a puppet has really helped. It means my skin is thick. I have been punched by politicians and racists alike. Sometimes at the same time. Focus on whats helping you, the people, the events, and move around what isn’t. Too often we become obsessed with what isn’t serving us – from internet trolls to load shedding, instead of mining whats working. The advantage of being a puppet is that no matter what happens it’s never actually my fault. It’s like being an Eskom executive.
When you get / got STUCK, what caused it and how did you get going again? | Getting stuck is all part of getting to where you want to go. It’s going to happen. So instead of wasting mental energy on the fact that you are stuck, look around at what alternative routes being stuck makes apparent to you. Creativity is fueled by constraint. No matter how stuck you feel, always remember I’m just a puppet and I have literally won a court case.
What are the principles and values that you believe are important to live by? | Eating, breathing and pooing. If you leave one of those out you will die.
What are the critical skills that you have used and worked on improving, in attaining your success? | Playing to your strengths. As a puppet I am really good at asking uncomfortable questions, because the only thing worse than being nailed by a puppet is getting angry at one. Existing and not existing has advantages that human beings don’t. If you play to the one thing that makes you exceptional nobody can touch you.
What is your biggest weakness? | I’m made out of latex. I melt in the sun.
Can you share a time in which you either doubted yourself the most or had great fears, yet faced up to them and conquered them? | I doubt myself all the time. I’m a puppet! I literally can’t do anything unless someone else sticks their hand inside of me. But focusing on your doubts is not how to succeed. Focus on what you can do. Now I’m a double EMMY nominated, award winning, globally recognised puppet who has had numerous TV, radio and print media spots, and gets called by actual experts for my opinion. I even wrote an award winning book. The time I doubted myself most was when I was lost in France by an airline. But social media saved me. Book me and maybe I’ll tell you about it.
What do you want to achieve next and what’s in the way? | I want to take my conversation on race and South Africa to the world. Translating it to a global audience is working incredibly well. Like all things though, it just takes time to make as accessible as I would like it to be.
“Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth who care for and protect our people.” – Nelson Mandela via SOS Children’s Villages South Africa Steve Miller has an ability to communicate […]
Vera Songwe serves as The World Bank’s Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, Gambia, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau. She is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute with the Global Economy and Development and Africa Growth Initiative. Dr. Songwe holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Economics from the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics from […]
Alan Brand is a leading expert in the development and provision of innovative employee wellness strategies enabling business enterprises throughout South Africa to mitigate the threat of HIV and AIDS and other associated health and wellness risks. He has developed numerous outcomes based wellness training modules. His personal energy and unique and professional facilitation skills […]
Emily Bell is the first girl to kayak the length of Britain as the crew captain on Sean Conway’s record-breaking swim. Stand-up paddle boarded 1001 miles down the Missouri River as the writer on Dave Cornthwaite’s big swim. Back in London, she is Deputy Editor of new adventure magazine, Avaunt. With many other adventures up […]
Debbie Millman – TLP is an American writer, educator, artist, and designer who is perhaps best known as the host of the Design Observer podcast ‘Design Matters’. She is ‘President of Design’ at Sterling Brands, based in New York City, working with brands such as Pepsi, Gillette, Colgate, Kimberly-Clark, Nestlé, and Campbells. She chairs the […]
Attie van Wyk is the CEO of Big Concerts, South Africa’s largest premier live entertainment company. The company has promoted more than 1600 shows with an excess of 300 international artists to an audience of more than 10 million people. In 2013, Attie was named as the Business Leader of the Year. Music Has Always […]
Dee Poon is the creative force behind the bespoke men’s shirt brand PYE, creating the men’s equivalent to the little black dress: the perfectly tailored crisp white dress shirt. A frequent presence on best-dressed lists in Asia and around the world, Poon is Hong Kong fashion royalty, the daughter of Dickson Poon, the owner of […]
Patrick is a social entrepreneur. Believing in the principle of ‘doing good is good business’ he has invested in and is part of a number of successful social enterprises in South Africa including The Indalo Project; Streetwires Artist Collective; Kwalapa Organic Wholefoods Centre; Billboard Information Services & African Manga. He talks & consults regularly on […]
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