My Jet
Thursday nights at My Jet have become very busy. Host Darren Maul has surrounded himself with a crowd who like his silly, slapstick style and those who follow that style and crowd are guaranteed to kill. This is certainly not the smartest crowd in SA, but they are always up for a laugh and will often laugh even if they don’t fully understand what you are saying. Silly voices do well, as do accents, in this newly refurbished and now excellent for comedy venue. The stage is huge so there is a lot of room for falling about, and the big crowd are all directly in front of the stage.
Oddly though the sound man/DJ is behind the acts and so provides the easily distracted in the audience with something to gawp at during slow sets.
Drinks are reasonably priced for Johannesburg, but there is no food offering whatsoever, so make sure you are fully fed before you come. There is a parking guy who demands ten rand as you enter the parking, but we always just drive past him and he doesn’t seem to mind.
The line-ups at my Jet are generally interesting if nothing else. Darren has a saying that he only employs open mics and headliners, and those who he does not believe fall into either of those two categories do not get a slot.
It makes for an evening of mixed results for the most part, with open mics dying a death so Darren can mock them in his ever so friendly fashion and the headliners ripping the place apart to get people to come back. It’s not the best club in Joburg but hey, it’s a gig, assuming you are an open mic or headliner.