Anne Hirsch is one of South Africa's most exciting comedians. Born and raised in Bloemfontein, Hirsch moved to Cape Town to pursue her dream. After six years of training to be an actress, including a comedy-focused Masters degree from UCT, she's racked up an impressive list of credits. From co-writing and performing three successful one-woman shows to being crowned South Africa's funniest new comedian on Season 2 of SABC's So You Think You're Funny, Hirsch's bold, quirky and charming approach has managed to keep her at the forefront of comedy.
Apart from being a member of: Cape Town's long-running Theatresports improv troupe, Cracks Only, an all-female comedy group and the ZANEWS team, Hirsch also hosts The Anne Hirsch Show, which she describes as "South Africa's first (s)talk show".
The YouTube-based celebrity chat show has amassed a loyal following and attracted a growing list of local celebrities, who share a couch and hug with Hirsch before parting with some of their hair. When she's not sniffing local celebs, she stars as a news anchor in the #FOBLO Bulletin, a new weekly Anchorman style Cape Town comedy series.
Anne Hirsch is a comedy star on the rise and a name you'll be hearing more often. We were lucky enough to catch up with one of the most innovative and hard-working comedians in South Africa to find out what movies make her tick and what movies just tick her off.
"People say we look very similar. [on Angelina Jolie]"
I can't watch movies without...
- ...salt and vinegar popcorn and a large Coke with no ice, you get more coke if you ask for ‘no ice’. Also I have to sit on an aisle-seat at the movies, sitting next to one stranger is bearable, but two! The arm-rest politics are just too unbearable! Ain’t nobody got time for that!
Which famous people share your birthday?
- Eva Mendes is the only one worth mentioning. There’s a law that only 2 really awesome people can be born on the same day, so that’s me and the Evanator. (5 March)
What is the first film you remember watching?
- The Fly. I couldn’t sleep for weeks. My mom told me to hide behind a chair when all the scary bits were on, but it was a rocking chair with slated panels and so I could still see everything... that chair owes me a lot of money spent on therapy bills.
What's the worst movie you've ever seen?
- Rock of Ages. Can we just stop taking really bad movies and filling them with an amazing cast and hope for the best? It doesn’t work!
Which movies have made you tearful?
- It has to be The Notebook… I do the ugly cry every time I watch it. She remembers!
Who is the most famous movie star you've ever met?
- Patrick Swayze… okay technically we didn’t ‘meet’ but he was shooting some Hallmark movie in Stellenbosch and I was standing on a street corner (not in a "prostituty" way or anything) and I’m pretty sure I saw him on set. The sexual tension between us was palpable… which is also how I like my orange juice, with palpable.
What's your favourite movie line?
- "What is this? A school for ants? How do you expect children to learn if they can’t even fit into the building?" Zoolander
Who would you choose to play you in your biopic?
- Angelina Jolie. People say we look very similar. Also, we have so much in common; she started her career as a model and I make model aeroplanes.
If you could produce a movie, what would it be about?
- It would be a horror-comedy or a "horcom". Those are my two favourite genres. It would be set in a small town in the Free State, starring me obviously. I’m thinking Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Napoleon Dynamite.
Finally, your top ten movies of all-time...
I regard a ‘top movie list’ as the movies you can watch over and over again at any time. So, no Shawshank Redemption or Requiem for a Dream vibes. This is a comprehensive guide to what I can watch when I come home after a big night out or what will also make me happy on a rainy day.
- Dirty Dancing ..."Nobody puts baby in the corner" and "I carried a watermelon" I mean how can this not be your favourite movie?! And that soundtrack!
- Notting Hill ...I would like to say that anything with Hugh Grant works here: About a Boy, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually – basically if Hugh Grant is in it, I love it. Except for that movie he did with Drew Barrymore about writing music #EpicFail.
- Sound of Music ...it’s Julie Andrews in a nun’s habit, on hills, with goats, singing!
- Pitch Perfect ...I only recently discovered this one by accident. But the final dance scene must be one of the most rousing scenes ever and one of my comedy idols, Rebel Wilson is in it.
- Pretty Woman ...because duh!
- Rules of Attraction ...what is not to like about Shannyn Sossamon …apart from her surname of course, sounds like a sausage…
- Everything with Angelina Jolie ...she’s my best friend.
- Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion ...they could film Lisa Kudrow reading the phone book and it would be hysterical. Plus the dance scene at the reunion is a pure tour de farce!
- Finding Nemo ...best animation ever and Ellen Degeneres as Dori is phenomenal, she completely transformed for that role… a human playing a fish, unheard of!
- Cocktail ...Tom Cruise pre-insanity. I think everyone in the world wanted to quit their jobs and meet up with Elisabeth Shue in a bar when this came out, I still do!
Top Ten Movies with... is a people series on SPL!NG, featuring a host of celebrities ranging from up-and-coming to established personalities from all industries including, but not limited to: Internet, Radio, TV, Film, Music, Art and Entrepreneurs. It's a chance to discover who they are, find out where they're at and to get a fun inside look at their taste in movies.
CREDIT ROLL: Photography - 'Anne Watching Movies' Morne Van Zyl for Khuluma Magazine
