Etienne Shardlow took up comedy as a hobby 7 years ago and performs regularly on the Johannesburg comedy circuit. He also facilitates free weekly comedy workshops at space.com (formerly The Actor’s Centre) at the Joburg Theatre Complex in Braamfontein.

Etienne's schoolboy character is a favourite with the varied audiences found on both the corporate market and club curcuit around the country.

Etienne launched his comedy career 7 years ago at 'The Comedy Underground', a Whacked Management initiative to find new talent.

His schoolboy comedy acts, developed over the last 4 years, are all based upon a rather timid, remarkably tall and skinny schoolboy, who is able to look at the world in a brand new way.

His clean & polished, deadpan routines revolve around wordplay and his subtle misunderstandings of the adult world around him. His act, in the style of a school speech, usually entitled "My Dad" is easily adjusted to incorporate the theme of the function or product being launched.

Etienne’s schoolboy character began to take on a life of it's own and was featured in the fortnightly comedy sketch & game show "The Smorgasbord" with Malcolm Ferreira at the New Melville Theatre. This led to Etienne teaming up with the Jacaranda 94.2 FM breakfast team, where his character played the role of 'Little Johnny' in the 'Word of the Day' feature on the morning drive show 'Breakfast with Kieno' with host Kieno Kammies. It was in this daily slot that Etienne introduced his audience to a well known word, and his hilarious understanding of it's meaning after breaking the word into parts. His wacky word definitions are still sometimes incorporated in his act.

This act won Etienne 1st place in the comedy talent search segment, "Survival of the Funniest" on MNET's Laugh Out Loud, a show featuring sketches, pranks and hosted by 94.7’s Darren Whackhead Simpson & Jeremy Mansfield.

Etienne also does a regular stand up comedy routine to add some variety to his performances.

Look out for Etienne’s Comedy Workshops at space.com, formerly the Actor’s Centre at the Joburg Theatre.

Etienne is currently on a comedy tour alongside Al Prodgers and Melt Sieberhagen to remote parts of South Africa with the Al Prodgers’ Comedy Trek, see gig guide for details of performances in your town soon.