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Cape Town - Local comedian Tumi Morake and Eric Omundi are the voices behind the character's of Boomerang's new Safari Comedy Show.
Tumi and Eric transform themselves into lovable animals, like we've never seen them before. The Safari Comedy Show consists of one-minute short scripted comedies where real animals will be dubbed by the two local comedians.
From rapping, dancing, playing games on mobile phones and fighting with their siblings, you might learn that there is an animal in Africa just like you.
We caught up with Tumi Morake about what it takes to voice these cute animals, and working in studio with Kenyan comedian Eric Omundi.
About what drew her to this particular project Tumi says: "It's not the type of offer you get often, and I haven't done content related to kids in a really long time. Of course, I also look forward to earning some cool parent points!"
"I've never had the opportunity to voice an animal. I've done animated advertisements and straight product sells before, but to be able to play around in this setting, is beyond amazing," she adds.
WATCH THE FIRST EPISODE HERE
Tumi admits to feeling a little "intimidated" when she first started working with Eric, saying: "When you know that you are a funny person, and you are faced in the room with another comedian, you're never sure if it's going to be case of 'one upping' each other, or feeding off each other."
In the case it was the latter. "We got into it and it was really, really fun. We bounced ideas off each other, on how to do different voices. We giggled a lot. There was such a playful vibe in studio."
Safari Comedy Show is unlike anything Tumi has done before, and even though she was a little nervous at first, she soon got into the swing of things. "For me, specifically, when I do voiceovers I'm alone in the booth, following the director," she says.
But now that they are two comedians in studio, things are a little different. "Sometimes while we're reading the scripts, I realise that I want do a specific animal, but then Eric already has the animal. He has his own take on how he wants to do the animal, and I have mine. It really gets the creative juices flowing," she adds.
HERE'S TUMI AND ERIC IN STUDIO
"In the first episode there is the coolest rapping monkey, and I was rather jealous of Eric that he got to take on the character," she says when talking about her favourite characters. "Another one is an elephant in the 'gym,' doing water aerobics. He keeps falling over and getting back up again. It's adorable."
But personifying these characters isn't always just about the accent, it's also the tone in her voice. "In one of the episodes we see a spastic looking Llama. And it wasn't as much about the accent as the quirk in the voice. It's fun but constant work."
Talking about what she thinks the Boomerang audience will enjoy most about the show, Tumi says: "I think generally when animals are animated in this way, we really enjoy them. And now we get to hear them in a familiar context. For me anything that sounds like home or anything that sounds familiar pulls me in quicker. And I hear it better."
"I would imagine a kid watching the Safari Comedy Show arriving at a zoo or a nature reserve, and seeing and hearing the animals as they saw them on TV," she added.
WATCH TUMI AND ERIC BEHIND-THE-SCENES HERE:
Catch the Safari Comedy Show on Boomerang (DStv Channel 302).
(Photos: Supplied)
