For the past 30 years, South Africa's political reality hasn't reflected the level of nuance and messiness that comes out through its comedy. We had a Ruling Party, with two capital letters. We don't have that any more. Today, for the first time, South African politics is as messy as its people.

They say the ANC will rule until Jesus returns, and indeed this past Sunday had a distinctly biblical feel to it. The sun was shining early on in Johannesburg, but you could tell it was an empty promise, like when the bath is running but the geyser is off.

Around noon the skies darkened and the breeze picked up, and suddenly I saw birds everywhere. Birds I had never seen before in Melville were suddenly all over the place, silent except for the sound of their wings. The rain started falling, the wind howled, and at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, an unprecedented new chapter in South Africa's story was officially opened with a final presentation from the IEC and a presidential address.

I had low expectations from this week's instalment of Bioscope Sundays, the weekly comedy show at 44 Stanley hosted by Tsitsi Chiumya and Shanray van Wyk. Not because of the quality of the space or the performers, but because of the cold front and the uncertainty of this week which seems to have changed everything.

I was worried I'd be the only one in the audience, but as a historian of South African humour, my curiosity...