Tats Nkonzo is a South African standup comedian, singer, musician and television personality best known as the host of the e.tvreality competition SA’s Got Talent.
Nkonzo is known for his musical segments on the fourth season of the eNews Channel’s satirical news show Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola, in 2012. He was a Top 24 finalist in the third season of the M-Net reality competition Idols, in 2005.
Tats got his big break when he made the Top 8 of the SABC1 reality competition So You Think You’re Funny!, in 2008. Once the show ended he was asked to tour with the Top 3 from the season. Performing at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and Jo’burg’s, Market Theatre and Pieter Torien Theatre (Monte Casino), Nkonzo was the opening act for Nik Rabinowitz in Nik’s one man shows You Can’t Be Serious and Stand and Deliver.
He opened for Loyiso Gola at the Teatro at Monte Casino for Loyiso’s one man show, Life and Times. Based on the content of Nkonzo’s material on stage, CNN’s African Voices profiled him offering an opportunity to speak about South Africa and how stand-up comedy fits in the bigger picture of nation building.
After three years of stage performances, Tats performed his debut one man show, Can’t Tats This, in his East London home town. He appeared in the first Blacks Only DVD after performing as part of an ensemble line-up at Lyric Theatre.
Tats received the The BlackBerry Breakthrough Act Award at the 2nd Annual South African Comics Choice Awards, in 2012. In the same year he took over from Rob van Vuuren and Anele Mdoda as sole host of SA’s Got Talent. Tats was the seventh host of the Comedy Central series Comedy Central Presents… Live at Parker’s, in 2012. In 2014 he was one a team captain of the e.tv game show I Love South Africa. In 2015 he was the co-host (with Kenneth Nkosi) of the Mzansi Magic game show Give Me That Bill Mzansi.