Academics to try hand at comedy

Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
UMAHLEKISA comedians will this evening invade the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) as part of their Comedy to the People programme that will see students from the university making debut performances.
Twelve comics including up-and-coming comedians from Nust and Umahlekisa comedians Long John, Nomsa, Ntando Van Moyo and Elando da General are expected to perform.

President of the Nust Arts Club, Terrence Munodei said they were looking forward to the comedy nights.
“All is set. We hope to have a great time. All students and those interested in comedy are invited to attend the event.
“Those who think they are funny can also give it a shot as they will be an open mic set,” he said.

Director of Umahlekisa Comedy Nights, Ntando Van Moyo said Nust was a good place to establish a comedy club through their Comedy to the People programme.
“It’s an initiative between us and Nust students. The aim is to establish regular comedy nights at the university. We want to branch out to other universities in the country with our programme called Comedy to the people. We will also go into the neighbourhoods in the city to promote stand up comedy,” he said.

Van Moyo said they had a workshop at Nust last week where they taught people how to be comedians and set up a comedy club.
“We had a workshop last week with the Nust students who were receptive to the idea of the comedy nights. They now want to set up an arts club in the future. This was part of our programme called Comedy to the People,” he said.

Umahlekisa Comedy Nights were founded by Van Moyo in March last year. This was upon realisation that stand up comedy was growing in Harare, yet there was none in Bulawayo. Appreciation of the shows has significantly grown in the recent months and has motivated young comics to line up more shows.