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Tafadzwa Zimoyo Lifestyle Editor
Hollywood has Tyler Perry, who has shot to fame through his popular Madea comedy series in which he cross-dresses and acts like a woman.
Perry, the mastermind behind 24 feature films, 20 stage plays, 17 television shows and two New York Times best selling books, has built an empire that has attracted audiences and built communities, from the Tyler Perry Studios home base in Atlanta, Georgia, throughout the world.
Celebrated “among the pantheon of today’s greatest cinematic innovators”, his unique blend of spiritual hope and down-home humour continues to shape his inspiring life story, connecting with fans across the globe and always leaving space to dream.
Tyler’s legacy is the modern epitome of the American dream.
Now back home in Zimbabwe, there is one character who hopes to change the world of acting through his one-men or is it one-woman skits through his creativeness and innovativeness.
In fact, Theophilus Chigumira’s imagination is beyond words, acting in one-man skits as Mai Kirifodhi.
In the skits, he presents himself as a cross dresser, tunes his voice to sound feminine and adopts mannerisms often associated with the opposite gender.
And then he produces humour, through both words and actions.
Let’s just call him Mai Kirifodhi, the name that has earned him popularity.
Mai Kirifodhi captured the hearts of many during the Covid-19 induced lockdown with his skits, and he has not looked back ever since.
His ability to win the hearts of many while acting as a cross dresser has made him a cut above the rest.
Early this year, his creativity paid off when he won a gong at the National Arts Merit Awards.
To say he shone for the period under review would be an understatement, he was just magical.
For those who don’t know about Mai Kirifodhi, he is the one who coined the now popular phrase ‘Ndokuita Vayolence inosemesa’ on his skits on social media.
Mai Kirifodhi recently opened up in an interview with The Herald on Saturday Lifestyle about his journey.
“My real name is Theophilus Chigumira,” he said with a chuckle. “I come from a family of eight and I am the last born.
“I did my primary education in Chinhoyi and secondary education at Chikangwe High School in Karoi. I am 26 years old and I will be turning 27 years on 22 May. I was born in 1996.”
On his calling as a comedian, ‘Mai Kirifodhi’ said it was natural.
“I started doing skits at the end of April 2020 and then I started doing videos,” he said. “Nothing inspired me really, but we were just in the Covid-19 lockdown and I had nothing to do. I ended up doing videos.”
To ensure that he comes with appealing content, Mai Kirifodhi revealed his tips.
“I do most of my videos at home and usually other videos I do them outside, especially at Chicken Inn outlets as adverts or if it is a clothing shop I shot there,” he said.
“I do not write the skits, but l create the ideas as it takes time.
“I think if you start writing and then acting doing a sort of reading somewhere it will show that you are cramming. So, if I think about the direction of a story, l will start acting the way I talk as long as I know the direction of my story.”
With many questioning his type of art, the crooner cleared the air.
“First of all, I do not call myself a comedian, but I am a digital creator because I make different videos,” he said.
“I think of myself as a digital creator. My family encouraged and supported me to create more skits because at the first time I did a lip-syncing video imitating Trevor Noah’s comedy show.”
On his NAMA triumph, the creative genius explained: “Winning the NAMA award did not come as a surprise. I did not think I would be nominated in the 21st Namas and there are people who have been doing it for a longer time.
“This year was not a surprise because I was working hard. I really wanted to be nominated. I don’t know if there is someone who deserves it better than me. I needed it because I worked harder, imagine having put in the hard work and never win. You will give up and try to find something else to do.”
Mai Kirifodhi believes winning the NAMA award gave him a lot of motivation.
“I deserved it because I do many things alone, l record myself and think about ideas and edit all characters alone,” he said. “To come up with content I would have worked very hard than doing content with a friend.
“We put a camera and record ourselves chatting. And there is not much editing needed there and then post. For me to come up with a two minutes and 30 seconds video doing six characters or a skit which I did with 13 different characters takes time.”
“I feel I deserved the award for the best outstanding social media skits. Then the people’s choice award depends on how people take you or love you. I do not think I can say that I deserved it or not because it’s up to the people’s decision.
“It was my second time being nominated. The awards mean a lot to me like I said as they encourage me and keep me going. It shows that I am in the right direction and my hard work is paying off. It is something which l really needed to push me.”
Like any other adventure, Mai Kirifodhi said he suffered ridicule from what he termed “haters”
“The challenge which I have faced and I am still facing is people used to wonder why I wear dresses when doing videos, but now they understand, but some had speculated it will drive me to be gay,” he said. “Some people would say I am gay and that’s why I wear dresses, but then this is just art.
“I usually ignore the negative comments. If it is constructive criticism I take it. And most of my followers understand me. At first the majority of my followers where women, and men would not accept it. But now I have more followers and some elderly men would compliment me saying I am doing well.
“I do not just do female characters, but I also do male characters.”
The people’s negative perception on his sexuality still confuses ‘Mai Kirifodhi’.
“I always asked myself why people say that I will be gay by wearing dresses, but never say I will become a grandfather when I do that,” he said. “Just like I said, when I started the skits, it was during Covid-19 lockdown and I could not meet many people.
“I found out that my strength was in doing many characters alone and I went at it. Then I ended up doing female characters and at my house there aren’t females of my age who I can do videos with. My siblings are older people so I can’t do videos with them.
“So, it worked when doing many characters alone and I then continued to do skits alone.”
Despite taking it as a trial, the comedian said people started to expect more from him.
“I intended to do it once with the Mai Kirifodhi character, but many people encouraged me to bring back the character,” he said. “There was a time I would post a video without Mai Kirifodhi character and people would complain.
“I relate to the character of Mai Kirifodhi because many mothers are like that. So, people like my skits because they relate to Mai Kirifodhi’s character.”
The most sought after entertainer said he was inspired by events in day to day life.
“I act on what happens in society and replay childhood memories which relate to people,” he said. “People liked the way Mai Kirifodhi spoke. So I brought in two characters which are Kirifodhi and her mother.
“I go to Seventh day Adventist and they like my videos. When I started, I was worried because I learned at Solusi and the SDA institution wanted me to do advert videos for them as an institution.”
Theophilus has since left his job to concentrate on acting.
“I used to be a print coordinator, but I stopped working in November 2021 because as I was receiving many endorsements, so it wasn’t balancing with work and I decided to stop working by assessing where I was getting more money from,” he said.
He was not shy to reveal his role model.
“My role model would be Madea as she does many characters,” he said.
When it comes to the matters of the heart, the comedian had this to say: “I am in a relationship and she supports my work. When I will be acting, it will be a different world as I will be focusing on a character which is different from my reality.
“I get dresses from my sisters which they used to wear and their wigs too.”
Outlining his vision, Mai Kirifodhi was blunt.
“I always wanted to start an advertising agency and run many companies so that’s where I see myself in five years,” he said. “I don’t know if I will be still doing videos. Maybe I will be in the acting industry, but I don’t want to venture into acting.
“I know it is my passion, but I feel like fame is associated with lack of privacy.”
He adds: “Skits are a source of income for starting a business. It’s difficult for me to do a show because I act different characters alone, but if it’s a show it doesn’t make sense unless when doing a stand up comedy which is not my strength.
“I don’t crack jokes, that’s why I say I am a digital creator, but I create content in a funny way. And facial expressions are my strength.”
Like any other person, Mai Kirifodhi is willing to learn from others.
“I like Nigel Slick Pastor, maybe I would like to do a video with him , Mbuya Vapiyasoni and maybe Madam Boss, l don’t know if she is still making videos.”
Online Reporter