Return of the laughs

Langalakhe Mabena
Ribs are set to crack in the city as comedy fanatics will be spoiled by two nights of sidesplitting comedy on 30 and 31 October at Homestead Conference Centre (HCC) with all the shows delivered by Sanctified Comedy Club.

The shows will be held by T1nda with seasoned funny ace man MaForty taking to the stage with Ezra and Falton on the first day and Mbongeni replacing Ezra on the second day.

All the shows start at 6 pm.

Covid-19 lockdown and its restrictions had banned public gatherings as they were deemed potential spreaders of coronavirus.

However, with the restrictions eased giving a green light to the holding of gigs including comedy for a limited size of audience, Sanctified Comedy Club pounced on the opportunity and clearances from the police have been made to hold the gig.

9th Avenue surgery chipped in on sanitising the arena.

On behalf of the club, MaForty revealed that during the lockdown they did not put into consideration doing virtual shows for certain reasons.

“During the lockdown we just watched things unfold as other artistes were heading into online shows. Our shows follow the LOL entertainment Zimbabwe way of doing things, we are for giving people an experience.

“As such, we saw it unnecessary to do online shows because stand-up comedy without an audience is not really an experience for both the spectators and the performer,” said MaForty.

He further said that during lockdown they had managed to re-plan and map their ideas as a club and they had come up with a solid resolution of scouting for talent in the comedy sector on a national level.

“We took time to re-plan our comedian search programme “Are you Funny Bulawayo” and we have managed to come up with fresh ideas and next year is the ideal time to roll out the initiative as a national programme,” said MaForty.

Covid-19 became an obstacle to Sanctified Comedy Club as they cancelled a number of shows on their calendar including the Bulawayo Comedy Fiesta in March.

As they last held a performance last year November in Malawi, MaForty assured the audience fresh jokes.