Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
Umahlekisa Comedy Club will this year celebrate eight years of existence in the face of the harsh realities of Covid-19.
The comedy club was established on March 3, 2013 as a way to give stand-up comedians a platform to grow and flourish their talent.
They have done exactly that with the likes of Carl Joshua Ncube, Clive Chigubhu, Edgar Langeveldt, the Bustop Tv duo of Maggie and Gonyeti, Nomsa D, Long John, Mandla Da Comedian, Doc Vikela, Cde Fatso, Q Dube, Simba the Comic King, Michael K, Comic Pastor, MaForty, Nceku and Babongile Sikhonjwa gracing the Umahlekisa Comedy Club stage over the years.
The team that has been working behind the scenes includes Dalu Van Vodloza Sibanda (promotion and artistes’ liaison), Nhlalo Dube (marketing), Ntando Van Moyo (administrator), Nomsa D (recruitment), Mandlenkosi Dube and Ezra Taruvinga (marketing).
Van Moyo said Covid-19 derailed their plans last year as they could not hold their seventh-year anniversary celebrations.
“Last year, our live events were cancelled due to the Covid-19 restrictions on public gatherings so we didn’t really celebrate. We only had two live events towards the end of the year when the restrictions were relaxed.
“But this year, we have something in store for the end of this month or early next month as we want to celebrate the eight years without fail,” said Van Moyo.
Out of a possible 24 shows per year, last year was a difficult one as they only managed to hold two.
“Normally, in a year, we hold at most two shows a month, which translates to 24 shows a year. We hold them bi-monthly with one show in the city centre and the other one in the high-density areas,” said Van Moyo.
He said they are hoping to hold more shows in the afternoon and target stokvels.
“Covid-19 made us shift focus. Because of the curfews that are in place, our events will now be held in the afternoon. This is also to diversify our audience and content as we want to target the high-density suburbs where there are people holding stokvels.”
Lessons that Van Moyo and his team have learnt in the past eight years include the need of diversifying their content as well as utilising online platforms.
“These past eight years have taught us to diversify our shows and content, that’s why we’ve started doing the bi-monthly shows and targeting high-density areas. We now know the strengths of each performer and which crowd best suits them,” said Van Moyo.
“We have also collaborated with other spoken word artistes and incorporated the likes of Seagirl, MJ Sings and Qeqe to spice up the performances. We want the space to not be for comedians only, but for other artistes so that we grow our brand.”
Van Moyo however, bemoaned the lack of female stand-up comedians, not only on the Umahlekisa Comedy Club platform, but in Zimbabwe in general.
“We have for the past three years, been making calls for females to be stand-up comedians, but there were no takers.
It seems they are afraid of the stage. So, we decided to work with female poets who know the stage and work on diversifying their talent into being stand-up comedians,” he said.
Online Reporter