Umahlekisa Comedy Club turns 3

Showbiz Correspondent
Umahlekisa Comedy Club, a local stand up comedy platform will this Friday celebrate their third anniversary at the Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel. Comedians Ntando Van Moyo, Clive Chigubhu, H.O, Zwexy and Mandla Simbarashe will entertain guests at the celebrations. On the same night, the club will launch its website where videos of their performances as well as pictures and information of upcoming shows will be uploaded.

Ntando Van Moyo in 2013, driven by the need to see the local comedy industry grow, set up Umahlekisa with Chigubhu. Their mission was to accelerate the growth of stand-up comedy in Bulawayo. Little did they know that stand up comedy had a huge following that would catapult their comedians to fame. Comedy categories were also included at various award shows such as the National Arts Merit Awards.

Starting off at Horizon Night Club, Chigubhu, Moyo and Nomsa Muleya took turns to entertain guests. It was not rosy at first as that type of entertainment was not appreciated by many in the city. The venue was also too intimidating for female comedian, Muleya, who at one point was heckled while performing. She vowed she would never return there and kept her word.

Fortunately she was not the only one who felt unwelcome at the nightclub as comedy lovers as well as the comedy club director realised they needed a new base.

“Some fans didn’t want to watch comedy shows in the bar and we saw it fit to move to a neutral venue. We therefore had to move from Horizon to Rainbow Cinemas and eventually, Rainbow Hotel,” Moyo said. He said it has not been an easy road as they faced numerous challenges. “The money that we’ve been getting from shows isn’t as much as we’d like. But we’ve had a steady growth in attendance over the past three years, which is quite encouraging.”

Several comedians including Carl Joshua Ncube, Doc Vikela and Simba The Comic King have graced the Umahlekisa stage and helped mentor up-and-coming comics.

Moyo said the third anniversary has been dedicated to talent from Bulawayo and will only feature comedians from the city. “We’ll be celebrating Bulawayo humour and that’s why we’ve a line-up of Bulawayo comics. New acts will also be introduced,” Moyo said.

Advance tickets have been pegged at R50 and are available at Rainbow Hotel. Latecomers will have to part with $5. “In a bid to encourage people to buy tickets in advance, we’ve decided to use a one is to ten cross rate between the US dollar and SA rand. This means the advance tickets are way cheaper (less $1.50) than the ones that will be sold at the venue on the day of the show.”