Chronicle Editor
Wayne Chiridza, Showbiz Reporter
UMAHLEKISA Comedy Club will be celebrating their seventh anniversary next month with the main focus being a search for the country’s top female comedian.
Umahlekisa which operates from Bulawayo was launched in 2013 with an aim to create a platform for the city’s comedians to showcase their talent and be appreciated more.
“We started Umahlekisa as a movement to safeguard comedians and provide a platform where they could showcase their talent as they were generally exploited in the arts industry,” Umahlekisa founder Van Moyo said.
He said they are happy that seven years later, they have managed to achieve their goal as comedy is now appreciated by many in Bulawayo and the rest of the country. Also, they have nurtured talent of the likes of Long John and Chik Aljoy who have gone on to shine internationally.
“We’ve become a premier comedy powerhouse in the country as our goals are getting realised with each passing day. The platform is now a force to reckon with as it has churned out many talented comedians.
“Now our focus is to keep on growing the brand and become a comedy destination in Africa,” Van Moyo said.
Looking at the success of Long John and Chik Aljoy who have been acknowledged internationally, Van Moyo said these are some of the success stories that inspire him to continue running the club.
“We’ve some comedians who went through us, the likes of Long John the comedian and Chik Aljoy who’re doing well on the international comedy scene. It is such things which continue to inspire us as it shows we’re doing something right,” he said.
Umahlekisa, since its inception, has worked towards creating quality comedy. This has really helped grow the comedy sector as it has created quality competition among the comedians.
Sharing the difficulties they have faced over the years, Van Moyo said building an audience was one of the main challenges.
“We’ve had some difficulties along the way as we’ve suffered from plagiarism. Building an audience wasn’t easy as well, but now, the audience is there and we want to keep growing it,” he said.
As they celebrate their seventh anniversary, Van Moyo said their focus is on empowering female comedians around the country with their new talent search dubbed Next Top Female Comedianne.
He said: “We’re looking at creating a space for female comedians as one of our goals this year. This is why we’ve come up with a search for the next top female comedian which is already underway.”
The search will see the participants being groomed by Umahlekisa Comedy Club and Youth for Innovation Trust.
“The participants will be groomed on how to do standup comedy with the winners set to join the Umahlekisa Comedy Club. They’ll also be given an opportunity to perform in Harare as we want them to penetrate the national scene,” he said.
Also for this year, Van Moyo said they will be working on promoting comedy in vernacular as they want to offer different types of comedy content. – @waynecas
Online Reporter