Mr Jokes takes on false prophets in new flick
The country’s entertainment industry is never short of novelty and surprises as events keep on unfolding.
Joining the world of entertainers who continue to exist at the mercy of creativity or staying abreast with current affairs is stand-up comedian Mr Jokes, who is now calling himself Prophet Jokes in his new series of comedy.
The Nation caught up with Prophet Jokes in Limbe on Tuesday where he was selling his DVDs using a PA system mounted to a minibus at the entrance to Limbe Market.
Today, people including artists are branding themselves with titles that left some wondering whether they are mystic beings or second-in-command to God. But why Prophet Jokes?
“People are being misled. There are false prophets out there who are confusing people instead of preaching about salvation. Worse still, people are following fame because they are only interested in breakthroughs but not salvation. So, Prophet Jokes wants to civic educate Malawians,” said the thespian whose real name is Andrea Thonyiwa.
Mr Jokes was quick to point out that his new series that are aimed at tackling issues in religious circles was not directed at any person including overnight prophets that have flooded Malawi.
“Prophet Jokes in his new role is not trying to attack or despise anyone, but advances the teaching of the Bible so that people are not misled,” said the comedian.
A compilation of Prophet Joke’s stand-up comedy will be released at the end of this year.
Commenting on his career outlook, Mr Jokes decried a poor market, which has forced him to slash the price of his DVDs from K500 to K300.
“Artists in Malawi are not given necessary support. As a result, we are being forced to employ any strategy to survive. For example, I am selling my DVDs at K300 because I have no choice but to let them go. After all, artists produce work not to keep to themselves, but to sell to people though many Malawians do not have a culture of buying artwork,” said Mr Jokes.
He also took a swipe at the growing tendency of event organisers who feature a multitude of artists in a particular show, saying this degrades the individual value and influence of some artists.
“As a country ,we are implanting a bad culture in our fans. What is supposed to be done is to have shows where people should appreciate and support an individual artist. That is the only way we can measure our influence as artists in Malawi,” said Mr. Jokes.
Ma Toilet Ku Bank is one of the popular jokes compiled in Mr. Jokes’ DVDs, which smacks the banks for lacking proper direction to customers’ toilets with their premises. In the comedy, Mr Jokes argues that people stay long in queues in the banking halls waiting to be served either by one or two teller; hence, the need to use the bank’s toilets.n
