Free talent chained by fear

So rich is the culture of humour among Malawians today, we should have been talking of a vibrant stand-up comedy ‘sector’.

I am glad that the UK-based stand-up comedian Daliso Chaponda has seen this humorous side of a nation laden with socio-economic woes and he is game to share his experience and wit gathered over the time and distance he has been into comedy.

He wants to meet potential stand-up artists to explore talent which can be polished into braving the stage.

Daliso, congratulations for your move.

I cannot live the whole life before me defining stand-up comedy as something Malawians love but cannot create.

On the contrary, I know so many names—across many ages, races, occupations or sexes—that are good at making fun of the many situations life throws at us every day.

I know people blessed with so big a touch of humour they can quickly make an instant hit on the entertainment landscape.

There is a lot of meat for the comedian. I have heard so many puns borne out of the recent fuel scarcity, political speeches, football outcomes and the ongoing Judiciary support staff strike.

So much of such talent is rotting by the day.

Now, seriously, we must give stand-up comedy a try.

It is not just for laughs; like other types of art, it also opens a sort of analysis and alternative view points to issues around us.

I, however, know that the biggest hitch will not be venues, sponsorship or unappreciative audiences. It will be censorship–formal or informal.

I have seen some of the country’s potential freeze in its strides on stage at the realisation that Malawi is not yet free from shackles of censorship.

I can only imagine a face contorted in the language of stand-up comedy making it to the mic to freely joke about the powers that be, the way South Africa’s Trevor Noah does it.

Maybe Daliso will try it at Robins Park in Blantyre on Sunday.

The jokes we swap in our neighbourhoods are good for the comfort and security of our verandas, but they are too hot for bigger venues and audiences.

We need to move with the time. We need to grow bigger than this sorry approach to art in general and stand-up comedy in particular.

We must free the talent chained by an unnecessary veil of fear.