I’ll crack your ribs—Kansiime
As people anxiously get ready for the much anticipated rib-cracking comedy night at the Bingu International Conference Centre on Friday, Uganda’s Annie Kansiime has promised nothing but a stellar performance.
“I will crack your ribs and that’s a promise,” is how Africa’s queen of comedy summed up her pledge in an exclusive interview.
Kansiime is by far the funniest comedien in East Africa or indeed on the continent.
She started her comic journey as a second-year student at Makerere University in Uganda when she joined Theatre Factory, the pioneer comedy outfit in Kampala that targeted the corporate audience.
Her status has risen over the years, especially after moving to a new group, Fun Factory.
Today, she is a YouTube sensation with most of her skits the most viewed in Africa.
Kansiime also hosts a public dialogue show codenamed Minibuzz on NTV, one of the popular television stations in Uganda.
“Promise me that no matter how hard your week is, no matter how hard things get or how rude your boss is, no matter how insensitive everyone around you is, just sit it out, take in all the bad things you can get because come May 17, you will let it out and go back home having let out all your stress.
“So, expect to be relieved of all your troubles and stress. I promise you all that entertainment; just expect to be relived of all your stress,” said theatrical powerhouse who has managed to export Ugandan comedy around the world as viral skits and continues to garner thousands of views.
She said she derives her comedy, whether stand up or skits, from everyday life.
“I come up with things that people face daily. So we don’t sit down and think let’s do one on prostitution or domestic violence for example. We usually have two meetings per week with my crazy producer Mayamba, and we just chat about things like what happened over the weekend. That’s why our scenes will range from court, church, home, taxi scenarios and so on,” she said.
Of course, the comedian, who has a contagious toothy smile, said she has one formula which is guided by understanding her audience.
Said Kansiime: “When I travel, I don’t do sketch comedy. I do stand up. But the one thing that always guides me whenever I perform in a new place is I have to get the people to understand me. I share my profile with them. And I share what my perceptions are about them.
“So, we have a chat about each other. And so what I’ll talk about in Malawi will be different from what I’ll talk about in Rwanda because every audience is different.
“I think it’s going to be awesome for Malawi because of the bundle of things that will be happening on stage that day and there’s no way we won’t have fun together because it will be you seeing me in so many different forms”.
Her biggest career highlight was the first time she travelled outside her country and headed to London for an event called To Be Loved.
“It was a meet and greet arranged by my manager and I ended up doing stand-up comedy to a sold out audience of both black and white people who, to my amazement, seemed to be getting my jokes and laughing. The venue was so full that they were sending people back. It was a proud moment for me,” she said.
Kansiime said her major challenge now is to keep up with her achievements and do more.
“Starting out for me was not hard; right now it’s the challenge to keep up with what I am achieving.
“So my advice to other women is that we should suck it up and know that if we had not fought in the beginning to do things that guys do, so every time you feel beaten down by guys in your profession, whether as an artist or a comedian, just think what you would be foregoing if you just let guys have it all. So keep fighting and don’t give up just because things are hard,” explained Kansiime.
