Mr Jokes conquers the big stage

Many patrons attended the event with a slight feeling of doubt if the comedian would deliver. But come the hour, Mr Jokes jumped on stage dancing to Isaac the Duke’s song Oil, and later delivered what will go down in history as one of his best comedy moments.

On Friday night, the comedian challenged himself to headline a comedy event on a big stage supported by a handful of artists.

Coming on stage as the last man standing, Mr Jokes, born Andrea Thonyiwa opened his set with jokes in English, claiming that he is from America.

He questioned some of the things that Malawians do such as urinating anywhere and eating nsima every day, among other things.

When he switched to Chichewa, it was clear that he had done his homework as his jokes landed on fertile grounds and made patrons laugh out loud that at times he had to wait for the noise to die down.

He exhibited that he was in control and had a well curated comedy set.

“I am thankful to everyone who has supported me today. It has been 15 years in the making. This is definitely a defining moment in my career,” he said.

First to jump on stage was Mr Malawi who gave an interesting performance mimicking former president’s Bingu wa Mutharika and Peter Mutharika. Shortly after him were the duo Mada and Linda who, wearing matching school uniforms, kept patrons laughing with their jokes about men and their choices in life.

Raphael Sitima, the poet, proved that experience is a good teacher as his poetry set was as good as comedy as his lines were so funny that many in the audience were left in stitches the whole time he was on stage.

President of poetry association of Malawi Robert Chiwamba also impressed with his poems in vernacular which concentrated on love and relationships.

Comedian Jadidi, who referred to himself as an upcoming comedian, also did the stage justice with his wit as he joked about him being a ‘graduate’ from a driving school.

The only music performance came from musician Isaac the Duke whose song later was used to introduce the main act for the night.  

Prophet Shepherd Bushiri supported the event with K2.5 million. Other sponsors included Betika.com and Nyasa Manufacturing Company and Amaryllis Hotel.