My dad is proud—Daliso
UK-based Malawian comedian Daliso Chaponda has craftly allayed fears that some hairdryer treatment awaited him from his father after the artist finally met State President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera at Kamuzu Palace Monday night.
Daliso is son to veteran politician George Chaponda who happens to be a prominent member of the former ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politburo; a party dethroned in government by the Chakwera-led Tonse Alliance administration during the 2020 Fresh Presidential Election.
The comedian caused a media frenzy on Tuesday when he hinted that his dad would not have approved if he were to get wind of his son meeting Chakwera, purportedly his dad’s political nemesis.
Writing on his official Facebook page Daliso Chaponda Comedy, the artist briefly described his thrill at meeting with Chakwera.
He wrote: “Honoured to have been invited to the State House by the President of Malawi. He said very encouraging words about the power of art. I had a wondering time.”
However, it is how Daliso craftly ended his post that got his followers on the edge of their seats all day; kick-starting what became a social media frenzy.
In his post, the comedian, shortly after praising Chakwera for meeting him, seemingly begged: “Don’t tell my dad [about my meeting with President Chakwera]”.
The post, made on Monday at 21:28 hours -presumably after leaving the State House where he was accompanied by his Ugandan comedian counterpart Salvado in meeting Chakwera, generated about 35000 reactions by 9 am Tuesday; with the other 4 000 reactions coming in afterwards.
In total, his post attracted 487 comments, most of them hilarious.
In one of the comments, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda ‘threatened’ Daliso that he would tell his dad on him.
“I will tell him in Parliament hahahahaha. That was lovely,” wrote Chimwendo Banda.
Tagging Chimwendo’s comment, former Parliamentarian Alekeni Wodala Menyani chipped in to say: “He is a cool dude!”
One Matthews C. Lungi appeared to play ball to Daliso’s earlier prayer when he wrote:
“We will not tell your Dad. We will not even tell him that you have come to Malawi,” accompanied by some laughter emojis.
The continued circus forced the comedian to return to the initial post, this time through the comment section where he made the debate even more interesting with yet another hilarious entry.
He wrote: “Update: my Dad is proud. No secret necessary anymore!”
More mockery comments followed before one Nicky Deco attempted to bring sanity to the page when he suggested that Chaponda the dad should be proud of her son’s feat.
He replied to Daliso’s ‘update’: “He should be so proud of you! You make him and Malawi proud every day!”
However, there was still time for one jibe, a tongue-in-cheek comment from one fan, a Lucky Slavia Mponda to it.
“He [your dad] should have been worried, have been more worried before that his son lost a future into comedies,” said Mponda.
As the time clocked Tuesday midnight, the post had already enjoyed 21 shares.
Daliso kick started his latest Malawi tour with a grand performance at the prestigious Amaryllis Hotel in the commercial capital Blantyre.
The versatile comedian also impressed at the Golden Peacock Hotel in the Capital Lilongwe over the weekend.
For those that missed the two shows, Daliso must have satisfied their thirst for his jokes with this particular online post; probably throwing more into stitches of laughter with it than he possibly managed with his combined jokes at Kamuzu Palace some hours earlier.
Another thing both his meeting with Chakwera at State House and the subsequent Facebook post managed to underline was the fact that drama has no boundaries as alluded to by one Martin Chiumbudzo who attempted to play a pacifier among the political rivals in the country with his post.
“These people [politicians) always like to think politics. You have taught them a good lesson,” he wrote.
Perhaps that explains why Daliso particularly praised Chakwera for what he called advancing freedom of expression in the country.
He said after their meeting at Kamuzu Palace: “Dr Chakwera has created an environment in the country where freedom of expression is truly respected.”
The comedian has since committed to continue bringing comedy shows to Malawi, especially that the country through its leadership is a place where his craft is welcome.
