DESPITE the marvellous work that local comedians have put up so far, Zimbabwe still has a long way to go compared with other African countries.
SILENCE CHARUMBIRA
While the comedians have to be commended for their effort, acceptability of the art remains nightmarishly low despite their efforts.
Merely watching a few videos from other countries like South Africa or Uganda’s Anne Kansiime and contrasting with those from the home front, one gets the picture that Zimbabwe still has a long way to go.
Apparently, the challenge does not lie with the comedians’ content or quality, but is more to do with administration.
According to Doc Vikela, one of the founders of Simuka Comedy which has just turned three, they face serious challenges in terms of engagement of promoters and corporate partners.
He said just like Kansiime, they had been working hard to establish their brands, but they were failing to get stable support from sponsors and corporates.
“In Uganda and South Africa, the countries that you have cited, you will find comedy shows have got maximum support from huge corporates. Yes, they have worked very hard, but once one gets corporate support they are guaranteed to succeed,” Doc Vikela said.
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“We once got support from Delta Beverages and you will find our numbers grew steadily because once there is a recognised sponsor people want to associate with it.
“Similarly when we did the Carnival Comedy Night with the help of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, the numbers were good as we had tapped into a government initiative and people wanted to associate with the carnival.”
Doc Vikela said local comedians that include Carl Joshua Ncube had worked hard to self-sponsor their projects because of lack of serious sponsorship.
“We cannot afford sponsors so the best that we can do is just do soft copies and capitalise on social media. We also want radio, television and newspaper adverts, but they are all too expensive as long as there is no sponsorship,” he said.
Meanwhile, Simuka Comedy will celebrate its third anniversary at Book Café tonight with a show dubbed Zim Comedy World Cup.
The event will be graced by at least 10 comedians that include Simba The Comic King, Clive Chigubhu, Prosper the Comic Pastor, Sab Diesel, Long John, Perry Pkay Kaande and Doc Vikela, among others.
The line-up will also include three open mic slots.
