Stephen Chifunyise
Theatre Corridors

Simuka Zimbabwe’S comedy show held on June 29 to mark the organisation’s anniversary celebrations at the Zimbabwe German Society venue, in Harare’s Milton Park, was a vivid demonstration that this theatrical genre is burgeoning firmly.

More than 200 people who were thrilled by a huge dose of varied humour delivered by a 10-member cast of stand-up comedians from Bulawayo and Harare for more than two hours clearly showed from their enthusiastic applause that this theatrical entertainment was pleasing and was of appropriate quality, meaning and value.

Ten comedians and two hours of laughter can itself be a tough assignment if the comic material lacks the rich diversity of content and presentations that gets the audience glued to their seats.
After all, on a month-end, Harare has a large variety of entertainment spots people can move to, if where they are the entertainment is not of value.

From the type of vehicles parked outside the venue, the audience was the type that would not find it difficult to abandon an unsatisfying theatrical entertainment.
Invited mainly through the social media, the audience was a good mixture of the regular stand-up comedy fans and new, curious and unfamiliar individuals who had never heard of the names on the line-up of the evening.

I sat next to Last Munetsi, who had never been to a stand-up comedy show before and who had been made aware of the event by a workmate.
The young man was delighted by all the performances especially those of Toropito, whose news reading act is a delight to hear and to watch.
The Shona newsreader is unmoved by the deafening laughter he creates as he reads through the news of the most bizarre happenings in Zimbabwe and outside

Zimbabwe in Epworth.
Munetsi was also blown out by the comedy of Q the Boss from Bulawayo, whose physical theatre antics were as delightful as his imitation of the well-known characters in our society and his dramatisations of the weird happenings.

His clean language stuff was mature, versatile and most marketable.
Carl Joshua Ncube, who was in the line-up with the added responsibility of steering the comedy ship as master of ceremonies, was at his usual best with a range of topics in Shona, English and Ndebele.

Ncube exhibited the valuable experience he has gained from his world tour where he also gained comedy language that must be well known to his patrons on the world tour but which tends to be difficult for the local audience to patronise comfortably.

His timing and ability to read the mood of his audience and to select suitable material from his inexhaustible bag of jokes is his major asset.
Carl Joshua Ncube is to his army of young comedians a standard bearer and an artistic guide.
Cde Fatso’s act was a mesmerising and involving imagination that was quite sophisticated and yet easily discernable when he took the audience to the streets of

Harare to make an action film featuring the most sought after world leading action movie stars such as Matt Damon and Jackie Chan.
He takes the audience through the imaginary car chase sequences that do not make it in Harare given the navigation of kombi drivers, the             absent-minded pedestrians, the potholes and the police roadblocks. Cde Fatso clearly demonstrated his constant awareness of the need to dress his comedy with appreciable aesthetics and clean language.

The other two Bulawayo-based comics, Clive Chigubu and General Nthando, were equally thrilling even though their choice of material and language created some uneasy among the audience. The three Harare-based masters of comedy who make up the backbone of Simuka Zimbabwe — Doc Vikela, Uncle Sam, Simba the Comic King and Michael Kudakwashe — were amusing and clearly showing the consistent growth and awareness of their role as custodians on this burgeoning industry.

The audience at this show is the type, quality and size the theatre industry is yearning for. This was a highly participatory audience that embraced the content enthusiastically and critically and very tolerant of the diverse artistic point of view and poetic licence in stand-up comedy.

It must be appreciated that while Simuka Zimbabwe has built a formidable following mainly in Harare, the type of audience that creates a viable  and sustainable theatre industry, this genre of theatre tends to produce audiences which are not prepared to consume stale and over recycled jokes.

This means that in between shows the comics must be busy creating new material especially if future shows are going to be patronised by the same committed fans.
Audiences consider recycled jokes as a sign of lack of commitment and creativity of the part of the concerned comedians. 
To all the members of the comic team of Simuka Zimbabwe, it is necessary that they are reminded that keeping steadfast on clean comedy presented in clean languages is a guarantee for sustainable audience especially in a country that is just beginning to embrace this genre of theatre.

Choosing Maneta as the celebrity to “roast” in two-hour comedy was good strategy but that roasting should not have assumed characteristics of disrespectful use of a celebrity to advance a comic act
Equally essential is the need for stand-up comedians to appreciate that while to amuse by creating laughter derived humourous portrayal of bizarre incidents and improbable characters in our society is a hallmark of stand-up comedy, the temptation to use race, ethnic, religious and gender-based humour can be catastrophic.

It should be handled with extreme caution and high level of self-censorship on the part of the comedians. Well done, Simuka Zimbabwe! 
Your first anniversary celebration was, in many respects, a befitting prelude to national celebrations to mark July 1 as the World Comedy Day.

• Feedback:Stephen.chifunyise@gmail.com