Shouts, laughter and tears engulfed the Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc) in Lilongwe when South African stand-up comedians Riaad Moosa and Simi Areff joined Maclean Mbepula for what can be described as a night of a thousand laughter.
The trio sent people into uncontrollable stitches with their humorous wit as they poked fun at almost everything from politics, love, sex and women to men.
Setting the wheel in motion was the MC Rocky Kaunda, who wondered who was looking after the shops in town, as all businepersons of Asian descent were in the building.
First on the menu was the host Mbepula who concentrated her jokes on Malawi politics.
Posing as a news reader from a country called Balawi, she creatively drew parallels between the imaginary country and Malawi.
“In Balawi, everything is like comedy, actually there’s no difference,” she quipped.
Bringing an extra dimension to her love for art, she took a jibe at top politicians including, Lazarus Chakwera, Joyce Banda, Atupele Muluzi and Everton Chimulirenji by mimicking their accents.
As she left the stage, Areff jumped on it and seemingly innocent, he asked for power to be switched on before a fan screamed: “Escom [Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi].”
“You got Eskom here? Those guys are here too? How long do those [unprintable] cut power for?” he joked at the load shedding exercise currently underway in South Africa.
He moved on: “I am the second most handsome guy in the world after Mufti Menk [an Islamic scholar from Zimbabwe]. I am not gay, but every time I look at him, I go like he! he! he!”
While his jokes were rated 18, what stood out most was the way he was interacting with fans, as if he had rehearsed his lines with them.
When the main man of the event, Moosa, appeared on stage, his slender frame was somehow confusing.
Add to that, he is too soft spoken for a comedian until you hear what comes out of his mouth and leaves one two-many ribs cracking.
“I feel sorry for our non-Muslim friends. They don’t know what we use those little glasses in the bathroom for. They don’t know why they are next to the toilet?” he joked.
Moosa then moved to his life and family.
“I don’t understand how it all happened. Professionally, I am clown and medical doctor. So, when you choke, I spring into action and entertain you as you pass on,” he joked.
“I have been married for 16 years. My wife gets into the car, we drive a distance without her fastening the seat belt even when that buzzing sound irritates us, but when I eat, she says I make noise.”
It was a night of first-rate laughter and non-stop comedy entertainment.
