He came specifically to make people laugh. And indeed he made them laugh. For the whole one hour that comedian Daliso Chaponda populary known as Daliso was on stage, people were in stitches.
But this does not mean it was all about fun. The young man used his comedy to talk about serious issues affecting the country.
Friday evening, Daliso, who walked on stage at exactly 9.03pm smiling broadly at the audience in the spacious Victoria Gardens Hall in Blantyre, started his set with greetings. Then as he was about to start his business of making people laugh, electricity went off, prompting him to shout: “Bushiri, help, help!”
When power was restored using a standby generator, Daliso went on to serious business.
He said: “You know, I don’t understand why these days people are so angry on social media. I mean in January I had to quit social media a bit because there was this gentleman who seemed very angry and attacked me for something I did not understand. Let’s not waste too much energy hating on people we do not know, have never even met. It is a waste of resources.”
On the recent vampire or bloodsuckers rumours that rocked the country, Daliso laughed off the beliefs.
In his own comic way he said maybe there is too much belief in “God-God” and less “education-education” in Malawi.
“I think we need a good balance. Too much religion without reason is not doing our country good,” he reasoned amid laughter from the audience.
He said vampires cannot come to Malawi because it is a hot country, saying maybe these are a “different” type of vampires.
On electricity problems, Daliso poked fun at renowned prophet Shepherd Bushiri for saying he could end the problem in a few days.
“I wonder, if Jesus were here today, would he be performing these kind of miracles?” he asked the ecstatic audience.
Daliso, who interacted with his sold-out audience throughout his set, also poked fun at Americans for electing Donald Trump.
Said Daliso: “From an eloquent Obama to Trump? Americans, can you apologise please? That is like Jay-Z dumping Beyonce and hooking up with Patricia Kaliati.”
Though the comedian kept people laughing, he talked about issues currently affecting Malawians like low education standards, electricity blackouts, bloodsuckers rumours and negative use of social media.
In Lilongwe at Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc) Daliso was, however, almost upstaged by his curtain-raiser Karl Ncube who joked about electricity cuts, among others. He easily connected with the audience and continously engaged them.
Though Daliso impressed his Lilongwe soldout audience, he disapointed some when he joked about women’s genitalia which other sections of the audience found offensive. He cracked a similar joke in Blantyre.
Daliso, who is son to former Agriculture, Irrigation and Water development minister Geroge Chaponda then announced that he would be back next year.
He recently had his big break after coming third in the talent contest Britain’s Got Talent.
He was supported by Karl Ncube, Patience Namadingo and Prince Chikweba who were all a marvel to watch. n
