Evening of laughter

Twice before, people of Lilongwe have had the privilege of laughing away their anxiety courtesy of the ‘Queen of Comedy’, Annie Kansiime.

Many from Blantyre and other areas far from Lilongwe could only salivate at the menu so graciously served. Those who could not resist spent a fortune to travel to Lilongwe to enjoy the hilarious moments by the Ugandan humorist.

But this evening, the merrymakers in Blantyre look set to get compensated for the double miss they got with one show: the ‘Queen of Comedy’ is in town, showcasing her talent at College of Medicine Sports Complex.

And she is not presenting herself alone; she comes with another equally comic descendant of her country—Teacher Mpamire.

Without doubt, Kansiime has proven her mettle on the two occasions she has been in the country—filling the Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc) in Lilongwe to capacity.

So, is that the question for discussion now? Obviously, not! However, the question should be about the new goodies she is bringing this time around.

If doubts lingered on her ability to deviate from known recorded episodes and still deliver, her recent performance in this region of Africa, a show in Zimbabwe on August 6, provides answers.

On her second coming to Harare, she attracted 3 700 people to Harare’s largest conference hall just for a laugh, according to a review on zimbojam.com published a day after the show.

Those that came with questions as to what new stuff she had brought got more answers than those they had bargained for.

“Proving she had done her research well, she joked about exuberant business man and social media poser, Sir Wicknell, calling him ‘Sir Weakness’ and checked if Stunner was doing well after his car accident.

“She also questioned why Zimbabweans still had love for the Mighty Warriors [Zimbabwe national football team] after they were massacred by Germany at the [Rio] Olympics [in Brazil],” wrote Takudzwa Chihambakwe about her performance.

Rapper Stunner, real name Desmond Chideme, had been involved in a road accident, shattering the vehicle he was travelling in on June 20.

So, the issue should be how new boy Teacher Mpamire, real name Herbert Mendo Ssegujja, will complement the evergreen mama Kansiime. Does he have the guts to make you laugh your lungs out?

“This is my first time in Malawi. My fans and ‘students’ should be ready to enjoy the show because I am going to ‘kill’ them. I am going to teach them until when they say ‘eeeeeee Teacher Mpamire, what went wrong? What went what?” that is the promise he gave in an earlier interview.

Reviews on his performances elsewhere speak volumes for him, and MultiChoice Malawi seems to have also taken note of that.

“Going to Teacher Mpamire’s Facebook page shows that he is also popular among Malawians,” said MultiChoice Malawi sales and marketing manager Chimwemwe Nyirenda.

Organisers of the event, iMPALA Marketing, also promised quality viewing at the performance, restricting attendees to only 1 500.

Teacher Mpamire comes in several characters.

So, if you see someone dressed like President Yoweri Museveni around College of Medicine Sports Complex this evening, do not rush to say it is him. It should be the teacher. n