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Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Reporter
COMEDIANS Ntando Van Moyo, Mandla Da Comedian, South Africa-based Clive Chigubhu and Long John are set to join their local counterparts, Doc Vikela and Tinaye among others for the Simuka Comedy Festival.

In its second edition, the festival will be held from Friday to Sunday under the theme “Free Voice, Take Charge”.

It will be a hybrid event that will see over 50 comedians from all over the country taking part.

One of the co-founders of Simuka Comedy, Doc Vikela said the festival seeks to explore and broaden indigenous inflections that make up comedy in Zimbabwe.

“The festival will be a collaboration between seasoned performers, novices and administrators who’re active practitioners of comedy. Six live stand-up comedy shows, two workshops for beginners, an online comedy symposium, a funny talk series, and an online comedy indaba will be held.

“The festival is curated to run as both a workshop and performance platform for comedians over three days starting with the Farai-Day on November 26.

We’ve dedicated this happy day to our growing complement of talented female comedians in partnership with Sekesai collective.

This has primarily been made possible by Moto Republik.

Mandla Da Comedian

The main attraction among other activities will be the Divas comedy night headlined by the inimitable rising star comedienne Munya Guramatunhu.

“On Saturday, a show dubbed Satire-Day will be an all-out propagation of satire as a type/form of comedy made primarily possible by the partnership with Magamba Network which will see a host of activities culminating in the festival headline event featuring comedy veterans, the crazy me – Doc Vikela, the hilarious Clive Chigubhu, unapologetically funny Ntando Van Moyo and the trailblazing young blood Long John,” said Doc Vikela.

He said the festival will be wrapped on Sunday with an event named Sunny Day.

“On Sunday, the show will be a day in the sun as comedy deserves it too. We’ll go out to celebrate comedy in every

form. The night will see the last bit of the festival dubbed ‘Third Wave’ comedy show, featuring Kadem the Comic of the Captain Tito fame; Tinaye also known to masses as Constable; Ckanyiso Datguy popularly known as Buju and Mandla Da Comedian the “Watondikanganwa” Robert Mugabe impersonator performing.

“The overarching aim of the festival is to have a cross-fertilisation of ideas and opening of comedy markets. The festival presents a gateway to creating a sustainable Zimbabwean Comedy circuit, where artistes from Zimbabwe work together to grow the economic potential of comedy and the quality of acts across Zimbabwe,” he said.

The comedy shows will be taking place at Reps Theatre in Harare while the online events will be live-streamed on the Simuka Comedy Facebook and YouTube channels.  – @mthabisi_mthire