CHARISMATIC and smart looking comedian,
Cheelo Mwanachingwala is set to make history with his upcoming comedy special – a stand up comedy event where he will unleash a body of work crafted in over a decade of his making people release liquid from the eyes and below the belt due to laughter.
WHILE life may have been stressful and unbearable this year with all the pressure of loadsheding, drought, a whole load of responsibility burdened on you, it’s always important to take a chill pill and unwind.
Leave a little and laugh out loud! But just don’t laugh anyhow because you might be taken to the east part of town for a mental check-up
So make sure to find your way at the Music Club on Thursday for a clean show dubbed Zambia Shall Be Shaved – an event that won’t discriminate but will definitely crack your ribs while shaving away all the negativities of life with laughter.
This highly anticipated event marks a significant milestone in Mwanachingwala’s career, showcasing his growth and dedication to the art of comedy from his humble beginnings in 2011, which has seen him steadily climb the ranks of the Zambian comedy scene and eventually become the Comedian Association of Zambia president.
Kalemba had a chat with Mwanachingwala, to discuss his upcoming comedy special and the comedy industry where he revealed that preparations were going as planned for his more one hour, 30 minutes performance as he targets over a thousand people for the audience.
“I know there’s the 1-hour 30-minute, that will be my highlight. But then there’s an opening act by a stand-up comedian. That’s Bush. Bush is one of our once upon a time exports into Uganda. He was the head writer for Anne Kansime. So he brings in that international flair,” shared Mwanachingwala.
He added that there will be a live band, who knows, even his family band might just come with pots as drums and cooking sticks as instruments to spice up things to give the event some raw talent.
The comedian said the jokes will be clean and unbiased making it friendly for all audiences.
“So the whole idea is we want people to come with their families and understand. And it’s also language neutral in the sense that we’re trying to scale for the international level. So as long as one can comprehend English, they can enjoy the show,” said Mwanachingwala
Meanwhile, Mwanachingwala was happy to see that Zambia’s have now started to appreciate comedy as not just a pastime hobby but an employer and would like the industry to grow to the point where foreign nationals are flying into Zambia because of comedy as a tourism attraction.
“Comedy has been viewed as just one of those things not to be taken seriously. So the challenge that we’ve been having is putting in effort for it to be taken as something that’s serious, something that cannot only make people get an earning out of it, but can also influence the whole business cycle.”
“So what I’m trying to achieve after this show is to show people that you can actually ride on comedy to push your business. we are about to sit 1000 people in East Park, those 1000 people who need transport to get to the show will need a cab, so we are empowering people that are doing taxis. And for that show to happen there’s been marketing going on so there’s collaborations with marketing agencies,” added Mwanachingwala.
Mwanachingwala said comedy is like a product “that can speak our heritage because comedy speaks to truth, like it’s a story. So we can tell our Zambian story through comedy.”
By Moses Makwaya
Kalemba December 3, 2024
