South African comedian Robby Collins was in Nairobi this past week where he headlined the second edition of the Nairobi International Comedy Festival at the Nairobi Laugh Bar.
This year’s edition of the festival kicked off with a live recording of the Kisiangani Podcast on Wednesday to a sold out audience. The live recording was a first for the podcast which exceeded expectations, with celebrity guests such as Mwafreeka of the Iko Nini Podcast and Tonio Kibz of the sandwich podcast and rapper Ranja Mistari who entertained audiences with his lyrical prowess. Regular podcast cast members Bashir Halaiki, Nduta Kariuki and George Waweru brought the house down with their interesting topics throughout the show. Speaking to Comedy Culture, Emanuel Kisiangani, said that it was an amazing experience and they will definitely be doing it more often.
Day two of the festival featured a late-night style live recording of FakeWoke with Justine and The Other Other News with Ty. The show was almost stopped by the heavy rains happening around Nairobi but with a cult-like fan base which braced the heavy rains to be at the show, Justine and Ty did not disappoint albeit slight technical challenges at the beginning of the show. With a lineup of correspondents which included the Kalasha nominated Ruth Nyambura, Stan Saleh and Gakonyo Gathimba, it was Punchline after Punchline with topics taking a regular news bulletin, from business, to sports, to the weather. The show was closed by a celebrity appearance of Bwana Spokesman, played by Maina Munene, who brought the house with a hilarious interview about current issues.
Day three was the highly acclaimed show the highly debatable show that featured comedy debates amongst some of Nairobi’s finest comics including, Maina Murumba, Bashir Halaiki, Ciku Waithaka, Adan Abdi which was moderated by Doug Mutai. The peak of the show was a mock presidential debate between Ruth Nyambura and a crowd favourite Titus Mutai.
Day three was a standup comedy show dubbed “Best Of Fest Comedy Gala” featuring Kenya’s Justine Wanda, Amandeep Jagde, Emanuel Kisiangani, David Macharia Darren Collins (also representing the US) and George Waweru. Uganda’s Cotilda Inapo represented the pearl of Africa and Mzansi’s finest Robby Collins as headliner. The show sold out and a second show was added on Sunday to an electric crowd.
Day four was a family comedy and magic show featuring Darren Collins and his team of puppeteers, jugglers and magicians from Project Hand Up. Adults and kids alike enjoyed afternoon the show which is a recurring show at the Nairobi Laugh Bar.
