Chaponda to embark on international tour

He has performed and been published all over the world. He began his comedy career in Canada with a one man show 'Feed This Black Man'.
Later he moved to South Africa but he did not stay long before trekking to England, his current base.
Over the years, the stand-up comedian has honed his craft in comedy clubs, theatres and at festivals across the globe.
As a matter of fact, he is among the top ten best African stand-up comedians as rated by news channel CNN and The World of Comedy.
That is the story of Daliso Chaponda who is also a fiction writer who has published murder mysteries, erotica and science, religious and fantasy fiction in numerous magazines and anthologies.
Since the beginning of 2015, Daliso has always been on the move, performing in such diverse places as Romania, Singapore and Malaysia and England.
There are more shows lined up for him across the globe.
"I'll be doing a tour called the 'Laughter Smuggler' which will be a one man show, currently being written, across the UK, then through Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, and many more countries.
"So far, South Africa and Zimbabwe are confirmed for the tour and I am working on Zambia and Kenya. I will be back in Malawi in September.
"People should be on the watch for this show then. Again, I am arranging a US tour whose details will be made available as soon as everything is confirmed," he stated.
Closer home, Daliso has and continues to dominate the African comedy scene having performed in front of thousands in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria just to mention but a few.
On Saturday next week, April 25, the comedian has lined up a show, aptly dubbed 'Laughgate', at the Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe.
"It feels good to be back on Malawi stage after two years," said an excited Chaponda in an interview.
He added: "The show will talk about everything and anything. From Cashgate, the rise in the number of prophets running around, to big personalities in the political arena, to the elections and subsequent changes as a result of the same, as well as what I have been going through in my personal life and family."
His last trip to Malawi was for the Presidents of Laughrica tour which he did with Uganda's Patrick Idringi Salvador and Zimbabwe's Carl Joshua Ncube in 2013. It was a sold out which saw other patrons watching while standing.
Since then, Daliso has taken a new dimension altogether in his career: one man shows.
He have so far done two one man shows; Barely Legal at the 2014 Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa) in Zimbabwe and Love Sucks, a humorous protest against Valentine's Day which he did in England in February.
"I have got too many new jokes so I figured out doing a one man show will be good unlike continuing with projects like the President of Laughrica where three main acts shared the stage. Obviously, in such arrangement, we don't get much time for ourselves as we have to share limited time.
"Besides, I am moving towards one man shows so that it allows people know what I do and what I am. As such, I am going to get the best jokes from these shows to come up with a compilation for the Malawi show apart from jokes that I am going to write in the two weeks running up to the event," he affirmed.
His first ever comedy DVD was shot in Zimbabwe at the 7-Arts festival. In the one hour long performance, the comedian is picking on diverse subjects such as African prophets, censorship, political correctness and loneliness.
"The DVD talks about everything and anything. It will also be sold at the show in Lilongwe. As a step further, I intend to take it to Comedy Central where thousands of comedy videos are uploaded," he said.
So far, the stand-up comedian has two CDs and is now focusing on releasing as many DVDs as possible.
Talking about the Laughgate, he reiterated: "I will shock people, I always enjoy saying what nobody expects, so it is going to be a night of rib-cracking. There have been so many scandals about Cashgate, Nipplegate and Gamergate, some of them quite ridiculous, and some quite depressing."
Curtain-raisers for the event include stand-up comedian Diana Dee Satha and Neil Nayar who does musical comedy. Daliso is expected to perform for one hour thirty minutes.
The funny man is a man at ease as he continues to take his talents across the globe to amuse and delight diverse audiences in the last decade. He does not mince words as to who gives him a tough ride on the stage on the continent.
"There is quite a good number of stand-up comedians. But the best for me are South Africa's Trevor Noah and Basket Mouth from Nigeria. These two make me run on my toes. They are all unique in their own style and nobody can imitate them," he said.