Standup in Kenya

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on June 25th, 2007

We just love reading about comedians who live and work in other countries. The Standard.net, a site providing news and views on Kenya, ran Offstage With Kenya’s Funny Men… and Woman, which profiled Tony Njuguna, Walter Mong’are and Aisha Khabere among others. Get a load of the final paragraph:

At the final tally, trust comedians to make outrageous remarks. Makokha of Vioja Mahakamani thrives in these. He says: “I never eat chicken bred in Nairobi. Besides the pollution, they never get enough sleep and so I don’t want to be involved with them.”

Certainly! Most outrageous! My sides, they hurt with the ache of a thousand suns! These Kenyan comedians– they murder me totally!

We kid! We kid! The true humor is no doubt lost in the translation. Seriously, though, anyone who can make just one person laugh in a country that has Sudan on one side and Uganda on the other is working miracles.

Read the whole article, if only for the mysterious reference to “celebrated American comedian Bernie McGrenahan.”