Britain’s Got Talent and Amanda Holden’s golden buzzer act comedian Daliso Chaponda has announced his debut stand up tour for 2018 entitled ‘What The African Said…’. The Malawian born stand up was a stand out star from this year’s show, capturing the nations hearts and garnering over 8 million Facebook views and 9 million on Youtube. The ‘What The African Said…’ tour takes in 31 dates across the UK starting on 8TH February at Nottingham’s Glee Club and culminating on 27th April at Edinburgh’s Queens Hall. Daliso has also just been confirmed for his own Radio 4 series entitled Daliso Chaponda: Citizen Of Nowhere.
“…Laughter is how I cope with pain. I have seen and experienced some horrible things but laughter helped me cope. Telling jokes is repaying the favor. This show is my thanks to the laughter.” DALISO CHAPONDA JUNE 2017
Daliso Chaponda has lived in countries where the press is not allowed to criticize the government, and in others with no libel laws where they can say anything. He has been both a journalist and a jaded newsreader. He is the perfect comedian to discuss what the media has become, which he does in his hilarious new show ‘What African Said…’. The show is about recent news, old news, fake news, and stories that were never quite but was ALMOST news. It is also a show about the things we say to each other; gossip, tall stories and of course declarations of love.
His father was a refugee who became a diplomat and he, therefore, grew up bouncing from country to country. He always wanted to be a novelist, but his family pressured him to study programming and he ended up at University in Canada. During this time he wrote funny science fiction that occasionally got published. He had never seen stand up comedy until he went to Montreal Just for Laughs. There was no comedy circuit in Malawi so he eventually moved to the UK and started performing with at open mic nights that let to circuit gigs.
A few years ago he did his first ever comedy show in Malawi, which became a massive success, and after that he started to be booked on big African shows. Then, just as he thought of moving back to Malawi and becoming the Malawi McIntyre, he did jokes about the Malawi President and his own father (who was the cabinet minister). This received a huge amount of media attention and the Malawi censorship board threatened to arrest him. This is not the only time his humour got him into trouble. Doing pro-homosexuality material in response to gay men being arrested and criticizing a Zimbabwean prophet got him a lot of hate mail! This made him realise that he wanted to keep doing edgy comedy material but in no way could he move back home to Malawi!
Daliso has appeared at many festivals that have included Melbourne, Edinburgh, Singapore and Cape Town Festivals. He is also a prolific fiction writer and has had his science fiction, murder mysteries and fantasy fiction published in numerous magazines and anthologies. He also he co-wrote a play recently that aired on BBC Radio 4.
THE TOUR DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
FEBRUARY
Thurs 8th NOTTINGHAM – Glee
Fri 9th BRISTOL – Colston Hall – Lantern
Sat 10th SOUTHEND – Palace Theatre
Thurs 15th NORTHAMPTON – Royal Theatre
Fri 16th LEICESTER – Cookie
Sat 17th LINCOLN – Engine Shed
Thurs 22nd BROMSGROVE – Atrix
Fri 23rd OXFORD – Glee
Sat 24th CREWE – Lyceum
MARCH
Thurs 1st BRIGHTON – Komedia
Fri 2nd HUDDERSFIELD – Laurence Batley Theatre
Sat 3rd SHREWSBURY – Walker Theatre
Thurs 8th LIVERPOOL – Baby Blue
Fri 9th BIRMINGHAM – Mac
Sat 10th PETERBOROUGH – Key Theatre
Thurs 15th SALFORD – Lowry
Fri 16th WOLVERHAMPTON – Civic
Sat 17th CAMBRIDGE – Junction 2
Thurs 22nd REDDITCH – Palace Theatre
Fri 23rd SHEFFIELD – Leadmill
Sat 24th LEEDS – City Varieties
APRIL
Thurs 5th HULL – City Hall – Mortimer Suite
Fri 6th PRESTON – Guildhall – Charter Theatre
Sat 7th BELFAST – Waterfront – Studio
Thurs 12th LONDON – Leicester Square Theatre
Fri 13th SWINDON – Arts Centre
Sat 14th COLCHESTER – Arts Centre
Thurs 19th CARDIFF – Glee
Fri 20th EXETER – Corn Exchange
Fri 26th SOUTHPORT – Atkinson Theatre
Sat 27th EDINBURGH – Queens Hall
TICKETS: £15 all venues from https://www.livenation.co.uk/
Twitter: @dalisochaponda
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dalisocomedy/