A Malawian-born stand up is going to be busy over the festive season preparing for his new tour.
Daliso Chaponda will be visiting Norden Farm in Maidenhead next year, for the new show Apocalypse Not Now.
The comic has performed all over the world, including two previous UK tours and at the Edinburgh, Melbourne, Singapore and Cape Town comedy festivals.
He says that the pandemic has felt quite a lot like an apocalypse, who by now should have done a full season at the Edinburgh Fringe, a national tour, and who knows how many more gigs.
But he used lockdown to his advantage, gaining new followers online with 200 daily crowd-sourced comedy shows.
And from his experiences, he has written the new show, which he says is about change not just in the world but also himself.
He spent the first two lockdowns totally alone trying not to go crazy.
In this show he also talks about his father, who was wrongly accused of a crime, for which he went to trial and was acquitted from.
Over a three-year period, when Daliso was in Malawi, he went from golden boy to someone who the locals threw stones at…. He was condemned by proxy.
During that time, he hired a spy, after his father’s office was set on fire, after he realised that his father’s house was bugged – talk about change.
He says of the new tour: “Can’t wait to have an actual audience in front of me and make actual people laugh. I am overcapitalising because I’ve been entertaining people on a screen for a year. ACTUAL people. You’ll cry with laughter; I’ll cry with joy. It could get messy.”
Daliso shot to fame on Britain’s Got Talent 2017, where he reached the final and was Amanda Holden’s Golden Buzzer act.
Last year he performed on The Royal Variety Performance (ITV) with other notable TV appearances under his belt that include three appearances on QI (BBC Two) and is a series regular on the Apprentice You’re Fired (BBC2).
His last stand-up show Blah Blah Blacklist received critical acclaim from the Edinburgh Festival and his previous show ‘What The African Said’ sold out a 50 + date UK tour and also received much critical praise.
The show will be at Norden Farm on Friday, February 4.
n For more details, or to book tickets, call the box office on 01628 788997 or log on to norden.farm
