POPULAR comedian and actor Sikhanyiso “Ckanyiso DatGuy” Mlambo is a man of dreams and one of his major desires is to stage a performance at the Madison Square Garden, a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. The comedian is famed for his hit series like Special Class where he plays character Buju and PaTown. Though he feels often misunderstood because of the rastafarian image, Ckanyiso DatGuy has done incredibly well on social media. NewsDay Weekender caught up with him for a laugh.
The power of comedy
I love seeing people happy. So, comedy gives me a chance to share the joys of this world. When the world is happy, we have less problems. The idea behind happiness is spreading love. If the world has no hate, then everyone can tolerate and understand each other.
Well, comedy has made me live my dream. I have performed and met people that have helped me navigate the industry. I have in the past five years featured on two television programs one being on DStv. Now because of the comedy I am amazed it has become difficult to get steady because I am often told “you have started with your jokes” and at the same time being happy makes me attract good people. I enjoy being around happy souls so I would say comedy creates beautiful moments.
Career highlights
Being on television has been a highlight for me. I had two seasons of a series called Special Class running on Zimbabwe Broadcast Corporation ZTV. A couple of years later I had another one on 3Ktv not to mention my biggest stage being the Shoko Festival 2022 where I was part of the panellists for the Temba Mliswa comedy roast. There are also other comedy nights that were really great like the First Fridays that happened at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare. I was once nominated for the Bulawayo Arts Awards unfortunately it was not my year.
Arts as a career
The arts industry is very lucrative if you know what you are doing and if you have a plan. Otherwise, it is going to be hard to penetrate the industry and be a household name. There is good business for artists out here in Zimbabwe, but as artists we lack intuition and discipline. As far as comedy there is a sizable number of comedy fans meaning people are starting to embrace the art. This is evident with the number of comedians that have emerged from the internet and there has been a good number of endorsements as well.
- Hebrew scriptures: The purpose of prayer
- Back Noam Chomsky calls ChatGPT a tool for ‘plagiarism’ and ‘way to avoid education’
- Comedy gives me a chance to share the joys of this world: Ckanyiso DatGuy
- Jury finds Trump liable for sexual abuse, awards accuser $5M
Keep Reading
I would say the corporate world has really embraced the comedy sector and those that really work hard are being rewarded. I, however, wish to see value being paid for. Undercutting artists is not fair on the artists side and the quality of product the artists will produce. I wish to see growth in the comedy sector having more stand-up comedians coming on stage as much as we have seen the rise in skits.
Vision
My dream is to perform as far as Madison Square Garden (a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City) one day just baby steps. So, I had pegged my comedy career in time frames of five. For my first five years, the plan was to tour the country doing my stand-up comedy. Then the next five I travel around Africa. I also had a chance to create a social media presence which I am using to advance my stand-up comedy career.
Success and challenges
Turning the comedy art form into business has been my biggest struggle. Trending does not necessarily mean you make money. It does get to me at times that I am doing good on views, but not so great on finances because bills need to be paid at some point. However, it is not that bad at times there are happy days.
Well-being on television has been the biggest highlight or success if you can call it. Maybe trending on social media can be too. Oh yes, I am sitting on 18 000 followers on TikTok and 17 000 on Instagram and I think that is a success as well.
Upcoming projects
I am doing a stand-up comedy tour #NotARasta and the target is to hit 10 cities throughout the year. Starting this April I am performing in Harare at University of Zimbabwe on April 22 then Bindura on April 28 and Mutare the following day (29). The following month (May) it will be Kwekwe and Kadoma all the way up to November. This is my major project for the year and it has been hectic to put together.
Last word
You have to finance your passion before you make it. If you feel this is what you want, you should have an end goal to why you are doing it. Have a plan on how to achieve that end goal, be patient and follow your plan. I have been doing that for some time now and it gets discouraging at times, but you have to stick to the plan as you know the end goal.
