The 2^nd Edition of the annual 3-day Simuka Comedy Festival themed “Free Voice, Take Charge” 2021 presents a hybrid event that will witness over 50 comedians from all over Zimbabwe converging for comedy fete to explore and broaden indigenous inflections that make up comedy in Zimbabwe.

By Plot Mhako

The brainchild of top comedian and creative director Doc Vikela, the festival continues to grow despite the Covid pandemic and an unstable economy.

Employing a sectoral dialogic engagement, a collaboration between seasoned performers, novices and administrators who are active practitioners of comedy, the festival is promising a non-stop rib cracking experience. 

The festival is curated to run as both a workshop and performance platform for comedians over 3 days namely:

1. Farai-Day 26th November « Dedicated to a growing complement of talented female comedians in partnership with Sekesai collective and primarily made possible by Moto Republik. The main attraction among other activities will be the Divas comedy night headlined by the inimitable rising star comedienne Munya Guramatunhu.), 
2. Satire-Day 27th November « An-out propagation of satire as a type/form of comedy made primarily possible by the partnership with Magamba Network which will see a host of activities culminating in festival headline event featuring comedy veterans  – the crazy Doc Vikela, the hilarious Clive Chigubu, unapologetically funny Ntando Van Moyo and the trailblazing young blood Long John) 
3. Sunny-Day 28th November « A Day in the sun and comedy. The evening will see the last bit of the festival dubbed “Third Wave” comedy show, featuring Kadem the Comic of the Captain Tito fame; Tinaye also known to masses as Constable; Ckanyiso Datguy popularly known as Buju and Mandla Da Comedian the “Watondikanganwa” Robert Mugabe impersonator.

The three-day festival will stage 6 live stand-up comedy shows, 2 comedy workshops for beginners, online comedy symposium, a funny talk series, 6 videos skits & an online comedy Indaba. 

The overarching aim is for there to be cross-fertilization of ideas and opening of comedy markets. The festival presents a gateway to creating a sustainable Zimbabwean Comedy circuit, where artists from Zimbabwe work together to grow the economic potential of comedy and the quality of acts across Zimbabwe.

Simuka Comedy was co-founded by Victor Tinashe Mpofu (Doc Vikela) and Simba Kakora (Simba The Comic King) in 2011 is led by a team of young comedians as it celebrates its 10^th anniversary in style and has attracted a host of esteemed partners in the form Magamba Network, Moto Republik, Barmlo Enterprises, @23 Guest Lodge, Mayflower Car Rentals, City Link, Sekesai Collective, Zimbabwe Germany Society, Reps Theatre. 

Simuka Comedy Festival comedy shows will be happening at Reps Theatre Belgravia whilst online events will be livestreamed on the Simuka Comedy Facebook and YouTube channels.