Malawian comedian Daliso Chaponda records his first BBC show

Malawi’s celebrated comedian Daliso Chaponda continues his journey towards becoming a big international star by recording the first of the series of his own BBC Radio 4 show  in which he will take on the role of Cultural Relationship Guidance Counsellor, helping to navigate the rocky historical waters of Britain’s relationship with Africa.

The Britain’s Got Talent finalist recorded two episodes  of a  stand-up comedy series  before a sizeable audience at The Arches comedy store in the city of Manchester.

The show which is called “Citizen of Nowhere” sees Daliso  apart from exploring the historical relationship between Britain and Africa, Dthe series will simultaneously explore his personal relationship with both places.

The production and recording which was organised by the BBC saw Daliso hit the stage at 7.30pm full of confidence and welcomed by hands clap from the predominantly white audience.

The comedian did not disappoint as he opened the night with a series of jokes , bringing the house into  laughter before going into the serious business of recording the radio show.

Daliso was sharing the stage with his sidekick James Queen, who was providing the voice overs as Daliso went on to narrate issues about the history of UK and Africa relationship.

In his first episode, Daliso combined excellent joke delivery while tackling sensitive issues about Slave trade and the colonisation of Africa.

At one point, Daliso wondered why British Schools based in Africa teaches nothing about African History.

“When I was young I went to British schools in Zambia and Kenya, funny thing is that I was taught all about British history but nothing at all about African history, yet the schools were based in Africa?” wondered Chaponda while making fun at how he was made to wear the exact school uniform as students in Britain, a cold country despite the fact that he was in Africa and the weather was hot.

In the second episode, Daliso tried to counter the issues of hate from both African and UK Perspective. He tackled issues of interracial relationships , high levels of corruption in Africa, xenophobia and taxation issues, questioning  some old agreements that still exists whereby UK companies  based in  Africa can send back their revenues  to UK untaxed .

Throughout the show , Daliso handled sensitive issues while  making everybody laugh .

Some Malawians who attended the recording shared their opinion of the show.

Charles Layman Kachitsa said “ Daliso has done a wonderful job and is really putting Malawi on the map” remarks that were echoed by another Malawian, Saidi Lumanza Phiri who said “ Citizen of Nowhere is a great show , very educative  and funny at the same time , Daliso knows how to engage the audience and am sure BBC radio 4 listeners will love his show when it goes on air.”

Citizen of Nowhere has been produced by Carl Cooper. The show was first pitched to BBC by Daliso back in January 2017.

Daliso appearance on the Britain Got talent show, where he came third, prompted the BBC bosses to have no choice but commission his show for Radio 4. The show will first air in May this year. Daliso is due to record some more episodes next.

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