The audience inside the Johannesburg theater cackled as a bombastic orchestral version of Uganda’s national anthem assaulted their ears. This was followed by a booming announcement: “He’s the most successful comedian to ever come out of Kampala, via Krugersdorp and [the northern Johannesburg district] Fourways. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. David Kibuuka!”
A smiling Kibuuka, tall and dressed in casual pants and a white collared shirt, then ambled clumsily onstage. From the riotous applause it was immediately clear that he was no amateur struggling to break into South Africa’s entertainment scene.
The crowd had recognized the man who arrived in Krugersdorp, a small town outside Johannesburg, with his parents as a “petrified” 10-year-old from the Ugandan capital 18 years ago, as one of South Africa’s foremost comedians.
As someone with a keen eye to lingering class and race issues, Kibuuka launched into banter about political rallies in his adopted homeland. He focused initially on supporters of the ruling party, the African National Congress, or ANC, which is backed largely by South Africa’s black majority.
“They can’t just shout ‘A-N-C! A-N-C!’ all day long. That would be boring. So then…they start shouting things that blacks can instinctively relate to, like –
‘I say chicken, you say wings – Chicken! Wings!” Kibuuka screamed.
He then turned his attention to South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, or DA, which is supported by many of the country’s white citizens.
“If it’s a DA rally, people will shout, ‘I say chicken, you say a la king!’ Kibuuka announced in a polished accent designed to mimic that of a privileged white South African of English ancestry. He then added, “I don’t even know what chicken a la king is! I don’t know any black people who eat chicken a la king. What is it?”
An audience member responded, “It’s chicken in a white sauce.” As the audience erupted in laughter at the wordplay with its racial undertones, Kibuuka froze and stared at them with a goofy, bemused expression on his face.
While he has in recent years established himself as one of South Africa’s finest standup comedians, Kibuuka has also starred in several popular television shows and films in the country.
He played the lead in the hit 2006 South African film comedy , which won awards at film festivals in Los Angeles, Toronto, Melbourne and Cape Town. The film centers on the adventures of three comedians going to South Africa’s biggest rock music festival.
Kibuuka shares the stage regularly with leading international comedians around the world, like at the Heavyweight Comedy Jam in London.
“But my favorite places to perform are in South Africa – because there’s always so much beer around. South Africans can drink beer like nowhere else on this planet. That’s why I love them so much,” he deadpanned in an interview with VOA following a recent performance.
Much of Kibuuka’s work lampoons greedy and corrupt African politicians.
“Look, political satire is healthy for any society,” he said. He’s convinced that it’s essential for African comedians to satirize their governments on stage and on TV and film.
“If white comedians do it, especially white foreign comedians, black audiences would switch off. They wouldn’t listen to the comedy and the underlying messages; they’d just see another white person on stage criticizing blacks. I’m not saying that’s right, but that’s what would happen,” Kibuuka insisted.
To millions of South Africans he’s instantly recognizable as the pompous, cynical foreign correspondent on the e.tv comedy show, The Late Night News, in which Kibuuka stars with fellow comedian Loyiso Gola.
“Dave the reporter” is embittered, sarcastic and seems to dislike everything he witnesses, and everyone he meets, in the foreign cities he visits on assignment. Gola, as the TV news presenter, begins most shows by asking Kibuuka’s character, “So, Dave, how is it there?” to which the foreign correspondent responds with a four letter expletive to reflect his disdain for the place.
In one episode “Dave” reported from Nigeria’s capital, Lagos, where he’d just met President Goodluck Jonathan.
“He really does have good luck. He gets to the top in lucky ways,” said ‘Dave.’ “Like when he was the deputy governor of Bayelsa state, the then-governor was taken to court, so guess who was promoted to governor? Goodluck Jonathan. Then when he was deputy president, the then-president got sick for six months, then kicked the bucket. So guess who was promoted to president? Goodluck Jonathan.”