Comedy club where performers are scientists, lawyers

It is said that laughter is the best medicine. Scientists say that a good laugh has a similar effect on our bodies as antidepressants, and has the power to reduce stress significantly.

Making people laugh, however, is not an easy task.

The Kenyan comedy industry has had its ups and downs, especially after the end of the popular Churchill show, which was a crowd favourite. That gap is yet to be filled.

Fortunately, the show’s ending has created a new opportunity in stand-up comedy.

Take for instance Eric Lu Savali. He and his colleagues started Punchline Comedy Club after they realised that the comedy scene was not welcoming to newcomers. They found that the industry only warmed up to established performers. 

“I remember going to perform at an open mic night that used to be held in the city centre in 2017. My act was scheduled for 4 pm. I arrived on time and sat down to work on my material before going on stage. In the initial list, I was supposed to be the third one performing. When the show started, however, the organisers kept on calling other people to the stage and skipped me. I did not get a chance to perform,” said Eric.

On that night, he went home, called his fellow performers and together started their own comedy club. Their goal was to create an inclusive, fair and structured space, one where performers could be paid. 

“When we had our first show in Ikigai, Nairobi, we had budgeted for only 40 people. That was how small the space was and so were our expectations. On the eve of the show, we sold 30 tickets. On the day of the event, we sold more tickets and 115 people showed up. We did not have enough seats and ended up putting maasai shukas on the floor to create more space. It was raining so we had to give umbrellas to the attendees standing outside. People were so intrigued that they stood in the rain to watch our performance. That is when I realised that there is a market for this type of content and that we had to tap into it,” Eric recalls.

Five years later, the number of comedians performing at Punchline Comedy Club events has grown from 18 to 70, most of them being male.

“We organise several ticketed events every month where performers can earn between Sh5,000 and Sh70,000 depending on logistics and the performer’s experience. Initially, we used to pay performers Sh1,500 per minute regardless of their skill set,” said Eric.

Even though Punchline records all their shows, Eric says that the performers own 65 per cent of the rights to their content, so if it is aired on TV or played on YouTube, they get paid according to the agreement.

Anthony Ngachira, who goes by the name Ty, quit his job as a lawyer last year to craft a new career in stand-up comedy. It took almost five years for him to get the hang of it and live off the craft.

“When I got the call to host a TV comedy show, I did not see how I would be able to juggle my job as a lawyer and writing scripts plus recording the show. One had to go,” said Ty.

The comedy show ‘Too Much Information with Ty Ngachira’ aired on NTV in 2021 for one season and peaked at over a million views per week.

The show took the structure of a news bulletin, with Ty as the host. The show tackled current affairs and political issues, with a touch of comedy. Popular names in the comedy industry such as Mammito Eunice and Amandeep Jadge acted as correspondents on the show.

Interviews

Ty also interviewed prominent people on the show such as former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, Prof George Wajackoya and former ICT CAS Nadia Abdalla. He won Best Performance in a TV Comedy in the 2022 Kalasha Awards.

“Comedy requires you to be in tune with what is happening and be able to make fun of the situation. There are many terrible things that happen around us but when we laugh about it, we feel better about our circumstances,” said Ty.

Ty earned Sh3,000 during his first stand-up gig in 2018. Since then, he has monetised his craft and now works with different companies and brands.

He says some hotels and companies would pay up to Sh100,000 for an hour of laughter.

“However, you have to make people laugh because you have been paid to do so, which is not easy. The shows do pay, and the endorsements and writing jobs also add to the purse,” said Ty.

Punchline Comedy Club also hosts weekly Open Mic nights on Wednesdays at Two Grapes, Nairobi, and on Thursdays at Cavalli in Westlands. Stand-up Collective is also another comedy club that hosts similar events.

The club hopes to create a culture where it is OK to be both smart, and a comedian. Some of their comedians are engineers, scientists, lawyers and accountants.

“Open Mic nights allow performers to test new material to see if it works with the crowd. Entry is free and if one is interested in trying out stand-up comedy, this is their chance,” said Eric.

Ty says that some comedians stop going to open mic nights when they feel like they have built their confidence. 

“The more you practise and test your jokes, the better you become. Open mic nights are like rehearsals because you cannot practise without an audience,” said Ty. He says that to avoid burnout, it is important for stand-up comedians to work on their craft for years before they decide to step onto bigger platforms such as TV shows.

“Comedians put themselves in a position where their output and delivery can be judged because everyone expects them to be funny. I consider it an occupational hazard especially when you stand on stage, make fun of yourself or tell jokes then nobody laughs. You need to grow a layer of thick skin,” he said.

Eric says that the biggest challenge for comedy clubs is to bring brands on board to collaborate with performers.

“No one wants to bank on you until you have made a name for yourself. Our team records and edits all the shows. We have been sending proposals to local TV stations and we hope they will soon air our content. Sadly, we have been received better by studios abroad than by those here in the country,” said Eric.

Punchline Comedy Club holds workshops on Mondays for performers to improve their scripts and delivery of jokes. In 2022, they spent about Sh12 million to keep the show going.

“The future of stand-up comedy in Kenya is bright but we have to expand our scope. We need to learn how to make people from other countries laugh. We have been benchmarking with comedians from Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe to test our material in their countries,” said Ty.

Eric says that one of the best ways to know what is happening in a country is to go to a comedy club. For him, this has become a ritual whenever he travels. He is a physicist but due to his love for stand-up comedy, he now writes for shows and does voice-overs for international TV networks such as HBO and Cartoon Network.

“When everything was shutting down in 2020 due to the pandemic, that is when we grew the most. We were hosting small groups of people so we quickly got popular. Since then, we have built a community of comedians and an audience for them. We even have university professors from the US and UK using Punchline Comedy Club for research purposes to write a thesis on stand-up comedy in Kenya,” Eric said.

[email protected]