WE CHEER THE JOKE, BUT QUESTION THE JACKPOT!
“Hokey pokey” in modern slang means something fake. Silly. Nonsensical. Which is ironic, because the real nonsense is grown adults clutching their pearls over a comedian’s mansion in Karen Nairobi as if laughter were contraband.
You put your foot in. You put your foot out. You question his hustle. You clap at his jokes. You do the
#HokeyPokey and turn yourself around - and suddenly you’re shocked that 14 years of grind can build a 141 million KSh house?
That’s what it’s all about.
Before we drag
@ericomondi_ receipts into evidence, allow me a nostalgic detour. 2007. Redykyulass -Kenya's number one comedy trio then, came to Kampala. The hottest trio east of the Nile. Tony as Kibaki. Walter as Moi with that dance. KJ as Lucy. Political satire so sharp it could trim a hedge in State House.
Yours truly was recruited by Peter Kagwa of
@EWUganda to join the motorcade. My contribution? A faithful machine affectionately known as
#Bafudde. We sped from Bunga - carefully avoiding 7th Street Industrial Area lest the entire convoy be swallowed by a pothole - toward
@KyadondoClub . I zoomed into the grounds like SFC on a classified mission. Rugby fans paying 5,000 and 10,000 shillings. Ultimate Band warming up.
#Redykyulass slicing ribs before kickoff.
It was electric. It was work. It paid. Hard work paid.
@MwalimChurchill built an empire.
@idringp (happy belated birthday, sir) fills arenas.
@bhannington and
@FunFactory256 thrills Ugandans. Eric Omondi has clocked 14 years in an industry where people think jokes grow on trees. They don’t. They are mined. Written. Rewritten. Bombed. Refined. Performed in small rooms before they explode in big ones. Ask
@DrHilaryOkello @mkiboneka or
@jacquesrwoth .
Yet the naysayers persist. “How can comedy make that kind of money?” As if joy were not an export. As if healing were not labor. As if making you laugh during fuel hikes, election seasons, and heartbreak is some kind of volunteer internship.
Watch
#Funfactory for five minutes especially the episode "Nameere is Not Food, Mulya Nyama is Not Meat," where 'Nameere' shouts, she is a lawyer. Poor
@iKuddzu, the pseudo Barometer moderator shouts Producer give me a fire extinguisher to muffle her. In the skit,
#MulyaNyama invokes jungle rules, a caller asking “Ekiwundu kya kumutwe oba?” - and tell me timing isn’t talent. Tell me craft isn’t currency.
Maybe in this season of love we should try something radical: encourage the jesters. Honor the sweat behind the punchline. Fall in love with the problems that make us laugh.
Or we can keep doing the Hokey Pokey - foot in, foot out - doubting today, applauding tomorrow.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it’s all about?
Kajambo
@RichardTuwangye 👋🏾
#Uganda #Kenya #EastAfrica