REVIEW Stand-up Comedy DALISO CHAPONDA: Tropical storm The Waterside Arts Centre SALE Manchester

I remember seeing Malawian comedian Daliso Chaponda only once before this evening, and that was on TV's 'Mock The Week'. Other than that, I knew little to nothing about him, nor indeed his style of comedy. He is a very talkative and chatty individual who uses his set routines with improvised ad-libs depending on each audience, as he indeed would fare better with the houselights permanently on. He is forever referencing us and asking us questions. When we are in the dark, his idea is to have us clap instead of raise our hands which is somewhat less successful I felt. His comedy is not exactly x-rated, but it sits rather uncomfortably, teetering on the cliff edge. The many and vagarious references to penises, clitorises, vaginas, sex, pornography, and indeed his own sexual proclivities made this an 18+ show. He also talked much about race, racism and the EDL. Using the 'race card' himself a couple of times to either exemplify or justify his comments.

His touring show is titled, 'Tropical Storm', and yet there is nothing tropical (save for the auditorium music as we enter) about his routines, nor is there a real vocal storm. His comedy (if you take away all the offensive language) is actually quite tame, and the audience as a whole this evening was restrained and polite. We never had any proper belly laughs and there was not anything within his set which made you truly laugh out loud.

The topics he put through the mangle and led into the slaughterhouse included identity, nationality, Donald Trump, Deep Fakes, his own sex tape, men and manliness, and The Great Replacement Theory. Bold topics indeed, which, for Chaponda included much swearing and remarks about genitalia.

The evening ending with a Q+A with the audience. certainly not everyone's idea of a comedian, and don't go if you are easily offended.

Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu

On - 11.3.26

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