Tuesday 26 May 2015

KINYOZI, MEN’S GOSSIP CENTRES

To men, Kinyozi (Barbershop) is what a Salon is to women. Kinyozi’s are the next gossip centres for men away from the bar. For a long time, gossip has been known as women affair. However, what many don’t know is that men do engage in acts of gossip from time to time.

Unlike, women who engross in vitriol and malicious chatter about their friends & neighbours, men’s gossip is largely limited to women, alcohol and politics. There is no badmouthing and backstabbing whatsoever more so against other men. Otherwise, there is honour in the league of men.
That said, a fortnight ago, I was at my preferred barbershop in hood. You see, every Kinyozi in any neighbourhood will always have those boys from the neck of the hood hanging around, wishing away time.

On this fateful day, one of the boys shared a rather shocking allegations regarding Churchill Show. The lad claimed that there is a lot of corruption going on during auditioning of the stand-up comedians seeking to perform in the show. Those auditioning were required to pay up to 60% of the pay they receive after performance. He went ahead to say that some who don’t know the practice have been trying to audition but with little success. If these allegations are true then it is very unfortunate.

While at it, I would say that stand-up comedy in Kenya has overplayed tribal jokes and stretched it too far. To this end, shows like Churchil Live have lost mature audience. Tribal jokes were once rib cracking but not anymore as we have come to be used to it. Everyday, I meet people from different tribes with their typical behaviours. So, it won’t be logical for me to pay exaggerated ticket costs to watch something that I can get to experience everyday.


That said, producers of stand-up comedy should take a step back and reinvent comedy if they are still interested in making money out of it. Otherwise, from where I sit, it’s heading to oblivion.