Namibian Sun

You would be very hard pressed to find a more hardworking man in the comedy business than Tap The Guy, real name Tapiwa Makaza. Between shooting his own comedy skits, being an events MC and doing his own one-man shows, it is no wonder he is considered one of the best comedians in the country. But you know we are tjil, so earlier this week he gave us some of his very valuable time to discuss what he has been getting up to prior to his second one-man show at The Warehouse Theatre yesterday.

The show was a Free Your Mind show and the second one-man show for Tap The Guy this year. His first was back in February called the My Big Fat Mouth. “People do not do two one-man shows in a year, but Free Your Mind reached out and I responded.

“The show is called Land of the Jokes with a special appearance by My N*gga Get Rich. We all know that Namibia is referred to as the Land of the Brave but there are a lot of funny things going on in our country; August is a year, the army stole the police’s job, it is just crazy, and that is how I came about coining the show Land of the Jokes,” shared Tap The Guy.

He also announced that his new comedy skit, The NDF Survival Kit, is finally out and people can check it out online. “It has been entered into the Namibia Theatre and Film Awards; the nominations haven’t been announced yet, but I am hoping we made it through,” he said.

One of his biggest highlights this year was being nominated at the Pan African Comedian Awards in South Africa. “It is like the Oscars of African comedy and it was an honour to be nominated with some of Africa’s best comedians,” he said.

Tap the Guy and Slick The Dick will be jetting off to Berlin, Germany tomorrow for a month. The two have been invited by Welwitschia, a German organisation that specialises in cultural exchange programmes between Germany and Namibia. He expressed his excitement for this tour and mentioned that he cannot wait to share Namibian humour with the German audience. “We are going there and hitting some open mic comedy clubs in Berlin and spread the Namibian humour. I am thinking of opening with a Hitler joke,” he said.

Tap The Guy launched his comedy career in 2012 at the age of 15. He has since gone on to win awards in the comedy arena including the Last Comic Standing and Comedian of The Year. “After being victorious at the Last Comedy Standing in 2012, Lazarus Jacobs who was one of the judges that year took me on tour to open for him for his Keeping Up With The Kandeshis tour.

“During the early stages of my career I also went to Los Angeles, California to represent Namibia at the World Championships of Performing Arts where I won a gold medal,” added Tap The Guy.

After completing his high school, the ambitious comedian went to Europe to work as a comedian on a cruise ship. During his stay there he performed in countries such as England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Italy and Netherlands. “While I was there I performed using my real name Tapiwa Makaza because I wanted to be more African but now I am back to using Tap The Guy,” he said.

On top of being a phenomenal comedian, Tap The Guy is also an events host. Some of the shows he has hosted include Boxx Thrive, Miss Namibia 2019 First Round, Trustco Star Performer, Namibia’s Got Talent, Tourism Expo and the Secret Social. “For me, comedy and MC’ing are in the same WhatsApp group. I feel like if you are a comedian it is easy for you to be an MC because you can just tell a couple jokes before you introduce whatever is supposed to happen next,” said Tap The Guy.

MICHAEL KAYUNDE

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