Stereotypes and the Ambiguities of Humour in Kenya: The Churchill Show

ABSTRACT

The Churchill Show is a weekly live and recorded comedy show, originally staged at the Carnivore Grounds in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and later hosted in various parts of the country. The live recordings were disseminated on Kenya’s NTV television network and published on YouTube by Laugh Industry Limited and NTV Kenya. The Churchill Show’s theme song includes a reference to bringing Kenyans back together, and the so-called ethnic jokes in the show are presented as a celebration of Kenyan multiculturalism and as a counter to what is popularly known as negative ethnicity. I show in this article that these negative ethnic narratives are situated in colonial and postcolonial archives such as harambee, nyayo philosophy, patriotism and tujenge Kenya ideologies that have been imposed on citizens, as a way of shifting the burden of nation-building onto ordinary Kenyans. I use selected stand-up comedians’ performances that were uploaded on YouTube and TV interviews to explain the prominence of the show in the country, how the humour in the show borrows from historical archives of the country, and how the ethnic-themed humour inadvertently re-constructs negative stereotypes.

UVOO KWA UKUVI

Churchill Show ni kìlungu kya mbano kya ntheko kĩthĩawa kĩla kyumw’a, mukaawani wa Carnivore mũsyĩnĩ mũnene wa Ilovi, na ĩndĩ ĩtina kyeethĩwa kũndũ kwĩ kĩvathũkany’o nthĩ ya Kenya. Maũmbano asu itina nimataangasawa kwìsìla kisese kya telenisyoni kya Kenya (Nation Televisyoni – NTV) na mayĩkĩwa indanetinĩ kũya YouTube ni Kambuni ya nthekany'o ya Kenya (Laugh Industry Kenya). Churchill Show yaambiyaa na wathi wa mwanya useuvitwe kuete mwiloeli nthini wa mbingilo sya mbano na ntheko, wasyaa kana kieleelo syoo ni kuete andu ma Kenya vamwe. Mbano imwe sya ntheko ni yiulu wa mbai sya Kenya – yiulu wa ma tavia masyo na undu mbai isyu syikalaa na ineenaa. Nĩonania nthĩnĩ wa ũandĩki ũũ kana Churchill Show yanaa mbano ii sya ntheko yiulu wa mbai, na kana mbano ii sya ntheko sya mbai syumanite na maũndũ matene, ta moomanyĩsyo ma harambee, ivinda ya Mzee Kenyatta, ula weyaa andu mathukume na vitii ni kenda make nthi ya Kenya, na uelekeo wa nyayo, syonthe ila syaetaa masuania ma kwaka na kwenda nthi. Nundu wa uu, andu ma Kenya matesi nimenthiiwe na muiio wa kusuvia na kwaka nthi ya Kenya. Ivuku yii yielesya nthekanio sya athekani aungami kauta nthini wa misivi ya YouTube na kukunikila mbano ii nikana nasye atii, ona kai nthekanio ithi itumiaa ngui kuomboa ngewa-mbanagi, isyokaa kuvuthya mbai imwe ta sya maana kusinda ingi.

KEYWORDS:

• Kenyan stand-up comedy
• Churchill Show
• ethnic stereotypes
• performance
• popular culture

NDETO SYA VATA:

• Mbano sya ngui Kenya
• Churchill Show
• Kuvuthya mbai
• kwana mbano
• ntheko

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all those who worked on the Kikamba translation: Neo Musangi, Makau Kitata, Athanas Mutisya, Brenda Wambua; the Stellenbosch University graduate school; and the Churchill Show comedy.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).