Of King Kandoro’s The Prodigal Son Tour

On Christmas Eve I had the pleasure of attending King Kandoro’s comedy show The Prodigal Son at the 7 Arts Theatre. I was in my seat before curtain up, wondering if King Kandoro could still pull a crowd and fill up a venue with…. *many many seats*

Mukudzei Kandoro Majoni who goes by the stage name of King Kandoro is a Zimbabwean comedian who last graced the local stage 2 years ago on his show Conspiracy Theories… you can check out the guest review of Conspiracy Theories by Melody.

Between then and now, like a son of the soil, where The Zimbabwean Dream is to leave Zimbabwe, Kandoro set out for the greener pastures which have seen him be more UK-based and just like a true son of the soil, Kandoro remembered his roots and returned like a prodigal son to water them with a comedy tour in Zimbabwe. The Prodigal Son Tour has seen Kandoro perform to sold-out crowds in Bulawayo and Harare.

The Prodigal Son Stand Up Tour – King Kandoro

Harare – Seven Arts Theatre

The host with the most was the stunning Becky K who kept the programme tight as her gold sequined dress and on the decks was the lovely Dj Shaku Chanté who had us early birds entertained.

Munya performed a hilarious opening act which brought things home; water shortages, bathing in buckets and how filling out a questionnaire on dating sites doesn’t really take into consideration African settings. The coup de grâce to her performance was the demonstration of how low she can go while delivering a killer punch line that had the house on fire.

Rapper, beatboxer Probeatz took to the stage showcasing his mad beatboxing skills that would have you wondering how the human body is capable of emitting sounds like that, capping it off with a verse from his hit track Ibanga iroro that had the crowd on their feet singing along,🎶 drinks raised….🍷

The main act King Kandoro greeted the already energized crowd to the music of trap-sungura hitmaker Tanto Wavie‘s 007 homage to the local arts scene and our accents,🤣 where double zero seven is pronounced more dhabhol zero sevheni.

@KingKandoro In the house

Dhabhol zero sevheni 🎤 Intro @Tantowavie #TheProdigalSonTour pic.twitter.com/Vm1ZB61GeS

— ~B 🇿🇼 (@Beatonm5) December 24, 2021

King Kandoro’s first act referenced fatherhood and jokes on the immigration experience from having to speak English all the time to life in a country with working service delivery systems. Of course, this was the Prodigal Son and the bulk of the material was on Zimbabwean life, taking us back in time to our ancestors and the point when settlers came, convinced us our way of life was wrong; imagine, the nerve of a neighbour to come over to your house and tell you that “you put too much salt in your food.“

Comedians have become a watchdog on society delivering bouts of laughter packed with a dose of truth and reality that would have otherwise been… lets just say tricky to engage in. Among other things like politics and corruption, Kandoro took a swipe at the government’s penchant for just introducing policy as immediately actionable, henceforth, with immediate effect, and how some of these announcements are made in the middle of the night….

A few years back I attended a Creative Wednesday session where King Kandoro shared his journey into a comedy career and how he had started it while keeping it hidden from his family and diverting funds that were made for his education towards his passion… He has come a long way from then and this was the first time his parents have seen him perform live.

Kandoro closed off the show with a shoutout to the late Donald Dodger Marindire and introduced his son to the audience, the prodigal son is now a father and a husband, a force to be reckoned with.

As with previous tradition, I presume an official video will be released for those who missed the show and those who want to relive it… stay tuned.

~B

PS I was surprised to find how so many people I “know” attended the show it’s crazy how we were in the same place and didn’t know it… if you attended this show too do comment with how you found it. ^_^