One to Watch!
WAYNE’S WORLD Rising star Wayne Mazadza tells Jay Richardson about comedy competitions and sidestepping stereotypes
W ayne Mazadza writes routines to surprise his fellow comedians, ‘with unpredictable ayne Mazadza writes routines to surp punchlines, storylines with surreal e punchlines, storylines with surreal endings that really bring justice to the set-up’. Fine-tuning them for up to six mon Fine-tuning them for up to six months, the Harare-born, Edinburgh-based comic doesn’t just want audiences to ‘laugh for a little bit, doesn’t just want audiences to ‘laugh for a little bit, I want real clappers. I’m trying to make people remember me. I’m not just doing a gig for the sake o remember me. I’m not just doing a gig for the sake of a gig.’ What makes his dedication so striking is tha What makes his dedication so striking is that the 22-year-old Zimbabwean has only been performing since August 2011. Yet he’s alre performing since August 2011. Yet he’s already bringing Adopted, a debut hour-long show, to the Glasgow International Comed to the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. ‘It’s ambitious, to be honest,’ he admits. ‘But then I wanted to do admits. ‘But then I wanted to do it last year’. A graduate of The Stand’s stand-up course, taught by Susan M course, taught by Susan Morrison, he was inspired after witnessing Tom Stade, a regular at th Stade, a regular at the club, on television. ‘He’s just so comfortable on stage,’ he say on stage,’ he says admiringly of the laid-back, naturally-gifted Canadian. Canadian.
In his fledgling In his fledgling career, Mazadza has already reached the final of the Scottish C of the Scottish Comedian of the Year and Laughing Horse New Act contests, wh Act contests, while he took third place in the prestigious So You Think You’re Fu Think You’re Funny competition. ‘They’re good for quotes and publicity but so, publicity but so, so nerve-wracking,’ he says of these necessary evils. evils. Alongside Sta Alongside Stade, he cites other internationally successful acts like South Afric like South African Trevor Noah and Americans Louis CK and Kevin Hart as i Kevin Hart as idols. ‘I feel [Hart] is like me in a way, he came from nowhere. from nowhere. Now people just love him.’ About to star About to start a course on filmmaking, which he’s ‘fallen in love with’, h in love with’, he’s currently forsaken material about growing up black in Sco up black in Scotland, having lived here for 13 years with his parents and nin parents and nine apart from them with his younger brother. ‘It seems too ‘It seems too easy, just trading on stereotypes,’ he argues. ‘I wasn’t satis ‘I wasn’t satisfied with what I was writing and it felt like I was cheating was cheating. I just want to write about dogs or something normal.’ normal.’
He mainta He maintains that he finds it ‘hard performing for black people’, bu people’, but that he’s ‘trying to come up with some African-frie African-friendly material’ that he might one day perform in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe. ‘I’ve never used Robert Mugabe for a routine because it’s because it’s hard to think of material on him for some reason. Like reason. Like George W Bush, I obviously want him out of the picture a the picture as quickly as possible. Just hopefully not before I’ve got a real I’ve got a really good punchline.’
Wayne Mazadza: Adopted, The Art School Union, Glasgow, Wayne Mazadza: Thu 28 Mar. Thu 28 Mar.
‘I just want to write
about dogs or something
normal’
For a decade, Glasgow has been the proud home to a truly international comedy festival. Tommy Sheppard, the event’s creator and director, refl ects on some of his own highlights
For full details of this year’s festival, visit LIST.CO.UK
2008 We have our first ever US showcase and it’s a US showcase a breakthrough year for breakthroug Michael McIntyre as Michael M he sells out Oran he sells Mor in 48 hours. Mor in 4
2009 A show called Gangster Party sells out after word gets round that the two gangsters are Frankie Boyle and Kevin Bridges. The first Year of Homecoming hosts a showcase of American comics with Scottish roots.
2010 US comic Hannibal Buress makes his UK debut. Frankie B sells out a full week at The King’s and Sarah Millican makes her debut at The Stand.
2011 We have 13 Americans in the line-up with W Kamau Bell making his UK debut. John Bishop plays to 10,000 people at the SECC. Later in the year the festival goes to New York as the first
‘Glasgow International Comedy Festival
2012 On its tenth birthday, we end up selling the biggest ever proportion of tickets and for the first time fill The King’s Theatre for two full weeks with stand-up comedy.
Presents’ showcase is featured at the New York Comedy Festival.
21 Feb–21 Mar 2013 THE LIST 15