Stand Up Africa is a comedy showcase that highlights some of Africa’s most entertaining comedians.

This year’s lineup boasts some seriously funny men from Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.  In it’s second year, it has already garnered quite a following.  The show will be held at the Lyric Theater in Johannesburg, South Africa and will start at 8 p.m.  Show dates are February 1-2, 2013.

The lineup is as follows:

Kenya – Eric Omondi

Eric Omondi is a comedian  whose segment on the poular Kenyan show, ‘Churchill Live‘  is wildly popular.  He is also a presenter on Radio Jambo on the breakfast show, ‘Gidi na Ghost‘. He won the 2011 Best Performance in a Comedy award at the Kalasha Awards, and was Master of Ceremonies at the 2011 Chaguo laTeeniez Awards.

Malawi – Daliso Chaponda

Daliso Chaponda is a hilarious comedian with an ironic sense of humor.  His shows, ‘Feed This Black Man’ and ‘Don’t Let Them Deport Me’ garnered high praise from critics and helped propel his career forward.  Currently based in the United Kingdom, he continues to build a following of people who appreciate his views on the Diaspora through African eyes.

Nigeria – Basketmouth

Mention Bright a.k.a. Basketmouth and someone is bound to mention one of his comedic routines while laughing hysterically.  He started a company called Humor Unlimited (2004), won the National Comedy Award for Best Comedian of the Year, Best Standup Comedian on the year (2005/6), formed a one man standup comedy show which made history in Nigeria [Basket Mouth Uncensored 1,2,&3], and established a consulting/event & artist management company (Barons World Entertainnment) in 2006.

South Africa – Kagiso Lediga

Kagiso Lediga is a household name in South Africa. This stand-up comedian, actor, producer, writer and television presenter is best known for creating, writing, producing and starring in the SABC1 sketch comedy series ‘Pure Monate Show‘, from 2003-2004. Kagiso has performed at Laugh Out Loud, Comedy Blackout, Kingsize Heavyweight Comedy Jams, Blacks Only, Freshest Comedy Festival, Pure Monate Comedy Jam and the Let Durban Laugh Festival.  He was a writer and co-lead in the South African movie Bunny Chow, which won awards at the Toronto, Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals. He also won the Best Actor Award at the Cape Town Film Festival.

Uganda – Salvado 

Salvado has quite a following in Africa and internationally.   Basketmouth included him in his African Kings of Comedy tour in 2012 and he has performed as a Master of Ceremonies for many shows in Kenya. Initially an engineer by trade, he found his calling in comedy, quit his job, and hasn’t looked back since.  It was a good call because in less than a year he had gotten invitations to perfom in several very high profile comedy shows in Africa and the Diaspora.

Zimbabwe – Carl Ncube

Described by CNN African Voices as the “New face of Zimbabwean Comedy”. Carl literally broke into the Zimbabwean comedy scene with his debut one-man show Carl Joshua Ncube’s BIG ANNOUNCEMENT setting him up as the BIGGEST Zimbabwean Stand Up Comedian. Considered by his peers as an innovator; constantly pushing boundaries in multimedia. Carl is currently on a quest to take his version of Zimbabwe to the world.

This is definitely one not to be missed.   Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Lyric Theater website for a range of R200 – R385 per person.