Prof Hamo: The rising star of comedy

On the stage, the popularity of their jokes grows by the day, but little is known about their journey to the summit of Kenya’s comedy industry.

Herman Kago, popularly known as Prof Hamo, on Kenya’s premier stand-up  comedy show, Churchill Live, and Kelvin Aswani, aka ‘Omwami’, are your usual blokes in Nakuru until they get down to business.

They are among the fastest rising stars in a ballooning constituency that earns its keep by tickling people’s ribs.

Prof Hamo and Omwami say while the final product comes out as a joke, making people laugh is no laughing matter. It requires scripting, physical, mental and psychological preparedness ahead of the show.

Prof Hamo says his rise to the top in the comedy industry was full of challenges.

He started off by volunteering as a host for the ‘Rush-hour Show’ at Nakuru Players Theatre a year ago for “self-entertainment”. And a year after, he realised the audience was yearning for more after every show.

His popularity took him to weddings, fund-raisers and shows organised for and by Kenya’s comedy greats.

DREAM COME TRUE

“I went for six auditions and every time, I was turned down. I had the talent but I did not know how to package the message to come out as a joke,” he says.

Having grown up at Lanet Barracks, Prof Hamo says he benefited immensely from the area’s cosmopolitan population. He says the people helped him to learn and bring out their various English and Kiswahili accents in his one-man skits that were aimed at celebrating Kenya’s cultural diversity.

“When Churchill visited Nakuru for Churchill on the Road show, I registered for the auditions and I was given three minutes to greet ‘my’ people,” he recalls.

He performed at the show and the response from the big crowd was so encouraging that he could not even believe his own eyes.

“I thought I was dreaming that my belly was full,” he says, with a broad smile.

For his part, Omwami, a quiet and a less outgoing man, the dream of advancing his education after secondary school was cut short after his father lost his job.

But his cheekiness in school had already revealed to him that he had a talent that needed to be nurtured.

“I was in the drama club in high school and whenever teachers left the class I would imitate exactly what they had said — leaving my colleagues in stitches,” he  recalls.

He would later be invited to also perform during school ceremonies.

“I later joined theatre groups, where I acted setbook skits to earn a living and also got a chance to perform stand-up comedy,” he adds.

MAIDEN ACT

After every show, he realised that the people enjoyed his performances more than the setbooks.

Last year, he saw an advertisement that Churchill Show would be scouting for talent in Nakuru and decided to give it a try.

“I went for my first audition and words evaporated from my mind, leaving me blank. I was shown the door,” he recalls.

But his excitement about appearing on the big screen saw him attend three more auditions for the same show.

On the fourth try, he managed to gain even courage before the audience and secured a chance to curtain-raise the show that boasts well-known comedians.

“Words flowed freely and I cried with joy as I left the stage happy that the audience had given me a standing ovation,” he says, as his eyes water again.

His popularity grew far and wide after his maiden stage performance was aired for several weeks on NTV.

To Prof Hamo, comedy is not always about making people laugh. It is a chance to educate them, too.

To educate the audience, he says, an artiste must know their demographic and psychographic make-up.

“A family show is very different from an adult show. You, therefore, should be very careful with your audience,” he advises.