Twenty years of Fun Factory was epic

When they say comedy heals, some people wonder why and how it is possible; but yes, medical doctors across the globe attest to the fact that a good laugh is therapeutic and that is what Fun Factory has done all these years.

They kept us laughing amidst our stresses. In Kampala, who can forget how popular Thursdays at the National theatre were, when Philip Luswata’s Theatre Factory first started out with the ‘new’ entertainment genre, that later gave birth to Fun Factory?

Over the years, the outfit has delivered exquisite, funny and educative comedic skits to the world and on Sunday, October 1, at Kampala Serena hotel and Conference centre, it was indeed a rib-cracking session from the time they took to the stage till the end, as they celebrated 20 years of laughter.

The show started off with Herbert Mendo, well known as Teacher Mpamire, who also makes a perfect mimic of President Museveni. This time, ‘Museveni’ was joking about comedy working hand in hand with the NRM government, having started way back in the 80s.

“You know, comedy and NRM have many things in common. We applied comedy in the bush which led to our victory; so, I support comedy and the art industry; that is why we are giving comedians over Shs 80 billion to uplift their art,” joked Mendo, in his Museveni character.

He would later make way for the Babumba Family skit about a reputable family that visits the church and are warmly welcomed to the church by parishioners. The choir and the clergy present to the family their plea for help to renovate and expand the church.

They are shocked to hear Babumba Family led by Isaac Kudzu who plays the role of Babumba’s heir, pledging to take up the mantle and mentioning that the family will support the church with five iron sheets as opposed to the 200 iron sheets among other materials the church expected from them.

There was no way the choir and reverend could take it easy and a fight against Kudzu and his family members ensued in protest of their little pledge yet all eyes and hopes were firmly set on the family. Fun Factory know how to deliver a skit with rib-cracking precision, and this was no exception.

Another exciting episode was when Simon Base Kalema featured Richard Tuwangye in a poem/skit, where Kalema acts as a literature teacher and heads the poetry club at Kyabadaza primary school.

Tuwangye, known as Junior in the skit, fails to remember what he had memorized in the poem and comes up to the podium shaking and terrified. The teacher (Kalema), on the other hand, is still confident that his poetry member will nail it, only to feel embarrassed when Junior completely fails to express himself and address the parents who are on a school visit and are eagerly waiting to enjoy the poem specially prepared for them.

With difficulty and terror, Junior mumbles: “I am going to recite a poem called…titled…Corruption.”

“Corruption, corruption…corruption is caused by unprotected sex…” as his teacher looked on in consternation.

Fun Factory has nurtured several talents over the years – both in comedy and other creative arts. In celebration of 20 years in comedy, The Uganda Waragi Big Sunday comedy show featured exciting performances from some of the funniest comedians and members of Fun Factory including Richard Tuwangye, Veronica Tindichebwa aka Tindi, and Dickson Zizinga, among others.

It was good to see Fun Factory share the stage once again with the legend himself, Philip Luswata, who first popularized comedy in Uganda back in the day with the likes of Pablo Kimuli.

The night also saw great performances from Anne Kansiime, Dr Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, Dr Hillary Okello, Agnes Akite, as well as musicians Lilian Mbabazi and Janzi band. It was a good show that was also timely, when many in the audience were in need of the laughter therapy.

atiluknathan@gmail.com