Botswana’s longest-running comedy festival returns this month with a line-up drawn from eight African countries, bringing together comedians whose performances increasingly travel beyond national borders.
For twelve years, the Heavyweights International Comedy Festival (HICOFEST) has been building a space in which humour does more than entertain. Through the exchange of performers, audiences and ideas, the festival has helped place Botswana’s comedy scene within a growing continental network of stand-up comedy.
The 12th edition, organised by Major Moves Comedy, takes place at Oasis Hotel in Gaborone on November 19 under the theme “Bridging Cultures, One Joke at a Time”. Fifteen comedians from Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe will share the stage.
Since its inception, HICOFEST has hosted comedians from 16 countries and attracted more than 5,000 festival-goers across eleven editions. Its longevity offers an indication of the growing appetite for comedy in Botswana, while its international reach reflects the increasing willingness of African comedians to build audiences beyond their home markets.
Since its inception, HICOFEST has hosted comedians from 16 countries and attracted more than 5,000 festival-goers across eleven editions. Its longevity offers an indication of the growing appetite for comedy in Botswana, while its international reach reflects the increasing willingness of African comedians to build audiences beyond their home markets.
This year’s programme carries a particularly personal significance for one of its headliners, Botswana’s Thapelo Malani, who returns to the festival ten years after making his comedy debut at its fourth edition in 2016.
Malani’s journey from the stage of HICOFEST to performing in eight African countries is among the festival’s more compelling success stories. Visually impaired and originally from Maitengwe, he is a product of the Mochudi Resource Centre for the Blind. In the past year alone, he has performed in Durban and Johannesburg, Lusaka and Kampala, steadily establishing himself as one of Botswana’s most recognisable comedy exports.
His return as a headliner is also a reminder of the role local platforms can play in nurturing talent. A festival that once provided him with an opportunity to perform is now celebrating a decade of his career.
Sharing the headline billing is Uganda’s Joshua Okello, popularly known as Okello Okello, a comedian whose work has extended the possibilities of stand-up beyond the conventional stage performance.
A comedian, actor, producer and creative entrepreneur, Okello turned professional around 2014. His observational comedy draws on the contradictions of everyday Ugandan life, culture and politics. But his most distinctive contribution has been his introduction of silent comedy to Uganda through Comedy Black Friday in 2019.
The concept places comedians before audiences listening through headphones, creating an unusual performance environment. Its first edition filled Uganda’s National Theatre and subsequently developed into a recurring platform for established and emerging performers. In 2025, the production introduced live sign-language interpretation, extending its reach to deaf audiences.
Okello’s work has also included organising the Kampala Comedy Festival, co-writing the television production Kajjubi’s Estate and playing Okello the Askari in Senkyu Boss. Last year, he hosted Malani and Kenyan comedian Doug Mutai at Kampala’s Marabou Laugh Fest. This year’s HICOFEST brings that relationship to Botswana.
The festival’s underlying idea of cultural exchange is reflected in the professional relationships developing between comedians across the continent. Performers invited to Botswana frequently return the favour by including local comedians in their own festivals.
Ndosh WebeNgunee hosted OD Brooks at the Eswatini International Comedy Festival this year, while Malani performed alongside Nonto R at Durban’s 4360 Comedy Festival. In 2025, Rhema Nyambe hosted Malani at Lusaka’s ZED Laughs Festival, while Okello welcomed him and Mutai to the Marabou Laugh Fest.
These exchanges suggest that African comedy is increasingly becoming a collaborative enterprise, with performers building networks that allow them to move between audiences and markets. For Botswana, such relationships offer an opportunity to develop its comedians while exposing local audiences to different comedic traditions.
The international contingent also includes Zimbabwe’s Frank Chirisa, Kenya’s Doug Mutai, Eswatini’s Ndosh WebeNgunee, Lesotho’s Tieho Khakhau, South Africa’s Nonto R and Zambia’s Rhema Nyambe.
They will be joined by a substantial local line-up featuring Oefile ‘Mawee’ Mokgware from Gabane, newly married Queen of Comedy Lebo English, Maatla Ephraim Basha from Tlokweng, Kelekwang ‘Rekunde’ Mophaleng from Maun, Bafana ‘Ribcracker’ Letsatsi from Mochudi and Zoe Kgasa from Kanye. OD Brooks, from Tsabong, will host the evening.
Beyond the entertainment, HICOFEST’s continued existence speaks to the growing importance of comedy as a cultural form. Across the continent, comedians increasingly draw on everyday experiences, social contradictions and political realities to produce humour that audiences recognise as their own.
The joke may be the immediate attraction, but the connections forged between performers and the audiences they reach can have a longer life. In that sense, HICOFEST’s ambition to bridge cultures is not simply a festival slogan. It is an increasingly important part of how African comedy is finding its voice. Events coordinator Kediemetse says this year’s production will offer audiences a fresh line-up and a different experience, while expressing gratitude to Oasis Hotel Gaborone for sponsoring the venue, alongside the festival’s transportation partners.
The festival begins at 8pm. Tickets are priced at P200 for a single entry and P300 for a double and are available through Webtickets and Spar outlets.Bookings: Webtickets and Spar kiosks. Enquiries: +267 7278 2020.
