David Kibuuka

David Kibuuka is undeniably, one of the young talents of South African comedy. A graduated Finance Honours student with Wits University, “Dave” has a unique brand of humour that combines wit and intellect without losing touch with his audiences. He broke into the comedy world when he won 5FM’s Freshest Five nationwide comedy talent search competition and he hasn’t looked back since.

2008 also saw him opening for one of the top comedians in the world in Australia’s top comedian Carl Barron on his South Africa Tour. He has an enviable body of television and film work including having played the lead in the hit local movie Bunny Chow which won awards worldwide and was recently chosen as the featured lead on SABC 3’s popular travel programme – Going Nowhere Slowly.

Dave can already boast of having performed at some of the biggest comedy events on the local comedy calendar. A very young Dave shared the stage with names like John Vlismas, Kagiso Lediga, Riaad Moosa and David Kau as well as a cluster of international comedic acts in the first Kingsize Comedy Festival. Such was his performance, that he was invited to perform again the following year. By then his undoubted talent had been recognized which led to Barry Hilton and John Vlismas inviting him to tour with them as their opener in their respective nationwide tours. He was also invited to perform at the Blacks Only Comedy Show in 2005 and again the following year to a capacity Sandton Convention Centre crowd of about 4000 people. 2006 also saw him being invited to perform in London with other top South African comics in the Heavyweight Comedy Jam. 2008 sees David travelling as the opening act for Australia’s top selling comedian Carl Barron on the South African leg of his World Tour – an honour bestowed on a comedian who is now recognized as having enough clout to perform alongside one of the world’s top comedians.

Dave has established himself steadily on the local comedy circuit performing regularly at comedy venues like Tanz Café, Comedy Underground, Parkers amongst others. However, he single handedly brought back live stand-up comedy at the Blues Room in Sandton and can now be found performing regularly alongside Trevor Noah and Loyiso Gola as the resident comedians. In one of the most exciting deals to happen to South African comedy to date, he has been instrumental in developing the DStv Comedy Circuit which will encompass 10 clubs nationwide with DStv as it’s primary sponsor. This will give stand-up comedy in this country a much needed injection and make it locally homegrown comedy more accessible to a broader audience.

Dave’s versatility as a performer and comedian was further emphasized when he was chosen to be one of the lead actors on both seasons of the SABC 1 cult comedy sketch show – the Pure Monate Show in 2004. He stood out on the show and was one of the better performers in esteemed company that included the likes of Riaad Moosa, David Kau, Kagiso Lediga, Joey Rasdien, Chris Forrest, Loyiso Gola, and Tshepo Mogale. Even though he was still at varsity, being on the show elevated David Kibuuka to becoming a household name nationwide to a point that he is recognized wherever he performs in the country.

Dave’s talents go beyond just stand up comedy. He is also able to add intelligence to humour to creatively manifest ideas and concepts. Evidence of this is Dave being employed to sit on a creative team that put together the creative direction for the Loerie Awards in 2005. He was also employed to write scripts for MNet’s comedy show – Laugh Out Loud. Besides having also written scripts for the Pure Monate Show, he took his writing ability to another level by writing the script to the movie, “Bunny Chow” and went on to play the lead act. “Bunny Chow” the movie went on to achieve worldwide critical acclaim as well as a local cult following winning awards at film festivals in Los Angeles, Toronto, Melbourne and our very own Cape Town International Film Festival.

The prodigious talent, David Kibuuka is definitely launching a full scale assault on entrenching himself as a superstar, not only in South African comedy but in the entertainment industry as a whole.