Madrat and Chiko
How did you two link up?
We have been friends for a very long time. We were both in the same group called the Harvesters where Madrat was a DJ and Chiko was into drama. We used to do our shows at Colline Hotel and in schools. Seeing that we had a lot in common, we entered into promotions and traversed the whole country. We realised our goal, doing sketch comedy.
How have you managed to work together for all these years?
We have been working together for more than 20 years. If we are celebrating 10 years on the entertainment scene, it does not mean that those are the years we have known each other. We have had our fair share of disagreements, arguments and fights. We have come a long way and nothing can separate us now. We are so focused on the future. No amount of money can separate us. There is no woman that can also separate us.
You always attack each other’s appearance on the stage, do such jokes offend you?
Attacking each other is one of our strongest points and it is what the fans love most about us. We are never offended because we see life in the prism of comedy.
Do you remember the first comedy show you staged? Tell us about that experience.
Oh yes! It was at Nseko Buseko on July 7, 2017 at Theatre Labonita. And that show had the biggest attendance at Labonita, until today. It was packed to capacity that they had to bring in more chairs.
Who identified your comedy talents?
Chiko was into drama and I was a deejay, but we would meet and come up with some comedy skits, occasionally. We drew inspiration from Amooti, Kerekere, Dicanio, Little Jo on stage and we decided to treat comedy as a real hustle. We even had a group.
We even had a group; Madrat, Chiko, Baby X (RIP), Paul Lubowa and we used to call ourselves Stress Doctors. We once battled Amarula Family.
We didn’t continue as a trio afterwards, because people have different aspirations in life. We have a slot for him during our 10-year anniversary event because he is part of our story.
What was your breakthrough moment?
In 2013, we came to Kampala and Sam Kaggwa, who used to organise comedy events at Theatre Labonita, gave us a gig. We first performed at Waikiki formerly Effendy’s and people appreciated our performance and skill. Ssebakije, who was the host of the comedy shows at Labonita, invited us a week later to perform at Labonita. From that moment on, we have gone to bigger stages
How much did you earn when you started out?
We used to get envelopes with Shs60,000 as fuel for shows we used to do at Theatre Labonita. When we went to jazz comedy, we started earning monthly salary because then, we became resident comedians there. We used to get Shs3million but now, we are a bit expensive that is why you are not going to see us performing everywhere.
Is there money in comedy?
There might not be direct money, but presents lots of opportunities . For example, we host events, we are ambassadors of certain brands, we emcee, and we are influencers. Those are opportunities of making money.
How do you come up with content ahead of shows?
Content is everywhere. We can get jokes from the audience and from current affairs. But because this is our business, we have to prepare. We have to know the kind of audience we are going to be performing for because not every joke applies to every audience. Bar audiences are completely different from wedding audiences. We do rehearsals for different audiences. We write most of our jokes for different audiences.
What are no-go zone topics?
We are so careful when it comes to politics. Yes, we can do skits in that area, but in a funny way and we are not vulgar.
What does 10 years mean in your comedy career?
We thank God for this milestone. Circumstances such as death, sickness, and money-related issues tend to separate people. For sticking together for this long calls for a celebration. People respect us and we have travelled near and far because of comedy.
What challenges you have faced?
We have performed on certain shows and promoters take off with our payments. Some people look at us as newbies and then some comedians copy our jokes. Because we have experience, we always have plan B . You can never execute a skit like the original composer.
Tell us about this show at Serena?
This is perhaps going to be our biggest show ever. Talent Africa Group is going to do production and our fans to expect surprise performances.
What next after the show?
We are setting up a studio that will be mentoring other comedians by creating different content. We are setting up a Madrat and Chiko foundation that will have some proceeds from the show going towards it. We are looking at constructing a house for a Ugandan, who lost his legs recently.
