Q Dube wants to promote fellow Byo comics
AWARD-WINNING comedian Q Dube has come of age.
This is after he successfully hosted South African Donovan Goliath in Bulawayo towards the end of last year, ushering him into a new role as a comedy promoter.
Bulawayo Theatre had a near capacity crowd who came to watch Donovan, Clive Chigubhu and Mandla tha Comic, who all left the crowd sore with laughter with Q Dube being the man behind the scenes.
Q Dube has been focusing on comedy for the past 10 years and has worked hard to become a household name for so long.
He has dabbled in TV starting off as a presenter in 2005, presenting a music show Kool Sounds on ZTV. He also toured the United States of America, United Kingdom and South Africa where he met Donovan two years ago.
Before winning a Nama for Outstanding Comedian last year, Q Dube has been on a growth path and landed the job of being a presenter on Power FM with Butterphly during that station’s Breakfast Show.
But for years, an idea has been gnawing at Q Dube’s brain of having his own comedy promotional company to help the genre grow, especially in his home city Bulawayo.
The former Plumtree and Prince Edward High pupil said he had made the decision to have the company years ago, but was not confident and afraid. But last year, he decided to allay his fears and set up what he called the “Laugh Your Lungs Out”.
“I thought about this a few years ago, but couldn’t gather the courage as I needed to look for funds as well. The key thing for me was to find the right business partner that understood the vision and had the same passion for the City of Kings,” said Q Dube.
But he decided to go for it and seamless it was as his main act, Donovan, lived up to his billing alongside Clive Chigubhu and Mandla tha Comic. And the people supported his cause as they came out in their numbers. It was hard to believe he only marketed and promoted the show in a week.
Q Dube said on the day of the show, he was a nervous wreck as a lot was at stake.
“I was very happy with the crowd given that I literally marketed this show from out of town. I only had a week to sort myself out in Bulawayo as most advertising was done via social media.
“My reputation, the reputation of comedy and money were all at stake. Naturally I was a nervous wreck and a lot was going through my mind. But at the end of the day, I was happy at the number of people who came to Bulawayo Theatre and how they reacted.
“The feedback from them was phenomenal as they told me to put more effort in marketing of the show,” said Q Dube.
He said the vision for Laugh Your Lungs Out was to give quality comedy shows to the Bulawayo audience that he believes is starved of such as international comedy shows are held mostly in Harare.
“I want to bring quality comedy to the people of Bulawayo to start with. I want them to watch regional acts in their city and not have to travel as far as Harare or South Africa.”
Another vision he had when he came up with the Laugh Your Lungs Out concept was to give local comics a chance to share the stage with international and regional comedians in order to better their acts.
“We want to give local comics a fairer chance to perform with acts from outside the country. This does not mean one shall be picked just because they’re from Bulawayo though.
“Comics shall still need to work hard and be visible out there to be considered. If you’re not putting in the work both on stage and on social media, then forget it. We want comics that know the value of putting themselves out there as it makes it easier to promote them,” said Q Dube.
This year, Q Dube hopes to host more shows in the city through his initiative and also fund tours for Bulawayo comics to travel to places like South Africa and perform there.