Young comedian aims for the sky
Monday, May 20, 2013
Born in Tsabong 22 years ago, Brooks says he has always loved the performing arts and due to academic commitments he was unable to get into comedy sooner. He decided to pursue his passion in 2009 after completing his Botswana General Certificate Examination (BGCSE) because he had not performed well and didn't want to sit back and do nothing. " I wasn't really quite new in the arts, because I was doing drama and arts at senior secondary school and I had been a runner-up in The Power in Voice Drama and Poetry final," he says.
In 2011, in his very first attempt he took part in the President's Day competition and won. This then kept him going, as he became part of the Laugh-A-Lot Comedy Crew under Comedy for the Nation of Botswana. " There are three DVDs that I featured in under this stable, and this is an achievement for me being with the best in the industry at a very young age," he says. Although he is a comedian, Brooks says there have been instances in which he was made fun of himself. "People often make fun of my big ears but I use that as motivation and I turn it into a joke just so the focus isn't too much on me," he says. He also says that at some point he experienced a situation in which no body laughed at his joke whilst on stage and he had to quickly think of something just not to bore people and keep the crowd attentive. On his list of accomplishments, Brooks has won the 2011 and 2012 President's Day awards, and had the opportunity to share the stage with Joel Keitumele and Kedibonye Mlaudzi and was chosen as the curtain-raiser for Barry Hilton who are both (Hilton and Mlaudzi) from South Africa.
It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...