From Juggling to Jokes

After 15 years of making us laugh until our stomachs hurt, the award-winning stand-up comedian, actor and director Fernando Tafish has decided to hang up his comedic hat. But don’t fret, dear fans!

The jester says he will be focusing on personal development, but promises to make a comeback soon.

In a recent interview, Tafish revealed that he decided to step away from the spotlight due to personal issues that have hindered his creativity in the past two years.

Tafish reflected on his comedy journey, which he described as “full of lessons and learning experiences”. As it turns out, the funnyman was moving too fast and not paying enough attention to the most important part of his career – personal development. As he steps back from the spotlight, he plans to focus on himself and make his already bald head shine even brighter.

“However, I will continue to raise environmental awareness through other creative means that I will announce soon. Until further notice, I will not accept any comedy bookings.”

Tafish is known as Namibia’s funniest Angolan and the only Angolan-English-speaking comedian in Africa, with jokes such as ‘Namibians Must Start Eating Fish’ and ‘What Planet Is Namibia?’

He made his stand-up comedy debut in Windhoek in 2009 during the Free Your Mind feast, where he was named comedian of the night.

“That’s where it all began. Fernando is without a doubt one of Free Your Mind’s most established comedians to date,” said the comedian.

He has performed at an international art festival for Portuguese-speaking African countries hosted in Angola in 2012, and by popular demand in 2013. He also performed several times in Angola’s largest comedy company, known as Gozaqui.

Tafish was invited to another international comedy festival in Salvador, Brazil, in 2014.

His brand has also grown in credibility, with an endorsement deal with Ster-Kinekor Namibia as the host of a monthly comedy show in the Ster-Kinekor movie theatre.

“This was a strong platform that provided opportunities for upcoming Namibian comedians, and being a part of this venture boosted my creativity,” Tafish said.

In 2017, the comedian was nominated for the Savanna Comics Choice Awards in the Pan African best comedian of the year category, which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Tafish joined Africa’s biggest comedians in the same category, including Basket Mouth (Nigeria) and Salvador (Uganda), making him the first local comedian to receive an international award nomination.

The same year, Tafish toured five African countries, including Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as Namibia, under the theme ‘Crackup Africa’.

“I was also invited to represent Angola at an international comedy festival for all Portuguese-speaking nations in Mozambique,” Tafish said, adding that he was the only Angolan comedian at the event.

Tafish created an envirocomedy in 2018 that was sponsored by EduVentures Trust, an environmental programme run by the National Museum of Namibia.

Envirocomedy is a project that uses stand-up comedy to raise awareness of environmental issues such as climate change and air pollution. It was created the same year Tafish did a mini tour of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola and Mozambique.

The Envirocomedy project was officially accepted by fans in 2019 after he performed multiple times throughout Namibia at schools, universities and any institution that requested the show.

Tafish is also the host of the ‘Envirocomedy Street Catch’ television comedy show, which airs on One Africa TV and is also available on his YouTube channel.

So far, the comedian has performed five one-man shows and is well-known in both Namibia and Angola.

“I advise new comedians to take their time and seek advice from older comedians on how to rise to the top. This is not an easy industry,” Tafish says.