Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze
REMEMBER the infamous line by Jaison Muvevi, “Manje mukanditi bvruu-bvruu ndinonyarara”, after he was captured while on the run in Mozambique?
Muvevi was arrested some two years back, three days after allegedly gunning down three people in Hwedza, Mashonaland East province.
The murder victims were Crispen Mubvana Kanerusine (62) of Zinzombe village, Hwedza; Inspector Maxwell Hove (43), who lived at the Zimbabwe Republic Police Hwedza Camp; and Munashe Mujanhi (20) of Mujanhi village, Hwedza.
Muvevi made the statement when the authorities filmed an interrogation procedure, which was part of his extradition process.
The alleged killer is currently behind bars at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison awaiting the finalisation of his trial.
In the said video, he could be seen declining to respond to some questions, arguing that it was his right to remain silent.
His action captured the attention of budding comedian Mupengo Roby, born Robson Mabhugu, who has since created humour out of the incident.
Mupengo Roby’s skit immediately went viral after its release, thrusting the comedian into the spotlight.
“In every situation, I try to find humour, so when I stumbled upon that video, the first thing that came to mind was how to make people laugh out of it,” he said.
“However, I did not think that it would go viral; it became my turning point as it earned me a legion of followers.”
In his art, the rising comedian plays a cheeky teacher with a penchant for “crazy” questions.
He stitches together different parts of a conversation into a single smooth-flowing and humorous dialogue.
The Kadoma-bred comedian now has at least 90 000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
His skits touch on varying subjects and take aim at politicians, businesspeople, socialites, celebrities and ordinary citizens.
However, the artiste has faced numerous challenges, which even left him thinking of quitting at some point.
He is the fifth-born in a family of six children.
His parents were against his chosen comedy path. Often, they would force him to get into town and visit industrial areas in search of a job.
To avoid conflict, the former Waverly Primary and Secondary schools learner had to spend the day out and come back in the evening, purporting to have spent it looking for a job.
Instead, he would spend the day with his friend, creating more skits.
“For me, comedy is natural because even in class, I was infamous for being punished after pulling stunts on the school authorities and teachers,” he said.
“I even loved sitting in the back row in class. However, my parents never knew about this troublesome side of me. All they wanted was for me to attend school and eventually secure a good formal job.”
Noting his relentless love for comedy, his parents eventually let Robson have his way.
His first project, done in 2021, was an airtime skit.
At that time, he never imagined making money from such pieces of work.
“I decided to create a YouTube account just to safely keep my skits. I never thought it would become my livelihood.
“However, I was surprised by the massive response that came after the video went viral. This gave me the confidence to produce more.”
He is surprised by the success he has registered thus far.
In most of the skits, he is a class teacher while the other characters are his learners.
As he started earning from his content and getting endorsements from corporates, his parents also understood his chosen career path and supported him.
He has since converted his parents’ bedroom into a studio where he shoots his content.
The artiste said he uses comedy as a medium for people from all walks of life to connect and cope with various hardships.
“With time, they got to appreciate my passion and became supportive, and right now I shoot my classroom skits in their bedroom,” he said.
“My lecture board is in their bedroom; they now take me seriously because skits are bringing food to the table.
“To come up with content, I follow the latest news, while in some cases, people just give me content in my inbox and all I do is just edit to create humour.”
Mupengo Roby’s rise to fame has earned him recognition and endorsements from corporates.
However, he feels more needs to be done to support rising content creators.
“Sometimes I may have a good idea for a skit, but I fail due to lack of funds and efficient tools of the trade like cameras and laptops and even proper shooting space,” he said.
He ended by stating: “I feel it is also our duty as content creators to fight drug and substance abuse.”
