Daliso Chaponda: 'Britain's Got Talent was my Cinderella moment in stand-up comedy'

He’s even been the news himself, making headlines across the world as a stand up comedian who became a finalist in the variety show Britain's Got Talent back in 2017.

Now he is on tour with his show Topical Storm, which comes to Barton-upon-Humber this week. "I've been doing topical jokes about the news for around 20 years now,” he says.

“And I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like news has changed. When I set out to write the show it felt like stories were getting increasingly crazy, like we couldn't even agree on reality.

"It used to be that there would be one set of facts we all accepted and then we'd have different opinions about them, right? But now anytime anything happens there are all these different bubbles and if you read the coverage in one paper versus another paper it's like two opposite things…

"Things like that have inspired me to do a topical show that's not really about the news itself but about how we get it through the media, blogs and AI, as well as gossip and the history of news consumption.”

Daliso’s shows are never just about laughs: in Malawi, he once dared to joke about the arrest of two men for homosexuality, sparking dialogue where silence had reigned. For him, comedy isn’t about changing minds - but it is about starting conversations we’re too afraid to have.

"In addition to my jokes in the show, I'm also asking: ‘Do we all have to be mini activists? Do we have to do more than just commentate?’" he muses. “I was an asylum seeker when I was a kid, so a lot of the anti-immigrant sentiment has struck a chord...

"I'm frustrated by the news, so if there's something I can do that has an impact then I should do it. In an ideal world everyone would be doing the same, however small the scale.”

Daliso, whose father is a politician in Malawi, says he discovered stand-up whilst at university in Canada. “I went to an open mic night and it blew my mind.

"At the time I was writing fiction, but when you publish a short story six months after writing it you get maybe one or two comments as feedback. With comedy there's ongoing feedback every second of your performance and I found that to be extremely addictive. Once I found it, I just didn't stop,” he says.

Britain’s Got Talent was his “Cinderella moment”. “I'd been a comedian for around 15 years at that point, and I was in a loop of doing little comedy clubs.

"I liked my life, but I wasn’t getting to the next level. I knew I was funny, I felt I was funny, and I wasn't sure if I was being delusional, but it was a validation when I got on Britain's Got Talent. That was the moment where I was like: ‘No, I really am funny.’”

- Daliso Chaponda will be performing at The Ropewalk, Barton Upon Humber, on February 20. For tickets, visit dalisochaponda.com