He calls himself the ‘President of cartoons’ and describes himself as an artist of many hats.  Bic Comedian talks to The City Review’s Boka Jr and recounts the path to the murky comedy industry in South Sudan. He also lays the blueprints of serving laughter beyond borders. Here is the interview.

Boka Jr: Thank you for honouring an interview with The City Review. Who is Bic Comedian?

BC: My name is Leek David. My stage name is Bic Comedian aka President of cartoons. I am an actor, a stand-up comedian, a script writer, a filmmaker and a student. I started my comedy with my friends in Arua, Uganda in 2019. We found “African comedy Arua”.  By 2020, I came to South Sudan and we found an amazing comedy club group known as “Wise youth comedy”.

It is a group of talented youth in comedy with the aim of promoting peace and unity among the youth of today. Your laughing is our joy.

Boka Jr: How did you realise your comedy talent.

BC: I realised my talent from people. I used to tell my village people funny stories and I did drama at school in 2017.

Boka Jr: Have you performed anywhere before or do you have some comedy videos recorded?

BC: I do perform at school. I also tried to join the Kilkilu Ana Comedy show. [At the moment], I have comedy videos too which I short when I just performed at school to get a chance of performing at the Kilkilu Ana Comedy show. I and my group ( wise youth comedy) shot our first episode on May 22,  2021, and it is titled ‘Fainting episode I’ I made a collabo with comedian Sam in another piece titled ‘honeymoon’. We shall drop it tomorrow evening. We have more videos to shoot.

Boka Jr: Who are the role models that inspired you to be a comedian?

BC: It was [out of] talent. I was born like that. Some South Sudanese comedians help me to correct some of my mistakes. They are Sam, Ssultan Kímo,  Loponi,  Lawrence,  TikTak,  Talent,  Lodiong, Feel free and, any others.

Boka Jr: From your experience, how do you rate comedy in South Sudan? What are the challenges and improvement areas?

BC: We are having challenges in the industry as I said. The concept is still not popular among South Sudanese but it’s coping up.  The government is not supporting the industry and when I say support, I don’t mean financial support; we want security so that fans can come from all corners of Juba to attend comedy shows like Kilkilu Ana Comedy and leave late without fearing for the safety of their lives.

Boka Jr: How do comedians make money?  Or is comedy expensive to start like music?

BC: To start a comedy is too expensive because shooting a video may cost 100$ per video and to rent a place for shooting also can cost some amount. So to start it is too expensive.

And for a comedian to make money is not easy because some are earned money from YouTube and others from performance.

Boka Jr: Do people like South Sudanese comedy?

BC: People do like it but sometimes things do not work out to the comedians because every time you hit the stage there must be new jokes but not the old ones. It is not easy always to come up with new jokes.

But when u believe in yourself u can still make it to the top, you just need time. The biggest problem is also the government which cannot allow us to shoot videos on the street anyhow to promote our own country.

Boka Jr: What do you think should be done to promote the comedy industry of South Sudan to be like that of Uganda for example?

BC: Once the comedians in South Sudan become serious about their shows then all will be ok. I mean when they bring good cameras and lighting and upload their shows on YouTube, all will be better.

The government should also allow comedians to shoot their videos anywhere and also provide security as I had earlier mentioned.

Boka Jr: Do you also have managers and promoters like artists, if yes can you describe what they do?

BC: For some comedians like me, we do not have managers because most people in South Sudan do not believe in comedy: they do not take comedy as a serious thing. But I believe slowly by slowly, we will make it to be believable. Not for bad, also, comedians do not have promoters. We promote ourselves on our own. Promoters only promote the music industry and forget the comedy industry. My requests for our lovely promoters are to please promote your own comedy industry too.

Boka Jr: What are your plans for your comedy in five years to come?

BC: My biggest plan is to travel to other countries like Kenya and so on with my fellow comedians to promote and tell the world that South Sudan also has super talented comedians who can do it better.

We want to pull South Sudan to the world for good things, not bad things. I believed together we can do.