Ishyo theatre is spicing up the customary fine arts performances with a stand-up comedy night every third Friday of the month featuring hip young artists with pocketfuls of risque jokes and witty social commentary. Last Friday’s performance filled the 250 seats as well as the isles with fans and first-timers who alike desired to employ laughter as a break away from a week’s work. The opening music performances with Pichu’s dry lip-sync and Milee’s sentimental acapella made for an awkward start to what otherwise ended up as a riotous comedy show. "I’ve come to all but one of the comedy nights this year,” said Serge I. "The jokes are 90 per cent fresh from month to month and it makes for a great way to forget about work before the weekend. It’s a suitable form of entertainment for a young generation.” The night featured short theme-based sets by seven comedians discussing topics such as Africa’s need for smart-phones, George Bush’s gardening, Rwandese family reunions, the absurdity of cow-documentaries on TVR, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, and benevolent East-African ethnical humour."Because Ishyo provided workshop training for most of the comedians present tonight, we provide them with a regular platform for their performance,” said Noemie Ntahomkriye, an Ishyo intern.” The topics discussed ranged greatly between the performers, but there was a common avoidance of Rwandan politics through out the performance. The scarcity of local political humour was swapped with Mitt Romney jokes. "The government wants to stay out so as to joke about everything else,” said George Birungi, performer. Most of the individual humour sets were performed in English with a few intermingled French and Kinyarwanda sentences. Some of the sets did a notable job at accommodating minority of the native English-speakers, while others left these with the burdening impulse to at least learn some French.