The first-ever regional comedy festival dubbed, Caravan du Rie, comes to Kigali. The 11-day festival will be held in three cities of the region and will feature some of the best local and international stand-up comedians. The lineup includes local comedy outfit Daymakers, Tsitsi Chumya and Lindy Johnson (South Africa), Michel Gohou (Ivory Coast), Kigingi (Burundi) and Oumar Manet (Guinea). In Kigali, the festival will be held from November 7 to 9, with the opening at Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village (formerly Camp Kigali). The festival coordinator, Michael Sengazi, says the show at Camp Kigali will be free, whereas the venue for the next shows will be announced by Skol Brewery Ltd, the main sponsor of the festival. “Unlike the first show, the remaining two shows will be charged. Early bird tickets are on sale at Rwf2,000 for students, Rwf5,000 in the regular section, and Rwf20, 000 for the VIP seats,’’ he says. Tickets will also be sold at the gate at Rwf5,000 (students), Rwf10,000 (regular), and Rwf25,000 (VIP section). On November 10, the festival will be held in Bujumbura, then Bukavu in Eastern DR Congo the following day, and wind up in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern DR Congo on November 17. editor@newtimesrwanda.com