Comedian Merci Ndaruhutse and his Gen Z team of upcoming comedians, last weekend entertained hundreds of students from IPRC Musanze as part of the comedian’s new drive to take comedy to universities through his ‘Gen Z’ comedy concept. The tour, dubbed ‘Gen Z Comedy campus tour’, seeks to not only entertain comedy lovers in universities but also promote it to gather a bigger fan-base among their ‘future audience’. Through its theme ‘use what you have to get what you want’, the comedy tour also targets to discover new talents in comedy and beyond and help them grow their talent to become future stars. Ndaruhutse, who is commonly known in comedy as Fally Merci, told The New Times that he wants to take comedy to universities because he sees students as their future clients in comedy shows, although he believes a lot is needed to make comedy so popular in Rwanda. “Comedy has not cemented its place in the hearts of Rwandan audiences and that is why we are doing such comedy tours to grow the fan-base this art deserves. Students are our future audience but we also want to inspire them to invest in their talents and become future stars not only in comedy but also in other art sectors,” the comedian said in an interview. “I want to promote comedy countrywide because it’s our responsibility to spread it to our audience,” he added, Merci, alongside seven upcoming comedians who were discovered by Gen Z, entertained IPRC Musanze, in a show that attracted hundreds of students at the college. The opening tour saw five students aspiring to become comedians join Gen Z, a development that inspired Merci to organise another comedy tour as soon as possible, with IPRC Ngoma his possible next destination. “I and my team are already preparing to entertain the students of IPRC Ngoma who turn up spectacularly overwhelming. What I saw in Musanze has inspired me to do more for the best of the comedy industry when we take this tour to other universities. I am sure we will soon see comedy winning the hearts of many countrywide,” Merci said. Merci is part of the first cohort of Art Rwanda- Ubuhanzi through which young artistic talents are identified across a wide spectrum of art disciplines, and offer them the requisite skills and tools to not only hone their respective talents, but also become creative entrepreneurs. His comedy talent came of age when Rwanda’s premier comedian Arthur Nkusi gave him an opportunity to shine under his annual ‘Seka Live’ comedy show, a platform which he says contributed much to becoming who he is in comedy. He is using the Gen Z concept to unearth new talents and give them an opportunity to thrive. The comedians rising under the concept are the ones that he is using during the Gen Z Comedy campus tour’ while also looking to discover more in universities to take them through the ropes of becoming a comedy star. “I want to take this tour to many universities countrywide and there are high chances that it will open doors for some students to show the world what they can offer in comedy and hence become future stars. We want to change the perception that people have on comedy and, with this platform, I hope comedy is going to gather the fan base we never witnessed before,” Merci said of the tour.
