14 Jun 2020

A Tlokweng born comedian, Maatla Basha has urged artists to diversify their crafts in order to adapt to emerging situations.

He said like many sectors, the entertainment industry was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic since most artists made a living through crowds. 

He said the situation should be an eye-opener for artists to find ways to diversify their operations to cater for any eventuality. 

However, he noted that the just-ended lockdown and subsequent social distancing regulations were a blessing in disguise to some.

“As a comedian I used to travel a lot for stand-up comedy shows but due to COVID-19 my job was affected. We could not make enough money to pay crew members, some of which are doing this as a full-time job. 

However, I used the lockdown to my advantage and posted videos on social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook and Tik Tok among others,” he said.

He said as they entertained people during lockdown, they garnered a large following, which was good for exposure and growth. 

He noted that even though the movement restrictions were a blessing in disguise, social media popularity alone was not enough to put food on the table. “I am appealing to corporate companies to support our craft by engaging us for adverts and other jobs,” he said.

The 30-year old comedian said even though he could not attend shows as large gatherings were still prohibited, he continued to do visual comedy to keep people entertained. He said last year he wrote a joke about The Library Bar in Kanye and it trended even beyond the borders. 

This, he said prompted him to shoot a video of the same script and use it to motivate young aspiring artists around Kanye.

“It happened that I was just on a personal trip to Kanye and made a joke about this place on Facebook, it received a lot of attention and after lockdown i decided to come and shoot a related video. 

I also want to use it to empower aspiring artists around here, hence we wrote a general script that could include anybody who is interested in appearing in the video,” he said.ends