Local comedians held their own with highly ranked international acts during last night’s Shoko Comedy night at Waterwhirld in the capital.

Zambezi News, Simba ‘the Comic King’ Kakora, Carl Joshua Ncube and  host Clive Chigubu pulled off performances which certainly equaled the South African headliners Tumi Morake and Kagiso Lediga.

Their relevance to current affairs in the city including service delivery, elections and indigenization added to their advantage drawing laughter from an audience of over 500 people.

Zambezi News which encompasses Samm Monro, Lesley ‘Outspoken’ Makawa and Michael Kudakwashe was first on stage, taking a ride on the voter registration process, the disputed voter’s roll balancing it off with how the international community broadcasts a false image of Africa.

Simba the Comic King making his debut appearance at the festival took a swipe at the recent feud between Telecel and Econet.

His set comprised different aspects of our day to day life including black women’s fondness of  weaves.

This year’s Nama Best Comedian of the Year Carl Joshua Ncube managed to live up to his ranking of being the best in the country while host Clive Chigubu kept the crowd in stitches between performers.

Despite the high bar which had been set by the locals, the two internationals on offer Morake and Lediga delivered great performances.

Tumi Morake is one of a few female African comedians who has rubbed shoulders with some of the best international comedians such as David Kau, Marc Lottering, Stuart Taylor and Chris Forrest at festivals such as Whack Jobs, Heavyweights Comedy Jam, Blacks Only among others.

Kagiso Lediga is a stand-up comedian, actor, producer, writer and television presenter best known for creating, writing, producing and starring in the SABC1 sketch comedy series Pure Monate Show, from 2003-2004.

TONIGHT- Poets will slam in the Breaking Barriers Poetry Slam at Book Café. The show will see both local and international poets battling it out among them Ian Kamau, Ewok, SoProfound and last year’s winner Afurakan.