Windhoek
When it comes to comic delivery, Namibia’s comedian, Fernando Filipe, popularly known as Fernando Tafish, is up there with the best of them, confident, clear and he knows how to tell a good story.
Trading the office for the bright lights of stand-up comedy, Fernando has made quite a name for himself as a man with a mission with an impressive doze jokes last Friday night at the Warehouse Theatre, during the Spring Fashion Show under the theme “Fashion meets Comedy”. Some of the yarns on the night were about varying funny senses of fashion different people have. He compared Namibian fashion to Angolan. He spoke about Namibian girls being too shy but Angolan girls not with the latter not minding swimming with their Bikinis on…while some Namibian girls apparently swims wearing the Aawambo’s traditional attires to hide their nude bodies.
Those who usually attends the Free Your Mind Stand-up Comedy monthly may know what it actually may mean when Fernando is characterised is a man with a sense of humour. Originally from Angola but currently based in Namibia, Fernando says he started comedy way back while in high school. “I was always referred to as the funniest learner. I was not even allowed to ask questions in class because every time I asked a question, my classmate started laughing,” explains he.
He went professional in 2009 when he was invited by Namibia’s biggest comedians, Slick the Dick and Chicken, who picked his joking jibes and invited him to try them on stage. “On the same night, I won a price as a comedian of the night and from there I got motivated and never stopped performing. I was invited twice to perform in Angola as Free Your Mind Comedian in 2011 and 2012, which were both successful” he says.
Last year, Fernando performed in Salvador, Brazil, at the Brazil Comedy Festival where he performed jokes such as Namibians must love Fish and many others. “When people don’t laugh at my jokes, I move on performing and end my set…as comedians, we are ready for anything,” he says.
He is inspired by American comedian, Chris Tucker. “I normally write my own materials (jokes) that I get from every day’s activities and things happening around me…My style are mostly critics,” he signs off.