Munya Chawawa is a funny guy. That may sound like stating the obvious – he is a comedian, after all – but when he bursts into the Guardian’s office in London like a ball of energy, dressed in a bright blue jumper and Nike Air Force 1s, I am struck by his quick wit and familiarity. He has the laid-back demeanour of a friend down the pub combined with the astute fluency of a public speaker. “Comedy has become the only language I know how to communicate in,” Chawawa says. “It’s a way to talk people through issues that feel very complex and almost overwhelming. I always describe it as: you have to slip the medicine into the lasagne. And everyone likes lasagne, right?”
I am meeting Chawawa to discuss his new Channel 4 documentary, How to Survive a Dictator: North Korea. The follow-up to his critically acclaimed film of the same prefix about Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe, it tracks Chawawa as he travels to locations including South Korea and Switzerland to interview one of Kim Jong-un’s school friends, as well as several North Korean defectors. The format is one in which the satirist and presenter thrives – blending history and facts with barbed comedy.
