“I am unhinged!” There’s nervous energy to burn in Tadiwa Mahlunge’s show, which traces the 25-year-old Welsh Zimbabwean’s need for validation from his high-standards upbringing (family motto: “Achieve or Die”) to his overworked adulthood. Mahlunge is a man on several missions: to impress his African parents, “obliterate his enemies”, and make us all laugh. At least one of those ambitions is accomplished by this fringe debut, Inhibition Exhibition. As he bounces around the stage, his comedy is forthright, self-mocking and fizzy.
There is an arresting mix of high anxiety and loud-and-proud delivery, as Mahlunge outlines the slight remove at which he sits from his family, his profession, fellow black people and more. Arriving in the UK as a refugee from Robert Mugabe (his mum co-founded the opposition alliance Movement for Democratic Change), Mahlunge has been set an example of probity, hard work and moral strength that is impossible to live up to. He’s trying – hence the posh accent, which leads pals in the barbershop to call him “white boy”. His upbringing, however, rules out living on the meagre proceeds of standup comedy, and so Mahlunge details his high-flying day jobs – and the ethics he has shelved to maintain them.
