This year’s edition of the annual Montreux Comedy Festival which is due to hold in Geneva, Switzerland, from December 1 through 5, is bound to witness a new twist as Nigerian comedians  makes their debut at the festival.

Ijeoma Onah

Yearly held on the shores of Lake Geneva since 1990, the renowned comedy festival, each year, has become a melting pot  for humorists from across the globe; bringing together the renowned and emerging talents in this genre to present the best in the field of comedy.

At this year’s edition, six Nigerian comedians  who will slug it out with their counterparts from other parts of the world will be on focus as they are expected to stage comic performances around the theme ‘The American Dream’ to a live audience in Switzerland.

Followers and fans of comedy in Nigeria can decide which of their six favourite comedians deserves a shot on the global stage by voting through a format that would be announced shortly. Upcoming comedians will also be auditioned and two finalists selected at a live show on a later date.

TrendTV, the pioneer direct-to-home satellite TV provider, is supporting the final contingent of comedians with an all-expenses-paid sponsorship to the festival.

Apart from spearheading innovative satellite TV content, Trend TV is using the Montreux event as a platform to network and sell Nigerian comedy content, including The American Dream, to a wider media audience.

The underlying idea behind The American Dream concept is to humour the perception of American life from afar.

Basic Lead, an international firm of experts in entertainment content facilitation, is managing the festival on behalf of the organisers. The company is better known for the international DISCOP television content show which recently commenced in sub-Saharan Africa.

Introducing the project to the press last week in Lagos,  Marketing Manager (Africa) of Basic Lead, Ijeoma Onah, said one of the driving motivation behind this project is basically creating comedy content from Nigeria that is exportable to not just Africa, but to the rest of the world.

“Nigerian content is appreciated everywhere, they keep talking about Nollywood.

We have realised that Nigerian humour is a veritable tool to make incursions into the international market; we want to package and export it.’