BY MUNYA VOMO
It is very easy to shoot down what transpired at the MTV Africa Music Awards (Mamas) as shoddy, when it comes to hosting.
For the first time, three African women hosted the biggest award ceremony in Africa. Bonang Matheba, Nomzamo Mbatha and Yemi Alade were called in to rescue the event after Trevor Noah pulled out last Thursday.
The comedian sent in a video with his apology. “Hey everybody. By now you’ve probably heard that I can’t make it to the Mamas. I have been sick for a few days, taking some medicine, but it is too much medicine and the doctor said I should stay home. I could not do The Daily Show for one day and I can’t fly out to South Africa. I’m gutted. I wanted to do the show. I love doing comedy, but at some point you have to do the right thing and get better. I hope I get a chance to make it up to you. See you soon,” said Noah.
Before we could digest the news that the comedian wouldn’t make it, we were advised that a plan for a replacement was in place, and that was Matheba.
“The reason why I said ‘yes’ is because I took it as a challenge. I wanted to see if I could do it in 24 hours. There are certain things that land in your lap that you cannot say ‘no’ to. This is a huge point in my life and it would have been an injustice to my 13 years in the business to say ‘no’ to such an opportunity,” she said.
Then came the press conference where it was announced that not only one more person, but two would be joining Matheba on the Mamas stage. So the three women stepped up onstage and as beautiful as they all were, there were a few chemistry issues.
With Matheba in the middle, the other two hosts kept throwing lines at each other, which fell flat in some instances. For instance, the “Trevor Noah didn’t come because he got pregnant by Sizwe Dlomo’s baby”, or “He got sick of talking about Donald Trump” jabs were unnecessary.
Comedy is generally for comedians and if the timing is wrong, things turn awkward. Maybe the scriptwriters were under immense pressure as Noah would have brought his own jokes. When Matheba and Mbatha were the only ones on the stage, a natural fluency happened, as if they were friends chatting in a park. They threw each other challenging on-the-spot questions and both gave impressive, off-the-cuff responses. We needed more of that.
Alade’s energy next to Matheba was quite something when it was only the two of them. She brought that adorable Naija flavour when they were a pair. The problem with having three hosts (my first time seeing this at an awards ceremony) is that at any given point, two people are quiet while one speaks and they have to seamlessly figure out who speaks next so that it doesn’t become a competition.
Kudos to Mbatha for getting the top spot when she lost the VJ job on MTV not so long ago. The cherry on top was presenting with Matheba who was a mentor on the VJ search. With all that said, perhaps we are forgetting one thing, the ladies were thrown in the deep end, not only as the first Africans to host the show, but with only 24 hours to prepare.
It was a long and dangerous swim and the important thing is that they brought the show to the shore. Hats off. Preparations for next year should be under way and one of the lessons learnt must be to always have a Plan B, C and D for the host and with the respective scripts. The performances by Cassper Nyovest and Wizkid stole the night. It was also bittersweet to see the tribute to Mandoza done by M’du and DJ Cleo. Overall, the Mamas showcase was memorable.
