Madrat never keeps time - Chiko

Madrat
When and where did you meet Chiko?
I met Chiko in Mukono many years ago. I was a deejay while he was a stage actor. Comedy, however, made us tight friends.

What are your biggest memories while working together?
I know him, we have grown up together, and we have gone through a lot together. I have a lot of memories with him. Every time we perform is memorable.

What do you like about him?
I like his hair and fat body. In fact, I envy him for that.

Craziest things you did together?
When we decided to do Nseko Buseko. We thought we couldn’t pull it off and God helped us out and we succeeded.

What nickname do you call him?
I call him fatso.

Have you ever teamed up to fight someone?
We have never teamed up to fight someone and we have never thought of doing it. But anyone willing to do it, better come prepared because we will beat you up and do the explaining later.

How far can you go to help Chiko?
I don’t have any limit when it comes to helping him out. He’s no longer a friend but a brother and you know what someone can do for brotherhood. I will be helping him for eternity.

Who is the funniest of you two?
We are all funny but I’m funnier because I’m short, I have a bald head, I’m dark and look unpleasant.

Besides the stage, how often do you meet?
We meet like four time in a week to talk about strategies, come up with skits, among others.

Chiko :
When did you meet Madrat?
We met like 15 year ago in Mukono before coming to Kampala. We were friends before comedy.

What are your biggest memories working together?
We didn’t have anything when we started out but God has blessed us so there are times when you remind yourselves about the past. Like the first time we got visas, first time we boarded a plane. Thinking of when we would own cars. These might be ordinary things now but they were just thoughts back then. Then the day Madrat got an accident, I was not myself because his health aside, we missed several shows but at the end of the day, God helped us go through it.

What do you hate about him?
Every person has a different way of doing things but what I hate about him is that he never keeps time. You will agree on the time but he will come a bit late. He likes his sleep and doesn’t care.

Craziest things you did together?
We were in America in 2017 and Madrat went into an escalator trying to show me how he’s comfortable with it and it took him straight to the basement and didn’t have any way of coming back yet I was in the parking lot. We looked for ourselves for over 30 minutes but luckily enough we finally saw each other but promised to always ask before doing anything.

What nickname have you been calling him?
I always refer to him as my short friend.

Have you ever teamed up to fight someone?
We have never because we don’t hold grudges with people even the promoters who have failed to pay us our money. We don’t expose them and let it go.

How far can you go to help him?
Helping each other is part and parcel of our lives. We agreed on that. I will be there for him in any difficulty and I’m so sure he can do the same for me. We took an oath to be there for ourselves until death.

What do you have in common?
That is interesting. I recently realised that we both bite our nails, we both like to grow our beards and we are both short tempered.

Who is the funniest of you two?
That is so hard to tell. Sometimes Madrat cracks a joke and I find myself laughing and so do I. God blessed our funny characters.

Besides the stage, how often do you meet?
We mostly meet when there is something we have to come up with like building our comedy lines and then on other different occasions, that is why we are so friendly on and off the stage. We give each other time.

Bits:

Comedy duo Madrat and Chiko joined the industry while based in Mukono. Although they cracked ribs, they were not popular in Kampala until 2016 when they got their first gig at Waikiki Bar and Lounge and then Theatre Labonita before they settled at Laftaz Comedy Lounge in Centenary Park. Today, they are a household name.