NTV star comedian and The Wicked Edition show host Dr King’ori, needs little introduction, having secured a loyal following ever since is witty and satirical showed debuted on TV.
However, his personal story is one of resilience and talent coupled with a little bit of luck via a helping hand from people he terms as real friends, key among them being former BBC Africa Business Editor Larry Madowo.
Prior to landing his lucrative deal at NTV, the witty comedian was struggling to make ends meet in Blue Valley, Embu.
Larry Madowo (L) and Dr King’ori pictured at the NTV studios on February 7, 2017.
“I ventured into professional comedy in 2010, which is when I realised I could get paid for it. I used to tell my friends that I would have my own TV show, but most of them didn’t take me seriously,
“A few believed in me and supported me. Back then in Embu, I was playing set-book characters,” he once revealed during an interview with the Daily Nation.
Convinced that his overall idea and vision for a TV was solid, he used the little money he had to travel to Nairobi heading straight to Nation Centre along Kimathi Street the moment he arrived, to pitch his idea.
His lofty dreams hit a brick wall as soon as he was told that he needed to first record a pilot – a stand-alone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network.
“I wondered where the money to do that would come from, as getting money for fare to Nairobi and back home was hard,” he explained.
This is what pushed him to try and land himself a sponsor, going on to write to Yu Mobile company manager, who he revealed was yet to respond to his email to date.
Dr King’ori Strikes a pose on the set of his Wicked Edition show.
Resigned to the fact that his dream would remain just that, lady luck finally smiled his way when one of his neighbour’s friends offered him some money to write jokes for them for a GBS TV.
They liked it so much that they asked him to also take part in the competition, only to end up winning the entire thing alongside comedian JB Masanduku.
This landed him a gig at Kenya Kona, and 3 years later, Captain Otoyo of NTV approached him to write for the Offside Show.
“We did 69 episodes, where I also built a voice character called Kinyanjui. Additionally, I did Churchill Show,” he narrated.
It was during this period that he met Madowo, the man who ended up taking the role of a mentor and friend.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino (l) on the Wicked Edition with host Dr King’ori on November 9, 2018.
Larry saw something in me. He asked: “Why are you fixed on writing? Do you know how many forms of comedy there are?” Dr King’ori disclosed during his interview.
Madowo went even further and downloaded all the comedy shows he knew of from around the world asked the upcoming comedian over to his house where they went through all of the footage together.
This had a profound effect on Dr King’ori as it gave him a fresh perspective on how to turn his ideas into a unique show.
He penned his thoughts and presented them to The Trend producer Kevin Gitau.
A year of fine-tuning his concept alongside his inner circle of Paul Ogolla, Nicholas Okwach and Larry and his Wicked Edition Show was finally aired, as part of Madowo’s The Trend.
The rest, as they say, is history, with Dr King’ori one of the most recognisable media personalities on Kenyan TV, and his show one of the most critically acclaimed, boasting of 119,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Dr King’ori pictured on the set of his Wicked Edition show.
