DALISO Chaponda sparked laughter on Britain’s Got Talent and became Amanda Holden’s golden buzzer act.

The Malawian born comedian will this year tour his stand-up act for the first time with venues including Leeds City Varieties.

The show, entitled ‘What The African Said…’, builds on a TV appearance that captured the nation’s hearts and attracted more than eight million Facebook and 9 million YouTube views.

Daliso said: “Laughter is how I cope with pain. I have seen and experienced some horrible things but laughter helped me cope. Telling jokes is repaying the favor.”

Daliso Chaponda has lived in countries where the press is not allowed to criticize the government, and in others with no libel laws where they can say anything. He has been both a journalist and a jaded newsreader.

As a result, he believes he is the perfect comedian to discuss what the media has become, and to show covers recent news, old news, fake news, and stories that were never quite but was almost news.

It is also a show about the things people say to each other; gossip, tall stories and of course declarations of love.

Daliso’s father was a refugee who became a diplomat so he grew up bouncing from country to country.

He always wanted to be a novelist, but his family pressured him to study programming and he ended up at University in Canada.

He had never seen stand-up comedy until he went to Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival.

There was no comedy circuit in Malawi so he eventually moved to the UK and started performing with at open mic nights that let to circuit gigs.

The City Varieties show is on March 24. Visit livenation.co.uk to book tickets.