Can BGT's Daliso Chaponda make it to Warwick Arts Centre
"I always have a big idea, but at the end of the day it's an hour of the best jokes I've written in the last year”
"I love performing in Coventry because the audience is always up for a great night out," says comedian Daliso Chaponda. "But getting to the venue is insane because their streets are like spaghetti.
"I don't know who designed the roads, but that's one date on the tour where I have to set off extra early."
Daliso doesn't have long to master his a sat-nav or get to grips with online maps, as his new show, Topical Storm, is set to visit the city's Warwick Arts Centre on Tuesday 2 June 2026.
"It's ruminations and jokes about the ideas of news and satire," he says of the show, which takes the news, and how it's now created, as it's subject matter.
"I always have a big idea, but at the end of the day it's an hour of the best jokes I've written in the last year."
Daliso has been writing and performing for over 20 years, with credits spanning Have I Got News For You, QI, Countdown and Celebrity Mastermind (which he won; specialist subject, '90s sci-fi TV series Babylon 5). But it was making it to the finals of Britain's Got Talent in 2017 that made his name - coming third after winning pianist Tokio Myers and runner-up magician Issy Simpson.
"That was my Cinderella moment," he says. "I'd been a comedian for around 15 years at that point, and I was in a loop of doing little comedy clubs. I liked my life, but I wasn’t getting to the next level. I knew I was funny, I felt I was funny, and I wasn't sure if I was being delusional, but it was a validation when I got on Britain's Got Talent. That was the moment where I was like: 'No, I really am funny.'
"I thought it would just lead to things like corporate shows, such as hosting the Coca-Cola Christmas party and stuff like that. But clips from the show went super-viral all around the world. A little kid did my jokes as part of his talent show at school and I would be in Malaysia and people would be like 'Hey, golden buzzer guy!'
"As for not winning, I was only upset for one day. At the after-party Simon Cowell saw I was looking grumpy, and he said: 'You're not happy cause you didn't win, but just wait and see what happens tomorrow.' And he was right because the next day my phone was ringing off hook with so many offers."
Daliso Chaponda: Topical Comedian is at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Tuesday 2 June 2026. For tickets and more information, see: warwickartscentre.co.uk