Amanda Holden’s Golden Buzzer act Daliso Chaponda goes straight to Britain’s Got Talent live semi-finals
The comedian has a globetrotting past – and also writes short stories
Who is Daliso Chaponda?
A 37-year-old comedian and comedy writer from Malawi, Daliso currently lives in Manchester. He went to university in Montreal, Canada (so he’s quite the globe-hopper), where he entered his first open mic night in 2001 – and the rest was history.
Daliso became Amanda Holden's Golden Buzzer act on the third episode of the show after his routine. Amanda said: "You were bloody hilarious. Self-deprecating, funny, relevant - laugh after laugh after laugh. It just kept coming. And I really want you to win the entire series. I think you could and I think you have a golden future."
Chaponda added that he was shocked and delighted. Meanwhile, Alesha Dixon said her face was hurting from laughter after his routine, David Walliams said he couldn't fault the comedian's performance and Simon Cowell described him as an "undiscovered little star" and that he could see him owning his own show.
Will I have seen him before?
Possibly not – Daliso has been working on the comedy circuit for a while, though he’s hoping that BGT will give him the big break he needs to turn it into a full-fledged career.
With that said, he has been performing since 2001 in Canada and around the world, appearing at various comedy clubs in the UK and the Big Value shows at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007. Recently, he also had a guest spot on popular BBC Radio 4 satire programme The Now Show.
You can watch some more of Daliso’s stand-up in the video above.
Anything else we should know?
Aside from his comedy Daliso is also a fiction writer, having penned a book of short stories called And Then What Happened? in 2015.
Britain's Got Talent airs at 8pm on Saturdays on ITV
