Uncle Mo is a Ugandan content creator known for his YouTube social commentary. In his videos, Uncle Mo’s set is a garage where he works on a cars and taking a break to reflect on state of affairs. His delivery sets him apart with his comic and satirical view of the week’s top stories delivered with the amount of irony it usually holds. Matooke Republic had a one on one interview with him.
Who is Uncle Mo?
Uncle Mo is a Ugandan Muganda passionate about Science and Arts. I’m an electric engineer. But now I have a bigger bias in power and automotive. I also love arts, I enjoy performing and creating arts. I am a content creator.
What’s your real name? Why is your stage name Uncle Mo?
Uncle Mo’s real name is Moses Kiboneka. I was Moses Kiboneka until my friends nicknamed me Uncle Mo because I used to ‘diss’ some buddies of mine calling them madam who, auntie who. I mean people were still young and I just wanted to make them feel old so it was a comeback, they would call me Uncle Moses but it became long after some time. I got an invitation to try out Standup Comedy. Actually I am part of Rotary and we had a comedy fundraiser where the winner would go and perform at the HAHA comedy which was at Labonita.
When I was going on stage, Emmanuel Ssebakige asked which stage name I was going to use. I had gone with some friends for moral support and they told me to use Uncle Mo. That’s something that happened eight years ago but it stuck. So when I began to do my skits on You tube, I didn’t have any other stage name to pick from because I already had a nickname and it was easy to get used to being called Uncle Mo.
Wait that was 8 years ago and we are just getting to know you. Where has Uncle Mo been?
Uncle Mo went back to things he was passionate about. I am a mechanic, I love to fix cars. I was working with my dad. My dad is in education so I was helping him manage his schools. (Golden Bell schools) so I would help my father then come work as a mechanic. But I used to write reviews about shows that’s where my funny bone was venting. I would go for a show then talk about what happened at the show; the good, bad and the ugly in my ways the same way I do my commentary when I am speaking.
Apart from the writing, Uncle Mo didn’t appear anywhere; Uncle Mo was doing the usual work.
Uncle Mo came with a new twist to comedy, what inspires you? How did you come up with the concept? Is it because you noticed a gap in the industry?
I find what young people like me, love to watch online that is trending internationally. And I thought that maybe there are guys doing it here but in luganda. So I thought if I use English probably it can have the international touch. Then it wasn’t a space that’s crowded which meant two things a way to fail (I mean why aren’t people doing it)
I had a push of from people like Godfrey Opio who is now with Trevor Noah. I used to watch his comedy and I was like if we can better ourselves probably we can have an international appeal. And of course that’s farfetched. Most importantly it was my idea.
Last year during lockdown, there was no work in the garage and a friend reaches out and says I like the things you used to contribute to scoop, make them videos. Since there were no shows to review I decided to review situations, social commentary, what’s happening in the news.
I only started because I only knew one way to do and that’s the way I am doing it. Maybe a friend advised me to do it at the garage because I wanted to find a neat place, so that I could have a daily show like Trevor Noah and as I kept looking for a place that’s when a friend told me shoot it from the garage. I was like yes I would never need to care about the costume.
But then a certain kind of comedy appeals to me, it was easier for me to create using that kind of comedy. I am glad that from being idle I finally developed a reason to keep doing it because I was doing it for just my family, few people were watching. After some time when strangers start to watch you have a reason to watch to put out another video and then another one. It’s now 14 months, 31 videos.
What do you consider before you shoot a video?
Is the story in the news? Is someone out of Uganda going to enjoy it? Can I bring it home? While at it can I talk about Uganda? If it ticks those three boxes I am happy to do it.
You said it’s been 14 months, which clip makes you laugh most?
The clip that makes me laugh, well I rarely laugh when I am shooting but the clip that makes me laugh is the one I did on Mr. Ham Vs DTB. There was a huge conversation about that case, first of all I get the ruling and try to understand it. I read half way and I couldn’t even recall who won the case. I tried to read it and it took three days and it wasn’t adding up.
When I am doing the skits, I want to be that voice that simplifies things, I hope to be the informer. Right there is where I got the idea that I wasn’t actually understanding those things. That’s when I got the story that leave those rich people to fight let’s go and fix our lives.
What’s your plan for Uncle Mo in the next five years?
Truth is, I have so many dreams. I want a live show. I want to be there and I am doing it the way the Daily show is curated but hoping I will do it different, still my way. I want to stay true to my character. I want a live show so bad but I tell you my biggest plan is development. Every time I create, I hope to make myself a better content creator. So my biggest thing is development, I cannot be the guy I was last year.
I mean in 2022, I won’t be the guy I was this year. I am a self-critic so I want to one day look at my content and be like this thing is undisputed. For me it’s a bigger because if I get better at my delivery of information then my win is influence. I need to reach out more. I am cynical, I talk about bad things, it’s awareness. There’s nothing as good as being in situation when you can at least laugh about your problems. In that you have achieved two things, you have recognised what the problem is and it’s not stressing you. So we can deal with it without us having black hearts.
Not many people are doing what I do so it gives me enough time to make mistakes until we are crowded.
How would you describe your character?
I chose my character to be a mechanic
How different are you from the rest?
The rest are doing Stand-up comedy which I haven’t ventured into. Then there are people who are doing the news in a very interesting way. I am actually doing comedy but the difference is I wanted to be some hustler.
What do you pick from our Ugandan comedians?
The biggest thing I want to pick from our comedians is ethics. By work ethics I mean keeping up there. I mean everyone’s craft has someone that criticizes them but someone doesn’t stay at the top by mistakes.
And also if there’s anything I want to pick from the Salvador’s, the Kansiime’s is the fact that they keep working so I want to keep working .We might not be doing the same thing but we are tapping from the same people, so for me to keep up there you have to keep working so for me my biggest thing to pick from the comedy circuit we have around.
What do you think they are not doing right?
I don’t think it’s something they are not doing right. You see if people want soda, they want soda. I found people that want soda and I said let’s try an energy drink. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I am doing comedy in English. Probably the market has made them very comfortable with the comedy and it’s okay. So if they keep feeding to what you want because I know people that are doing English comedy but l can feel it’s local bias.
Even mine has a local bias but after biasing I am like will my accent have a problem, will me speaking too much English have a problem, of course I speak Luganda but I try to tone it down, I have luganda subtitles because in Uganda we are 45million people, and of the 45 million about a million are interested in comedy and less than that is ready to pay for the comedy.
So we are working with a maximum of 2million in views, if you’re to go online but even those 2million views have people from abroad. Uganda will only give you 5000 views online that’s if you’re big enough to make 3 million views. I think they should just risk more. I don’t want to say that mine has taken off because I am still developing it but if it takes off I would like to be invited at the Apollo, that’s the epitome of comedy. Truth is, if it’s not going that big why are we doing it at all. They are actually very good regionally. So just that I think we should risk more so that we can have a reach beyond Uganda. If someone can tap into that I will be happy that someone is representing us at that level.
Would you agree with someone who says our comedy is full of stereotypes? What’s your view on it?
The truth is comedy across the world is stereotypical. Even Chris Rock or Alice Spears do black comedy. That’s like us saying Basoga, batooro do that. The only difference is they have 500million people listening to it and that have 1 million people.
So ours may not be as catchy as we think. That’s the reason I say we need to drop it. Don’t drop it because it doesn’t work, no, the whole world deals like that but just elevate it abit so that someone in Nigeria can relate. For instance if Basket Mouth is talking about Yoruba, it makes monetary sense because they are very many but ours doesn’t so we need to move away from it.
The thing about stereotypical comedy it’s already there so it doesn’t appeal so much to our creativity the way nothing does. I meant to do the same thing but see I chose to talk about Ugandans because that makes bigger sense when it comes to reach than me talking about bakiga , batooro, basoga. People should look beyond and find ways to be more creative.
You said you’re your biggest critic, what have you noticed about yourself that you’re working on?
In the past six weeks I have been struggling to write. I have been having a major creative block. Iam easily distracted on set. Every time I am shooting at the garage, I ask my colleagues not to pass by. I am finessing my art in acting because I write a script in a certain frame in mind but I can come at and I was thinking about other things then Iam supposed to dress up the Uncle Mo who was talking about that rant and deliver. That also needs development for you to become a better actor.
My first three takes are always bad. People think shooting my videos is fun, it’s actually not that fun sometimes it is but sometimes I am struggling to internalize it. I read my script, internalize it, put it away and then act it out. I am still a work in progress but I hope I keep doing it many times that I reach point when I don’t have to do all those takes to get the good one.
How many takes to you do before you get that particular video?
My videos are like 5 minutes average but by the time we are done shooting we have footage enough to have shot a two hour movie.
What do you consider before you come up with a video?
The best thing about any human is to have a point of accountability. You should have something that calls you back to order. Every time I am writing my scripts, I ask myself can I watch this video with my mom. Can kids watch it? I want to create outside things that have been created. I have a point of accountability, I go to church, I come from a family that cares what I am going to say and I want my freedom.
Should I call you a coward?
The difference between an intelligent and clever person. A clever person says this had to be said, an intelligent person says let me find a way to say it so that it can be said. And the mould of intelligence is that it’s a muscle we keep flexing every day. Be emotionally intelligent. Care about other people’s feelings. People actually forgive intelligence. I like to talk about our problems in a way that we don’t end up with black hearts. I am not being a coward.
What don’t your fans know about you?
I am a very shy person and I love seeing details.
You’re among the few people that have benefited from lockdown.
I never thought that I would ever be there and nothing is bringing in money. Last year I got so broke, I was depressed. I went 8 months without a source of income. For me my act is a vent. It was something I did to escape the stress. I was stressed that there was no money. So I start You tube and three videos in someone tells me that by the way, it can be monetized. The fact that I love creating, it helped me stop thinking about things that were happening socially. Monetisation was just a reward for getting it right.
When did the deals start coming in. we have seen you with Prudential now Guinness. Which video do you think ushered in the deals?
I think it wasn’t a video. The more videos you make and they have reach, the more people talk about the work you’re doing the more the brands start noticing you.