Comedian Daliso Chaponda opened up on how he balances comedy with sensitive topics such as religion as he talked about taking part in BBC’s Pilgrimage.
Now in its seventh series, the programme will follow a new group of celebrities across three episodes in Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps.
Those taking part include Chaponda, who grew up in a Christian family but is exploring the Baha’i faith, agnostic Jay McGuiness, Helen Lederer – who is from a mixed heritage background with a culturally Jewish father and a Protestant mother, practising Catholic Harry Clark, Jeff Brazier, who went to Catholic schools but now is spiritual, practising Christian Stef Reid and journalist Nelufar Hedayat, who refers to herself as a modern Muslim.
In the series, the group take a personal journey along a revived medieval Catholic route, travelling from just outside Innsbruck on the Austrian Camino and finishing near Lake Zurich in Switzerland.
Speaking to GB News and other press at a media event for the upcoming series, 45-year-old Chaponda touched on cancel culture fears in comedy.
He explained: “I will mock everything, but I will mock it respectfully.
“It’s the way you talk about. I’ve done jokes about faith, church, synagogue, Baha’i, and it’s been totally fine.
“I say it respectfully and I know the line. So I’ll mock practitioners of faith, but I won’t mock the faith.”
He continued: “I feel like entertainment is very shallow and narcissistic and it rewards your ego – the battle I have is my faith is what keeps me grounded, you don’t indulge in all the nonsense – I’m just a person
“Like [as a comedian] people are clapping at you and making it seem like you’re more important than you are but it’s like no, I’m just a person.”
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the pilgrimage, the comedian detailed the aspects he thought he’d find hard.
“I think I will struggle a lot with the physical part of the Pilgrimage. I mostly live a very sedentary life,” he admitted.
He quipped: “Typing is the most physical I get. I am expecting to be in a lot of pain, very tired, and possibly the slowest person in the group.”
On his religious stance, he continued: “I believe in God, and I believe there are many paths to worship God, so I am hoping this Pilgrimage will help me find some definition.
“I grew up in 14 different countries, and my family was religious, but I don’t know yet which is the perfect path for me.
“I feel weird labeling myself with a particular faith because I feel like I’m no faith and all faiths.
“I know that I’m close to Baha’i, I know I’m close to Quaker, I know I’m close to Unitarian, but I’m not anything yet.
“Maybe by the end of the Pilgrimage I’ll be able to say, ‘this is what I am.'”
Pilgrimage: The Road Through the Alps will air on BBC Two and iPlayer on Sunday, April 20 at 9pm. Two further episodes will follow on April 21 and 22 at 9pm.
