KAMPALA — What does an African airport say about the country behind it?
For Kenyan comedian and content creator Crazy Kennar, the answer can apparently be found somewhere between immigration queues, passports, national habits — and, in Uganda’s case, a cold bottle of beer.
In his latest viral skit, “Different Airports in Africa,” Kennedy Odhiambo, popularly known as Crazy Kennar, takes viewers on a comic journey through airports in several African countries, exaggerating familiar travel experiences to poke fun at national stereotypes.
But it is the Ugandan segment that has particularly caught attention.
Kennar portrays Uganda’s airport experience through an unexpected reference to Vincent Banange beer, turning the country’s arrival scene into a distinctly Ugandan moment. The joke plays on the way Ugandan identity is often expressed through food, drink, music and informal hospitality — even in places where the rest of the world expects paperwork and security checks.
The humour is exaggerated, of course. That is the point.
Uganda’s principal international gateway is Entebbe International Airport, which the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority describes as the country’s main international airport. Passengers entering the terminal are subjected to security checks, while immigration and other entry requirements apply to international travellers.
Kennar’s airport tour moves between different versions of African travel culture. Rwanda is depicted as highly orderly, while Nigeria is presented through the familiar comic chaos of passports and frantic movement. Each country becomes a character.
And Uganda gets its own character too.
The skit has reportedly attracted more than 24,000 likes, with viewers responding not only to the jokes but also adding their own experiences of travelling through African airports.
Some viewers shared stories about lost phones being quickly recovered in Kigali, while others debated whether Kennar’s stereotypes were exaggerated or uncomfortably accurate.
That tension is part of what has made Kennar’s comedy travel beyond Kenya.
The comedian has increasingly built his work around African differences and similarities, rather than restricting his jokes to Kenyan life. In August, K24 described his approach as using familiar everyday experiences — including transport, power cuts and public services — to create comedy that audiences across the continent can recognise.
He has previously used Uganda as comic material.
In January, Kennar released a skit about a Ugandan farmer who abandons banana farming to pursue the presidency, using unemployment and political ambition as the raw material for satire. The video generated significant discussion among Ugandan audiences.
He has also compared transport experiences across African cities, including Kigali, Lagos, Kampala, Kinshasa and Nairobi, again relying on exaggerated national characteristics to create humour.
There is something revealing about why these jokes work.
Africa has spent decades being described from outside: by colonial administrators, foreign journalists, development agencies and tourists. Now African comedians are increasingly describing Africa to itself.
The airport is a particularly useful stage.
An airport is supposed to make everyone the same: passport, boarding pass, security check, immigration stamp. But the moment the doors open, national habits return. One country queues. Another negotiates. Another searches frantically for a passport. Another turns the arrival hall into a reception ceremony.
And Uganda?
Apparently, sometimes there is beer.
Kennar’s joke may be exaggerated, but that is precisely how stereotypes survive: not because every Ugandan behaves that way, but because enough people recognise the joke to laugh.
And perhaps that is the more interesting question: when we laugh at these stereotypes, are we laughing at the joke — or recognising ourselves in it?
