Daliso Chaponda

Daliso Chaponda (born 29 November 1979) is a Zambian-born Malawian stand-up comedian currently residing in the United Kingdom. In 2017 he became a finalist on the variety show Britain's Got Talent, where judge Amanda Holden used her "golden buzzer" to send him to the semi-finals, and he eventually finished third overall. Born in Zambia, he spent several years moving between various African countries before going to Malawi at the age of 11; his parents were from Malawi but had fled the country due to the dictatorship of Hastings Banda. His father George Chaponda worked as a lawyer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and was later appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Education by Bingu wa Mutharika.

Chaponda attended Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa, then studied at McGill University and Concordia University in Canada, where he initially studied computer programming before switching to English literature. He began his comedy career in 2001 while in Canada, and his first headlining show, Feed This Black Man, was staged at Concordia University in 2002. In 2006 he moved to the United Kingdom, where he opened for comedians such as John Bishop and appeared at venues in the UK, South Africa and Australia. In 2008 he appeared in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's "Best of the Fest".

After Britain's Got Talent, Chaponda signed with BBC Radio 4 to create the series Daliso Chaponda: Citizen of Nowhere, launched in 2018 and totalling twelve half-hour episodes by 2021. He began his first headlining world tour, What the African Said..., in February 2018, and has appeared in six episodes of QI. In November 2023 he was a Dictionary Corner guest on Countdown, in January 2025 he won an episode of Celebrity Mastermind, and in April 2025 he trekked Switzerland in the BBC Two series Pilgrimage, The Road through the Alps. He has said he was most influenced by humorous authors such as George Bernard Shaw and Roald Dahl.