Six veterans, four new faces: the list of ten nominees for Best Comedian at Canal 2'Or's 15th edition is out, and six of them had already contested this same category at the previous edition, in 2023. The date is set for October 31, 2026, at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé, for a ceremony that also marks the award's 20th anniversary.
Among the regulars, Moustik le Karismatik (Hubert Martial Tagne Tagne) remains the most decorated nominee, with three Best Comedian titles, in 2014, 2017 and 2019. Ulrich Takam, real name Ulrich Gildas Tchinde Takam, owes his fame to the web series "Les délires de Takam", launched in 2018, and to his production company Bimoulè Prod; he already won Canal 2'Or's Best Web Series and Best Digital Performance in 2021. Fingon Tralala (Serge Tchami), the 2021 winner, had announced he wanted to step aside for younger talent — only to find himself nominated again five years later. Rounding out this group of veterans are Ndolo l'Amour, founder of the Ndolo Comedy Show and a finalist for RFI's Talents du Rire prize, Black Oya (Weldjou Mingue Alain Stéphane), a columnist at Canal 2 International and founder of the Caravane de l'Humour, and Senior Pastor, a pidgin stand-up figure whose reputation reaches beyond Cameroon, into Nigeria and Ivory Coast.
Four new faces round out the list. Haricot Beans, real name Georges Edzisna, trained in dramatic arts at the Institut des Beaux-Arts in Foumban, is originally from Douala but now lives in Mbalmayo, where he anchors, alongside Emmanuel Nke ("Babadi Mista") and Eric Manga ("Delpiso"), the trio Les Rigolards de Mbalmayo — a troupe born, under producer Ghislain Amougou, out of the "Vimli" project, Mbalmayo's former name. Carried by a recurring character nicknamed "Mengue", the format has drawn close to 600,000 Facebook followers, though not without career dry spells: "These days I post and barely get 100 reactions," he admitted recently, after having had viral videos and TV appearances. Carles Antonio, real name Tsague François Carles, from Dschang and holder of a degree in management information systems, owes his nickname "Flenchou" to short video clips that have circulated since 2021; spotted at the Canal Comédie Club alongside Valéry Ndongo, he went on to appear repeatedly on Canal+ before making his film debut in Agent un peu trop secret, directed by Thierry Léa Male. His signature line, "La tomate est chère et les gens meurent hein!", gave its title to his first one-man show, Une histoire de tomate, staged in July 2025 — three years after being named best comedian at the Africrea Awards; he cites French comedian Ahmed Sylla among his influences.
Also in the running are Arthur Paye, born May 2, 1995 in Yaoundé, who grew up in a police camp before discovering theater at Bépanda Bilingual High School in Douala, then trained in film at CRTV's IFCPA starting in 2015; mentored in stand-up by veterans like Alain Bomo Bomo, Oncle Otsama and Gérard Essomba, he has since performed on African stages through six editions of the Africa Stand Up festival and won the 2024 award for best original sketch with the Freeboys group. And Markus, real name Max Roger Ekedi, born in Bakoukoué, in the Nyong-et-Kellé department, to small-trader parents; a disruptive student, he left school early for the stage and staged his first one-man show before he was even twenty, before moving to Douala and joining the Cameroonian Cinema Promotion Association (Asproca), which led to his first film roles (Waka, 2013; Le Blanc d'Eyenga 2, 2014). Having performed at Marrakech du Rire in Morocco and Parlement du Rire in Ivory Coast, he had already been nominated for this same award in 2013 before creating his own concept, Stand Up Party.
The public vote looks tight: six of the ten names come from an edition where no clear consensus emerged, while the four newcomers arrive with an online following the jury can hardly ignore. One absence in this specific category is worth noting: Tik Dengue, one of the country's most-followed web comedians, nominated in 2023 in the neighboring Best Web Comedian category but missing this year from the ten names in the running for Best Comedian. The answer comes October 31, in Yaoundé.
