Nairobi, Aug. 31 -- I should become a stand-up comedian, I think to myself in a half-full fourteen-seater matatu as I wait for it to get full. I am heading to the Nairobi International Comedy Festival gala and awards event, a festival that has been running since August 25, and I am excited; we are celebrating African stand-up tonight.

I start thinking of a joke. I imagine myself on a stage, an audience of more than 1,000, or maybe 500, since Kenyans would rather stand in the cold to watch an artiste who was relevant thirty years ago than attend a stand-up event. Anyway, I am on stage, mic in hand.

"Sometimes it feels like in Africa jokes write themselves. Instead of coming up with policies that guarantee unlimited internet connectivity ...