‘Maina and King’ang’i In The Morning’ is arguably the most popular radio show in Nairobi. No matter how hard you try, you can’t escape from it.
99% of matatus are always tuned in hence even non-fans have to swallow the topics. For reasons I don’t understand, I check up on the show too from time to time. What I’ve noticed is that Maina always does some really crazy things during the show. Things that only he can do. Here are some of them.
Here are some of them:
1. Pretending not to be amused by the weirdest things.
For example, when a woman calls in:
Woman: Maina imagine I’m sleeping with my father-in-law and I’m okay with it. I love how he touches me.
Maina: (laughing harder than The Joker): Haiyaa…Gai…Mamayooo.. My goodness. Is anyone else doing this? (Give me a call ….double two…double two, four nine four)
2. Laughing at Mwalimu King’angi’s jokes even when they are not funny.
If you listen to the show, you might notice how Maina laughs even when King’ang’i coughs. He laughs so hard you would think he has been tickled. Something like this:
King’ang’i: Maina leo nimeona mtu akiimba. Aki ya Ngai
Maina: Pwahahaaa…Oh Lord. King’ang’ you are just the one. You are so funny. Pwahahaaa…Tihihiii
3. Over hyping some artistes.
When Maina likes one particular artiste, you will never hear the end of it. He can play the singer’s whole album in one show. Damn. And immediately after each of the singer’s songs play, he goes, “What an artiste, what a talent, what a voice! I love this guy”. Come on Maina. In the past, artistes such as Chameleone, Willy Paul and Ali Kiba have fallen on Maina’s monotony list.
4. Calling people’s wives ‘darling’.
Try calling a woman darling when her husband is there and you’ll be guaranteed to get an instant black eye. As a normal raiyaa, you also can’t go about calling all women darling or you might be subjected to slaps left, right and center.
But Maina does just that in the confines of his studio. Whenever a troubled woman calls, he comforts her with that delicious word, making her recoil to a reassured being…hmmmmm.
5. Ordering whiskey instead of chai.
“Oh my. Someone, please pass me a bottle of whiskey”. This is what Maina always says whenever discussions get heated. Normal people ask for chai in the morning, not whiskey. But I guess Maina is no ordinary person…hahaa. He needs a sit-down with Mututho.
6. Playing too many current Bongo songs.
Bongo songs are no classics. If Maina is to keep playing them, I think it’s also fair that he plays current Kenyan songs too. But he doesn’t do that. There are a couple of tracks here in the 254, both old and new, that are soothing enough to get into Classic 105’s playlist but don’t tell Maina Kageni that. He does what he wants.
7. Acting all holy whenever a gospel song is playing.
We all know that Maina Kageni and holiness is like ‘madondo’ and a kid from Karen. Those two will just never get along. Still, Maina never hesitates to take up the Saint Kageni persona whenever a Christina Shusho or Size 8 song starts playing. It’s like he’s straight outta heaven.