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You may have seen him as Keir Starmer taking on a game of ‘smash or pass’, moonlighting as Usher from Temu, or even making a convincing Nigella Lawson, whispering sweet nothings into a mixing bowl - but Munya Chawawa’s comedy isn’t just about the jokes - it’s about speed and unimaginable wit.
Within hours of news stories breaking - whether it's across politics, entertainment, or world affairs - the 32-year-old is popping up on social media feeds globally, already armed with the perfectly-curated parody track that should’ve taken weeks to master.
However, he insists there are no time machines (a question he’s often asked), or even intuition involved in the creative process.
“If I were the one person on the planet to have a time machine, would I really use it to transport myself into the future, to see what Matt Hancock is getting up to in his office? That'd be the worst use of a time machine ever,” he jokes in an interview with indy100, nodding to one of his most-loved videos.
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Instead, he credits his rapid turnaround time with an accidental stint as a writer on a TV comedy show after a producer fell ill - and he ended up taking over the job entirely when he proved to excel.
“I would have to write these crazy pop culture stories, and last minute something would happen - you know, Justin Bieber would fall over in a subway or something - and we'd have to change the whole show,” Munya notes of how his career transformed overnight from being a runner to the brains behind the scripts.
“It was very normal to me, working under that pressure. It was like Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - TV edition. When it came to creating comedy with that same ethos, I just didn't think twice about it.”
Since then, Munya’s gone on to rack up millions upon millions of views with his own skits (Viola Davis even shared his menacing Duolingo sketch, which he argues he now “wishes he’d plucked his eyebrows” for), and has cemented himself as a figure across mainstream TV, as well as across the UK comedy circuit.
Away from social media, he’s even pioneered the Black Boys Theatre Club, a community project focused on opening doors to young, Black men to both get involved with and go and watch theatre productions.
But his latest project is something of a curveball. This festive season, he’ll also be the face of Apple’s new Your Tree on Battersea campaign, a creative competition giving iPad users a chance to have their own Christmas tree designs projected onto the building’s iconic river-facing chimneys.
“This started with me slating people's Christmas trees last year, when I was doing a ‘rate my Christmas tree competition’”, Munya tells us. “Now, now we're literally projecting them onto Battersea Power Station’s chimneys, which is unreal.”
He continues: “I spent so much of my career in television knocking at the door of production companies saying ‘please give me a job - I’ll be a runner, a researcher. I'll make tea badly, please’ - and now I have a production company, and we're making a campaign for Apple.”
The campaign’s ethos is about embracing the unique and wonderful, which is something Munya hopes to see reflected in the response to it, noting that he “wants the weirdest ones up there”.
“For so long, maybe even up until last week, I didn't realise I was so weird”, he segues.
“I went to this audition recently, and this girl came up and she said: ‘Oh, do you remember me? You were on Have I Got News For You, and you were carrying around a sweet potato - you just didn't say why. You just would like, sort of holding it like a comfort animal.’ I thought: Am I really that guy?”
He adds: “What I'm saying is, to know that so many people back my journey, and support what I do, that if you commit earnestly enough to being yourself, people will come around and accept you - and that’s a pretty cool thought.”
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He hopes it’ll inspire the next era of content creators to show off their work too, citing that the secret to success now lies in “less tools and more lessons”, with iPhones and iPads allowing for a “pick up and play” strategy that opens doors for most people to get involved.
“You can now grab an iPhone, and on that iPhone you can you can do crash zooms, you can do whip pans - you can even sound mix, which is insane”, he says.
“I would encourage people to take the plunge, pick up their phone and create something that they care about.
“Secondly, take time to learn the tools and make mistakes. Everyone wants to have their one-million-view TikTok instantly - and that isn’t the best thing!”
He adds of his own growth: “You've got to make your mistakes along the way, and think beyond the viral video.
“Where doors have been closed or are being closed on young people, you can now build the house very slowly and eventually create your own doors.”
And the British-Zimbabwean is already paving the way for others to follow in his footsteps with the Black Boys Theatre Club (more affectionately known as BBTC).
Over the past year, he’s quietly been taking groups of young Black boys to see some of his own favourite shows, in the hope of inspiring them to immerse themselves further in the world of theatre and entertainment.
Plus, every trip is followed by a Nando’s debrief where the boys can discuss their thoughts and share their feelings about the show’s themes.
For Munya, the show that changed his own perception was Ntozake Shange’s For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy - a play following six Black men in group therapy, exploring themes of violence, trauma, and ultimately, the bond they build.
“I just remember watching that show, and at the end of the show, they actually said, ‘You can have 15 minutes to sit in the theatre afterwards.’
“I thought, ‘I've never been to a play which has done that’, and when the show ended, I totally got it, because your world - your whole brain - has just been rocked. In that moment, all I thought was: ‘I wish every young Black boy in the world could see this play.’”
He adds: “That’s what Black Boys Theatre Club is about. It's knowing that there are going to be other plays that have the same impact, but in a different shape.
“Maybe it's a musical, a Shakespeare. It's just bringing young Black boys into that arena to experience those things and to spark those thoughts.”
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More than 70 per cent of young, Black people feel they’re up against significant obstacles when it comes to breaking into theatre (per the Black British Theatre Awards), but so far, more than 120 15 and 16-year-olds have been able to experience it thanks to the club.
“I was at Othello for the opening night, I looked around, and there were no young Black boys”, Munya notes. “Most people might be like, ‘yeah, but what's the deal?’ - but the man on stage is David Harewood, a Black man who, probably, at the time he started acting, had to jump over hurdles - and yet he’s made it.
“I need young, Black boys to be seeing that so they can say ‘damn, that could be me.’”
He recalls that one of the students who joined the trip had even picked up drama as a subject as a result of the experience.
“It’s unreal to think you could literally change the course of someone's educational journey”, he adds.
“To young, Black boys, I would say: you're built for the stage. I look around the West End right now, we're killing it in theatre - absolutely dominating.
“Ncuti Gatwa’s just finished up his run, David Harewood’s doing Shakespeare, Lenny Henry’s up in Soho Place.
“People are paying good money to go and see these guys because they're excellent - now we’re the stepping stones for those young Black boys to become those young Black men on stage as we see them now.”
Submissions for Apple’s Christmas Tree competition are being accepted until midnight on 23 November 2025.
From 6-22 November, all 39 Apple Store locations across the UK will host special 30-minute Today at Apple sessions dedicated to helping the public create and submit their Christmas tree designs.
For full details, visit their dedicated page.
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