Television in the '90s in Zimbabwe — and this might take you by surprise, I know — veered haphazardly between the mundane and the appalling. Black and white Encyclopaedia Britannica documentaries with cutting edge titles like ‘The Computer: Will It Revolutionise Society?’ competed with weary 'Dallas' re-runs, the monumentally dreadful ‘Falcon Crest’, as well the global television curse that is American wrestling.

The occasional ‘Knight Rider’ series cropped up, as well as episodes of ‘The A-Team’, and we had a brief, glorious run of ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, Lee Majors starring in what was always a personal favourite of mine. (‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ worked fine 15 years ago in Zimbabwe; run it now, and the locals will do the currency conversion and think you’re talking about 50 Cent.) And at one stage, for reasons best known to the ZBC, Tim Allen’s ‘Home Improvement’ made a welcome appearance on Sunday mornings.

But in a sea of general drudgery (ask any Zimbabwean about the monochromatic splendour of Colin Harvey and Noreen Welch), one show shone out as a beacon of comic relief and creative genius, a half-hour dose of sustenance we all clung onto. That show was ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’, and under the direction of Drew Carey, the show’s improvised comedy gave Ryan Styles and Colin Mockerie their dream platform.

The two stand-ups feature on my dream dinner party list, and the two could be quite dazzling, particularly when paired together. But even they fell into the regular shadow of a third member of the show’s regular cast. Wayne Brady could handle the skits and challenges admirably, but it was when ‘Whose Line?’ went musical that Brady came into his own: picking up on bizarre song titles (usually provided with a Machiavellian grin by Styles or Mockerie), and taking in wholly inappropriate styles, Brady conjured up instant lyrics, mimicked particular singers with cruel precision, and created small musical miracles every episode.

Fast forward several years, and on the back of the global success of ‘Whose Line?’, Brady hosts a second show, ‘Don’t Forget The Lyrics’, has a regular gig in Las Vegas, and right now, is in South Africa on a world tour. Missing out on the long-time saviour of Zimbabwean television (an accolade Brady’s probably not aware of) was never going to be an option…

Brady opens his show in tandem with Jonathan Mangum, who provides the perfect foil for the show, as the pair dance through a series of improvisation sketches, launched into off the back of assorted audience suggestions. Cape Town didn’t cover itself in intellectual glory with its contributions from the crowd, but it didn’t faze the pair onstage; and so a brilliant sequence of scuba diving trips from assorted periods of history, to housebreaking played in forward and reverse, paid rich tribute to the television original.

It’s when Brady gets musical, however, that his true forte appears, and no exception here. Lumped again with some unfortunate song titles and outrageous styles, Brady veered from N’Sync and Rod Stewart (huskily perfect in reworking ‘Have I Told You Lately?’ as ‘I’m Constipated’), to MC Hammer and Prince (eerily accurate, from voice to facial tics, while turning ‘Purple Rain’ into a song about bra fitting). The speed with which he manufactures new songs and takes off the originals is breathtaking, and there are times when you sense even Brady can’t quite believe how he’s come up material quite so quickly, quite so spectacularly.

The show wraps up with a couple of retro R&B numbers blended with some slick if not overly inventive choreography, Brady playing his ‘serious artist’ card and reminding us that he does have a genuinely strong voice. But comedy is his real treasure, and comedy musical improvisation is a niche he commands like no one else on the planet. I’d like to think making it big on Zimbabwean television is the defining achievement on the Wayne Brady CV, but as his South African stint has shown, the man will be huge wherever he goes; enjoy the chance to see a remarkably versatile artist in the flesh while you can.

Wayne Brady plays Carnival City, Johannesburg 5 to 7 June; bookings at Computicket.

See Wayne Brady in action