| Wanjiku the Teacher | |
| Birth Name: | Caroline Wanjiku |
| Birth Place: | Nairobi County |
| Education: | Mass Communication.[1] |
| Medium: | Television, comedy |
| Nationality: | Kenyan |
| Active: | Since 2007 |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Subject: | Various |
| Notable Work: | Churchill Show |
Carolyne Wanjiku Tharau, most commonly known as Wanjiku the Teacher or Teacher Wanjiku,[2] is a Kenyan comedian, actress and producer.
She is the founder and CEO of Mwalimu Production, a content creating company where the character Teacher Wanjiku is improved and animated specifically for children.[3] [4]
Wanjiku started the character of Teacher Wanjiku in a Heartstrings play called 43rd Kenyan tribe in 2007. She received critical acclaim and went ahead to take part in other set book plays and worked on more than 30 plays while being aided by directors Sammy Mwangi and Victor Ber, who later became her husband.
Her big break came when she did her first stand-up comedy performance at the Churchill Show in 2013 getting more than 200,000 YouTube views and more offers thereafter. She has since then appeared on a number of stages in Kenya and abroad including The Hot Seat and so on. She was popularly known for her acts on 'Teacher Wanjiku' and 'Wa John'. She left Churchill Show in 2014 after her contract expired[5] and came back as a guest performer when the show was celebrating 15 years which was also Daniel's 40th birthday.[6]
She had her first television debut on Citizen TV[7] [8] [9] in 2014 after leaving Churchill Show. Her show Teacher Wanjiku debuted on Citizen TV in the same week as Ugandan comedian Anne Kansiime's Don't Mess With Kansiime. Her show was however scrapped off citing production standards.[10] She then took a break from live performance to go have her baby. She came back with a one man show at National theatre in 2016 and was a success.[11]
Wanjiku has been brand ambassador for a number of brands including Airtel, Airtel Money, Unilever's Blue Band, Honda, Bata, USAID, National Bank and many others. She became a Dettol Ambassador after former ambassadors Julie Gichuru, Lulu Hassan and Patience Ozokwor.She also worked in the office of the president, at nation media group as a radio presenter at Q FM,[12] Kenya Literature Bureau educating children about there sexuality, USAID promoting police reforms, Theirworld film campaign .
In 2017, Wanjiku appeared in Theirworld's #5for5 campaign to show the importance of early childhood development. The campaign also featured other notable names like Rainn Wilson, Jackie Tohn, Matt Lucas, Wendy Liebman, Shappi Khorsandi and Nish Kumar[13]
Wanjiku the teacher's character is shaped and acted by Caroline Wanjiku herself. The character is a teacher heavily influenced by her mother tongue. She dresses mostly almost as a clown in a dotted dress and big transparent eyeglasses. Caroline Wanjiku has been writing scripts for the character and performed the character live and on television mostly in Swahili and directed by her manager, director and husband Victor Ber.
Wanjiku the teacher was well received by the comedy audiences in Kenya and beyond referring to her as the biggest, wittiest female comedian in Kenya, fastest rising comedian[14] as others called her Kenya's Queen of Comedy.[15] [16]
She was born and raised in Nairobi County. She is the fourth born in a family of six. She got married in December 2014 to creative director, producer and her manager Victor Ber in a private ceremony at St. Pauls Catholic Church, University way, Nairobi.[18]