The second day of the Aquelarre 2024 comedy festival in Cuba today brings laughter back to this capital with a programme of shows that will bring out Cubans’ sense of humour with a lot of love.

During an exclusive interview with Prensa Latina, the popular Cuban comedian Enrique «Kike» Quiñones – former director of the Centro Promotor del Humor – explained how difficult it is to make people laugh.

Whether in these times or in others, it has always been complicated to make people laugh, what happens is that it depends on the skill of the creators and of the comedians in general, if they are capable of finding a way to access the themes and get them across to the people, but it has always been difficult, the actor explained.

Right now it is also difficult to access any comedy show or other event, Quiñones pointed out, but people manage to attend; I was recently in a show at the Sala Covarrubias of the Teatro Nacional and I had a good turnout, as I did at the Bellas Artes.

It’s all about getting out of the crude daily routine, he added, referring to how relaxing it is to go to the theatre.

In times of crisis, everyday situations tend to be breeding grounds and very good tools to practice political humour, make caricatures and carry out jokes, the latter to release stress, and the former more to think and reflect on various topics.

In this regard, I steal a phrase from an excellent Puerto Rican researcher and academic living in Spain, Luis Muñiz, who says that «Humour is the archaeology of the present»,» the actor recalled.

So the moment in which humour is generated will always be the breeding ground because it is the fundamental reference for the creator, he pointed out.

With regard to the theoretical event of Aquelarre 2024, which will take place from today until 3 July in the Villena Hall of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, Quiñones said that there will be one day for different themes.

On July 1st we will dedicate a space to the 30th anniversary of the Centro Promotor del Humor, on Tuesday 2nd we will talk about racial issues and on July 3rd to the audiovisual in general, which uses, above all, the mechanisms of representation of our genre.

The actor is currently presenting his one-man show «¿Qué culpa tengo yo?» to celebrate 30 years of artistic life, and to this is added some monologues and the newest things he has prepared in places that are very important to him, as he confessed to this newspaper.