Diaspora Dream, Fundi Nightmare: SPM Africa Studios Premieres Fundi Long Distance
Eddie Butita’s new 13-episode comedy, starring Humphrey Maina, Mjaka Mfine and Morine Actress, premiered on the red carpet at Century Cinemax, Garden City, with episode one streaming on YouTube from Monday 2 November.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Saturday 31 October 2026. SPM Africa Studios, the production house behind the hit web series A Nurse Toto, tonight premiered its latest comedy series, Fundi Long Distance, at an exclusive red-carpet screening at Century Cinemax, Garden City. The 13-episode series is created and written by Eddie Butita and directed by Ted Munene. Episode one goes live on YouTube on Monday 2 November 2026, with a new episode dropping every Monday after that.
The series follows Joe, a Kenyan living in the United States who dreams of building a home back in Kenya. Unable to oversee the work himself, he hires Karis, a local fundi, to run the construction on the ground. Karis, buried in debt and baby mama drama, turns the project into a lifeline for his own chaotic life.
As Joe keeps sending money across the ocean, Karis keeps the dream alive with staged progress updates for a house that does not exist. Over 13 episodes, the gap between the home Joe thinks he is paying for and the reality on the ground keeps widening.
“Almost every Kenyan abroad has lived this story or knows someone who has. You send money home for a house, the photos keep coming, but the walls never go up,” said Eddie Butita, creator and writer of Fundi Long Distance. “We chose to tell it the way Kenyans deal with pain, by laughing at it. Karis is a con, but he is also a man drowning in his own mess, and Humphrey makes you laugh at him and almost feel for him at the same time. Add Mjaka Mfine and Morine as his baby mamas, and there is never a quiet day on that site.”
Humphrey Maina, winner of Best Male Actor in a Leading Role (Play) at the 2025 Kenya Theatre Awards and known for Supa Modo and A Nurse Toto, leads the cast as Karis, the fundi. TikTok comedy star Mjaka Mfine and digital comedy favourite Morine Actress play Karis’s baby mamas.
The invite-only premiere brought cast, crew, partners and guests down the red carpet before the first episode screened on the big screen.
Fundi Long Distance builds on SPM Africa Studios’ success with A Nurse Toto, the hospital comedy that premiered on YouTube in February 2023, has drawn more than 30 million YouTube views and went on to air on NTV.
The series is sponsored by Mi Vida Homes, a long-standing backer of Kenyan entertainment that has previously partnered with NTV to power the Churchill Show. It is a fitting mismatch: Mi Vida’s promise, “We Deliver On Time. Every Time.”, is everything Karis is not.
“Fundi Long Distance is funny because it is true. Too many Kenyans abroad have sent their hard-earned money home to build, only to be let down by the very people they trusted,” said Sam Kariuki, CEO and Managing Director, Mi Vida Homes. “We partnered with SPM Africa Studios because Eddie and his team know how to tell Kenyan stories that people actually watch and share. A Nurse Toto proved that. As a developer, we see it as our mandate to educate Kenyans, at home and in the diaspora, on how to own a home safely. We want families to laugh with Joe, but also to ask the right questions before they invest. That is exactly why our promise matters: We Deliver On Time. Every Time.”
Episode one of Fundi Long Distance streams on YouTube from Monday 2 November 2026 at youtube.com/@eddiebutita. A new episode will be released every Monday.
Fundi Long Distance is a Mi Vida x SPM Africa Studios production.
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