Veteran Nigerian stand-up comedian, Master of Ceremonies (MC) and actor, Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, popularly known as Ali Baba, was recently honoured with Award of Excellence at the November special edition of The Forum by Ojez.
In this interview with TONY OKUYEME, Ali Baba, who is celebrated as the “Godfather of Nigerian Comedy”, talks about the award, stand-up comedy in Nigeria, challenges, Nollywood, and other issues
I know you’ve been appreciated so many times and everything, but how do you feel tonight?
I feel specially honoured, especially by the forum. I think the forum is made up of elders and accomplished creative minds and entrepreneurs and businessmen that don’t suffer fools gladly.
And so they decided to honour me. I think they did their job; they must have crossed their t’s and dotted their i’s, and see that I was deserving to be invited here. Which is why I had to make the day out to make sure that I was here. I’m honoured, and I don’t take it lightly.
So, how do you feel?
I think most times every honour you get is “a thank you and we look forward to seeing more.” Most times, nearly every time.
Every time you see someone honour you, it is that, “okay, I have seen what you have done, take your plaque or take your flowers.” But after giving you the flowers, they are saying, “now do more.”
Or a better way to put it is that once you’ve been honoured, it is now time for you to justify the honour that you have been given. So that’s the challenge that I see.
You’ve been there for over four decades, stages have come, stages have gone. Technology and everything, but you have been able to maintain and sustain your relevance. How have you been able to do it? What’s the secret?
The way I see it is that even if you create a new church today, you still use the Bible. If you decide to open a new church today, you will use the Bible.
So what I do is to constantly make sure that what I do is something that people need all the day of their life. Laughter is universal; entertainment is universal; and it is dynamic. You are also as good as the last joke that you told. So you have to be dynamic and continue turning a new leaf all the time.
Doing a lot more than lying and relying on the old accolades. So I continue refreshing myself up. The biggest challenge I have is for no one to say I thought they say he was the king of comedy. So, I leveled myself with all of them.
We’re all in the game together. Comedy is an art form that is not bound and timed by age. So if you are 92 and you are still funny, people will still laugh. If you are still turning the pages of humour, people will still laugh. Because it’s about the laughter and it’s not about you.
In the same way that Carlos Santana came back and won seven Grammys after nearly 20 years of going out of the set, because the entertainment value proposition is a constant. If you continue giving it to them, they will listen to you.
Looking back, since you started and has evolved over the years, if you had to change something about you as a comedian, what would that be?
Also, what are your thoughts about the comedy business in Nigeria today compared to what it was when you started? Well, the thing is that every industry benefits from innovation and technology.
Most of the pastors now will tell you that they preach better because now they don’t have to shout. They use the microphone. They also tell you that the audience listen longer because the pews are now cushioned.
The churches are now air-conditioned. The place is even more beautiful, there are no more tents. It’s not more like in the front of the River of Galilee where people sit to listen to Jesus, and hear Him shout and see whether everybody can hear Him.
The buildings are much better. What I’m saying is that things that would have made comedy easier back then are now available easily, unlike back in the days. I had to do a lot of marketing to get myself recognised and appreciated. You don’t need to do billboards like that.
A simple message on Instagram will push you into people’s WhatsApp groups. So if you do a joke and it’s funny, it can go round the world. People just pass it on WhatsApp groups and subtitle it. So even if the person can’t understand the language, the person can read the subtitle.
So it’s easier to become a star in these days because the elements that were needed to make you a star then abound now. Unlike then, you had just NTA. Now you have several platforms to make you grow. Back then we didn’t have Twitter, we didn’t have Instagram, we didn’t have YouTube that could make you a star.
So you were limited by grace, limited by functionality, and the usual elements that make you grow. The other thing is numbers. With the global use of telecommunications now, you can be here and entertaining people in Canada.
So, a lot of the comedians who do skits, they benefit from this one. Unlike at that time, you could do as many skits as you want. Like the Ojo Ladipo theatre, Okonedo Omokaro, and the late Mohammed Danjuma, you could do any skit you wanted of any joke.
Charly Boy used to have The Charly Boy Show where we did skits back then. They didn’t get as much as two million views. But if you did any of those, in fact, what is happening is sometimes you then find that some old jokes are now turned into skits by some comedians.
That way it gives it new life. A lot of us have agreed that if we had the same elements now, I’m sure that would have ticked the boxes faster. I started doing stand-up comedy in 1987. In another three years it will be 40 years.
You can just check out the parameters. Someone who started doing comedy in 2010 has already become a star. While it took me from 1987 to 1996/97 to make it big.
That’s 10 years. Some of them just do two years now and they are big already. They are already stars. I think that the things that work in our favour now did not work back then. So, numbers count, technology count, innovation count, and then platforms.
Those are the things that are different. The other thing that I would say is that if these kind of platforms were available at the time, maybe some of our colleagues that have passed on or retired would have made a lot more money as we speak.
A particular name just comes to mind, a name like Tunji Sotimirin. He did very well with his jokes and the tenacity with which he pursued it, he would have become something like a shaggy.
Also, you had Kunle Bamtefa and people like that who were stage actors but if skit was developed well enough at that time they would have done a lot more. Zebrudaya for instance, he would have made a lot of money from skits.
Because, what are skits? Short funny acts by some comedians. So, I believe that things would have been different and we would have made a lot of money from streaming and getting a lot of value from social media.
What would you love to see the younger generation of entertainers do differently?
Invest their money. The younger entertainers need to invest their money because what they don’t still see is that there comes a time where the Pharaoh will not know Joseph. So they need to invest their money wisely.
The ones that were before us, they didn’t have the much money that we had we came in, and we could see the difference. For them, they were just entertaining.
They were happy to make everybody happy. Natty, Zebrudaya, Ovuleria, Ojo Ladipo Theatre, Basi & Company, Papi Luwe, Ehi Omokhuale, Tony St Iyke, Funsho Alabi, and the others. A lot of them passed without earning as much for their talents. Now a lot more people are earning a lot for their talents. But we believe that they can earn a lot more.
There’s still a lot more creativity to be tapped in Africa. The story of ‘The Lion King’ can’t be the only story that is from Africa.
There are lots of stories of the tortoise that have not been told. Lots of the story of the rabbit that have not been told. But I believe that a lot of that will be unearthed soon.
Why have you not featured regularly on the big screen – Nollywood?
I’ve been on the big screen for about seven movies. I was in ‘Wedding Party’, ‘Accidental Spy’, and others. The only thing that I really don’t like the idea that I’ll have to shoot for one week, three weeks to earn what I earn for one day.
That’s the problem. Because if I do an MC job for three or four hours, I get paid the same amount that somebody would pay me to act in a movie for four or five days…
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