Ace stand-up comedian, Ali Baba, speaks with CHUX OHAI about the early days of his career
It is not for nothing that Atunyota Akporobome, aka Ali Baba, is often addressed as the ‘Godfather of Comedy’. If any man has a right to claim that he brought comedy to its present height in Nigeria, that person should be Ali Baba.
About 23 years ago and fresh from the then Bendel State University (now Ambrose Alli University), Ekpoma, where he studied Religion and Philosophy, he almost single-handedly introduced stand-up comedy as a full-time vocation, refined it and got it accepted in the society.
Recalling those years, in an interview with our correspondent, Ali Baba notes that a lot of things have changed. He says, “In the beginning, we were trying to make Nigerians appreciate stand-up comedy. We were trying to make them see there is a reason to pay us to make them laugh. We wanted them to see that comedy is not just an art form, but a service that we were delivering. Before then, many people did not see it as a service, not to talk of paying for it.
“It took a long time, between 1987 and 1997, before people realised that comedy was a service that added value to events. Then between 1997 and 2007, a lot more people came into the business. The dynamics that were available at that time, which affected and determined what we did, is different from what obtains now.”
The emergence of the Internet and social media, he adds, also aided the growth of the comedy business in Nigeria. “The average comedian now earns well and if he is good enough, he can perform at about four shows in a month,” he says.
The situation has rubbed off well on the ace comedian himself. From a paltry performance fee of N1,5000 over a decade ago, he admits, he now earns between N3m and N5m to feature in an event either as a master of ceremonies or stand-up comedian.
But things were not always this rosy for Ali Baba. “I remember when I told some people that I was going to start a career in comedy after graduating from university. They simply laughed at me and said I was not serious. One deejay actually told me to think of something better to do with myself,” he says.
Although he has since made his mark as an innovator and worked so hard to bring laughter to many homes, many comedy fans are not happy that the Godfather of Comedy is no longer as visible and active as he used to be.
Ali Baba has his reason for staying away. He says, “People expect me to be jumping up and down the stage at the kind of events that the younger comedians should be seen performing. They forget that it gets to a point in life when even the Inspector-General of Police will not be seen checking the particulars of motorists at checkpoints, yet he is still in the Nigerian Police Force.
“People expect that I should be attending those weddings and public events where comedians are paid about N200,000 to anchor. Of course, I won’t be there.”
Aware that some critics have been asking why he has become quite vocal on a number of public issues instead of concentrating on comedy, he argues that social commentary is part of his responsibility as a comedian.
“What people fail to notice is that a comedian plays a lot of roles at the same time. He is an entertainer, a service provider and a social commentator. Since he is also a member of the society, there is no way that he cannot see the things that are happening around him.
“If you look at the performances of many comedians, you will see beyond the jokes that they are making and find the messages that they are trying to pass on to their audiences. Sometime in the past, I made a joke about armed robbers who were carrying out an operation on a road and when they got to a particular car, they told the driver to move on.
“Somebody asked the robbers why they allowed the car to go without robbing the occupants and they said it was esprit de corps. They explained that the sole passenger of the vehicle was a former state governor and they had considered him to be their ‘colleague’.
“Now beyond the humour, a point is made. The message is that though the passenger is a former governor, he is by no means different from a man who robs other people with a gun. This is what the comedian means. Apart from being an entertainer, a comedian is a social commentator,” he says.
The ace comedian makes it clear that he will not go back on his promise not to transfer his recorded jokes and performances into CDs and sell to the public, like some of his younger are doing at present.
“The reason why I said that is this. At one point, it was becoming a trend for anybody to pick up copies of ‘Night of a Thousand Laughs’ from Volume one to Volume 15, memorise their contents and afterwards, jump on stage to perform as a comedian. A lot of people came into the industry, but they were not core creative people.
“There are two kinds of comedians: the creative and non-creative. The former creates jokes and performs them, but the latter can only deliver the jokes as if he created them. My position on this issue is that unless a structure is created for copyright to be protected, there is no need for anyone to put his jokes or performances in CDs and take them out to the market for pirates to make money at his expense.”
To those who imagine that the king of stand-up comedy may settle for a political appointment some day, Ali Baba says, “I could accept such an offer, but I would not be very sure that I’d last. Nowadays, those who get political appointments are controlled by the personal interests of their employers. It will be difficult for me to work in that kind of situation.”
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