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I Stole Jokes From Baba Sala, Gbenga Adeboye- Gbenga Adeyinka

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In the comedy industry today, Gbenga Adeyinka plays large. He is a common face at corporate, private and government-sponsored events. In this interview with our Reporter, he talks about his fears, successes and why pretty women seem attracted to comedians.

A lot of entertainers say the person on stage is often different from the one at home, does this apply to you?

I am not what I do. There are two people, the quiet one and the noisy one, the noisy one is what you see outside while the quiet one is who is at home.

 

Are we talking about dual personality here?

I won’t want to call it dual personality before I get treated for dual personality disorder. People think that the comedian is always happy and eager to tell a joke, he never has a sad time. I think every individual has dual personality. I tell people that it is not possible to meet a footballer who is not on the field and he is jogging the ball at all times. People will say that he has mental problem if he does that. When he is on the field he is in a different world and when he is off it he is another person entirely. The same applies to me, when I am in the office I just want to be calm and think about other things and work on my jokes, because if I don’t work on them it will tell later. I will not have anything to make a livelihood from. I hope you understand what I mean. It is about trying to balance your life as a comedian and a human being.

 

Why is it that most comedians can hardly be real, why can’t they tell their own jokes?

When I started as a comedian, I used Gbenga Adeboye’s jokes. The beauty of using someone’s jokes is to use it as a reference. You elongate it, you embellish it. There is nothing new under the heaven and I am sure that if I start a joke now you will know where I am going, but it is the way that I deliver it that elicit the laughter from you. What we see nowadays is someone just comes, picks your jokes and tells it the exact way you told it, but because he is not you and he does not have your mannerism, and your delivery makes it worse. I think as you grow in the industry you have to start developing your materials because you become the one that younger comedians will steal materials.

Is stealing of other comedian’s jokes not an indictment of older comedians, shouldn’t there be a standard for new comers?

Anybody who hopes to break into mainstream comedy must have at least 10 materials which are his own, and which he is going to use to break out or blow in the case of musicians. When I started, my style was the Mushin thing, you must have your style. If you don’t then you have no business doing comedy. At the end of the day, you will just keep rolling and rolling and rolling. It’s like when a musician goes into the studio and does a cover of another artiste’s song. For instance, when Majek Fashek did a cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’ a lot of people were wooed. For me, ‘Redemption Song’ by Majek was better than the one by Bob Marley because of the percussion, and all of that. That is what I meant by the statement that as a young comedian you are allowed to steal jokes of older colleagues. But what you do with it will now decide if it’s right or not. Then, you must acknowledge that I first heard this joke from Ali Baba. After the joke people will acknowledge the unique way you told the joke. For me, when I say there is nothing new under the heaven it is because when I sit down to work on my jokes I read joke books. I read book like “The Parliament of Whores”, this is a purely political book of jokes by P.J. O Rourke. I won’t tell the jokes that are in the book, but they will structure the next jokes I want to tell when I am doing something about politicians. You can’t just say a joke about President Clinton in Nigeria and expect people to laugh. But you have to tell the joke in a way that something which Clinton has done will apply to a Nigerian politician. For instance, some people will say Governor Ayo Fayose is a close relative of Donald Trump because of their mannerism. There are ways of stealing technology; even in science it is done. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will say that “nobody will give you power, you take it.” So, nobody will give you his jokes, you take it and refine it. I am not saying it is okay to steal jokes, but as a young comedian you should look at the works of the greats and see what you can do with it. I stole Baba Sala’s jokes, I stole Gbenga Adeboye’s jokes, but I didn’t tell it the way they did. I told them differently. What happens now is that you go to an event and one young man come on stage, tells your joke exactly as you told it without any difference. At the end, he comes to you and says boss how was it?

For a comedian, it is amazing to see the books in your office, do you really read them?

If you don’t work this hard you will run out of jokes. People ask me how I get my jokes and I just narrow and pedestrianly direct it down to what ‘Daddy Showkey’ said sometimes back. “Shine your eye well well, look well well, read well well. You have to read; you can’t help but read. I have a joke about Obama and Donald Trump’s wives. If I don’t watch Cable News Network (CNN), there is no way I would know about what inspired the joke. I have also realised that as you grow older as a comedian people expect more from you. You can’t tell dirty jokes. When I started I could tell a dirty jokes and get away with it, but now I can’t. People will say “you are supposed to be a mature person.” So, what I do with such jokes is to pass it to a young comedian and advise him not to tell it at corporate events. You must research; unfortunately we don’t research in Nigeria. Abroad, entertainers are probably the laziest set of people in the world because every comedian has a road manager, has a booking manager, has somebody who writes his jokes, has somebody who books his tours, and somebody who sequences things. If I have a show for instance, they would have given me a sequence of the jokes I will tell, I will just come in to deliver them. If you watch big shows the comedian has a teleprompter with what he is to talk about. However, in Nigeria it’s a lie, you are your Alpha and Omega under God. If you succeed it’s you, if you fail it’s your responsibility. You have to write all your materials, you have to do everything by yourself. I also don’t like to be lazy. Aside the comedy you know me for, we have launched our blog, it’s called www.laffmattaz.blogspot.com, we used to have a comedy magazine, I used to do training for young people because I know that if I am abroad I won’t be doing one job. I will be washing dead bodies, sweeping train station and doing the job of a security man. So, if you can do all these jobs abroad why do we get lazy in Nigeria? And like my grandmother always tells me “hard work has never killed anybody it is only poverty that kills.” Although people say it’s not how hard you work that determines your success, it has been proven that if you don’t work you won’t get paid. So, why don’t you just take the chance and work hard, pray to God and believe him that money will come.

There is a peak for every career, at what point does a comedian reaches his Eldorado?

The beauty of comedy and talent is that it never peaks, if you don’t allow it to peak. I will tell you what I mean by that. There is something called rave of the moment. Every artiste is the rave of the moment at one point. As a musician, you have one big song, as a comedian you have like 10 jokes that can shake ground. Ali Baba was the rave of the moment at one point, Teju was, T.A was. I don’t really know who the rave of the moment is now, but I think that Akpororo was last year. This year, there is a boy called Kenny Black, there is a boy in Ibadan called Peteru, there is Arole. There is always a rave, but the transitions from that rave to extinction is where you come in. Where you come in is I have made it, I have made all the money, so I live large. I don’t have to border to go to the studio again. I just want to go into the studio and sing. You believe that if you sing junk people will dance because it is you, after all you have been given N5, 000,000.00 to perform at a show. You say after all I have been accepted. That is what kills a lot of musicians forgetting that your art is greater than the money you have made or will ever make. It kills some of us too. When you are a rave is when you should start working hard, when you start writing jokes because you will burn out. After you have become a rave, you will burn out, you go back and redefine yourself and when you come back you are there.

What is the redefining process taking into cognisance the fact that some of the jokes told by suppose redefined comedians have become too regular?

I think that it is to continually strive and be sincere with yourself and still do what you have been doing. I sample my jokes before going on stage. If I am sitting down with friends I will simply say something and if nobody laughs I won’t use that joke when I go on stage. I used to enter bus in those days so that I can learn slangs, but I can’t do that anymore. So, what I do now is to sit down with area boys when I have the opportunity. I don’t grow bigger than the art because it is the art that puts money on your table. When my mechanic comes to repair my car, I sit down with him and we joke. He becomes free with me and I can learn from him about the streets, slangs that mechanic use. When people wonder what next, we have heard it all that’s when you have to work extra hard. I noticed that in Nigeria it is when the money has come that we reduce the work and use panache to carry on, but it doesn’t work like that.

A lot of people say Ali Baba and Basketmouth now play on past glory, do you agree?

I don’t agree. You see, everybody has his strength. A lot of people will say I am saying this because Ali is a friend and a mentor. Ali Baba, is the King of one liner. Ali Baba is the quintessential Master of Ceremony (MC), I wish that I had half of Ali Baba’s wits. There are a couple of things that makes you a comedian. There is the versatility which a lot of Nigerian comedians don’t have, the ability to work with a large street crowd and also work with a small corporate crowd. It is very rare. You should also be able to think on your feet. The number one person who can think on his feet in Nigeria today is Ali Baba. I don’t know how to explain it. If I sit down with Ali Baba you won’t believe the number of jokes I will get. If I can get just 30 percent of what Ali Baba has then I don’t have to worry again. I was with Ali at a corporate event and he did one hour on stage and people were laughing. Maybe people no longer see him as the street comedian and now conclude that he has arrived. That is one of the disadvantages I told you about earlier. Now Basketmouth, anybody who says he is a spent force should pray to God. Basketmouth is our own Trevor Noah. He is our biggest export. Funny enough I never thought that Basketmouth could do it because his style is a blend of English and pidgin. If you go anywhere in Africa or the world today and make reference to comedy in Nigeria, then its Basketmouth, he is like the P-Square and Wizkid of the comedy industry. For me, everybody has a niche when you find it you don’t have to care about what people say. Find the niche and use it as an ace.

 

Comedians seem to be attracted to pretty ladies. Basket Mouth’s wife is a doll, same as AY’s, Teju’s and even Ali Baba, why are pretty ladies attracted to men in your industry?

Funny enough, Ali Baba met his wife before he became somebody. AY met his wife when they were in University of Benin, he was a show promoter and she was a beauty queen.  I think that when you are popular it helps. I also think that a lot of times people who are meant to be together will be no matter what. We have seen pastors who have beautiful wives. Does that mean that they too are taking over the fine women? I can mention five pastors with beautiful wives.

What scares you about your job knowing you are in your prime presently?

I watch Channels Television a lot and there is this programme they do every Friday. I watch it and I see myself anchoring several events. This scares me for three reasons.  One is that it might get to a situation when people will say this guy is pure water stop calling him, call another person. Another reason is why me? and the third is that I have to continuously do more to be relevant. It scares me, but I thank God.

A lot of people will agree that there should be a limit to insulting people in the name of comedy, do you agree?

Actually there is a limit. We were sitting together at an event and Ali made reference to a picture on the stage and asked what it looked like. I asked him what and he said doesn’t it look like a particular girl’s G-string and we all laughed. Julius Agwu went on stage made the joke and said he wasn’t the person who said it and that it was Ali Baba, we all laughed the lady even went on stage and said we were not serious and it ended there. At a later event another comedian made reference to the lady’s G-string and when he was coming off the stage the lady slapped him. Because of relationships you can get away with a lot of things, but like I told you earlier it also gets to a stage when you can’t do somethings or make some jokes anymore. With age comes responsibility and appropriateness.

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