Okechukwu MacAnthony Onyegbule aka Okey Bakassi, is one of the
pioneers of modern day stand – up comedy in Nigeria. A talented actor,
he is also the host of a comedy radio programme tagged, “It’s okay
with O.K”, which airs in Lagos. He speaks more on his career and marriage in this interview with Samuel Onyekwere.
Let’s look at the work you are doing now
Yes, I host ‘The Other News’ and I have a radio show that runs from
Monday – Friday 6pm. It’s tagged ‘Is okay with Okey’ which looks
at serious issues in a humorous way. I am also a cast of a TV series,
‘My Flat mate’. These things are in addition to weekend hosting of
events and MC, all these have kept me busy.
So these jobs have kept you away from the home movies?
My calendar is so tight; it has become difficult to create space for movies because movies take like several weeks or months to shoot. So, if I go on set, it means there will not be time to attend to all these other things and it becomes worse if it’s outside Lagos and that means I can’t do any other thing. For me to actually squeeze out two weeks to go and be on set, the money must be worth it.
This thing is business and you have to plan and prioritize. That aside,
I have also come to a stage in my career that I don’t just jump or accept any job thrown to me. I don’t just want to appear in any movie. I will not appear in any movie that will not take my career beyond where it. It’s not about money but the potentials of that job.
But you will agree with me that the story lines and the quality of
production have improved? Should that not be enough motivation for
you?
Yes, I have a couple of movies, but I can’t be in all of them. It’s not about quantity but quality. It’s here in Nigeria that somebody does 50 -100 movies and it’s not showing in his account balance. Oversees, do you know what it means to do 10 movies in your career?
It’s big and huge. It’s because actors are not appreciated here that’s why actors go for volume. I should not be doing quantity but quality.
Do you have guys that can take over from you in the comedy industry?
The truth is that I must give credit to my generation because we really worked hard to establish this industry. You will agree with me that the comedy business is big in Nigeria that people from other parts of Africa appreciates this. We have impacted seriously in the growth and development of that sector. But a lot still needs to be done. I discovered that comedy has become a lot easier to do with the
advent of social media.
It has opened platform for people to find expression but also for people to steal other peoples’ works. So, you’ve a situation where people who can’t tell jokes in front of an audience, all they need to do is to go to comedy concerts and video comedians performing, then they go home and replicate this on the social media. That’s feeding off on people’s talent and it’s not good, but there is nothing we can
do about it. They have made the job of comedians difficult. Some of these established comedians and the talented ones are reluctant to give their best knowing that somebody is in the audience recording their work. Even before you are through with the show your event is already on the YouTube and people are making money on your sweat.
Even if you ban cameras at shows, you can’t ban people from coming in with their phones. We’ve not come to a stage we can enforce this and this has made the job of the comedian difficult. The few creative ones are suffering from this, while the lazy ones are the ones benefitting. They don’t have to work hard or do research, all they need to do is to go shows and pull as many jokes as they can and then go out and begin to use them. In some ways, we have drawn the line between the talented and the pretenders.
Can’t you ask the National Assembly to make laws on this?
I understand you, but where the problem lies is that there are laws already, copyright laws and all these things take process. An up-and-coming comedian does not have that resource to prosecute someone who is living in one obscure end of the world and feeding on your sweat. I spent millions in my last concert and even before I got the chance to post it on the social media, somebody has already done that on his platform creating advert and making money out of this.
So, I will have to physically trace the person that means I will have to hire the services of a private investigator to find out where they are operating from. With internet you can operate from anywhere in the world and you can be mobile. So I have to search for this person until I catch them maybe shut down the place to bring them to justice. It takes a lot of process, and these are the challenges frustrating creativity of other people and they don’t understand that this is a
serious crime.
Can you still remember any situation you went blank on stage?
Every worker has a bad day at the office. It happens to everyone. There are days you go to work and you feel that you did not put in your best. Sometimes it’s noticeable by the audience, but on your own, you will know you’ve done something bad.
Any particular incident?
There are a couple of them; sometimes it’s not just you but the atmosphere. There was this concert I went for and I was the headliner and we spent the entire day showcasing and supporting the younger comedians and by the time it got to the headliner the audience were exhausted. Even you the performer are tired. People enjoy comedy and you give optimally when it’s evening and not early morning.
People can dance when they are tired, you can play music for them and
they will dance. But there will be break in communication when you
start telling them stories when they are already feeling sleepy. Even
as an entertainer when they call you at that time, sometime you may
not want to do it but you’ve been paid for the job and you must do it.
Again you can include in your time of performance in your contract.
What has it been like maintaining two homes?
I won’t even advise my enemy to try it. It can break your home but again it has its advantages. The challenge is that most of the time you are away from the people you love most. It’s very difficult, despite the fact that I still make out time to go spend with the family. You will wish that you were with them. But in this present
economy you have to look at your ability to pay bills because it’s a difficult balance. My luck is that my wife has been my childhood friend. We’ve known ourselves for almost 30 years and this has made it easy.
How do you feel when people appreciate your work on ‘its okay with
Okey”, your radio programme?
People need to know that we do the show for free. Me and my colleagues who have been amazing, they give their time and brace the traffic to be here and do the show for free. Our greatest joy and inspiration comes from the fact that people love what we do and appreciate it.
This encourages us and our payment is the prayers and encomium of people, especially the listeners.