Nigeria’s king of comedy, Ali Baba, clocked 50 during the week and the humour merchant celebrated the day with fanfare.
And since a lot of younger comedians have come after him, Ali Baba said
he is not in any way, threatened by them since he said some of them
depend on him for jokes.
“Why should I be threatened by them? how would I be giving them jokes?
If I were, I won’t give them my jokes, and I would tell them not to use
my jokes. I make jokes and give to some of them. So, there is nothing
like being threatened by them. The bottom line is that the day you begin
to feel threatened by some other up-and-coming comedians, then you are
on your way out. You’re supposed to be somebody they look up to, not
somebody they compete with,” he said.
Looking back at his life, Ali Baba said there are a lot of things he
should have done now that he is 50 that he didn’t do, adding that there
are people who have not lived up to 30 years and have done a lot more
than he has done.
“There are several comedians whose lives I should have stepped into and
turned around. There was a time that I was giving cars to some comedians
and a few other comedians said I was trying to buy the favour of those
comedians. So, I withdrew from doing that. Some people were
uncomfortable that I was paying some comedians’ house rent and making it
look like I left other people that needed help.
So, I pulled out. And
over the years, I found out that those interventions that I was doing at
that time made some of them even become as big as they are. So, I have
thought about it deeply and I feel that those are some of the things
that I should still have kept on doing and it would have grown the
industry greatly.”
Ali Baba informed Saturday Beats that he would continue this humanitarian aspect again.
“I need to do it, which is one of the reasons why I started spontaneity.
I think there are a lot of comedians who need support, not because they
can’t stand on their own but because they need a little prep. Some of
them need networking, some need visibility and these days, it’s easy to
find some other established comedians, instead of providing platforms
for the young ones competing with them to use those platforms, but you
still find some people who also yield their platforms to these young
comedians.”
No matter his age, Ali Baba said he is not ready to quit comedy.
“What happens is that you step into a particular class and you do
selective events, so you are not available for everything and anything,
like going to perform at somebody’s birthday ceremony at Ogudu and from
there to Ogba to perform at another naming ceremony. No. You leave some
certain places for people. That’s why there are certain platforms where
you will not find me anymore. It’s just like being a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria. When you become one, you won’t be a ‘charge and bail’ lawyer
anymore. That’s how it is,” he said.
PUNCH
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