Taiwo Olusanya is already a household name when those in the business of Comedy are being discussed. Last week, he took time off his busy schedule to add ‘salt and pepper’ to Parrot Xtra Hour on Radio aired on King 103.9 FM at Premier Hotel, Ibadan. He was interviewed by OLAYINKA AGBOOLA and TOYESE OYEBODE. Enjoy excerpts from the interview session as recorded by OLAITAN IGE…
Taiwo, how did you become a comedian?
I thank God. You see, in this life, God knows what a man will become even before he was born. I started as a member of a live band…then, I used to see the way comedians and MCs used to perform while anchoring events and I felt I could do the same thing they were doing. Of course, I was already practising because even before we used to come on stage, I used to make the members of our band laugh. That was where I started. So, when we go for an event and the MC was not around, I used to pick the microphone and anchor the event. Whenever I talk, people laugh, so I thought of venturing into the comedy business.
Where did Taiwo Obama hail from?
I’m a native of Ijebu-Oru in Ogun State. My big Daddy, Mr Dele Odule is also from the great town.
How old are you?
I’m over 40, we thank God.
Since you started comedy, can you attempt to identify some of the challenges you have encountered?
Let me tell you the first thing I experienced on this line. One of the toughest groups of people to please as a comedian are the highly educated people. They’ll look at you as if you don’t know what you’re doing or as if you’re a baby. The market women out there are always after relieving their sorrows and grief but the literates are always keen about knowing what the country is going through, how the family is faring, politics and all. This set of Nigerians gave me issues but on the long run, God took all the glory.
When was the most embarrassing moment of your life?
There was a day I was anchoring an event in Yoruba language and the organizer met me and said I shouldn’t speak in Yoruba, that if I can’t speak in English or Pidgin, I should leave the arena. I felt very embarrassed. Even the person talking to me was speaking in Yoruba, I accused him of it, he laughed and that gave me more confidence. I went back to the stage, did my thing and everybody liked it.
I heard about comedians stealing each other’s jokes. What’s really happening?
There’s no new thing under the heaven. If comedians start cracking their jokes now, you’ll hear Gbenga Adeboye’s joke. No matter the language you use in cracking the joke, be it Yoruba, English or Pidgin, there’s no new thing. It’s all about ideas. The first person that cracks a joke is the original owner of the joke. Comedy is equivalent to telling lies. Comedy entails thinking a lot. If you’re at a party, it’s the environment in that party you use to crack your jokes so people can be familiar with it.
You showbiz people are loved by women. How many girlfriends do you have?
You see, when you’re in the entertainment industry, you’ll have different ladies hovering around you. No matter the aspect of the entertainment, there’ll always be ladies around you but you’re the one that’ll play smart. One of the things that destroys a man’s destiny is too much attention on women -except you’re using it for something fetish. What we’re doing is a spiritual thing, when you do some things that your spirit does not align with, it may cause your downfall. Some things we say annoy some people outside, it equally makes some people laugh. I laugh with my wife before leaving the house, if my wife does not laugh when I crack jokes, I won’t crack that same joke outside. My wife is a Sunday school teacher in the church, whenever I crack a joke with her and she doesn’t laugh, I would not try to crack the same joke outside. The second category of people you can’t force to laugh are those who read the Bible, the ones who don’t use earrings and are very serious.
How do you then avoid women?
It is women that celebrate comedians or let me say celebrities generally. If you want to make it in this life, you need to obey women. A man might say he wants to invite Ali Baba to an event and the wife will say no, she has met Obama or another comedian in a party that is very funny, if the husband does not want trouble, that is the same person he’ll call. When I see them like that, we sit down and have discussions together, we also enjoy ourselves. When we’re done, I’ll take my leave.
How do you get your inspiration?
My source of inspiration is prayers. Before I got here, I prayed. The driver that brought me here is the spirit of God, I won’t want to mess up because the whole world is listening to me right now. Before I host any event, I pray. I’ll tell God to use me, a foolish to make people laugh because there are different people in an event and I’ll want to make all of them laugh. I’ll tell God to speak through me, if I pray a few lines and God tells me to stop, I will.
Obama, are you rich?
Yes, I’m rich because the Bible says whatever you say in my hearing, that shall I do.
I asked because we heard you MCs are paid millions whenever you’re called for an event. What’s your take on this?
You see, there’s a lot of pretence and fake life in the entertainment industry. You see some people posting videos online everyday, I don’t do that. Some people will even call me, asking that I post my videos online so they can watch and I tell them I don’t do that. They should call me for events if they want to not that I tell you a joke before you can hire me. If I tell you a joke, what will I say at your event? And comedy can’t be shared twice. So hire me if you want to and I’m not the kind of person that writes comedy skits and post videos on Instagram. There’s a total difference between me and Woli Agba for example, I do my comedy alone while Woli Agba has up to 10 or 12 people doing comedy with him, so we’re different. I didn’t pay ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo before he said I should come and make him laugh, I didn’t pay Chief Akintola Williams before he called me, it’s all about grace. I didn’t pay DJ Semight as well before he said I should help him do comedy at Nigerian Breweries’ events.
In this industry, who’s your role model?
They are many but the first person I saw was Gbenga Adeboye, the second is Komolafe Olaiya. One of the things that also empowered me was that when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo became the president of Nigeria, I saw Ali Baba making a whole president laugh. The Bible says when you have faith, you’ll tell a mountain to be uprooted and it shall be so, so that was the faith that kept me going. Those three and Gbenga Adeyinka gave me the strength to pull through.
How did you hit the limelight?
What pushed me into it was that I wasn’t ready to leave the music band but it got to a point Yinka Adonai, the musician I was working said my voice was crashing that I was praying too much, so he said I shouldn’t sing again. He then said that I had been promoted to the rank Manager but I love singing. So one day, Seun of Precious Band called me and said Holy Mallam who was invited as the MC of an event couldn’t make it because he was held by the traffic along Redemption camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. He then said I should come and stand in for him. When I got to the event, I realized I’ve never been to that kind of event before because the chairs were covered, iron chairs are the only ones used in the events I’ve attended. I went out of the hall, my folks told me to be myself and I went back. I took the microphone. For me to get comedy, I started singing all kinds of songs. I sang like Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, Kollington Ayinla, Wasiu Ayinde K1 and Yinka Ayefele. I didn’t know what I did was comedy as all of them laughed. When they all laughed, I now started to bring out jokes, those of Ali Baba, Komolafe Olaiya, Gbenga Adeboye, those I’ve heard before and new ones.
After the event, I was paid the kind of money I had never collected before. I was paid N50,000, I met Seun who invited me to share the money with him and he said they’ve been paid as well. So I decided to go back to thank the organizer of the event. On getting to him, he thought I wanted to ask for more money so he gave me an additional N50,000. I just called my wife to tell her that I’ve bought meat and pepper; she said she had prepared beans, I told her to pour the beans away (laughs).
What do you think the government can do to help your kind of business?
The government can do a lot for us. I have a proposal at hand that I won’t like to say on air. In America, I heard that God is celebrated throughout the year. They do this every month that is, apart from Christmas – so the government can look at us and look for a way to empower us. For example, if they want to have an event in Ibadan and they’re bringing a comedian from Lagos thinking Ibadan people cannot give them their taste, its actually wrong. The government should patronize us, if they want to have a meeting, after calling an MC, they should also hire a comedian to make them laugh. They should help us. It’s not even like I’m rich, God is just helping me.
What’s your advice to aspiring comedians?
What I will say to them is that this job, if you come looking for money, you won’t last. God has said you should seek Him first and all other things shall be added unto you but these young ones are not seeking God but money. You come into the entertainment industry, you still copy people and you want to be collecting 10 billion naira, maybe you should go and do Comedy Yahoo. If you have passion for what you’re doing, the money will come at the appropriate time, so don’t chase money and don’t be unnecessarily proud. If God has put you in a position, don’t look down on the people below you. If you do that, someone will come up and do the same to you.
