• Friday, March 29, 2024
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In whatever you are doing, be yourself, be unique and be real – Kenny Blaq

Kenny Blaq

Kenny Blaq is a young award winning music, comedian in Nigeria; the art has brought him so many international recognitions. In an interview with JONATHAN ADEROJU, Blaq speaks about his career and the comedy industry, among others. Excerpts:

May we know who Kenny Blaq really is?

I am Otolorin Kehinde popularly known as Kenny Blaq, I am a stand up music comedian, I like to explain myself through music. I am from a family of seven and the last of the family; I am also an alumnus of the Federal Radio Cooperation.

What led you into the art of comedy?

I will say passion to always see people smile and happy led me into comedy I always want to responsible for everybody’s laughter I don’t like seeing people bored at all, I guess maybe because I saw myself as an unserious person before or as someone who liked to create humour out of everything, so because it flows naturally someone asked me one day if I wanted to do it on stage and I was like yes, why not? I can give it a try because I love watching comedy videos and comic cartoons.

So, I went on stage for the first time and I did my thing and I did it well. So, from that day, I decided to take it to new level.

How was it like for you when you started?

It was not all that good but really it was not bad either. If I will say, I had a bad day when I started, it wouldn’t be all that bad because I was able to make some people laugh. And trust me I haven’t been to a place and people don’t laugh, but the same time there was a time people didn’t laugh not because I wasn’t funny but because people thought I was too young, so they were anxious to hear what I had at that time instead of talking more I saw myself singing more and they were just confused if I was a comedian or a singer; so I started working really hard to make people see that this is something new, eventually I was able to make  them feel the experience of the music and comedy combo.

Did you ever think that your comedy will take you this far?

Yes, I knew it was going to get me this far but not this soon; I didn’t know I would be a worldwide name this soon; everything just happened like lightening. I knew I was going to get somewhere because of the type of ovations I get from the things I do and also the challenges I face from what I do gives me hope that nothing good actually comes easy. If things give you challenges then you should know something is right about what you are doing. But when everything happened this soon, I was like well what else I can do other than to embrace it and continue to strive to do more.

As a super star there are good times and bad times; what can you say has been your bad moment in your career?

Okay, so we are all humans so it is right to say we all have good and bad times. Well, mine was when I was performing at a wedding where everyone was having a good time and marrying when I got a call that my mother just passed away; it was really challenging for me at that point I didn’t know what to do and I wanted to burst into tears and at the same time there was no way I was going to destroy someone the wedding because of my tragedy. I just let off my chest for that period, did my thing, went back home and faced reality of my mother’s demise.

Then, I have had other bad moments on stage when I cracked jokes and people didn’t laugh; also moments where I go up on stage and tried to play a material and it didn’t come on; I just stood and stared because it’s something new I was trying to put out at that point you just see me moody and crying and trust me, it still happens till date.

How has comedy shaped your life as a person?

Well, comedy has made me a better person, it has made a voice in my community, it has also made someone that most people are aspiring to be someday; really, there were places I never thought I would go to in this world but because I chose this part it has taken me to those places and I have met with the high and mighty in the society. This same comedy has helped me acquire a home of my own and also helped to empower people around me.

How will you define Nigeria comedy industry?

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I think we are getting better; at least, we are getting so many international recognitions from different parts of the world.

There is no country you go to in the world today that they don’t talk about Nigeria comedy industry; they all know that Nigerian comedians are very creative. In fact, everything happening in the social media right now in terms of comedy is coming from Nigeria; I will say 60 percent of it though. The industry is really striving; we now have online comedians, stand-up comedians, comic actors such as the famous MR IBU; so industry is becoming vast I must tell you.

Talking about sectors, you know so many investors come in to invest in other sectors; do you think people are willing to invest in comedy?

Yes, there are investors already and others are willing to invest in the industry, there was a time comedy central was in Nigeria. It will soon get to a point where foreign comedians would want to come into Nigeria to host their own shows here, because as you know, most of us go outside the country to do our shows; it’s just a way to lure them down to our country too for their own and I see that happening soon and if it happens like that continuously, I see a lot of people wanting to invest in the industry gradually. In fact, we have people here in Nigeria that invest a whole lot in the industry; people like Amaju Pinnick and others.

What actually happened to Nite of a Thousand Laff that used to be home to Nigerian comedians?

Well Nite of a Thousand Laffs is still there, I can’t say much about it because am not part of the planning committee, but what I know is that presently they are investing in other talents and grooming talents; the show as we all know gave birth to some of the comedians we know today and you can’t serve for long you just get to a point and graduate.

So, all I can say is that Nite of a Thousand Laffs is just like a school that some comedians needed to go so as to be able to establish themselves.

What are the challenges the comedy industry is facing?

Hmmmm challenges; I think it will be brands or sponsors not believing in the comedy industry as much as they believe in the music and movie industry. I think brands need to come into the comedy industry and see what we are doing there. I don’t even think musicians do a lot of shows as we do. In fact, even when they do their shows we must be involved.

There is no way you will attend an AY Live or ALI BABA shows without seeing musicians or even our footballers coming to just have fun and ease off stress. So, brands need to look into our industry and get a way to help boost the industry.

The 3rd Edition of your show Oxymoron is coming up soon; how can you describe the journey so far?

It has been amazing so far, God has been faithful; I am nothing without his grace. We did the first one that was the X-FILE, then THE RUSH, now THE THIRD TERM, it is a music comedy thing; a lot goes into planning and others; in all God gives us the grace to scale through, we are hoping to do better than what we do, however it has been challenging I must say. It gets to a point when you have done well but want to do better but at the same time you don’t want to overdo so as not to bore your fans.

This is the first phase of the Oxymoron, one, two, three, after this we will go for some time and come back again with another phase of Oxymoron; this one is an avenue to say that we are graduating into another class.

How will this edition of oxymoron be different from others?

It is going to be very different because we watched our previous editions and saw some of our lapses and found out of a way to correct the mistakes and improve in this edition.

In this edition we will be playing with the number 3, it is going to very different people will be seeing us in another style entirely. We are going to be telling stories that everyone notwithstanding the social class you belong to relate with.  I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag now. Just come and see the best of music comedy and dance in its purest form.