Saturday, October 11, 2014

" There are lots of ‘wannabes’ in the industry" – Comedian Okey Bakassi


Popular comedian and actor, Okey Bakassi, is one of Nigeria celebrated comedian who has been in the entertainment industry for years. During an interactive section with Ademola Olonilua, he talked about his life as a comedian and how he managed to stay out of scandal for 21 years. Talking about his fear for entertainment industry ,he said that the industry needs fresh faces with talents to make it grow and that the reasons why the entertainment industry remain stagnant is because it is filled with lots of wannabe people. He also revealed how much he charges for a show then and now. Read below...



 I mean there are lots of ‘wannabes’ in the industry. It is not only restricted to comedy alone, it is in music and other aspects of the entertainment industry. They are people who notice that the business can fetch them money and they decide to do it because of that reason. They may have the talent but they don’t have the work ethics to sustain their career. They come into the business and feel they can live off other people’s materials. It can only last for a while and then they fizzle out.
On how much he charges then and now....
We were begging to work back then but today people call to say they need our services. That is the difference and it is a whole lot. Back then, I used to beg and say “sir I can do this, just give me a chance” and the person would tell me “what is stand-up comedy, it is a serious event and there is no time for jokes.” With hesitation, they would say I should do what I can and if they have anything they would give me after the event. I do my work, impress them and they give me stipend for transport and that was how it was.
From there another person could call saying they saw what I did at the event and when we talked about price, they could say it was too expensive and that they do not really need my service, then I asked them to give me whatever they could give me. But today, people call and I say I want to be paid N2.5m and they agree.


Source: Punch Newspaper

1 comment :

Unknown said...

N2.5M for a show?, do people actually pay this to comedians?