Even jokes have their limits -Funnybone

Weekend Magazine: How have the different locations of the country you have found yourself in influenced you?Funnybone: Born in Kaduna, schooled in Jos, served in Ondo and now leaving in Lagos has all given a whole pot of melange. My experiences in these places have made me a better person and given me a better […]

Weekend Magazine: How have the different locations of the country you have found yourself in influenced you?
Funnybone: Born in Kaduna, schooled in Jos, served in Ondo and now leaving in Lagos has all given a whole pot of melange. My experiences in these places have made me a better person and given me a better understanding of my country. Being Ibo from the East, growing up in the North, serving and now leaving in the West has made me more wholesome.
Even in my work, the influences are evident in the jokes I crack. When things happen around me, they tend to inspire my art because a lot of the things I say on stage are the things that I have seen. I also go back home, sit down and reflect on these incidents so that I know what and what not to say.  Because one has the right and space to entertain and perform as I do, does not mean you should say things that are not acceptable or you shouldn’t know where to draw the line. One needs to be smart and know not to cross the boundaries.
But of course, we are social communicators. But in our commentary we should apply caution.
WM: Has anyone attacked you for cracking the wrong joke?
Funnybone: Yes and funny enough, it was somebody I had so much respect for, Eugenia Abu. I expected that as a newscaster she should have had a better mind set than I did. I told a joke about our then president and she took it personal. She called me off stage and took the mic away. A joke is a joke and I am a comedian.I got over it and since then I have improved as a comic and as a person.That so far has been my worst experience.
WM: Asides things you see, what else provides the lyrics for your jokes?
Funnybone: The people I see around me, what I see, my mood, the mood of the audience. When a joke is not funny, two things are involved, its either the joke is more than the audience or the audience is more than the joke, as a comedian you are also a psychologist, you should know what to say and what not to say to a particular audience, so when you understand these things, it is easy for you.
WM: What motivated you to start cracking jokes and to go into stand-up comedy?
Funnybone: At first it was acting for me, I wanted to be an actor but somewhere along the line comedy came up, I didn’t work for it, it just came and I grabbed it with both hands and it became my first love which I now prefer to acting. I can’t tell you how it came about, it just came and people like Julius Agwu and Opa Williams gave me the platform, the space and convenience to grow as a person and I know I will get better as I grow.
WM: Do you remember what your first experience was like on stage as a comedian?
Funnybone: Yes, it was back in school when Plantation Boyz and other stars came to my school for a show, the MC was not around, so I was called to relieve him.  Ever since then, I haven’t left the stage.I started off as a dancer and used to mime Julius Agwu’s songs as a ‘musicomedian,’ from there I developed into acting and later music. Here I am now as Funnybone.
WM: What best expresses you, acting or being a stand-up comedian?
Funnybone: Both, because as a trained actor, any medium I find myself, be it acting, writing or singing I should be able to express myself, so I would say both, but as a comedian I do stand-up more; so I can address whatever I feel like addressing but with acting there is a script, with no room for free styling, so I prefer comedy.
WM: What is your most comfortable line of jokes?
Funnybone: Jokes about my people, the people of Nigeria, the North and the South, East because I have got first-hand information about these people, no one can tell our story better than us.Am Igbo, I grew up in the North and I stay in Lagos, I know the people of these places very well, so when I merge my knowledge of these people it helps me too be a complete performer.So, I tell jokes better when it has to do with my people.
WM: Do you have nervous moments when you go on stage?
Funnybone: Every good performer has nervous moments, two to three seconds on stage you are nervous but when you get into it you go all the way.
WM: When you look at the faces of the audience, does anything bother you?
No! I don’t look at their faces but their heads to prevent eye contact, because when you get eye contacts you go off guard, its best you go up stage and do your thing.The audience are there but you should create what we call the “invincible wall” and just do your thing but do it well.
WM: Do you rehearse your jokes before getting on stage?
Funnybone: I don’t, I prefer it when it comes while am on stage, it is more interesting and very funny that way.
WM: Do you laugh at your jokes?
Funnybone: I laugh at some but not all, it makes more sense when you don’t laugh because your job is to make people laugh and not to laugh because when you laugh, it is like you are laughing on their behalf, so let them laugh and then laugh later.
WM: If you were not a comedian or actor, what you have been comfortable doing?
Funnybone: I would have been a footballer, because that’s what I grew up with and what people around me, so I was like the odd person who didn’t do it.Because my dad wanted me to go to school, so I went to school, graduated but with no job, but am working and putting enough food on the table.
WM: Considering the evolution of comedy, you are like a generation away from the likes of Alibaba, what do you have to say with the way it has evolved over time in Nigeria and where it is going?
Funnybone: I think we are getting there, people are beginning to respect what we do, they are getting to like us for what we are and who we are, the difference between us and those who sing is you see them on TV everyday, but as a comedian, there is no channel to which you get to see me perform everyday but I see it getting better. I foresee a time when a comedian gets on stage and addresses an issue based on how he sees it without being scared that someone would write you off or someone somewhere is saying that you are anti- government and anti-social; a time when I do a show and what I earn for the show  sustains me for two years not bothering if you are liking or hating me, just like the way it is in America where it started from; when I can get on stage and speak and the masses would say this comic is making sense but right now there are some things I dare not say because if I say it am off the scene but may be in the next five years it would change, we are getting there gradually.