Okey Bakassi: If not for comedy, I’d have been a mechanic

Weekend Magazine: You’re famous for being a stand-up comedian but you’re also an actor. How did this happen?Okey Bakassi: When in university, I was more into stage and drama sketches, but more on the comical side and from there I veered into slow performances. Before I went professional, I was already conversant with both. It […]

Weekend Magazine: You’re famous for being a stand-up comedian but you’re also an actor. How did this happen?
Okey Bakassi: When in university, I was more into stage and drama sketches, but more on the comical side and from there I veered into slow performances. Before I went professional, I was already conversant with both. It was very easy for me. I’m an entertainer.
WM: You were former Senior Special Assistant to a former Imo State governor on Entertainment Affairs. After that, what did you get into?
Bakassi: I have been back in Nollywood and the entertainment industry as a whole. Apart from that I also run a laundry business, something I do on the side apart from showbiz.
WM: Are you thinking of dabbling in politics in the future?
Bakassi: It was a very interesting experience, an eye-opener of sorts. Plus I don’t think any university will give you the knowledge you acquire being a participant in partisan politics. Of course, anytime the opportunity presents itself I would do so gladly. Man, they say, is essentially a political animal.
I believe that at this time in our country, I can’t just sit and be an amateur critic of government, but also be willing to serve when the occasion presents itself. If we say bad people are in power, what are we doing about it? Are we saying the bad people have outnumbered the good?
WM: How did the name Okey Bakassi come about?
Bakassi: My name is Okey. The Bakassi part was given to me by colleagues in the business. In the early days of Nollywood, at the onset of the crises between Nigeria and Cameroon over the Bakassi Peninsula, I used to create a lot of material around the situation at the time. It was really more of a transiting factor. And it was said it is Okey that usually gives us the Bakassi update, until somebody shortened it to Okey Bakassi. You know how it is, when you don’t like a name that’s what people tend to want to call you. Initially I didn’t like it, but when they continued, I felt it won’t cost me anything, so I adopted it.
WM: Do you think Nigerian comedians are adequately successful financially?
Bakassi: The most talented may not necessarily be the highest paid or most celebrated. In terms of the highest paid, that’s difficult to determine because you are nobody’s account officer. We’re in a business where there’s so much hype. If the gist on ground is reliable, a good way of knowing this is through corporate endorsements. If it is looked at in the direction of shows, you are not the artist’s manager. In the area of endorsements, I will say Basket Mouth is quite successful because he has been on Glo for a while and they pay quite well. Again, I wouldn’t know the value since it fluctuates. For example, do the math for an artist who gets N1m per show and gets it more often and the one that gets N2m and gets once in a while.
There are those that are celebrated in the media, but sometimes that’s not a reflection of reality because he or she may not necessarily be the most talented. It’s not as black and white as it may seem, but if you sample opinions in the industry, among ourselves we know who the big guys are when it comes to delivery and consistency.       
WM: So who are those ‘big guys’?
Bakassi: We have Ali Baba, Basket Mouth, Bovi, Julius Agwu and myself of course (laughter).
WM: What would you say is the secret to your rise to stardom?
Bakassi: God, hard work and humility.
WM: Your family is in Canada. Do you still shuttle between two countries?
Bakassi: My family is in Canada and my business is in Nigeria. I have to keep going back and forth. It was a tough challenge in the past but it has all smoothened out now. My wife has been very supportive. I have known her even before my career started – for about 24 years now. Without her it wouldn’t have been easy. She has a great sense of humour but she’s camera shy. She’s a very private person.
WM: How would you rate Nigerian comedy?
Bakassi: There are lots of people who are gifted, but their ability to nurture it to professional level is the difficult part. This is because of the way we operate. Our industry is not as specialized as it is abroad. Over there they have writers, who are not necessarily comedians but make their living writing material for the performers. In Nigeria, we write, perform and do everything.
Also, comedy is environmental. What will appeal to people in Nigeria may not fly elsewhere. You have to be situated in a particular environment to be able to do what they can easily relate with. It’s all storytelling, and in doing so you must incorporate elements that will make the audience catch on to what you are talking about within the shortest possible time. So it can be very challenging.
WM: If given a second chance in life, what would you do differently?
Bakassi: I would have set out early to create the kind of structure that we did for the movie industry. I am one of the founding members of the Actors Guild of Nigeria. This was the structure that helped form Nollywood. I would have started earlier to create the framework for the comedy business. We are working at it with some of my colleagues.
Career-wise, we operated in an era when there was no social media and virtually no access to the internet, so the younger generation has it a lot easier. They have the platforms to market their art, which we didn’t have.
WM: If you didn’t become a comedian, what path would you have followed?
Bakassi: Originally, I studied Agricultural Engineering, so if it wasn’t comedy, it would have been engineering. I would love to own a mechanic workshop. I love to fix stuff, especially automobiles.