Okechukwu MacAnthony Onyegbule, aka Okey Bakassi, is one of the most talented comedians and actors in Nigeria In 2014, he won the “Best Actor in a Leading Role (Igbo)” category at the 2014 edition of the Best of Nollywood Awards for his role in the film Onye Ozi
Okey Bakassi always wanted to entertain even though the college River State University of Science & Technology at which he schooled did not have a theatre arts department.
He has been one of the most prominent comedian in Nigeria; Here are some of the thoughts of OKEY BAKASSI, and everything you ever thought of knowing about the star.
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What makes a good comedian?
Originality is very key; spontaneity very important; mastery of your audience. For me, those three ingredients. Once you are comfortable with your stage craft, you are original and you are spontaneous, the only thing that can stop you is yourself.
Why do most people find it difficult to make it in comedy?
The reason is that they are not original; they come into the business on the shoulders of other people’s materials, then you rise to a certain stage that you come face to face with those that you’ve been depending on their materials. When you are coming up, you are not playing in the big league. So, you are comfortable working with these materials, going to small gigs, making an impact, being celebrated gradually. But sometimes, you grow so fast that you suddenly find yourself face to face with those that you’ve been using their materials right in front of you. Then, you discover that you don’t have the content that can sustain a career. You can only get to a certain level on borrowed glory. That’s the problem.
What is the costliest mistake that any comedian can make?
The costliest mistake that you can make is to get the opportunity to play on the big stage and bungle it. Because you can get away with some little-little mistakes here and there; especially when you go to events that I may consider not career-changing or career-altering. But once you get that event that can change the course of your career, if you bungle it, it may cost you so much.
For a comedian, what are the best ways to come about good jokes?
I think it’s by being a very good observer. You have to be in tune with your environment. Basically, all the materials that we use come from the environment; come from interacting with people. They are life stories, they are not new stories, they are things that happen everyday. So, being a good observer includes being a good listener, studying and listening. Which is why most times when you isolate yourself from the source of these materials, you begin to go dry.
What do you like most about being a comedian?
What I love most is that freedom to express myself. What ordinarily would have been negative can work for you positively. Now, what do I mean? You know the fact that sometimes people don’t take you seriously can be an advantage. It allows you that freedom to say your mind, to speak your mind. Those who want to judge you will judge you, those who want to think it’s a joke will think it’s a joke. But knowing that you can say exactly how you feel, it comes with some level of joy. And then make those points and make them publicly.
What don’t you like about being a comedian?
Funny enough, almost the same thing again – the fact that you have to convince people that you are serious. Especially when you want them to take you seriously. It can be a challenge.
What is the greatest thing that comedy has done for you?
The greatest thing is that it has won me a lot of admirers; people who admire and love what you do because you bring them joy. Not just because you are famous, not just because you are a celebrity. Anybody can be a good musician; a good actor can be a celebrity. A successful comedian is a different kind of celebrity. Because essentially, what we do is that we make people laugh. And once somebody sees you and they break into a smile, that means you’ve touched them in a very special way. Even without you saying a word; it opens them up to listen to you, to want to pay you attention and that translates into a lot of goodwill.
What has comedy not done for you?
(Thinks) What has comedy not done for me? I’ve never thought about that. Honestly! I’ve never thought about what comedy has not done for me. Then again, maybe because my career in entertainment, I don’t see standup comedy in isolation of all the other things that I do. I see acting, standup comedy and the rest of the things that I do as one integral unit. So, I’ve not been able to isolate only standup comedy as an art form and say okay, what has it not done for me?
What distinguishes Okey Bakassi as a comedian?
I’m very original. Then again, everybody can say they are original, but I believe those who have followed my career for the past 20 years; I’ve done this thing professionally for 20 years. 1993 till now. Those who have followed my career, even without seeing my face; when I come on stage, they know what an Okey, being spontaneous and being comfortable with my craft, can do. Right from when I started. I’ve seen people grow in this business on the back of some of the materials that I did in 1994, 95 and the rest. I’ve seen them turn it over and again and again.
So, just being original. And that is why people can afford to copy you and people want to be like you. Being comfortable when you are on stage. I’ve run into people who say that what captivates them about my stagecraft is not just what I say, but the body language. That it excites them – the head movement, the hand movement. Some of these things are involuntary. It’s just who I am. So, that people can watch and realize that when I speak, I don’t just speak with my mouth, I speak with the entire body, it means there’s a synergy between what I say and the rest of the art form.
Why do most people attain success in comedy, but find it difficult to sustain it?
You see, longevity in standup comedy is a very tough thing. I know the people that I started with and I can count how many of them are still in the business. Like I say – who are still competitively in the business. Because sometimes when they begin to fizzle out gradually, they become MCs, they become talk show hosts; they gradually ease themselves off standup comedy. Because it’s a very highly competitive art form. So, I think why people find it difficult to sustain it in the long run is that they lose focus after a while; because with money comes loss of focus. Some people came into this industry because they were hungry and needed what to do. They can’t sing, they can’t act very well or even when they can act, movies may not give them the kind of money they need going solo. Because standup comedy is about going solo. So, they will embrace standup comedy. Do it for maybe 5 years, along the line, they find they’ve made money. And you see, with the money comes a certain level of isolation. You move into an area, you want to play with the big boys. I’ve seen a lot of my friends migrate to areas where they practically shut themselves out of reality. So, there’s a reason I pick the kind of places I live. It’s because of how I function and how my environment has impacted on my art form. I want to be able to get out of the house and mix with the people; I want to see the everyday things of life, I want to see the woman who is selling akara and those who are buying; the person who is playing Baba Ijebu. I want to be able to witness these people. But you see, with wealth comes a certain level of class that you now want to isolate yourself from those things in the first place that helped you to rise. So, you live in a bigger house, there’s a wall around you, the kind of cars you drive, everything just automatically puts a distance between you and the people that you get your materials from. So, with the fame, like I said, comes the challenge of creativity. You will find that you are more creative when you are hungry. Hunger now; it depends on how you define it. You are more creative when you are hungry. So, it’s up to you as a creative person to sustain that hunger in whatever way. Now, hunger is not just a function of being able to buy food. It may be hunger for knowledge. I think some of them, they take their eyes momentarily off the ball and they lose it.
You started out as an actor, but along the line comedy took over. Why did you step aside from acting?
You know, funny enough, I’ve always done both. I can’t even say that I started acting first because the thing is that standup comedy as an art form, as a professional art form that you can make a living from in Nigeria, was not defined when I started. You could hardly see anybody that you could say was making a living strictly from standup comedy. So, for me, it was just a matter of fun. But acting was more defined at the time, which was why I guess most people who have followed my career will identify me and my early days as an actor before standup comedy. But I know as the one involved that way back in FGC, Port-Harcourt (Federal Government College), my first ever performance in front of an audience was at Federal Government College, Port-Harcourt; followed by the performances I had when I was in Rivers State University of Science and Technology. Then, it was as a result of constantly interacting with the audience that I met friends who were in the drama group. They invited me over to their audition; to their rehearsal. A friend of mine invited me over and I saw somebody who was not carrying the role properly. I complained and they said, can you do it? I said, of course; it’s very easy. They said okay, come and try it and I got the role. That was how acting came into the mix. So, all through my university days, we were doing comedy sketches, we were doing departmental comedy and when I came to serve in Lagos, I became a member of the NYSC group, I became part of Zeb Ejiro’s Ripples on NTA. But there was no clear-cut platform for standup comedy to find expression. Not until we started going to Jazzville, in Onike-Yaba, where there will be a live band, live audience, then we will walk up to the microphone and just freestyle. Then, came Nite of a 1000 Laughs. Then, things started developing, unfolding. Today, it’s a profession that somebody can say right from when you graduate, I want to make a living out of it or out of school, you want to go and do standup comedy. Way back, there were no structures in place. We just had maybe the likes of John Chukwu who were MCs, who also had clubs where they were entertaining. But it wasn’t an industry like it is now. Even right now, it’s still a very small industry. How many are we? So, that is why it’s easy for people to say okay, the acting came first before comedy. But it has always run concurrently. But then again, what happens is that for me, both aspects of my career have grown. I’ve learnt to operate within seasons. There are seasons when movies become more rewarding. I will do a couple of movies. Then, there are seasons when standup comedy is better; it’s more financially rewarding. Like now! This is the season for comedy. It will be difficult to convince me to go and spend 2 weeks on locations, shooting a movie. Because if I check the number of shows I will miss in 2 weeks, it will not be financially reasonable for me to go and do that.
You just did a new film which many people have applauded. That is talking about Onye Ozi (The Messenger). Can you tell us about it; your experience?
Onye Ozi, The Messenger, is one project that is so close to my heart. Most people don’t know this – I was supposed to play one of the key characters in The Mirror Boy. Obi Emelonye (the producer/director) sent me a script for The Mirror Boy, I looked at the script, we were getting ready for The Mirror Boy, but some business considerations came into it and they had to go shoot in another African country and he decided that if I’m going to shoot in this country, I might as well incorporate some artistes from that country and that was how I lost out of The Mirror Boy. But he still had that ambition to work with me. We’ve done projects; we did a movie sometime ago. I guess he fell in love with my work ethics and was looking forward to working with me again. So, when we couldn’t do The Mirror Boy, this other project came up, he called me and he said Okey, there’s another project that I want us to work on. For me, it was easier to decide because I’ve gotten to a point in my career – after politics I made up my mind that whatever I was going to do, movie-wise; now, mind you, movie is team work; standup comedy is you and the microphone and the audience. So, for me, that one is a given. If I go before the audience, I know what I want to do. But with movies, it depends on a whole lot of factors – the director, the producer, the script, other people you are playing alongside. Anything could go wrong. So, for me, I decided after politics that if I must feature in any movie, it has to be a movie that is capable of elevating my career; it won’t be same old-same old; it won’t be a movie that doesn’t take you anywhere beyond where you’ve been. So, when Obi brought the script, I looked at it and he went through it in details with me – what he wanted to achieve with it. I immediately identified with the project and I’m very grateful to God that it came out right.
What can you tell us about the movie, Onye Ozi?
The movie, Onye Ozi! Onye Ozi is a story of…a simple story, but well treated. It’s the story of a young man, like most young men here, who wants to go overseas to seek greener pastures. He gets lucky to find himself in a relationship with a UK-Nigerian citizen who wants to marry him and give him the opportunity to come to the UK to earn a living. On arrival in London, he’s given himself a 2-year plan to make the money that he needs and come back to Nigeria, because he wants to live in Nigeria. But on arrival in London, it’s a different story that unfolds. So, the intrigues, suspense, comedy, drama, everything will play out in the movie called Onye Ozi.
Okey Bakassi makes other people happy with his jokes, what makes Okey Bakassi happy?
Yeah! Good enough, it’s a symbiotic kind of relationship. I make people happy and I derive my happiness to a good extent from seeing people happy, because at the end of the day, when the job is done, it leaves you with a good feeling. That is one. But when I’m not doing that; usually, when I take my holiday and spend time with my kids, it’s my best moment. I love to just take the kids to school. It’s special for me because I don’t live with them on a full time basis. So, that opportunity to play with them, run around with my boy, gives me special joy. When I’m not doing that, I love sports. I am an Arsenal fan. When I was in Imo State, I was supporting my local team, Heartland as well (Laughs). I also love the Eagles. Recently they’ve been in fine run of forms. So, soccer in Nigeria is becoming more and more exciting. I love soccer generally, I love swimming; I love to swim.
Let’s talk about your family. Tell us about them…
Well, I have a wonderful family. A lovely wife. My wife’s name is Ezinne. But I call her Zizi. I have two beautiful girls and one handsome bobo. My first daughter is Chidera; the second one is Feechi and the boy is Chetanna. They all live in Canada, they school there and daddy misses them a whole lot. But I’m blessed. One of the things that also gives me joy is the fact that we as a family have been able to separate our family life from my professional life. And I love it like that.
Why don’t you live with your wife and your children?
Oh, they’ve always lived in Canada…
They live in Canada, you live in Nigeria, how do you cope?
It’s tough, it’s a very lonely life, but what has happened is that in some ways, the people that I entertain have become like an extension of my family. Because almost on a weekly basis, I interact with maybe, on the average, 2000 people. So, I’m always surrounded by people. But when I retire after the day’s job, I love to be in a quiet environment, because it helps me focus, it helps me reason. So, I miss my family a lot. Circumstances have made the people I meet in the course of my work my second family. But it has not been easy. It has not been easy.
As a celebrity and being all alone in Nigeria, don’t you get tempted sometimes by women?
Yeah! Temptation is constant. Even in the Holy Book, for we Christians, temptation is never far away. As a human being, I’m going to be very, very honest about everything. We are confronted everyday by temptations – whether you have your wife in front of your car or you work in the same office with your wife, it’s not an insulation against temptation.
It’s a case of the mind. So, as a person, what you try to do is to as much as possible, stay close to your God; fight the ones you can fight. Sometimes the things of this world overwhelm you. When people talk about temptations most times, they only liken it to temptation of the opposite sex. There are other kinds of temptations that prevail. Especially today. The worst kind of temptation today is even economic; it’s not women. It’s at the heart of why people do all the things that they do. It’s not even for sexual perversion. It’s economic. The girls are out in the streets because they need money to survive and because they are out there, they need money to survive, the men become prey. They are all in our faces. Then, for the men too, they need money to survive. So, you have the huge temptation of do I live and operate my principle or do I compromise? These are things that can push you off track in today’s world.
You have told too many jokes, no doubt. Which of your jokes do you like best and why?
Do I have any? I don’t think that there is one material that I can say…I know different audience respond to different things. Because the way I’ve structured my art form is such that if for instance I’m opportuned to entertain the VVIP, the A-class, the highly educated, mixed audience, diplomats, foreigners, you have to take it higher. You need to do something that will cut across cultures. I have those kind of materials that I do when I’m faced with such challenges. Then, you have the ones that when you meet the regular people, not too educated, not too enlightened, they don’t want anything too sublime, they want you to just keep it basic. You also have those kind of materials. And they pack a lot of punch too. Like the ones that you do when you meet the VVIP. For them at that level, when it makes sense, then you crack them up. But when you take that same material and you come down to these other people, it becomes too academic. So, it’s difficult to say. But there are themes that I like. When I do materials that revolve around family, I’m at my best; when I do things that revolve around family. Yeah!
(C) Control TV 2020.
