Musicians are bigger than actors, comedians –Boma

Oogbodo (left) and Boma

Boma is a comedian, model and actor. He’s been into entertainment since 2005 so he knows a lot about it. Oseyiza Oogbodo Blog met him recently and took him to task on several issues and he didn’t hold back.

Comedy seems to be growing fast in Nigeria. Would you say comedy is more accepted than music and acting?

As export from Nigeria?

Even in Nigeria, because if we’re frank and realistic, there’s no tangible data of those really making it. Some will tell you the musicians are making the most money than comedians and actors while some say it’s the comedians making the real money. So which genre do you feel is most accepted in Nigeria? Comedy, music or acting?

Well, basically in entertainment, music is the biggest. I can, with my personal knowledge and observations, I can confidently tell you that acting and comedy put together are not up to music. For instance, the first day I heard it that a Wizkid charges up to N25m per event, I just felt that wow, it’s ridiculous. I don’t think Olamide is less than eight, ten million. And P-Square and 2face have been above that range for so long now.

Are you saying the King of Comedy, Ali Baba, doesn’t charge up to thirty million for a show?

Nah. I don’t think so. I think right now Basket Mouth should be the most expensive and I don’t think it’s up to that for him as well.

As a comedian, what’s your plan to take over the industry?

Well, first off, the truth is me, myself and I as Boma, I don’t plan to take over anywhere, I just wanna take over my own space. You know, for instance, why I might not be too much out there is because I have my own plans and I have my own strategies. It’s now I want to do mainstream but the industry players know me. Clients know me. Event companies know me. But at a point, I just felt with my plan, let me just gather some grassroots fan base from weddings, corporate bodies so this is now the time to come out to the mainstream because I didn’t want a situation where I come out to the mainstream and the fame will be more than the fortune. Right now, when some other comedians see me, they don’t believe the way I look, what I drive. Everything is from comedy because I’m not so popular in quote but I’ve been building the foundation so right now I can stand on top of the roof and say I won’t fall any time soon.

How long have you been in this game?

Well, it started from way back in school, 2005 in UI, and we were able to graduate as top most popular, top comedian, we could explore the city of Ibadan in-depth performing in clubs and places and then in 2010 it kicked off fully in Lagos when it started paying the bills.

What’s your biggest event or show so far?

Well, the biggest, in magnitude, or physically, because magnitude is financially.

To you. Or, let’s say your most fulfilling show so far, the one that keeps coming back to you that, that night, that event, and all that.

OK, I, can I remember the year right now, I don’t think I can, but then Goodluck was Vice president and there’s this his close pal, brother, elder brother kind of person from Bayelsa, he’s a King, A.J. Turner, and his daughter was getting married so it was more like a political convergence. And we were just three entertainers on ground. Obviously, it was Aso Rock MCS and suchlike and we just came in as standup comedians and it was myself, Sim Card and Timi Dakolo. Then he just won the West Africa Idols. So, first off, the Sim Card that is a comedian there, I started off as Sim Card Junior, I was his boy, so he was my Oga At The Top, and Timi Dakolo was the rave of the moment so I was even checking myself that can I really meet up, but I stole the show. It was good, and that was the first time my dad and mum sat down and watched me. Initially, they were like you’re going to Abuja too for this wedding, I was like yes, I went to see them in their hotel, obviously my own hotel was better than the one they put them, so when I told my dad my hotel, he was like wow this thing is paying oh. My dad was always against you’re travelling from Ibadan to Port Harcourt to anchor a wedding, how much are they paying, stop risking your life, and then for the first time he was like OK, I see reasons why you make those travels and why you don’t disturb me too much for money.

What actually inspired you into comedy?

Well, I don’t know really because it’s inborn, it just started, like I got the name Boma when I was five years old.

Is it because of where you’re from? Where’re you from?

I’m from Bayelsa, but then I was from Rivers State, you get? So, my aunty just came back from America when I was five, and at five, I could engage her, I could engage adults, I just talk, and then there was a famous radio broadcaster in Rivers then, Boma, so they were like this kid is Boma, you know because I wasn’t just making noise, I was actually talking to make sense. Like I could remember the first day I resumed school, as in resumed Nursery 2, my elder brother beat me up a day before and I already knew that English, I crammed it, and I asked one elderly person the meaning, Nursery 2, and I was just waiting to prove a point where, as in where I got it from, and when I resumed school and came home, I walked up to my brother and said, I see no reason why you beat me up yesterday. And he was like ah ah, your school fees dey work. So it’s been that interesting, and I didn’t know where it was leading me, but I never saw myself doing the office job, so it just flows.

Are you married?

I don’t even have the bae yet. I don’t know if I’m searching, but I’m single.

OK, can you tell us why, because we’ve found out that when guys are young and successful, they find it difficult to get a life partner because they don’t know if women are interested in them or their money. Is that also your case? Or you don’t plan to marry like Don Jazzy?

No, I go marry oh, because I like children. But the deal is, inasmuch as I’m not directly searching, searching, searching, I’ll still tell you the truth. It’s difficult.

Babes come on to you, right?

Yes.

And you’re able to know they don’t really like you?

We call them groupies. They don’t really like you as an individual. They like you for what you do, for the spotlight. They just wanna take pictures with celebrities. They’re ready to give you everything that makes you feel like they are your girlfriend, they’re ready to tell you the I love you word, but the day you begin to date them, probably marry, and you’re no longer a celebrity to them because you guys are now one, they lose it and head on to the next one. That’s why a lot of celebrity marriages don’t last. There’s this lady, when I was in The Next Movie Star, and it’s the most useful advice I’ve gotten from a celebrity, a bigger entertainer, Foluke Daramola, she said, don’t marry your fan, as an entertainer. She cited the example of her own crashed marriage. Because the day you marry your fan, the person will be your fan until your wedding. After marriage, you guys are now one, the person so it was your entertainment flair that attracted the person. Just as a comedian, by the time you’re married, your wife probably must have heard all the jokes at home, so even if she’s watching your show, she’s not laughing, so she’s no longer your fan, but she was. So, first off, I’ll say it’s hard, because I’m struggling not to marry my fan, but with the nature of my business, I get to meet people who are around entertainment, and it’s a fight not to get close no matter how beautiful they are, except that one that really proves a point. Like I’ve a friend, he’s a colleague, I’ll withhold his name, his wife doesn’t even know Wizkid, so that’s the best an entertainer can marry and I look forward to having that kind. And then again, I’m still open, because it doesn’t mean you can’t find a woman in entertainment that can be responsible. I look up to people like Timi Dakolo when it comes to marriage. Some will say don’t bring your marriage to social media. But he does it. Obviously they have their odds. But so far so good, you don’t need rocket science to know that they’re having a beautiful life.