Ali Baba: At 50, I can still run 100 metres in 12 seconds

Atunyota Alleluya Akporobomerere, popularly known as Alibaba, turned the big 50 on June 24. His beautiful Nicon Estate residence hosted family and friends who came to felicitate with one of Nigeria’s most iconic comedians.

Alibaba spoke to TheCable about how it feels to be 50 – life lessons, the struggles, rules of the comedy game. He also talks money.

How does it feel to be 50?
I don’t feel any different. I am really okay. I just believe that you are as young as you think you are and apart from that, there is also nothing for me to brag about that I am 50.

Because there are people who are 35 who have done a lot more than you have done. There are people that, at 40, have done things that you have not done at 50. So it’s just to be thankful to God for everything that you have accomplished and then plan to do more.

It doesn’t seem like there’s any Nigerian comedian who has done more than you have?

I think it’s just a matter of God’s disposal because you propose and God disposes. I am sure if it were any other comedian that came before me to change the industry, it would have been a similar story. It’s just that I had a head start so I probably made some of the rules that developed the industry.

How would you define those rules?
One is how to negotiate. Then what to do to develop yourself, what not to say on stage, how to gather information to create jokes. Another one is how to manage your fame and how to remain humble. How not to take the customer for granted. Then to always do better than what the customer paid for and other things like that.

Are you going to be writing a book about these things?
Yes, it is something we have already started working on and my publisher is even in the house now. There are actually three books that I am working on. One is for the industry and It’s a book that teaches people who are coming into the industry how to go about what they are doing – a bible of the industry, as it were. The other one is a book for everyone who is a professional and it’s a book of life achievements in general. The third one is a personal story of my journey.

Tell us the defining moment of your life?

Well, there are several of them. The show that did happen in Ekpoma. My decision not to read law and face stand-up comedy because of the indications that I saw that I’ll do better and be of more value to my family and myself than if I had read law. And I was proven right.

The struggles were much and complicated; the thing is because it was a new genre and there was no precedence to rely on. So it wasn’t like there was an established procedure like a lawyer where you go to Law school, then you finish from there and start to practise in the chambers and there was nothing like that. If you say you want to become a comedian, you need to impress it upon people that you have something that people would need. The bottom line of every talent you have is that you have to transform it to a service for somebody to appreciate that they would pay money for it.

So that process was rigorous, long and tasking. These days, you’ll find that a comedian enters the industry and in a year or two he has bought a car, rented a new house and become a sought-after comedian – unlike my time when I started from 87 up until 94 before things started getting better.

How did it all change in 1994?
A lot of things started to change around that time that people now thought what I was doing was worth supporting and now started using my services more often. My value proposition now started defining itself. People needed me at their events to bring a different angle to the event, bring even more people to the event and make people stay longer.

So how is the money coming in these days?
The difference now from when I was hustling [is that] I would do seven or eight shows to make the money that I would make form one show now. However, even at that time, there was need for me to be generous because for the money I was making, it would have been criminal for me to spend it alone. Then, there was so much money.

Do you have any other business interests?
Yes, there are other business interests, which include oil  and gas, property, motivational speaking and ideas development.

How is your body giving you signs of old age?
Ah, my knee! Number one is my knee and these days I get a lot more people calling me ‘egbon’. Before I could play one hour thirty minutes of football but not anymore. I am still the fastest parent because I still run 100m in about 12 seconds unlike before. My time was 10.9 seconds when I was much younger.

I still try to keep fit by walking. I jog and I ride my bicycle; I swim, I diet, and I have stopped eating once it’s 8pm.

What are your top life lessons at 50?
Eat less meat, sleep more, be humble, drink a lot of water, hard work pays, be creative whatever your career, respect achievers and always share. Don’t hide information that could make someone’s career grow. That way, you don’t become competition, you become a source.