Ali Baba: Comedians are now ambassadors, philanthropists

Known as the king of Nigerian stand-up comedy, Ali Baba has been a great source of humour for the past 22 years.

He helped transform comedy from its unwanted status as one for ne’er-do-wells to a very enviable, lucrative business. But Ali Baba is so much more than comedy. He is a reputable motivational speaker, radio show host, master of ceremonies, photographer and writer with a strong flair for creating and developing ideas.

TheCable caught up with him on June 24 when he celebrated his 49th birthday, and he spoke on a number of issues.

Domestic violence on Twitter and Instagram

I talk about a lot of issues. It keeps happening because people do not want to talk about it. There are some things, that are just so unforgivable. I see domestic violence as being in the same category as rape, child molestation, racism and violence of any kind. It is not humane for one to cause pain to someone he/she claims to love. It has become so rampant to the extent that some victims die from it. So, I feel we ought to talk about it before it gets to that point. There are also people who do not think that it is wrong.

Radio show vs stand-up comedy

I have been on radio before but a lot of people do not remember that. I have been on Radio Nigeria 3 Bisi Olatilo. I featured with Mani Onumonmu, Sani Irabor on their radio programmes. I also had an afternoon show on Cool Fm, when they just started. The thing is that I have marked out my target market and I did not feel that radio counted at that time; when the offer from Cool Fm came, I took it because they felt it would provide a bigger platform for me to speak out on issues, as I hitherto have been doing on social media.

Rating the comedy business

If comedy business was a software and we were loading, we would be in 40 or 45% now. There is still a long way to go because there is no structure or measure to the practice. Some people are taking other people’s jokes. They keep recycling jokes over so many years. Some are lazy and are just waiting for someone to form a joke for them to copy. There are a lot of things that we need to do, but I believe we will get there. I know that we have a long way to go, but I’m impressed by the number of people in the industry now and the kind of respect that we are now enjoying. A lot of us are ambassadors, club owners, married with children that we have trained from its profits. Some are philanthropists and we are helping a lot of people. If you are looking for ambassadors, the best ambassadors are comedians because we are in front of people, audiences every weekend. Every week, some are anchoring weddings, birthday parties. Comedians have one-on-one contact with the people.

Diminishing presence on the comedy scene 

It is not that I have not been prominent on the comedy scene, just that when i started, I was doing nearly every show. Then, I just wanted to make sure my stuff was everywhere just to build an industry. We have now gotten to the point where we have been recognized. A lot of people don’t see me in some places because I do more of private shows now. Those who host these private shows do not advertise them on radio or TV. So, people won’t know I performed there. I can’t come and crowd up the scene that the young ones are playing at. If the young ones are doing birthday parties of N150,000 or N250,000 naira, when i come there and say this is what I want to be paid, it will look like what I charge is the whole money meant for the event. Every thing has class, but that is not to say that it is a class distinction. We all work hard so that we can get up to a point where we are at the apex. I performed in Abuja on Friday and on Saturday also in Lagos. I also performed on Thursday and Tuesday last week, but it’s just that the public don’t get to know all these because the private parties are not advertised. At some of the shows promoted by other comedians, I sometimes make appearances to support the guys.

Attaining 50 next year, what’s next for Ali Baba?

I feel like I’m still 30. Age is but a number. There are a lot of things I need to do to structure the industry for people that are coming in. We are planning to begin lecturing comedy in select universities by next year, so that people studying Theatre Arts can have comedy as a career option. Then, as they graduate, they work as masters of ceremonies.