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AUGUST 11, 2012
ENTERTAINER ‘Tee A go and do it’, it was just about business and when it was getting big like you need someone to help you draw invoice, do letters, it was not like a gamble, it was being focus on work.
Tales by Moonlight The funny thing about me is that it has really never crossed my mind to work elsewhere. All I have done revolved around entertainment. Right from the time I finished secondary school, before I gained admission into the university, I was already doing Tales By Moonlight. I remember when Wale Adenuga came to recruit some of us from the Theatre Arts department for his production. We were the first set of cast for Papa Ajasco & Company, so we had already known that that was the direction we were heading. Discovering my passion Did I even discover my passion? I just got used to those feelings. I used to mimic lecturers in school. When we were in secondary school, there was no teacher I could not mimic, and everybody will just laugh. The same thing followed me to the university. It is just natural for me to want to entertain, to look at things and look at the funny side of it. Parental opposition My mother will just say as long as it does not affect your education you can go ahead. I started quite early, when it was time for riddles and jokes, I was the person they used to push forward. I remember my English teacher, Mrs Oto will say ‘this boy is just a clown’, she will ask me to do something and I will just do something else, everybody will just be laughing. When everything is dry they will just say ‘Tee-A, go and pick the microphone’. I remember from JSS 3, comedy has been a part and parcel of me. Even if by tomorrow I say I don’t want to entertain any more, that I want to be a pastor, I can’t still kill the humour side of me. Why I studied Theatre Arts I was admitted to University of Lagos to study African and Asian Studies, and I also gained admission into University of Ibadan to study Theatre Arts, it was Diploma in Theatre Arts, and it was my experience in UI that really inspired me. I wasn’t there for long; it was just for the period of the auditioning and the training. The school had a registration process then, the student would go to the department to register and then apply, if you were selected, you would then go for the audition. So, when I was going for my audition, they had some senior students, who were helping some new students with their audition tests. One of the most brilliant students in t h e school t h e n was a young and pretty lady called B i m b o Akintola. I met her
and started calling her mummy and aunty. I would ask her that ‘aunty, come and help me with this and that’. Thankfully, she liked me and told me she would help me. That was how Bimbo took charge of preparing me for the exams, she taught me a lot of things, helped me in many ways especially with my auditions. Of course, she was a brilliant actress and singer and also very popular on campus. My experience after I passed was that I would help someone from the way I was helped. I had to come back to UNILAG, that was how Bimbo and I became very good friends, till tomorrow. If I see her now she would say ‘’ah my son, come here’’, that’s the sort of close relationship we have and share. Theatre 15 I was in the Theatre 15 at the time in UNILAG. It was when my set was leaving that the school created the Department of Creative Arts. Theatre 15 had a lot of students at the time; there were students from Architecture, Engineering and all sorts. Uncle Tunji Bamishigbin was a member, also Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi; so many prominent people were members of that group. When I started in school, Princess was there, Koffi too, these people are much known today and that gives me joy. One day, we went for a show in Benin, Ali Baba and Trybesmen and I, the show was in UNIBEN, that’s was where we met Basket Mouth for the first time, he was just a student there and today look at him. AY too was there, I remember he would come to Lagos to book Ali Baba for shows. My joy now is that what we started then is now paying off and has produced so many young and great people. That on its own is an inspiration. My TV show It is not as if we are making so much more money from the show, it’s just another platform, not everybody gets to see you at events, nobody gets to see you do stand-up and you have to reach out to everyone so it’s like broadening your horizon. We have quite a number of fans, just expanding the horizon to
reach out to more fans, that is what the TV show is all about. It has its own fan base and they follow us even when we do events. We stopped the show to rebrand and repackage, you have to keep re-inventing yourself, I don’t believe in being stuck to one thing that I have done. I have done TV, I have done radio; there is always something to do at every point in time. A talented person should find various ways to express his talent other than sticking to one format. But thank God for his mercies, the new show has gone far above my expectations, the show is a year and a couple of months old and landmark achievement has been made within that limited time. The feedback we get from fans and viewers has been very encouraging. The show has also been very constructive, though, we get some criticisms and encouragement here and there, we try to take everything and come out with a better production, which is what we have done with the season three. Going to Ghana The reception in Ghana has been very encouraging. Prior to this time, I could go anywhere in Accra and do anything I like but on this last trip, I couldn’t go anywhere without one or two people recognizing me. They were like ‘I think I know this face, you appear on television’ so it shows that people are watching. On Tyme out Lounge Nothing really went wrong; it was just some little issues here and there, which we thought we w e r e going t o sort