By Victor Gotevbe

Comedy is a tough business to become a part of. You either start writing it, hit the stage to perform it, or you do both. Stand-up is the ‘cruelest’ of all the forms that comedy manifests itself. Being a stand-up comedian can be very demanding, as it takes just the right blend of writing, timing and delivery.

Add a live audience that sometimes wants nothing more than to make your life miserable and you can see why being a stand-up comedian is no laughing matter ,unless, of course, you are as exceptionally gifted with a microphone in your hand as Owen Gee who is referred to as the Krazy (crazy with a kick) comedian in Nigeria and the comedian’s comedian.

Owen has a unique timing and quirkiness that meshes well with whatever you would categorize his stage act as. He can make you laugh with current happenings, he can sing you a song he wrote or he can just stand and tell jokes. And he always has that one final joke in the routine that brings the house down even as an excellent compere.  Owen Gee, a father of two boys takes Saturday Youthful Vibes on a journey of how he climbed the hall of fame.

You don’t look like you have tasted poverty, or were you born with a silver spoon?

No! I was not born with a silver spoon but I was also not born poor. I was instead born with a wooden spoon meaning that my family was average. My father was a construction worker and my mother was a trader and we lived in a three bedroom flat and could afford to go to our village for holidays.

What was your upbringing like?

In 2001, I graduated from Yaba College of Technology where I studied Mathematics and Statistics after which I proceeded for  National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and I had my primary assignment with PPMC (Pipeline and Products Marketing company).

I was raised at Palmgroove (Ilupeju) in Lagos State. I grew up in a family of seven (7) with two sisters and two brothers and we were pretty much exposed to an early life of entertainment as our parents allowed us choose our passion for the Arts earlier on in life.

Owen Gee

It was always fun to listen to Cindy Lauper, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lionel Richie, Smokies, Teddy Pendegrass, Onyeka Onwenu, late Christy Essien Igbokwe, Chris Okotie and Felix liberty. We had a lot of love from our parents and could afford to eat three square meals as the economy was far much better than it is today. We were also shown the importance of knowing and loving God and honouring the clarion call to serve our country.

What motivated you to get into comedy?

My brother, hunger motivated me to get into comedy (He smiles). I gave up my oil and gas job for a life on the stage. I really got into comedy by chance because I started out as a musician but since the acceptability wasn’t there, I decided to try my hands at telling jokes and I instantly became a hit at my first try and have never looked back since then.

Any mentor?

I have tried to choose mentors over the years but have not gotten around to it, maybe because I don’t read books or hardly follow the behaviourial patterns of other people. However, I think my greatest mentor would be Jesus Christ.

Would you say the industry here is more lucrative than it is elsewhere?

No ,because the industry is still practically new over here. It is not more than 25 years old here but it has existed for about 100 years in some countries abroad. Besides, there are structures and pre-planning which make it easy for them to achieve a lot under limited time and limited conditions.

They also have corporate support and backing as well as government recognition. The lengthy planning time and investment make it yield higher profit there, making the artiste yield more money unlike Nigeria where you can only quickly make a little and move on to grabbing another one.

What challenges have you faced making impact in this industry?

They are numerous. A few of them are around sponsorship for personal events, atmosphere for proper creativity, expenditure equaling earnings, total acceptability of this trade as a business and so on.

How do you give back?

Presently, I am an ambassador to some Not for Profit NGOs. We fight various causes which include awareness on some diseases and also the stoppage of human trafficking. Personally I render assistance to up and coming artistes who are truly talented and have a future in the industry.

In the midst of the challenges faced by Nigerians, how does laughter help to ameliorate their situation?

We simply turn those ugly and stressful situations into comedy by studying the less sensitive parts of the issues at hand and creating humour from them.

What are you up to these days?

A lot is happening. I have been doing a great deal of performances on the international scene lately. Furthermore, I just shot a comedy sitcom that I partly own called SAINT N SILLY with koffi and Lepacious Bose. I am also working on my own television show and will be doing a major performance at the Muson in April alongside my friend, YAW of Wazobia FM.

Any counsel for the Nigerian youth?

This country holds a lot of promises for us all and these promises will become realistic very soon. Opportunities exist if you truly look inwards, take positive opportunities and turn them into possibilities before turning them into reality, anything and everything is possible if you believe and work hard at it and remember always that there is a God above.