*Vanguard Cartoon Editor, Ali Baba, Basketmouth, others shine on the night

By Benjamin Njoku

The comedy industry reverberated like never before last Sunday, as the maiden edition of the Nigerian ComedyAwards went down at Eko Convention Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The awards night, organized by Wale Adenuga’s WAP TV, was graced by who’s who in the comedy space.It was indeed a night of comedy, music and dance as the big names in the industry were honoured following their contributions towards the growth of the comedy business in this part of the world.

King of comedy, Alibaba alongside veteran actress, Shola Shobowale, the Ajasco family and wale Adenuga himself among others went home with special recognition awards.

Others winners on the night included Basketmouth, who clinched Best Stand-up Comedian(Male), while Helen Paul won that of the female category. Adebowale Debo went home with Best Comedy maker(male)award, while Maryam Akpaokagi akaTaaooma bagged Best Comedy skit maker(Female).

Also, it was a big win for Vanguard Cartoon Editor, Dada Adekola who won Best Comedy Cartoonist award with a cash prize of N1 million.

Adekola defeated  the Nation newspapers’  cartoonist , Solomon VI to clinch the coveted award.

Elated Adekola thanked God for coming this far, having been in the cartoon profession for almost four decades.

According to him, he has been  in charge of ‘Mr &Mrs’, the  Cartoon that won him the award for 27 years.

“At this point, if a special group of people led by a special person of Mr wale Adenuga decided to recognize ‘ “My little contribution with a special award on a special night, at a special event in the presence of a special audience. On behalf of my family and the management and staff of Vanguard newspapers, thank you again,” Adekola said in his acceptance speech.

Like Adekola, popular skit maker, Layi Wasabi won the Revelation of the Year Award with a N1 million grand prize.

In his welcome, the Chairman of WAP TV, Wale Adenuga, MFR, said comedy has always been his passion from: Cartoon Magazine (1976); to Papa Ajasco movie, Nigeria’s first English comedy Film (1984), to Papa Ajasco & Company, Nigeria’s longest running TV comedy Series (1997); and to the recent Akpan & Oduma series with over 120 million views on Youtube and Facebook.

He said, “Also, the intentional infusion of comedy into our award-winning Dramas – Superstory and the Babington Family and WapTV our 24-hour Family Entertainment TV Network has made the brands very popular across the globe.

According to him, Nigeria’s comedy industry, as a subset of the country’s entertainment industry, is very large and diverse-cutting across comedy TV series, Stand-Up Comedy, Comedy Movies, MusiComedy, Comedy Shows, Funny Skits, Newspaper Cartoons, Animation and Executive Humour.

He said that WapTV had done its best “to reward excellence in all these areas.”

“Not only is my heart full of joy for accomplishing this historic awards night, I am also elated that 24, 2023, marks first, my 75th Birthday; second, the presentation of my biography; third, the 48th Anniversary of my blissful marriage to Ehiwenma, my beautiful jewel of inestimable value and (4) the 20th Anniversary of PEFTI Nigeria’s foremost Film Institute, he added.

The event featured performances from 2Baba and 9ice, who thrilled the audience with some of their evergreen songs. It also witnessed the cutting of Wale Adenugu’s 75th birthday cake as well as the launch of his biography.