By Ayo Oikoyi

Ben Oyas Perekpo aka Funnychief has been around as far back as 2014 in the skits making space but had very little in terms of wherewithal to see his dream to fruition. According to him, he had to do with what he had at his disposal to make skits.

“I grew up watching Nollywood movies, most especially comedies featuring the likes of the late Sam Loco Efe , victor osuagwu and Charles Inojie. As an entertainer if you don’t have money to follow up with the business you will fall out when others are moving on.

“My team and I came up with the idea of having our own team when there was no one to help us. We came up with the name Sirbalo Comedy. Even at the time, we had no big equipment for production so we started shooting our skits with a blackberry phone because we didn’t have money for cameras but God has been faithful,” he said, recalling the beginning.

” Thank God, making  skits is a lot easier than shooting a movie, perhaps, we wouldn’t  have achieved our dream. Skit is a short video that involves less people or actors and it can be done with or without a budget and  it can be shot with a mobile phone. Movie involves quite a number of actors and it must be done with cameras of different qualities,” he added.

Funnychef said he actually began his foray into the world of entertainment in 2011 as a director of photography before he became part of the Sirbalo Comedy Group. He is from Bayelsa State but had his primary and secondary education in Burutu, Delta State.

“All I wanted to do all my life was acting. I never wanted anything else. I thank God I have come this far, and there’s no regret whatsoever regarding the path I have chosen for myself. Right now, I’m a member of the best Comedy group in Africa, that is, the Sirbalo Comedy Clinic. We are the best in content creation. The level of creativity and sense of humor that comes from the team inspires me a lot, ” he stated.

Of course, the comedian from Bayelsa State and the first child in a family of six admits that fame comes at a price, saying he has lost his private life.

 “Life before becoming a popular content creator was so easy,  no attention from the public but now I can’t live my life anymore. Going out in public has been tasking and demanding. I find it difficult to move around without getting attention,” he said.

Funnychef’s most popular skits include, Ladies Lodge, Mallen College , and How to prepare Banana Rice.

“Ladies lodge is a YouTube series of mine with lots of creativity and hard work and Mallen College is a school series, ” he explained.