By Ogbonna Amadi, Entertainment Editor and Iyabo Aina
He is the first ever blind comedian to trot the stage as an entertainer.

Blinded mysteriously at the age of ten, Kelly Blind who defied the taunts of friends and family is today,  one of the most sought after comedians in the country.

Discovered by AY, the Warri boy shares his story

Kelly Egbere a.k.a. Kelly Blind, what kind of name is that?

It’s a stage name. If you call Julius Agwu now, he will tell you he knows who Kelly Blind is

Is Kelly, blind or is he, is joking?

Yes, he’s physically  blind and the name was given to me by AY after I’d I won at one of his  open mic comedy competitions that was held in April 2009. The event took place at the National Theatre Iganmu, in Lagos.

Were you born really blind or something happened along the way?

No.  I wasn’t born blind and something did happen in 1996 when I was still a young boy. I was playing football and if I remembered, I was about ten years old at the time.

As the game of football progressed, suddenly everything around me went dark. And I couldn’t see anything anymore.

Initially I thought it was a minor thing, so I tried to scream and shout for people to come to my rescue. They thought I was joking. My brother helped hold my hand and took me home. And as soon as I got home, I took water and I washed my face.

But the darkness around me persisted and the pains became more increasingly unbearable. Some times I will see and sometimes everything would go blank.

And all the time this was going on, I didn’t think it was necessary to tell my parents. I hide my situation from them.

I thought if I tell them, they will strict me or stop me from going out to lay football.

And how long did you hide it from your parents?

For just three days until the day I was walking on the street and suddenly found myself in the gutter.

My cry of agony brought people to my rescue and I could hear some of them saying “Ah, he is blind O!
Anyway they took me home and finally my father got to hear about it.

My father took me to the General Hospital in Warri and when we get to the hospital, the doctor couldn’t see what was wrong with me and advised that a surgery was the only way out to correct my situation.

He therefore recommended that I be taken to either Enugu or Kaduna where competent doctors could harken to my needs.

In Enugu the doctors told us that it was a fifty-fifty chance and that there was no guarantee that if the operation was successful that I could regain my sight.

Well, my Dad gave him the go-ahead but first only the left eyes be operated on.

But after the operation, there was no improvement as I remained blind.

Frustrated and afraid that I may lose the use of the right eye, Dad insisted that they don’t touch it.
And since that eventful day, I never visited any more hospitals but resorted to visiting Churches and hoping that my miracle would come one day

And what was life like after it dawned on you that you’d never see again?

Actually as a young boy, I wasn’t thinking much then, because I had my mates coming around to hold and play with me. They took me wherever I wished to go. So initially I was not perturbed.    But as I got older, I began to feel the impact of my situation especially when some of the uncaring ones amongst my friends, would call me a blind boy. It tore my heart apart. I would cry my heart out in private and ask God why he allowed this kind of situation to happen to me.

But I thank God that I still managed to have some people around me then, that really made me not to see my disability.

The blindness also disturbed my education because it stopped. I had just rounded up my primary education and was planning to get into high school, when it happened.

Did you eventually continue your schooling?

Yes, after sitting for very long time at home, I got admission into a school for the blind. I stayed that long because there is no such school in Warri.

I arrived Lagos in the year, 2000.

Do you still feel the way you felt as a young boy these days?

Now I think  life generally has really changed.  After attending the school for the blind in Lagos, I no longer feel lonely.

When I see hundreds of blind people who were  my course mates, I just feel like, so I’m not the only one.
In school, we used to yab each. You could call your classmate a blind man knowing you are also blind.

And sometimes when two blind people collide, you’d hear one of them shout out, “are you blind?” .

If I may ask, what’s your love life like?

My love life is as normal as should be. Girls flock around me because they say I make them happy. They say I make them laugh. I get plenty of telephones numbers from so many of my female admirers. And sometime my line is jammed because of the numerous calls I get daily. It is well.

When you notice the blind begging on the street, how does it make  you feel?

I have always been of the opinion that no blind has the right to go begging on the streets because God put something into every human being that enables one to survive with dignity.

In life everyone is blessed with some special gifts.

I have some blind friends who are not comedians but are into sports. There are others who are also into music and other human endeavour.

So being blind is not an excuse for anyone to go begging on the streets.

They way I see this even if you give those beggars on the streets two million Naira each, they will still return to the streets.

So how did you come into comedy?

Let me put it this way. Actually hunger and  hardship brought out the comic side of me.

After my graduation from the school of the blind in 2001, I resorted to playing in the Churches for, while I was in school I’d learnt how to play the keyboard and drums.

But that didn’t last for long because I imagined how somebody could feed with one thousand two thousand in a week. The money I earned from the shows was not enough to sustain me.

It was then I said to myself, pikin wen dem born for Warri no dey carry last and dem sabi comedy well, well.
While I was in school, I used to entertain my course mates. I’d sit with them, start talking and they will just be laughing.

At a point some of them even advised that I go try my luck at the radio and television stations.

Encouraged by the remarks of my friends, I began to buy recorded tapes of the performances by some of the prominent comedians like AY, Alibaba and Op Wiliams’ nite of a thousand laughs.

After listening to most of their jokes, I felt like they were not better than I’m.

And gradually, I discovered that truly I could make better joke that could get the people to laugh.
Based on my self discovery, I decided it was time I tried my luck.

The first thing I decided on was to trace AY’s office in Surulere.

And when he saw me, he asked “Who did you come with”

In reply I said Oga sir, I come alone o! .

And when he exclaimed blind man, I quickly retorted saying ‘Oga, I no blind o, na only me know my problem o! My problem be say na money, and if Governor Fashola fit give me like Five million today, I go see o! And if the money finish I go blind again”.

He asked, what do you want me to do for you, I said “Oga I dey watch this your …

He said wetin?

And I said I’m sorry I dey listen to your programme.

And he was like okay, what do I do for you?

(More shocks for AY)I said this your open Mic . . . , I want to  participate.

Obviously shocked by my utterance, AY asked again.  You want to crack jokes. Okay, tell me how do you

when your jokes appeal to the crowd?

Without wasting time I quickly told him that “Oga my ear dey work, I no deaf. If they laugh, I go hear am”.

Encouraged by guts, he gave me the form which cost three thousand to obtain free and added enough money for to cover my fare.

He said for the fact say only you fit waka come my office as a blind man I go pay your transport Come on the day for the audition, the judges were Alibaba, Gordons ,Klint de Drunk, Bunmi Davies and A Y.

With the rule that you must not crack anybody’s joke, we set out to try out our luck.

There were 96 of us and the other contestants were surprised to see a blind man amongst them.

And the usual talk about the chances of blind man making it began. I was not shaken and waited until it was my turn.

When I went in and I did my jokes, the entire arena erupted with s much laughter that my ears tingled.
And the winning joke was the story of a crippled and a blind who fought at Ojuelegba.

I didn’t complete the joke because Ali Baba stopped me.

When I got outside, the other contestants were  asking what joke I told them inside that scattered the entire hall.

Any way after all said and done, I was declared the winner and as they say the rest done become history.
And how much was given to you for you effort?

I was given Fifty thousand naira.

How do you feel when you received the money?

When I saw the money, my eyes opened instantly and when I had only five thousand left out of it, I went blind again (laughter).

The truth is that the money made me feel really good especially when I remember that my PA never thought I’d succeed.

With the money I won, I went shopping and even helped in selecting my choice of shoes by touching them.
My winning also ensured I got an automatic ticket to perform at Bunmi Davids’ Stand Up Nigeria comedy show.

When the day came I went and I did well. I performed and turned the whole place round. I really hit the people, cracked their ribs before killing them.

I performed at Stand Up Nigeria on two more occassions before moving on.

From that moment, the road opened and more shows started coming in.

It was while performing at Stand Up Nigeria that Opa Williams saw and invited me to be part of A Nite of a thousand laughs.

And Out of the eighteen young talents that performed at the (SUN), only two of us were considered good enough for Opa’s show.

And my first ever big show at the Nite of a thousand laughs happened on October 1, 2009.

And when I was voted the best comedy act for the day, all the big comedians like Alibaba, I Go Dye, Gordons, movers and shakers of the industry were there.

Like how much do you charge?

My fees are moderate

How do your parents feel about today?

When I started out, my parents never knew because I didn’t tell them. I wanted someone to do the telling.
On day, my Dad called me and said our neighbor in Warri told him they were showing me on African Magic.

When he got there and saw the way people were falling over themselves with laughter, he called again and said to me, “Kelly you are making us proud. We have just finished watching you on TV.”

Let’s get back a bit, did doctor give you any hope that one day you’d see?

Yes. That’s what I was told but I will not allow  such operation here in Nigeria. While in school, some of my colleagues told me stories how their sights were permanently destroyed by doctors. So my brother, I don’t want to take chances.

What advice do you have for those youths who do not have jobs, who would  want to steal and do Yahoo Yahoo?

I will tell them if Kelly Blind today can do it, then they have no excuse for going into crime.

They should hold on to God because he is the ultimate. If you have that faith in God whatever, you plan to become in life will become a reality.

Do you have a girl friend?

For now, I have friends but not lovers. When you talk about a lover you are talking about my missing ribs.

Where do you hope to be in the next five years ?

In the next five years, even those who do dey see for the industry go run for Kelly Blind because the kind of things which I will begin to do in will everyone in a shock.

I will be the first blind man to drive a car and by the time I’m through with driving, Lagos mortuaries go full no be small.