Everybody calls him Ali Baba. But his real name is Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome. He is from Warri. He is a first-class comedian who changed the face of comedy in Nigeria many, many years ago when it was still a virgin territory. People call him the King of comedy in Nigeria because he was one of the pioneers of Stand Up Comedy. A lot of comedians both male and female have always attached their success story to Alibaba as he has inspired them in many ways. He was born in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria on June 24, 1965, to the royal family of AgbarhaOtor. He is the first son of several children and spent his first 8 years in Warri. His father is a retired soldier who served in Lagos. He attended Ojo Primary School and Command Secondary School in Lagos. He furthered his education at Ibru College in Agbarha-Otor and Bendel State University (now Ambrose Alli University), Ekpoma where he focused on Religious Studies & Philosophy.
After completing his academic degree in 1990, he relocated back to Lagos to develop his comedy talent he discovered at the university. Originally, he planned to study Law but decided he could be more successful by making people laugh than by defending them.
He began his professional career performing at corporate events, appearing on television shows with Patrick Doyle, Charly Boy and Danladi Bako, and making cameo appearances on radio shows with Bisi Olatilo, SaniIrabor and Mani Onumonmu. He also worked with Dapo Adelegan of DP Lekki Limited as an executive assistant in 1991.
With little precedent in Nigeria for stand-up comedians, Ali Baba persevered to professionalize his skills and carve a niche as an innovator and comedian for corporate and non-corporate events and by serving as a Master of Ceremony at many events.
In 1993, he registered his company Alibaba Hicuppuray 3rd to enhance the perception of comedians as a profession and a respected way of life. As part of this work, in 1998, he hired billboards on strategic Lagos streets with the message that became known as “Being Funny is Serious Business.”
Ali Baba maintains the philosophy that his business is big enough for all who want to make comedy their chosen profession. As such, he supports, mentors and presents several comedians helping to ensure that standards are maintained and professionalism encouraged. Ali Baba has been a professional stand-up comedian for the past 30 years and has received several awards. He is referred to as the secret behind most successful comedians in Nigeria.
In a chat with City People Publisher Dr. Seye Kehinde, Alibaba shared so many untold stories about his career, family, business among many other things.
How have you been coping with the lockdown and what has been the challenges so far?
It has been good and I think that the challenges that we are facing now is that we have not embraced new technology and that is why a lot of people are rushing to the banks because we would have been running a cashless society. If we have embraced new technology we would not be unaware or not sure of our numbers of people that we have because we would have a comprehensive database and a better health system, but I think we are suffering from the consequences of our corrupt system and bureaucratic failures. The communication gap is so much that the dissemination of information is difficult and it is not getting to the grassroots and there is a lot of gap between the process and the material, so there are people who are not getting the information that the government is passing. More to that, we have a society where most people live on what they earn daily, so it is hard for such a society to then shut down. Unlike societies where the social security system is so structured that even if you are not working, you get some money but here those that are working don’t even get money not to mention those that are not working. Then you say you shut down in a system where you don’t even have the data and structure for those that are working, those that are not, the aged, physically challenged and many others..We don’t have an insurance structure that helps a lot of people cope. We are all local government by ourselves because we provide security, water, electricity, good roads and many other amenities ourselves. All of that has come to the fore and these Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted all these problems that we have.
How did you take the news and what was your immediate reaction when you heard about Covid-19?
I first heard it when I was in London and it was about what was going on in China and I told someone that this could just be like SARS and if it is like SARS, I hope they curtail it quickly. I remembered when SARS hit America during Barack Obamas time and it was handled immediately and I thought that that was what China was going to do but apparently they did not handle it well and it spread out. It spread to Italy and the country was ravaged and we should have prepared for it when it was spreading. I told someone that I was in a flight with that if this thing gets to Nigeria we would not be prepared for it because we do not even have health facilities and structures that could handle primary health issues. It is sad that we have a government that would rather budget 500 billion to renovate government properties than health structures. Look at where our legislatures and executives live compared to where our police officers live. We are not saying build a gigantic place but at least a comfortable place. we are always not prepared even where we need preparation. For instance, someone who has served in the civil service for 35-years and you have been deducting this money from their salary to pay them pension, but you find it difficult to pay when they retire. That is a case of what we are prepared for, how much more something we are not prepared for and that was what came to my mind the moment I heard about the pandemic.
Let’s talk about Alibaba and Comedy. These are two words we could use Ali Baba and Comedy interchangeably. How does it feel being the king of Comedy in Nigeria?
It is daunting. it is a lot of responsibility and a lot of sacrifice of being like the goldfish in a glass bowl. I am sure that I might not have been perfect but I am holding on.
How does it feel when every comedian mentions Alibaba as their mentor?
It is humbling and I take it in good faith. It helps to keep my head levelled and it is also an honour as well to look back and say it is a recognition that is coming from my colleagues as a result of the so much work that has been put into comedy from the days of Mohammed Danjuma and I till now. I am very grateful and when I hear it I feel honoured that they appreciate our effort that we put into building an industry.
When you look back and where we are today with the introduction of skit and other initiatives, how would you rate the industry?
If the comedy sector was a software that was loading, I think we have loaded up to 40% and there is still a lot work to be done. The structures that helped American entertainment as regards comedy to grow are not available here yet but we are getting there. We are beginning to thick the boxes bit by bit and I am sure we will get there. One great challenge we had then was platforms. We did not have platforms to grow. I had forced my way to be allowed to use most of the platforms that were available then. It was hard for many people to give those platforms then because they didn’t think we would add any value but over the years the value has come to be appreciated and recognised and people are paying top dollars for the value so it is easy to fit into different platforms.
How do you see the introduction of skits and comedy online into the comedy industry?
Stand-up comedy is dynamic. It is like every other sector of business. It responds to the customer’s behaviour. The customer behaviour continues to change and when it changes, you will have to change with it. Back in the industry, as a comedian, I studied marketing patterns and systems. As a comedian, you begin to learn that this is where you are to move your business to. When I started, I was hustling night clubs, Lobito, Night Shifts, Pintos, Bread and Butter, Root Night Club, Palm Groove. I would go from places to places to perform and what I understand there was that it was about growth and people like something that is dynamic. Nobody loves to drink from stagnant water and that is what everyone needs to learn. The dynamic nature of the business then dictates the direction. Every business that is not dynamic dies. If you are not dynamic, you will fail and every initiate is part of the growth process. When you feel you know everything, you lose your position.
What are the things you have done that have made you relevant in the comedy business?
I try as much as possible to create two jokes every day and if I am not doing that, I am reading to keep something in the storage bank.
What inspires your joke?
We are a peculiar set of people and we create jokes from different things. There is a thing line between being funny and being offensive which must be thread carefully. When I create jokes I then look back to sieve it and when I feel I cannot do a particular joke, I give it to someone that can. Jokes are a reflection of our society and we can extract jokes from anything.
Ali Baba is not a coined name in the real sense of it. my real name is Alleluyah and it was a period of shortening names. Like we call Jonathan jo, so Alleluyah was shortened to Alli. Even in school, people don’t want to call my other names so they called Ali and with time as the business was moving we got Alibaba.
How long have you been doing comedy?
It is about 34 years now.
Were there times you wanted to pull out of comedy?
There was never a time like that. If there should be it would have been the early times, looking back now, the conviction was just too much because when I was in school, I was earning a lot more money than my parents and I figured that I would earn more in a larger society. What I did was that I had made so much money at a time that I then decided to take it easy and not attend every event. I was just being selective at that time and there was no time I decided to quit in the career.
Can you tell us your relationship with the ex-president Obasanjo and how you related with him when he was the president and how that has helped the comedy business?
I think the greatest boost to comedy business was given by Obasanjo. He had a great sense of humour, took to it and he became the greatest lover of our art. He welcomed us with opened arms. He loved humour. He loved Baba Sala, Awadakerikeri, Samanja and it was because of him that Samanja took a great boost. The relationship started through Chief Bode George. Bode George called me in 1999 because I was always going to the officers’ mess and I related well with them so well. I was doing comedy for Akhigbe, Ike Nwachukwu, Akigbe because I grew up in the barracks and I understand their language so well, so Bode George said there is a birthday party coming up in 2000. Baba Obasanjo was celebrating his birthday and that was his first as the President. I will speak to them in their language and we will have great fun. so when the opportunity came, they called me that we will be going to Abuja and then I had moved to Lekki Phase 1 then. So they came to pick me at my house in Lekki I drove to the airport but we were not boarding the normal plane. We were heading to the presidential planes and I kept wondering. We got there and I was a surprise for baba Obasanjo. Toyin Okupe was the one that introduced me to Baba Obasanjo. I was cracking jokes and he was not laughing so I decided to pick on him and he responded and I gave punch lines and he served me too and ever since, he became my chief marketing officer. He introduced me to several Governors across the country and that was how comedy hit limelight Nigeria.
