From Jagua To Ali Baba: Humour In Contemporary Nigeria

Abstract

This paper, using data from interviews, newspapers, social media, videos, blogs, and secondary text, argues that there is a flourishing humour industry in Nigeria. It hypothesizes that this industry is the next big thing after Nollywood. The principal explanation being the national fan-base and ubiquitous adulation of such humourpreneurs like Ali Baba, Basketmouth, kilnt the Drunk, Princess, Julius Agu, AY, and OkeyBakaasi. So successful have these humour impresarios become, that few will grace a thirty-minute event for less than fifteen thousand dollars. What’s more? They are increasingly in demand in several countries outside Nigeria. However, the situation was not always like this. In the eighties, the superstars of Nigerian clowning, mockery, ridicule and satire included household names like: Jagua, Danjuma, Gringory, Baba Sala, Mr B, GbengaAdeboye (Funwontan), Aluwe, and Zebrudaya. Twenty years later, virtually all of them were reeling in one strait or the other. Ironically, this was about the same time that the boom in the Nigerian humour landscape- and the likes of Ali Baba with it – was taking off. Today, the metamorphosis to Nigerian humour is such that a successful comedian is another name for a Nigerian elite. What is responsible for this transformation? Are Kieth and Bergen’s theories of an intersection between humour and public opinion, inter alia, applicable to Nigeria? Essentially, this study pioneers the debate about how and why the Nigerian humour industry is where it is presently.