What is the secret behind your success in Nigeria’s entertainment industry?
I’ve been in the industry for quite a while. Art is about performing and talent is very common. That’s why we see talents sprouting out from everywhere. But, when talent is not harnessed by skill and competence, which is either acquired through education or a long period of service in the arts one falls apart. Basorge has harnessed his common talent with skill and competency. I am schooled and trained. I’ve been there for over 30 years and this has given me enough experience to operate and be successful for the rest of my life. I have also gathered such a virtue or attribute through humility, simplicity and reality. Fame is not what I celebrate but a career which I have found myself, that’s why I am doing it right.
How would you link comedy with acting?
Comedy cannot be divorced from acting because acting has two major genres, tragedy and comedy. And comedy could be sub-divided into very serious deep comedies, like using the words abstract comedy. This falls in the various movements from early centuries, like enthusiasm, Dadaism, surrealism and through these we’ve written plays like farce.
Now by extension, these are in drama forms. But stand-up comedy has been well differentiated as a single entertainer but it is not different from drama. This time, it’s like a monologue. You stand on stage, tell the stories all by yourself and you enact the roles all by yourself. For example, if I am depicting or mimicking a doctor, lawyer, parent or young girls on the street, I don’t play it as a story or discussed issue but I also act some of the roles and mannerisms.
This is what stand-up comedy is all about. It’s also about acting; the only difference is that the stage actor has basic stage skills in relation to other actors. A stand-up monologue comedian may not be taught, but can stand on stage before 2,000, 3000 people and make them laugh.
What about acting, itself?
Acting is simple. It’s the enactment used as a simpler word for the lame man to understand. It is playing the role of an imaginary character, a character that does not exist but has likelihood, attributes and lifestyle of someone that exists. The actor is like having the skill to pretend, behave, and act like someone else other than himself. I can only say that everyone is an actor, because at every point in time, we’ve all lied, pretended but some of us are master in art of acting because we’ve read and focused upon it as a career. I have a very rich experience from all the facts of life. I’ve been up and down. I’ve mixed with people who are impoverished and people with affluent culture. So I can easily interpret my role because I have the character traits, the nuance and idiosyncrasy of these various sets of people.
Where can one place you in the entertainment circuit?
I cannot be placed anywhere but can be placed everywhere.
How would you explain that?
I see myself as one of the true versatile artistes in Nigeria. I am a stand-up comedian, actor, comedian in movies, journalist, scriptwriter, producer, director, actor-director in serious movies; dancer and I majored in Choreography. Basorge is just an art man and a person you call a complete entertainer. I managed singers, I write songs and I set standards in everything I do.
Which one of these many talents really shot you into the limelight?
I would rather say dancing. I started dancing in 1983 with Jump Play and National Dance Championship. I was the best dancer in Nigeria and winner of the Rivers State zonal competition. Mention a few of your works in the area of acting. I’ve done works like Domitila, Hit and Run, Scavengers, Black Arts, Full Moon, My Guy, Warri Connection, Campus Tales, Eye-Witness, The Assignment, Playing Games, The Runs, and so many others that I cannot recollect.
People tend to believe that you’ve joined the bandwagon as a stand-up comedian?
I cannot join the bandwagon; I am a leader in the industry. I represent the old school; I represent those who actually started the stand-up comedy in this country.
How do you unwind?I love watching movies, playing with my kids. Sometimes I read, take a drive and listen to good music.
With the emergence of young, vibrant, upcoming stand-up comedians, do you foresee anything?
I foresee growth, but at times people get scared because the industry is saturated. It’s because they are not serious and they don’t want to work hard. Let one million comedians come, so that we would be able to select those who are serious and those who are hardworking. It’s about a lot of things. It’s about presentation, education, grace, culture and style. It takes time to develop all of that. You can be very funny, but you may lack the grace, culture and articulation to stand before an audience.
What is your watchword?
Humility! Be very humble, open and truthful because truth represents God. I came to Lagos much unprepared. I came to Lagos with two pants and two shirts and I am here today with a family. I am also growing in the business. I know this is not possible without God and people. So, I remain humble for life.
Do you have any regret?Why should I regret? What if I’d remained the way I was a couple of years back, and I’m here now at least “they talk am hand dey reach mouth and if you look well self e be like say my leg don dey touch my mouth.” Good life has made it possible enough; comedy has made it possible for me to exist! So why should I regret?
If you claim to be one of the very first set of people to commercialize stand-up comedy, how would you place Ali Baba?
Thank God you said one of the people, you can put Ali Baba as one of them. You can also add Mohammed Danjuma , Okay Bakassi, Yibo Koko. These are my contemporaries.
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