WHY GHANAIAN COMEDIANS DON’T LAST? – YOU MUST READ THIS

Here is the question my brilliant and awesome friend; Kwame Gyan, asked about Funny Face. I totally understood him, amongst several comments under that post he made, some folks extrapolated the argument to Kalybos and whether they are not just being overrated in Ghana. I tried to explain why his observation could be right. I will re-word it here so you can also learn one or two nuggets from the comment I put to that post of his.

Truth be told, I have seen the “Amakye & Dede” movie and I think Kalybos and other actors did very well in the movie, generally, at least to me and everyone in the cinema, from my observation of how uncontrollably people were laughing — very hard, I can conclude the movie was a good humour.

Now, talking about Funnyface and Kalybos being funny, these guys are gifted, and in the past they have both given some very rib-cracking stuff here and there either as short skit or punch lines on stage, anyone who says they have NEVER been funny is either being intentionally mean or has a problem heavier than Rick Ross (lol, just a joke).

The Ghanaian comedians are actually gifted, I have listened to (or watched) a few other ones (David Aglah, Khemical, etc, and I think DKB is awesome too) every now and then and their content isn’t bad at all. Their biggest problem is not a matter of talent, trust me they are talented, their biggest problem is grooming and investment.
They need heavy investments pumped in them into research, so they can continue to evolve and innovate to stay relevant, those Basket Mouth and Bovi you see, have heavy-budget managements who take the business extremely serious, they are very deliberate about growth; comedy dynamics, current affairs, brand positioning, performance evaluations, audience psychology, market segmentation, etc simply put – there is a Science and an Art to Comedy! It’s not just about having a few funny materials (that is their common word for “content”) that remains continuously recycled.
And this requires investments, TO BE CONSISTENTLY FUNNY AND STAY INNOVATIVE, THEY NEED VERY STRONG AND INTENTIONAL MANAGEMENT TEAMS.

As for them being overrated, may be we are not overrating them per se but celebrating what we have to help encourage them that we appreciate our own, I agree that they may not measure up to the “Klint D Drunks” and the “AYs” in terms of exposure, brand visibility, patronage and acceptance, etc, but aren’t we always talking about local content and patronising made in Ghana goods? Hehehehe…

One last thing I have realised about we Ghanaians, and this is not just to the comedians but cuts across several industries, I think somehow, many times we set too low standards for ourselves, and it appears our dreams ain’t lofty enough, once we get a bit recognised and make one or two wins we stop getting hungry for more and pushing ourselves to new uncomfortable dimensions.

Whether you want to talk about WizKid (Music), Bovi (Comedy), Chinua Achebe (Literature), Patrick Obahiagbon (Politics), Omotola Jolade (Acting), David Oyedepo (Ministry), Dangote (Business), Fela Kuti (Activist), etc most of the Nigerians are naturally aggressive and perpetually hungry to stay competitive.

Let’s encourage our own, with the right investments and continuous patronage, they will all get there.

By: Godwin Martey