Being funny not enough to excel as a comedian –  MC Blessed 

There is a difference between you being a compere and you being a comedian. You can be a compere and not be a comedian. Being a comedian has to do with the natural gift embedded in you. You can’t get to learn the act of comedy; it has to be part of you. It is easy for you as a comedian to pick up a microphone to handle an event because you are use to handling microphone.

You can be a compere and not be a comedian but at the same time you have to be spontaneous while anchoring events. The first time I went on stage to perform was as a comedian so I started my career as a comedian.

Though I knew I was funny but I didn’t see myself doing comedy as a profession. After my performance that night , people commended my craft despite the fact that I was a teacher then in a private School earning five thousand naira. I started attending shows after my first performance. As you know that many entertainers including me started from the Church.

Are you still in the Church?

Yes I am still in the Church, though my brand has gone beyond the Church, I am still mindful of my root. I still do events in Church when invited.

There are some events I don’t do. As Mc Blessed brand is a corporate brand; I anchor weddings, corporate events, End of the year parties and birthdays majorly.

Yes i handle funeral reception because I have trained myself to the point that there is no kind of event I don’t do. I have colleagues that would say they can only do weddings etc . The style of anchoring funeral reception is quite different from the normal wedding reception, birthdays or corporate events where you already have an outline of how the event will go. Funeral reception is where your creativity as a comedian and spontaneity sets in.

You can still lighten up their mood even in that state of grief. Once you mention Mc Blessed you are sure we are talking of full entertainment, happiness, positive vibes and joy because I will Emcee,dance, hype and also crack jokes.

I need you to understand that for you to even recycle joke, even if you don’t have the gifting you won’t know how to recycle the joke. There is delivery, creativity,and spontaneity. Recycling the joke is not the issue the main work lies how you deliver the joke and pass it out to your audience. You might not know how to express yourself if you don’t groom yourself in that line. Comedy is an expression art; it is like you doing a satire.

Your facial and body movement matters a lot while doing comedy. Your morale drops automatically when you are cracking a joke and your audience do not give you expected response . This is why you should know how to study your audience. You need to know what joke works for them. It pays well as a comedian when you have good delivery skill.

We have the comedy industry and as well the event industry. I started as a comedian but as people were evolving I quickly switched into the event industry. Most skit makers started as comedians. people feel skit makers can’t come on stage to crack jokes and they can only do their thing online. Most skit makers have been cracking jokes only that people have not heard of them. I know many of my friends that are skit makers that are very good stand up comedians.

Been funny is not enough to excel as a comedian. I advise those coming after me to take time and look at those ahead of them in the industry and see how they operate.

Before I started comedy as a professional, I was a singer so facing crowd has never been an issue to me in my career. Though facing crowd as a singer is not same as facing crowd as a comedian.

Personally I respect every comedian because it takes a lot to make people laugh. It takes grace,courage and whole lot for anyone to come on stage and make others laugh. Every comedian should be given a credit for making their audience to laugh. What makes any comedian exceptional is how he or she delivers the joke.

Seyi Law is one of the few men I respect so much in the comedy industry.  I just love his uniqueness, creativity, spontaneity , his wit, his jokes and above all his kind heart. He is someone I have always admired from afar. During my early days in the industry, my dad and I will always sit to watch his comedy. Bovi, Basketmouth and Mc Ajele are some of the men I respect so much.  I respect every comedian I come across because making a fellow comedian laugh is not a small feat.

The one and only person I will always love and respect in the event industry is Mc Ajele. MC Ajele is a big help to my brand that has always been supportive since our paths crossed. He is my number one man in the event and comedy industry.

He is simply God sent to me. He has challenged me many times to do better & grow in this industry.

My late dad being military man was a disciplinarian to the core. He was career oriented and he wanted all his offspring to excel in life. From a tender age I knew that I wanted to do more aside going to school and bagging degrees.

With the advent of get quick syndrome amongst the youth especially there is a popular cliche that school na scam. What are your thoughts about this?

School is not a scam. Education will always give you an added advantage in whatever you do.

Personally my approach to things are very different and I believe education is partly responsible for this. Education brings uniqueness out of you. I meet with different calibre of people;  there is a way they avoid you if you are not sound enough. You cant interact with a business tycoon like Tony Elumelu if you are not sound. Many people think certificates are useless but you will always need them.

I have so many plans I won’t want to divulge now. This profession has given me the platform and access needed. I value relationships a lot and that is why I don’t look down on anyone.

I was a teacher for a year but before then I was singing in Church and at events with some of my  guys. When I started teaching I was already in attending events but it wasn’t paying me because I was a newbie. I was paid five thousand for my first show.  There is nothing as sweet as you getting paid for something you have passion for knowing well that even if they don’t pay you, you will still enjoy doing such. I did the teaching job just to have extra cash & get myself busy as at that time . My parents really tried for I and my siblings and they never left us to be stranded.

They ensured we never lacked basic amenities. During those days my father will always remind me that nobody forced me to go hustle because he was still feeding and housing me. I just wanted to build a name for myself and to follow my passion. At some point it wasn’t going as planned. I was almost depressed because some persons even said maybe God was punishing me because I left music for comedy .  There is nothing as good as you believing in yourself; I had every reason to give up but I choose to be consistent and dedicated. It became worse when I had to go squat with my friends after my parents moved to their house.

My mother urged me to relocate with them but I declined because I was determined to give it all it takes to succeed. It took me over two years after my parents relocated for me to find my feet. I already had a name for myself when I was broke . People feel you have to belong to a cabal for you to make headway in this industry but I was resolute to do things right and thank God I became victorious.

I don’t believe in godfatherism; I believe with hardwork, determination and God on your side you can break into any cricle. I worked on myself and when the time came things took shape. It is not good to throw yourself at people sometimes, they won’t appreciate you or know your worth rather they will use and dump you. It was during this process of working on myself while going through a tough time in my life & career that my path and Ajele crossed. He has already cut across the event industry even when some of us were just trying to find our feet.Even while I was attending shows with him some colleagues will say why am I going about with him according to them he won’t give me money.

I was never after the money at the initial stage cos all I cared about was getting platforms to showcase myself. I wasn’t entitled because I knew my time will come. No matter how big you are there are people ahead of you in the game and if you are not ready to serve or respect grace, you may not make headway in life. You don’t need to envy those ahead of you but you can rather walk with them.

I started with MC Ganpa as a name because of my role at a choreography group I belong to back then. Later I decided to change the brand name to something that will be more accepted in different corporate and international circles  and I had some names listed out but my Pastor advised I go with MC Blessed and truly the name has really paved way for me.