Standup around the globe: Nigeria

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on May 29th, 2007

He’s a regular at clubs and villages up and down the west coast… Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Basket Mouth!

He’s just one of the comedians mentioned in a lengthy (and, at times, tough to comprehend) article by Ezechi Onyerionwu on AllAfrica.com.

Sourcing raw materials from every imaginable aspect of Nigerian life, and dissecting them with a knife dipped in the light-hearted fluid of comedy, the instructional import of its assertions never escapes the alert mind of the sensitive connoisseur. From Nigerian politics and all its laughable indignities, to the palpable financial situation of the average Nigerian, and to the curious behavioural patterns and value system of the Nigerian peoples, the Nigerian stand-up comedians as conscientized and sensitized individuals in their own rights open chapters and chapters of the chequered existence of one of the most talked about of world nations, not only to their countrymen but also to the insatiate outside world.

Oh, yeah! That’s going in the press kit! We think…

Nigeria hit a rough patch for a decade or three following independence in 1960. They just experienced their first “the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the country’s history,” (according to the CIA Factbook). We hear there were some “irregularities,” but, near as we can tell, there’s never been a better (or less dangerous) time to be a socially-relevant comic in Nigeria. The author cautions the comics not to blow it:

The Nigerian stand-up comedy remains a hugely important appurtenance of the artistic renaissance occasioned by the return to a democratic system of government. Irrespective of reservations from several quarters about the truly democratic quality of our leadership, it has at least provided our stand-up comedians the ambience to say it as it is, as well as how they want to say it without fear of molestation or intimidation. This art-friendly environment accounts for a bulk of any credit for artistic courage and bravery we want to ascribe to our performers. This is in spite of the fact that our darling art certainly has to do with a considerable degree of censorship, as it regrettably appears that some artists are throwing modesty to the winds to utilize foul and vulgar language. Also the tendency to embarrass top government functionaries and occupiers of public office should be adjusted to tally with the dictates of decency.

Translation: Sure, we can work blue, but do you have to?

From what we can get out of the article, regular theater is at an all-time low, in a shambles even. But standup is on fire.

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