Ultimate Humour Merchant

By Nehru Odeh

Stand-up comedian, Allelujah Atuyota Akpobome, better known as Ali Baba, loves breaking new grounds. This is even accentuated by the fact of his birth. His mom had given birth to several female children before him to the displeasure of his dad and for the joy that having him at that time brought, he was fittingly named Allelujah.

•Allelujah Atuyota Akpobome

In 1989, as a Religion and Philosophy student at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma in Delta State, and torn between reading law and taking comedy as a career, he moved off the beaten track and became a stand-up comedian. “I decided to continue with comedy because if I were a law student I probably wouldn’t have gone into comedy because then, there was some kind of regulation that barred law students from taking part in entertainment,” Ali Baba said.

Thus, in a fusion of life and art,  Ali Baba, a name he derived from Allelujah, his real name, was born.

Explaining how he came to be christened Allelujah, the capable comedian said “My mother had several girls and the male child syndrome was prevalent at that time. So my dad sent her home every time she had a girl. So when I was born it was like, thank God a male child was born. That was why my grandmother named me Allelujah,” he told TheNEWS.

18 years after Ali Baba became a professional stand-up comedian, he has become the face of comedy in Nigeria: affluent, famous and brilliant. Not only has he made comedy a money-spinning business, he has made it a dream profession. Today, by dint of seriousness Ali Baba has put into comedy, comedians are no longer seen as never-do-wells but celebrities.

Over the years, Ali Baba has carved a niche for himself. Not only does his shows attract the creme de la creme of society, he makes fabulous money. He does shows for big corporate concerns, including oil firms and banks. He demands a minimum of N.5m for shows, yet he is fully booked throughout the year!

He was the favoured comedian of the presidency while ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo was in power. Obasanjo, himself a very humorous person, was often the butt of Ali Baba’s jokes. So good is Ali Baba that when fellow comedians run out of ideas during shows, they call him on their phones and he bails them out by telling them the kind of jokes for that particular audience.

Ali Baba has mentored a number of comedians such as A.Y. (Ayo Makun), Gbenga Adeyinka Jr., and Basket Mouth. Ali popularised Opa Williams brainchild, Night Of A Thousand Laughs,  an annual comedy show, making it a must watch. The show has placed many comedians in the limelight. Aside that, he also has a huge library which other comedians make use of on a daily basis.

Ali Baba’s foray into comedy was accidental. Though he had been a heckler at school, making fun of others both on and off stage, he went into comedy proper in 1989 when he was asked to douse the tension at an event that had gone awry on campus. He successfully did it with his rib-cracking jokes.

From that point there was no turning back. Ali Baba became a professional comedian in 1990, the year he started making good money from his vocation. “Before then I was paying my dues, performing shows for any amount because I wanted to be known,” he recalled.

Despite his success as a laughter merchant, his climb to the top was not easy. He was faced with challenges which came in form of lack of precedent to follow, an unappreciative public and the poverty culture prevalent at that time.

Then what stood Ali Baba out? The Delta State-born comedian hinged it on relevance, maturity and what he calls ‘situational performance’. “Everything that I said had relevance. Everything that I talked about was something that people could relate with. When I came on stage, I always made sure that the audience could relate with it. I also tried as much as possible to select my target audience and provide the kind of entertainment that they wanted; I wasn’t striving to become a comedian for everybody. I also took my time to warm myself up for my audience, so that my performance could be appreciated,” he  said.

Is he fulfilled? “Not yet,” Ali Baba averred. “I think with what I have achieved, this is just the surface. I think there is something of a higher calling in the offing. I would like to draw closer to God and make sure I pay back with the talent that He has given me. I want to do things for people so that I would get double joy,” he said with hope.

Born in Warri, Delta State to an educationist father, Ali Baba moved to Lagos when his dad transfered his services to the Nigerian Army Education Corps. He later attended St Michael’s Primary School and Command Secondary School, both in Ojo, Lagos.