5th October, 2012
It was a night of a meeting of the old and present generation of singers at this year’s edition of Opa Williams Nite of A Thousand Laughs Xtra comedy show which held at the Muson Centre, Lagos.
Hip hop singer, Leo’nel, son of legendary Nollywood actor, Zach Orji and legend, Mike Okri both gave the crowd a taste of both worlds in the funfilled night.
The annual show which holds every October 1 (Nigeria’s Independence Day), sponsored by telecommunications giant, MTN, Loya Milk, with support from Baachus Lite and Qatar Air among many others, lived up to its billing.
Funny Bone is one comedian you can count on to deliver any day and he did not disappoint on that tasking night. With his mother coming all the way from Kaduna to watch him perform for the first time in his career, the comedian who has just returned from a tour of America held the crowd spellbound for about 20 minutes. Bovi, popularly called Akpos, who doubled as compere was at his best as usual. The Delta State-born stand up star is gradually becoming a comedy great in Nigeria. The three foreign comedians, Eric Omondi from Kenya, Salvador and Coltida, both from Uganda had a hard time attracting the attention of the audience, probably because of their heavily accented English, but at the end of their act, they warmed their way into the hearts of Nigerians. The only female act of the night, Ugandan Cotilda turned out to be a revelation.
One of Nigeria’s comedy legends Okey Bakassi gave younger ones in the trade fresh lessons in stand up comedy. Effortlessly, he took the crowd through a journey of laughter. Nigeria’s craziest comedian Akpororo showed why he is indeed referred to as the craziest of them all.
—Daniels Ekugo