The Nigerian entertainment industry is really filled with talents that we are currently seeing lots of comedians and skit makers break into the Nollywood industry. This does not signify a lack of talent in our movie industry that requires these comedians to step in, it only proves how extra-talented these funny men are to pause the jokes and embrace the scripts from time to time.
Want to know who the culprits have been in recent years, see our list of Nigerian Comedians Who Have Become Nollywood Stars.
1. Bovi:
Bovi is a popular Nigerian stand-up comedian who has organized popular stand-up comedy concerts like “Bovi: Man on Fire,” all across Nigeria and internationally. He was born in Edo State and he had his primary education at UNIBEN staff school. In 1991, the comedian enrolled in Government College, Ughelli in Delta State, but for disciplinary issues and fear of his growth as a teenager, Bovi was eventually moved from boarding school to Edokpolor grammar school in Benin City where he lived for a while.
Sadly, the change of environment did not have the desired impact on Bovi and he later moved to his third secondary school, Boys model secondary school, another boarding school. After wrapping up his secondary education many years ago, Bovi gained admission in 1998 to Delta State University, where he studied Theatre Arts.
Bovi’s career kicked off in April 2007 when he began his acting journey in a sitcom titled “Extended Family,” a project he actually wrote and produced. The show got so popular, and a year later, Bovi was already an emerging talent in comedy shows and events across the nation. He then got his major break as a stand-up comedian in “Nite of 1000 Laughs” organized by Opa Williams, and that changed his life forever.
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9 years ago, Bovi’s first stand-up special, “Bovi- Man on Fire,” happened at the prestigious Eko convention centre, and it was so successful that he organized a sequel in 2014. The show went on to attract the attention of top stars like Ja Rule and Ashanti, and Bovi took the special to various cities in the United States, London, Melbourne, and Toronto.
In 2017, after a 3-year break, his “Man on Fire” series returned to Lagos, and it is still his most successful edition yet. He did one more in 2019, however, he added that it would be his last, saying his next special will be going by a different name. He then began a new series titled “BACK TO SCHOOL” in 2018, which he regularly uploaded on his YouTube channel. In it, the comedian acted alongside other top Nigerian comedians like I Go Dye, I Go Save, Basketmouth, Buchi, Odogwu, Okey Bakassi, Julius Agwu and so on.
Alongside Basketmouth, AY Makun, Ali Baba and so on, Bovi has since gone on to establish himself as a household name when it comes to the Nigerian comedy industry. However, being a man of many talents, he went on to premiere his first movie titled “It’s Her Day,” in 2016.
For his role in this movie, Bovi earned a nomination for the AMVCA awards as the “Best Actor in Comedy.” The film, despite lacking mainstream publicity, went on to do well at the cinemas, grossing 55 million naira at the box office at the time.
Bovi acted in minor roles in other Nollywood projects years later and he then decided to do his own thing when he wrote and featured in the 2021 comedy movie titled, “My Village People.”
2. Broda Shaggi:
Samuel Animashaun Perry, popularly known as Broda Shaggi, was born in 1993, and he is an embodiment of everything Nigerian entertainment is all about. This famous skit maker was born in Ikene, Ogun State and he actually took an interest in acting drama at a very young age because his late dad was a drama teacher.
Shaggi became popular with his satirical plays which he regularly shared on Instagram via his parody drama titled “Jesu in Mushin,” and it has been onwards and upwards from there. Perry is a graduate of Creative Arts from the University of Lagos, so it is no surprise that he has been the brain behind a lot of successful creative works Nigeria has seen in recent years.
He started his comedy acts several years back while in the university, and he actually took on several characters and roles before making up his mind to settle on the name, Broda Shaggi. He has since grown a fanbase filled with people who appreciate his sense of humour of unique character, and notable awards have followed, including “The Future Awards Africa Nigeria Prize for Comedy” and “City People Music Award” for Comedy Act of the Year.
Despite his route to fame in Nigeria being social media skits, Broda Shaggi has been showing that he could be a prolific actor as well by featuring in a few Nollywood movies. The list of projects he has featured in as of now include “Chief Daddy,” “Namaste Wahala” and most recently, “King of Thieves”
Winning the recent “Best Actor” award at the AMVCA for his role in Kayode Kasum’s “Dwindle,” Broda Shaggi shared that the award means a lot to him. According to him, AMVCA is unarguably the biggest award platform in Africa, so he felt really honoured to be presented the award for his role in a Nollywood movie. He went on to say that being recognized at such a level will surely have a huge impact on the visions he keeps holding dearly about his brand.
He added that the award also proved that despite his success as a skit maker, he definitely has a great prospect in mainstream Nollywood. He concluded by saying that Nigerians should await his greatness as a skit maker, singer, writer and actor.
3. Lasisi Elenu:
How many people know Lasisi Elenu’s real name is Nosa Afolabi? Well, now you know. He is a popular comedian from Offa, Kwara, and he remains one of the most established influencers Nigeria has seen in recent times. Lasisi is popular for his wide-mouth filtered skits and his consistent content creation plus growth has been beautiful to watch.
Striving really hard to stay relevant for so many years, Elenu got nominated for The Future Awards Africa Prize for Comedy as a reward for his efforts, and in March 2020, he was even named one of Nigeria’s Top 25 Under-30 Nigerian Superstars.
As far as influencing is concerned, Lasisi Elenu is known for his several TikTok and Instagram followers who already know anything coming from him will always be funny and interesting. His content concentrates majorly on several themes, including cybercrime, the Nigerian economy, insecurity, agberoism, philosophy and so on.
He has had his own fair share of controversies too as he once received a warning from members of the Nigerian Bar Association who claimed his jokes were misrepresenting the legal profession and they even threatened to sue him. In a popular interview several years ago, he also revealed that some of his female fans ask him to warm their beds.
For those who are not aware, Lasisi actually started out as a musician before becoming a comedian, and now he does acting too. His latest project titled “Mama & Papa Godspower” is a series of 16-minute episodes that focuses on a low-income household in Nigeria.
This comedian and skit maker’s first appearance in the Nollywood movie scene happened in 2018 when he featured in Charles Uwagbai’s “The Ghost and the Tout.” Since then, Lasisi has appeared in other movies like “The Razz Guy” and “Made in Heaven,” while still dropping his hilarious skits from time to time.
4. Mr Macaroni:
Debo Adedayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni, is a popular Nigerian comic skit maker, and he is famous for his absolutely hilarious Instagram comedy videos where he regularly plays the role of a sugar daddy. Nigerians are already used to his popular phrases, “Ooin” “You are doing well,” and his growth to becoming a household name is a well-deserved one.
An Ogun State indigene, Mr Macaroni was born in Ogudu, Lagos and bred in Magodo, where he attended Tendercare International Nursery and Primary school. After wrapping up his primary education, he went to Babcock University High School for his secondary education. In 2009, he got admitted to Lead University, Ibadan where he studied law. However, he was compelled to quit his university education by his second year due to an accreditation problem.
In 2011, the skit maker became a law student at Houdegbe North American University, Cotonou in the Republic of Benin, however, due to his lack of fear for standing up for justice, he was forced to quit again before getting his degree. When he left Cotonou, the entertainer decided to stop trying to educate himself, and take his Nollywood career seriously.
He then began to feature in some Nollywood movies and sitcoms while being urged by his parents to complete his education. He eventually succumbed to the advice by deciding to study Theatre Arts, which he claimed was his first love in the first place, at the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. However, various factors struck again and he could not complete his education. He then gained admission at the Redeemer’s University Nigeria, Osun State after some time, where he finally earned a degree in Theatre Arts and Film Studies in 2018.
Despite starting out as an actor, Mr Macaroni said he had to do something else when movie roles stopped coming at some point. According to him, he decided to start shooting comedy videos after thinking about his next career path, and what a decision that was. His success story was complete, his fame boomed, and his skits talk about events and real issues in Africa.
Regularly playing the role of a sugar daddy, he revealed that he chose that route because it stands for a good percentage of naughty Nigerian men who cannot control themselves and their urges. He added that he knew he had a flair for comedy whenever he mimicked Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and got everyone laughing.
While shooting his comedy skits for several years and cracking Nigerians up, Mr Macaroni was also active in the End SARS movement which led to his arrest at Lekki Toll Gate during the #OccupyLekkiTollgate protest. He then moved on from that experience and explored mainstream Nollywood in March 2021, when he featured in Kayode Kasum’s “Ponzi.” Fast forward to 2022, the skit maker and activist has also appeared in the 2021 musical film, “Ayinla.”
5. Nedu Wazobia:
Over the years, Nedu Wazobia has shown that his talents are not limited to skit making or TV/Radio presenting alone, it extends to Nollywood as well. A few of his works in the movie industry include Kemi Adetiba’s “King of Boys” and Niyi Akinmolayan’s “Chief Daddy.”
Known to have excelled by combining comedy and journalism in Nigeria for so many years, Nollywood has to sit up and explore Nedu’s on-screen talents a lot more.
