Without doubt, ace comedian Julius Agwu’s power of spontaneity has set him apart from the crowd. After over a decade in the comedy business, the creator of comedy brands such as Crack Ya Rib and Laff 4 Christ Sake, continues to be on top of his game, turning himself into a brand that many up and coming comedians struggle to emulate. In this interview with MERCY MICHAEL, Julius opens up on his plans for the future as he clocks 40 next year. He also reveals his greatest fear as a brand, among sundry issues:
MOST times, we find parents who want their children to read law, medicine or engineering. As a parent, would like your son or daughter to be a comedian?
It may interest you to know that I was almost a victim of career imposition. My dad wanted me to be a lawyer for his own selfish reasons. I come from Ikwere. If you know the typical Ikwere man, we are very good with land disputes and boundaries. My father was tired of hiring the services of lawyers, so he wanted one of his sons who could offer free service.
So it fell on me. But I resisted it. I told them my calling is entertainment, and that this is what I want to do. My mom, on the other hand, wanted me to be a carpenter, no jokes! But it’s almost like a cliché now, I’m tired of saying it and people think it’s a joke, but that’s the reality, seriously. But I suffered it because they said they weren’t going to train me in school. I had to see myself through school. Now my joy is that even before my father died in 2010, I started sustaining him from entertainment money. He saw that this thing can actually make me become something and also pushed the family name up there. I used to have a stage name when I was in the university. But when I left, I thought to myself, I can actually push the family name.
That’s was how I came to bearing my real name, Julius Agwu. The Agwu’s family, at least people don dey hear about dem. So I can never impose any career on my children. They will decide what they want to do. All I will do as a father is to guide them. If any of my children decides that it’s comedy, all well and good. I will only guide. I will help to harness and develop the talent. I will not force them into what they don’t want to be.
As one of the pioneers of standup-comedy, most people have always wondered why you’ve not come up with your own comedy TV Show. Why haven’t you?
I don’t know if this is necessary, but let me say it. When Teju Babyface was shooting his first season of his Teju Babyface Show, as soon as I went on the show, the first thing I said was, you beat me to it, because I’ve been planning to do my own TV show for a very long time. But I used to have this devil, procrastination and that ended this year. By the grace of God, I have a studio that we already built for this show. We were supposed to have kicked it off a long time, but my greatest fear is failure.
One has built himself as a brand to a certain level that anything coming out of me should be of class and not something people will see and say ‘wetin Julius dey fool himself for?’ However, very soon we will be starting a TV show called Comedy Train on Africa Magic. A magazine TV show. I want to start that as a text-run. There will be a lot coming from me next year in terms of content on TV. Next year, I’m going to be 40, so that’s one of the things we are looking at, my own TV show.
How does it feel clocking 40?
It’s exciting, trust me. It’s not that I’m rich, but I’m wealthy. It’s not about the amount of money you have in your account or about the amount of money I’ve made, but the lives I have affected, the fulfillment that I get from the lives that I affect. Be that as it may, there are so many things I would have loved to have achieved at 40. But this part of the interview, no be now we go do am na next year.
I’m sure your fans will want to know some of those things you would have loved to achieve at 40…
This show I’m talking about, I would have started it before 40. But God has a purpose for everything. There are those who make it at 60. There are those who make their first N1m at 70. There are those who God bless at the age of 20 or 30. But they may not really appreciate the blessing. So God has a purpose for everything. I’m going to be 40 next year, and that’s a year I’m going to restart my career.
It’s a new beginning, trust me! I’ve told God, next year, I’m going to start my career like it’s a first beginning. I’m going to reinvent myself from next year. But my joy is that finally, the entertainment industry has revolved, people have so accepted entertainment in Nigeria and it’s opening doors, frontiers, for so many of us globally. So next year is the beginning for me.
Is comedy the only thing that puts food on your table?
I’m an entertainment practitioner. That means I do everything entertainment. I also consult for people. And I have other things that I do by the side. Make I no reveal all. You no say armed robbers dey read newspaper.
Is there such a thing like comedian’s block, like you have the writer’s block?
Yes, yes, yes. But the thing that I know is that God has given me the power of spontaneity. I’m very spontaneous. But to answer your question, let me state it as it is. There are times when I’m building a joke, it comes to a point the punch line doesn’t quite come. You will be wondering how you should take it. Nigerians are very intelligent, especially with this era of social media; everybody is a comedian. Nigeria is not a place where one-liners work.
You have to bring out the humour and show to people. One-liners can work in America and Europe where their government is their God. Here, you are on your own, government self dey suffer. So na God we dey look up to. You know in Europe, most of the young people don’t go to church. It’s only when they are old, they want to die, that’s when they want to seek succor. But here, na God!
As a brand in the comedy business, how hard do you work now?
When we started as young guys back then, I could stay and create like four jokes in a day, especially when I used to have a TV programme called Laugh Line. You remember Laugh Line on NTA? That afforded me the opportunity of creating at least four jokes in a day. If you have it, you have it.
But now, we are in an era where so many of the people who are comedians do not work, they just wait, hear your work, rearrange it and collect the credit as theirs. I still create jokes. But then, I’ve reached a level where the name itself is a brand. When you start, you hustle and hustle. But now, only the name, core fans are already laughing. But that doesn’t mean I don’t work hard. I still work hard and I still write my jokes.
You must have had a ‘bad day’ as a comedian. How did you handle it?
Yeah, I have. It’s only natural. Now, it depends on the situation. Once you have something like that, just know that either the people’s problems are heavy or maybe you started on a very wrong note. You need to take your time and study what the situation is like. In such situation, I just look for one person that’s listening to me. Out of the crowd, there must be one person that’s listening to you. I look for one person that’s listening to me and begin to discuss with that person. If that person laughs, then others will be involved, because you know laughter is infectious. But like I said, God has given me the power of spontaneity and that helps me to create jokes on the spot.
It’s rare to see people hold events on Christmas Day. What informed your decision to fix Crack Ya Ribs on Christmas Day?
I’m from Rivers State where Christmas is always a day for celebration. And I remember as a child, dancing Agaba, the boys would go around begging for money with me wearing a mask. It was always a day for serious celebration. We had the girls dancing Ogada. It was a period people went to watch masquerade. But with civilisation and Christianity, some of these cultures gave way. So Christmas Day is actually like my own gift to not just Port-Harcourt, but South, South and Niger Delta as a whole. It’s a family show actually. So families can actually come under one roof to enjoy entertainment. That’s the whole idea. It’s a way of reminding people how Christmas used to be with humour. The only thing is that we’ve changed the venue for this year. It used to hold at Presidential Hotel.
Is it the first of its kind in Port-Harcourt?
I’ve been doing it for like four years now. And the reasons we’ve decided to stamp 25th December in Port-Harcourt was, last year, my foundation organised a football talent hunt competition to harness the football talents in my community. We have five villages that make up my community. Last year, there was a cup and prize money for the winning village. It was exciting. So this year, we continued the season two. As a matter of fact, Kanu Nwankwo kicked it off this season.
Like last year, it ended on 24th and the next day was Crack Ya Ribs. But this year, what we are doing is that it’s ending on the 23rd, and people can look forward to the Christmas celebration. Like I said, when we were growing up, we used to gather, watch masquerade and watch wrestling, different activities. So both the football match and Crack Ya Rib are meant to engage the people during the yuletide.
From Crack Ya Ribs to Laff 4 Christ Sake to Humour Combat. How do you ensure you don’t run out of steam?
Crack Ya Ribs is a different brand. Laff for Christ Sake is gospel comedy. And for gospel comedy, you know the jokes are tailored, not for the secular people. Humour Combat, we’ve only done it once as a live show. But from next year, we are developing Humour Combat as a reality TV show. The idea is taking us back to the days of yapping, how two people yap each other. We want to develop it into a reality TV show. And we are already building contents.
This is Christmas season. How do you intend to celebrate the season with your family?
They are travelling for Christmas. They want to go and celebrate in London. For me, I will celebrate with my fans at that show on Christmas Day. As a matter of fact, that was one of the things my wife mentioned this morning. She said that she’s looking forward to a Christmas when I will not work. And I said to her that it will be nice, a Christmas where we’ll just be hungry, looking at each other (laughs). I have to hustle.
Julius Agwu has come of age as a brand. Is there a possibility that you might delve into politics like some of your colleagues?
That’s if I want to die early. God has given me this area, entertainment, and I will stick to it. Not that if you give me an appointment, I will reject it. Politics in Nigeria, they go to any length. It is not something I want to venture into. Imagine someone like Dangote, say him wan come run for president? In my situation, the way I am, I can talk to any governor I want. I can enter anywhere I want to.
What more do I want? Power or the money wey no belleful me? I will say to God, ‘bless me so I can afford anything I want in life.’ My family wan travel abroad now, I no go beg anybody money to send my family go anywhere. If I get 20 cars, I go drive the cars at the same time? Abi If I get three beds, I go sleep on the beds at the same time? I no wan get the kind wealth wey fear go dey catch me.
You have a lot of awards…
The best award I get is the one I get along the road by handshake or somebody that wants to take a picture with me. The fact that people watch me and they laugh, get happy, that’s what gives me satisfaction. I call myself an armed robber, armed with wit.
You are one of the stylish comedians in Nigeria. What informs your dress sense?
I don’t plan what I wear. I just take my bath, then I think what the occasion demands. I dress as the occasion demands. I dress the way I want to be addressed. It’s called show business, so I need to show for the business to come. As a matter of fact, when I wanted to venture into entertainment, I looked around; I knew that everybody looked at entertainers as the dregs of the society.
So I said I must change this. I have to look different. Moreover, people say I’m diminutive. I have to bring attention to myself. And how do I do that, I must turn-out well. I’ve been to weddings where I was the emcee and directed the cutting of the cake. The bride was busy admiring me and she got carried away. The husband was so angry that he shouted at her, asking her what she was looking at. I believe that my dressing, my outfit, how I appear also add value to the occasion. It’s not just about yeah, he’s a good comedian. You need to know that you represent an image, and that image is what you present to people. And there are those who are watching.
I know you must have lost count of your suits…
My clothes really…At times I go out, see what someone is wearing, and I feel like I have something like this. Some I’ve given out.
Music comedy, we haven’t seen anything from you in that respect. Why?
It will interest you to know that I actually released an album not too long ago. But unfortunately for me, I gave it to someone, a marketer, who treated it the way he treated 9ice’s album at that time. That’s the album that has all those Adanma. I didn’t sign any agreement with him. He didn’t give me a kobo. The album was actually signed last year. Dis year don finish. I feel sad. But sometimes we make mistakes.
