Exclusive;- WHAT BASKETMOUTH DID FOR ME WAS BEYOND SUPPORT - Seyi Law
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| FAST & FUNNY WITH SEYI LAW |
Black Comedian of The Federal Republic as he would always address himself, Aletile Oluwaseyitan Lawrence a.k.a Seyi Law is one of Nigeria's finest comedian and the first ever winner of the maiden edition of AY's Open MIC. Happily married with good looks too, his comic gimmicks and impeccable sense of humor dwells with him even off stage. All plans are in place for him to celebrate 10 years on stage with a comedy classic tagged "SEYI LAW FAST & FUNNY", August 9 at Eko Hotel & Suites. Micheal Irabor of KINGGS BLOG had an interesting chat with him and he revealed a lot of secrets. Enjoy...
What’s your
definition of a good comedian?
A good comedian is one who understands his audience, one who
knows the right joke to crack at the right time, one who can manage an event
properly, most especially when he or her is doing a compere job. A good
comedian must understand what comedy truly is, he or she must know how to
appear at an event, and must be able to take total charge of the event no
matter how stiff it is.
Why do you think people fail in comedy?
The truth is, most people come into comedy with the wrong
motive. I have seen people who basically came into comedy with the motive of
succeeding just to please the ladies, like their reason for wanting to do
comedy is for them to get more girlfriends. Such person is heading the wrong
direction already. That’s one reason. Another reason why people fail in comedy
is because, most of them don’t set goals for themselves. You are coming into
the industry, you want to live in the industry, you want to last in the
industry, first of all you must check
your self, and assign a target to yourself. A lot of people don’t do that. Most
of them just say I am funny now, so I can be funny forever. That’s not how it works.
It takes determination also to keep improving. Challenging your self is also
very important but most of them don’t do this.
So far your stay in the world of comedy, what has been the
challenges you've faced?
The truth is, every new comedian coming into the industry is
usually faced with the challenge of recognition, which was one of my biggest
challenge in the industry.
What do you love about being a comedian?
I love the fact that I am able to express myself, I love the
fact that I am able to do it without stress, and anytime without any special
preparation.
What don’t you like about being so popular?
People tend to use the public figure thing to uppers you.
There are times where people would do terrible things to you that leads to
anger, and when you voice out your displeasure, they would say “oh you
shouldn’t shout, you are a public figure’. Come on, the fact that I am a public
figure, doesn’t give people the right to tramp on me. There are times when I
have had people hit my car, and I come down to query them, and people are like
‘ pardon him bro, you are Seyi law nau’. Does that make any sense? If he had
killed me, would you be saying “you are seyi law nau’? Do you know how much it would cost me to fix
my car?
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| Seyi Law |
What inspires your comedy creativity?
Reality. Reality
inspires my comedy creativity. Things people can easily relate to/ if you
are cracking a joke about childhood, everyone can easily relate to it, if you
are cracking a joke of a guy meeting a girl, people can easily relate to that
too.
Running through your success story, could you share with us. From your
worse days, to how you were able to come thus far?
I really didn’t plan to be a comedian, it was my cousin who
saw the potentials in me, and encouraged me to do comedy. He introduced me to
the first church where I performed, and after that performance, I got called to
another church to perform. It felt so good because, I was getting paid for what
I do without stress. But when I got into it fully, I discovered that for fame to
be made, some sacrifices had to be made too. You have to do a lot of publicity
and some other important things. So I started walking into churches, seeking for event
opportunities. On my hunt for that, I met Emeka Smith, who introduced me to his church. This is a story I always tell.
When I got to his church, the organizer of the event was like,’ this guys is
not porsche enough to perform in our church’. Probably because of the way I was
dressed. So Emeka Smith, had to look for someone to borrow me a shoe to wear.
On bringing the shoe, we discovered it wasn’t my size. It was too small. So out
of anger, the organizers just pushed me on stage reluctantly. They were like ‘
lets start the show with his performance, so he doesn’t bore the event for us’. All this was said to
my face, they weren’t concerned how bad I felt about what they were
saying. I tell people this story to
encourage them. But I guess that was part of the things that made me say to myself’
I must succeed’. So I can dress well, and look good. Anyway, I had a great
performance that day, JEDDI was there, JEDDI was the one who now took me from
there under his arm, and from there, he introduced me to AY. And when AY
organized the AY OPEN MIC COMPETITION, in September 9th 2006
precisely, I became the first winner. So I started in 2005, and this year it is
already ten years. It is like 10,9,8 for me. Ten years in the industry, Nine
years after winning AY OPEN MIC COMEDY COMPETITION, and Eight years of me doing
comedy professionally.
What's the concept and the idea behind staging your 10th anniversary in the industry and what should are the expectations?
I think the major concept of the event is to re-launch the
brand Seyi Law. And also to say a big thank you to the people who have been
there all through the journey with me. There are just some people you can’t do
without, you can’t forget them,, they are part of your history. Another reason
is that, this days you go to an event as a comedian and most times you are
given just five minutes to perform, at times you just want to relax, take your
time, and allow people enjoy the flow but, such opportunity is hard to come by,
except you are the MC of the event. So this event is a platform for me to give
people what the real Seyi Law has to offer with an hour of good performance.
This is something I have done severally outside the country, I intend
replicating it here in Nigeria. There is another twist to the game, we have
some per-activities lined up all in the spirit of celebrating my 10th
anniversary. We would be visiting the Naija Wives Brain Production for the
visually disabled, coming up on the 27th of July. We would also be
paying a visit to the general hospital in Marina. There would also be a visit to the LUTH
orphanage in Surulere on the 27th of July, and also on the 31th of
July, we would be at Methodist boys high school. On the 2nd of August, we
would be having what we call the ’Celebrity Meet’, where there would be a
football match, sac race and some other sports amongst celebrities. This is going
to be a moment of fun. We get to meet each other and catch up on lost times because we barely have time to visit each
other cos of one reason or the other. Then on the 9th of August 2015, the Seyi Law Fast & Funny would be happening at the EKO Hotel.
If you were to list a few people who have been part of your success
story, who and who would make the list?
A lot of people, from
family to friends, to colleague. In one way or the other, a lot of people
have contribute to my success story, and
the brand Seyi Law. It is not a one man thing, believe it or not. Even those
people who refused me chances of showcasing
myself are also part of my success story whether I like it or not,
because in one way or the other they changed my perception and made me better
myself. I am always grateful to JEDDI and very much grateful to Emeka Smith. Am eternally grateful to AY, I am grateful to Ali Baba, am grateful to Basketmouth who really saw the talent and
potentials in me. What Basketmouth did and has done for me was beyond
support. I remember when I won AY’s OPEN
MIC COMPETITION, Basketmouth came on
stage and said he would give me Twenty thousand Naira but he didn’t instead he went ahead to
give me an event worth seventy thousand Naira.
I also know how many productive places he took me to. I cant
just forget that man. Then I am also grateful to JULIUS AGWU, then also
grateful to RUKPO, who believes in the Seyi Law brand and started ‘London Must
Laugh with SEYI-LAW’. There is DAVID BALOGUN, Mr. Nigeria in the UK who got me
my first visa to the UK. There is Mr., Karo of TREMO SOUND who recommended me
for the biggest event I did ‘ASA live in Lagos’, in 2008. A whole lot of people
have contributed to my success story. Talk of my pastor, my siblings. They are
just so many people. My mom, for her endless prayers, my wife who was always
there with me even when I had nothing, my elder brother for his advice, even a
lot of people who I don’t know but prays for me. There are too many people to
be thanked, and I must say I am very grateful to them all.
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| Seyi Law & Wife |
If you weren’t doing comedy, what would you have been doing?
I probably would have been a medical doctor. I wanted to
study medicine, for me it was medicine or nothing. But comedy came, and here
we are.
Tell us about you greatest achievements.
My greatest achievement is that God has blessed me to the
point where I can bless others. For me, that is huge.
Is there anything comedy is yet to do for you?
Trust me, everybody in one way or the other in line with the
entertainment industry wants an endorsement.
I have gotten what I call advert
endorsement but not full time endorsement. That’s all. I am not really
particular about anything.
From your personal point of view, what would you say is the
secret to success in comedy? Then could you relate it to your success story.
It is basically determination, and passion. If you are
determined to be successful in comedy, you would be inspired to put you energy
to work.
Asides comedy, what else do you do?
I am an investor in real estate, which you cannot take away
from the business world of today. Then I also own a club.
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| Seyi Law |
Where do you see the brand Seyi Law five years from now?
You can tell that we have achieved something and no one ever wants his/her achievements to stop. Every year since 2008, I have been receiving awards. At least two every year. There are years I have gotten five, and more. So in the next five years, the brand Seyi Law would have broken greater grounds. What happens next after this anniversary events would there be any event coming afterwards? We plan to take it outside Lagos and I think it is high time we make it a yearly tradition in Nigeria, the way it has been outside Nigeria. The brand Seyi Law is going to be a brand for the next generation of the Nigeria comedy industry, so I need to do something yearly that the brand can relate to. Now we are having the Seyi Law FAST AND FUNNY, next year it could be Seyi Law, TOO FAST, TOO FUNNY. It is going to keep moving yearly. That’s the plan.
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