Nigerian comedian, actor and writer, Abovi Ugboma, better known as Bovi, said that comic acting is not a threat to stand-up comedy.
In an exclusive chat with Midweek Entertainment, Bovi said before the advent of social media, skits were used to promote stand-up comedy shows, adding that it doesn’t make sense for people to conclude that skits are a threat to stand-up comedy.
He said, “Sketches threatening stand-up comedy is a very stupid assumption. Sit-acting is a theatrical industry and stand-up comedy is stand-up comedy. There has always been a skit industry, even before the advent of social media.”
“I don’t know where the theory that one influences the other came from, it’s absolutely pointless and I hate getting sucked into the topic because even before social media, we used to use skits to promote our shows, people could watch skits and still go to shows.
All the comedies they did last year, they’re all sold out and the skits are all gone, so who’s trying to advance the idea of one suppressing the other? It makes no sense at all and I don’t think I ever want to talk about this again.”
Further explaining, the stand-up comedian pointed out that people can try whatever their passion is without actually boxing themselves.
He said, “As a human being, whatever you think you can do, you should give it a shot. Some people are sitcom creators, comedians, actors, writers, and producers like me.”
Some people are musicians, actors, and comedians, so whatever rocks your boat, do it. If it works then all is well and good, if it doesn’t work then try again and if you feel like you can’t try multiple times then let it go. You are a journalist today and you can decide that you want to act; You will get your photo. Who divided it? Nobody, so why try to win people over? Everyone is welcome, this is my idea.