Anytime, I broach a topic on various platforms on why Ghanaian comedy is still in the doldrums, I receive comments like “Ghanaian comedians are not funny,” “Comedy is not a Ghanaian thing,” or “ Ghanaians don’t support their own.”
At least, basic logic tells everybody that humour is subjective; you need not be a theatre artiste or comedian to know this. Different people of different classes, statuses and geographical locations and social orientation will react differently to same joke by a comedian.
But the same basic logic also indicates that objectivity is collective subjectivity, and that is where numbers come in. Where a comedian is able to send a lot of people laughing, you cannot tell me he is not a good comedian.
I am among few writers who have always advocated that Ghanaians supported Ghanaian comedians by giving them big platforms that are given their Nigerian counterparts so that even if it is true that our comedians are not funny, they will be magnetized the more as much as they share stages with the acclaimed Nigerian comedy colossi.
I have suggested that corporate institutions support people who present proposals to them to unearth comedy talents or put up comedy shows. I have since its inception, written about David Oscar’s ‘Corporate Comedy Series,’ that this was a renaissance of GH comedy and needs to be supported.
In the first place, I like people who are bent on delivering what is good even if the whole world is against them. David Oscar, Aglah, Percy, DKB, Foster, Khemikal, James Brown and the likes are Ghanaian comedians who are doing well and are striving to change the negative perception about Ghanaian comedy.
Even though people like David Oscar had disagreed with me when I had said that Ghanaian comedy is in the doldrums, I still stand by my assertion. If “doldrums’’ is a school of 4 classes, I will place Ghanaian comedy in the third class. I believe it is this Corporate Comedy Series initiative by Oscar and possibly others that may have pushed our comedy from the bottom to the third class.
That our comedians are gradually doing better doesn’t mean we are out of the ‘doldrums.’ We haven’t even started the journey my brothers and sisters. We always use Nigerian comedians as example because they have a lot of comedians and day in day out they keep producing a flurry of more good ones. Ask how many comedians Ghana is able to produce in a year. According to Nigerian comedian Basketmouth, there a lot of comedy clubs in Nigeria where comedy talents go to showcase their potentials. How many of such clubs do we have in Ghana? When we keep insulting our comedians, how can they fly? I am not saying we should hail them even when they don’t do well but we need to be positive in our thinking. Let us criticize but do so constructively.
My headache is that, why are Nigerian comedians able to send a whole auditorium laughing with their acts? I don’t subscribe to the notion that it is their accent that makes them funny. I rather believe it is their choice of words and how well they weave their stuff.
Some have blamed Charterhouse for inundating our stages with Nigerian comedian all these years, consigning ours to the background. They think we could have more Ghanaian comedians on their Nights of Laughs and Music series than the one, two they put in the midst of a thousand Nigerian comedians.
I have personally heard some entertainment critics say that few times when our own comedians had been given the chance to strut their stuff on this Charter house platform, they failed to impress. And this could be the reason why Charter house also stopped using most of them. Now, it is only Funnyface that is ‘chosen’ and being as Charterhouse comedian, thank to his manager George Quaye.
But the truth is that, most of our Ghanaian comedians have a lot of work to do if they want to take comedy higher. You need to be very creative and intelligent to be funny. Like KSM said, you guys need to study hard and perfect your skill.
Charterhouse is out with a comedy reality show dubbed ‘Laugh Out Loud GH’ which is meant to unearth comedians in Ghana. I personally have not been happy about how after discovering David Oscar in the maiden edition of ‘Stars of the Future’ they just parted ways with David. Was he not right when at a point he requested that, Chaterhouse not give him same amount they give Nigerian comedians, but at least increased his fee a bit? So why did they ditch the young man?
I like the idea of this new reality show. In fact, Charterhouse has helped improve Ghana’s entertainment industry in diverse ways but I think they need to do more. After discovering the comedian they seek in this contest, let them not despise and jilt him like they did to David Oscar.
I am also suggesting that we invigorate the concert parties we had back in the day. At least those were comedy for the masses. It is difficult for the ordinary person to relate to comedy done in English language.
As we advise Ghanaian comedians to work hard, I implore all Ghanaians to throw our support behind them to pull Ghanaian comedy out of the doldrums.
© 2013 Nigeriafilms.com
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