Economic hardship making it harder now to make people laugh – Owen Gee

Owen Osamwengie, popularly known as Owen Gee is a multi-talented Nigerian entertainer that has honed his trade in the showbiz industry for more than 25 years. He speaks more in this exclusive interview with ORJI ONYEKWERE.

Do you have a project you are working on currently?

I have a few projects I am working on. Things have changed because the projects are officially out on the day of release. You don’t tell the project you are working on these days. Enemies are many now and it’s just a few of us that will have a project and then bring it to the press. I have few great projects I am working on and they are not what I can talk about until they’re out.

Is it a movie, a comedy show, or skit?

You are putting words in my mouth. Now we have PR people and the companies that want to release the thing. The companies you signed a deal with to get the projects out, they always want to be the first to let the ‘cat out of the bag’ especially when they put out the billboard because they also spend money on PR. It is either you have been commissioned to do it or they pay outrightly for the content after you have done it.

The deal I signed with them is that everything that involves media, they will be the ones to handle it. Well, it’s the first of its kind because it has taken a while for me to put this together. It’s great project and the only thing I can reveal to you is that it’s for television.

Is that why we have not seen much of you in terms of shows, movies and TV series?

This project has taken me a little bit of time to work on. It has taken me about five years now. Something that has taken me that much time must be strong and time consuming. Besides, we are in an evolving society where strategies are changing. In our own part of the industry, the content making comedians are in the face of the public. Content comedy is the new norm.

The difference between doing stage performance and content comedy is that for you to do stage, you have to project and prepare for it. It might take four to five months to prepare a few hours show and just about 2000 people may want to come and watch it and if you don’t have up to 200,000, people taking video of the event and uploading it, it may not go viral as expected.

But with the content part of comedy, the difference is that once you release it on your social media platform, it’s projected to millions of people especially when it’s reshared. It’s broader these days because you put something on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram and millions of people are able to see it from their locations. People prefer to consume video on demand type of content than stand-up comedy now.

I wake up in the morning on my way to the gym, my house boy and even security man are stuck to their mobile phones watching funny videos and they are laughing. This one goes more viral these days than when you are doing the stand-up show. Things are changing just like the movie industry now. You can’t compare when you used to carry your CD to radio stations and beg OAP’s or DJ’s to play your music.

These days, you just release your music; put it on streaming platforms like Spotify and others and the next morning, you are counting the number of streams and smiling to the bank. Incidentally, the so call DJ’s will go there and pick the songs they want to play. Even OAP’s will go to streaming platforms to pick the trending songs.

Things are changing because the content part of comedy is gaining so much ground.s Most of my colleagues when they do the traditional stand up show, it’s mostly for marketing purposes and face value. A lot of them never recoup the money they spend on these shows. Do you know how much it costs to rent a hall, to pay for the lighting, sound, stage and publicity? I envy them for still doing these shows. How much does it cost to do a skit? With your phone, you already have easy editing features and once you throw it out there, you become an overnight sensation and become an influencer and you make money.

So, how are old horses like you reinventing yourselves and trying to go with the flow?

Is the Daily Times still selling hard copies? No, they have gone digital because people are no longer buying hard copies. The only way to reinvent is to move with the system. Nigeria has a very heavy active youth population, all the netizens that are called the Gen Z and these people have their ways. It’s not just in the stand-up comedy industry, even in the music industry?

They never heard the Tubaba song, they just know he is a music legend and that is it. Ask them to sing three or four of his songs, they will be looking at you. Are you talking of African China? Nice or Terry G. But they’re huge fans of Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy and Rhema and they make -up the huge numbers.

For some of us that’s where the importance of collaboration comes in. With that you bring in your wealth of experience and collaborate with some of these younger ones. We are also able to learn new methods of reaching out to the younger and wider audience. They have created a different style and platform from what it used to be. Why do you think an artist like Tuface has not brought out a song, it’s not like he cannot sing.

Tuface still remains my favourite Nigerian musician but I can tell you that he is trying to see how his song can appeal to a new age of audience. He cannot sing the same way he did African Queen and hope to capture this audience. He would want to bring things that will get their attention, introducing Amampiano and some of these new Afro beat styles. They have the ways and you are now trying to adjust to a new audience. That’s where the reinvention comes in.

Also everything is seasonal and passive. People have to give way to their mentees, give them the chance and opportunity to also shine. It’s not as if we’re not performing but it’s not like before . The type of jokes I will tell, is not the type of joke these young show goers would want to listen to. I can’t start cracking jokes about night clubs or universities. How do I want to relate with them and what do I want to say about campus. What do I want to say about boy/girl toasting because I have been married for years. My son is about to enter the university this year. How do I know now how people toast?

My jokes these days will be centred around family and politics, marriage, economics, current affairs and more matured discussion. It’s only those within my age bracket or older that will be able to relate to these kinds of jokes. When all these young boys come out, they only talk about clubs , clothes, relationships and those things that are spur of the moments for now . Like I said earlier, you have to act your age.

Michael Jackson was a pop artiste and till the day he died: he remained the greatest. There was a time we did not hear from him for more than 10 years. It was not as if he was not great but the era of pop has gone with the late 80’s to 90’s. From there, it moved to R&B, and trap. It was totally impossible to tell Michael Jackson to come and sing R&B.

What happened to your music ambition because you were once a rapper?

Funny enough. I am a man who is hugely insatiable . I did a 12 track album that I never released which was called ‘Owen Cyclopedia’. I have finished the album but I have not been able to release it uptill today. It featured a lot of notable artistes, late Dagrin, Waje, Boque and so many artists. At the point, I was meant to release the album that was when I got a deal with MNET. I popularised and reinvented skits on TV. The skits they are pushing online, I brought it to television and I am one of the forebearers of the skit industry today.

I had just signed a contract with MNET that’s 2011/12 to do 74 skits for television, that had a little bit of a halted the release and I have to sacrifice one for the other. It’s either I went to the next stage of my comedy career by putting it across or turn down the deal and follow my music route. However, I was not ready to gamble being seen across Africa or for a music career I will push from scratch and will still not have the resources.

By the time I was rounding off with those skits, they re-signed me again to do another 35 skits because I was an independent artist. By 2011/12, I had done over 100 comic skits. By the time it was about to finish; I already have another TV talk show, tagged ‘Buzz Live with Owen Gee’ and it was number 2 in Africa. I shot over 60 episodes and by the time I was rounding it off, my musical career had suffered. From 2004 -2008/9 when I completed my singles, I was just spending money on my music career doing videos and going to studios but nothing was coming back to me.

You know how music then was, no royalties or streaming platforms. You will sing, buy clothes, pay for musical videos, pay DJ and that is why I respect all the artists that did their thing at that time because it was not an easy journey. I wrote the idea for two years and I started pitching the idea since 2008.

Why do they call you the crazy comedian?

It’s my style of delivery because you never know what I am going to say or how I am going to say it or how it will be delivered. I am not the type of comedian you can predict the outcome of his delivery when I am performing. I could do anything to make people laugh. I could jump, dance, I can mimic or ryhme or do anything to make people laugh. In addition, anytime I come on stage there will always be a twist to my style of comedy and people must surely laugh.

You have survived different life situations especially COVID, how would you use your life experience to counsel people that are facing similar challenges?

About my COVID experience, my brother the best thing you can ever do is to embrace God. I am not against any religion neither do I have anything against any religion. No religion is perfect, no religion is bad, the most important thing is your relationship with God. I call myself a total Nigerian. I am from the Niger Delta, Edo State and a core Christian. My wife is Lagosian and from a core Muslim family but she now joins me to attend church.

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However once in a while, she joins them in their Muslim activities. I attend MFM and she joins me for prayers and she is dedicated to prayers more than me. All the years we have been together, we have never had a quarell over our tribe or religion. I just believe in serving the true God no matter the situation you have found yourself.

Man is flesh no matter the attention, care and encouragement, don’t forget they are humans and they need to be there for themselves before they can be there for you. At some point in life, you are left on your own and the only companion and supporter you have is just God. He is the only one you can speak to in your quite place and he answers. In everything, praise God and have faith in him. My faith in God is unshakable. I could not have been anything without God. Do you know how many artists that have left this world, some in their prime?

How easy or difficult is it to make people laugh these days?

My brother it’s tough. It’s now the work just started. You that can’t smile want to make another person smile? It’s difficult because you have to come with your A game. You have somebody who bought black market or have to queue for eight hours before buying fuel, he could not iron his cloth because there was no light, and he doesn’t have enough in his pocket.

Even to cook a standard pot of soup is up to ₦35,000 and his salary is about ₦45,000 a month. He has about four children and he will buy food. You know how much a bag of rice is now which two months’ salary cannot cover?

Thank God for the receptive nature of Nigerians. But you can’t be frustrated all the time because laughter is even good for you and for your mental wellbeing. Things are really tough. There are times I will look at my wife, I will say today these people must laugh. Everybody needs to feel good and happy. No matter how difficult things are, it’s our jobs as humour merchants to find a way to smoothen the atmosphere for people. You just look at things around you and turn them into humour.

QUOTE:

My brother it’s tough. It’s now the work just started. You that can’t smile want to make another person smile? It’s difficult because you have to come with your A game.