Lagos – A stand-up comic, Bethel Njoku, also known as “Senator’’, has urged comedians to be creative in their performances in front of their audiences.
Senator told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that creative performances with social relevance can go a long way in enlightening the audience about issues of national interest.
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“I have done shows in Jos, like three editions, then M.I. was my first stage manager in 2006 but now, here in Lagos, I tell people you don’t do shows because others are doing shows. No.
“And people like us don’t do shows because we want to raise school fees and house rent, no.
“Abroad, if you are doing a show, it means you have something to tell your audience, I think I’m ready to tell them certain things in this Lagos that’s why I’m doing the show.
“People just do these things because they are under certain pressures; they must do shows to prove a point, some of us don’t do shows like that.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
“I am going to work within the confines of what my name and my brand and the concept I represent flows with and that’s why it’s titled ‘Senator Most Distinguished’.
“Here in Lagos, people are living on the fast lane, so if you don’t have anything to offer in exchange, nobody has that patience for you.
“But in Jos, all we did was for the sake of the passion of what we love to do and we didn’t care about money.
“That’s why you see every Jos man who moves down to Lagos seems to be very grounded in terms of the talent he has.’’
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He stressed the need for entertainers to resist the temptation to organise shows “out of necessity or pressure”.
Njoku noted that comedians in Lagos attract more patronage than their colleagues in other parts of the country because Lagos is arguably the entertainment hub of the country.
NAN reports that Senator, a Theatre Arts graduate from the University of Jos, has been a very active artiste in the Nigerian comedy industry following his debut in 2006. (NAN)