Veteran stand up Comedian, Ali Baba has come out to refute reports that comedians are featuring in Nollywood movies because of financial gains.
In a recent interview Ali Baba granted, the comedian said his colleagues make more money than actors.
“Comedians do not shoot movies because they can make money from them. We make more money from stand- up shows than we make from movies. I have played in about two movies, you spend at least three weeks shooting a movie and you would make the money they are paying you for that movie at a show. For every entertainer, you will look for all platforms to entertain yourself.
“Jamie Foxx went into music and he won Grammy’s, he went into movies and he won an Oscar award; Jamie Foxx is a comedian. LL Cool J is a rap artiste but he also acts and nobody has screamed blue murder. Will Smith was a comedian, turned rapper and actor, nobody has screamed blue murder. What is just happening is that a lot of people do not understand that as an artiste, you need to express yourself in different ways.
“If someone sees me hold a photography exhibition, they would begin to wonder when Ali Baba delved into photography. They do not know that I started taking pictures since 1978. If someone sees me drawing, they would ask when I started drawing but I have been doing that since when I was in secondary school. Someone could see me dancing and be wondering but I was the third runner-up in John Player in 1981. There was a time someone said that there was a comedian in Nigeria who was the first person to perform in an aeroplane and I replied the person that I did that in 1993 with Nigeria Airways across Africa. People do not know because it was not reported. I have acted in several flicks, I did ‘My Guy’ in a movie Barsorge shot in 1997 and I was in the soap opera, The Honourables. The only reason I stopped acting was because there was no money in it,” he said.
So what do you think of the comedians assertion? Please make use of the comments section with your views and opinions.
