Why Most Ghanaians Prefer Nigerian Comedians to GH Comedians

What is the issue?

Comedy in Ghana, albeit young, has seen an exponential growth but slow appreciation from Ghanaians. While comedians are doing their best to prove their worth, some Ghanaians are also doing their best to prove otherwise. GH comedians have constantly been ridiculed and compared to their colleagues in Nigeria in all aspects. While Ghanaians are reluctant to accept theirs, they have an open arm for Nigeria comedians. Event planners in Ghana like Charterhouse and Citi would rather book Nigerian comedians than their own. Ghanaian comedy lovers would also rather patronize a show that has Nigerians performing than Ghanaians. Once in the auditorium Nigerian comedians are cheered and tolerated more than Ghanaian comedians are in their own country.

Why is this worth discussing?

For a long time now, most publications by Ghanaian writers have been to praise Nigerian comedians at the expense of Ghana’s, as if that was not enough, even when Ghanaian performers get standing ovations at events, their successes are undermined and overlooked while praises are being showered at Nigerian comedians even if they had a low moment. Now, attacking and making comedians uncomfortable for a material they said on stage is becoming a new trend to criticize GH comedians.

Recently, comedian OB had a falling out with some prominent people for a joke he made about a prominent person in his country even though people laughed at the joke when it landed. Lekzy Decomic also shared experience with some politicians and men of God bastardizing him for a joke on stage, other comedians have also shared their stories about people in the creative space making their work difficult for a joke they made.

Why is this so, how different are these two groups of comedians?

Aside from the fact that Nigeria’s comedy industry has so many years of growth and experience on Ghana’s, here are some differences between Ghana’s comedy industry and Nigerians’ which makes Ghanaians gravitate towards Nigerian Comedians than their own.

Content-wise, because of the experience and the wider scope of knowledge gathered by Nigerian comedians because of their traveling, they seem to have richer contents as compared to Ghanaians who are still learning even though they have been doing extremely well with their little experience.

Secondly, in terms of value or payment, when billed by Ghanaian event organizers, Nigerian comedians are valued and paid much more than their colleagues in Ghana. This is mostly because of the vast wealth of knowledge and the magnitude of the brand they carry. And mostly because for shows like 1000 laughs and December to Remember, organizers assume these Nigerian brands are the reasons for their huge numbers.

As a result of the aforementioned paragraph, Nigerian Comedians live a life of luxury as compared to Ghanaians. Lekzy decomic in an interview once revealed that most Nigerian comedians live a high-class life, one that could be compared to that of the A-list musicians in Ghana, he added that they drive the most expensive cars and live in mansions where they are. Unlike them, most A-list Ghana comedians have other sources of income since comedy money is more of hand to mouth. Comedian OB, for instance, is a practicing optometrist. With very few of them having enough to even afford a car.

Unlike Ghanaian comedians, Nigerians are well-traveled to various parts of Africa and other continents to perform or visit. This, of course, has enriched their knowledge and materials, as compared to Ghanaians who normally travel to Nigeria after their breakthrough. These travels have indirectly increased the price tags of these Nigerian comedians making them a hot commodity than Ghanaians.

Also, Nigerian comedians are revered in both their country and Ghana, whereas Ghanaians find it difficult to appreciate theirs. Comedy in Nigeria is also seen as a popularity contest, because of this, Nigerian comedians have a strong and large fan base, they also command numbers and followers and have a great influence on their fans. Which seems to be the opposite for Ghanaian comedians.

Furthermore, while performing in Ghana, Nigerian comedians are accorded the liberty to pick on anyone or topic in Ghana for their contents, they speak and make fun of their country and sometimes some prominent people in Ghana and Nigeria. After such jokes, Ghanaians laugh and applaud them for it. However, this isn’t the same for Ghanaian comedians in most cases. People take offense at jokes performed by these comedians making it difficult to navigate and make their work easy. Interestingly, When a Nigerian flop during a performance in Ghana, no media house seems to talk about it, but Ghana comedians seem to make the front page or trends when they have a bad day.

Here is where it gets interesting, lately, in spite of all these, it seems Ghanaian comedians have weathered the storm and have developed their skills. Ghanaian comedians receive the loudest cheer, laughter, and applause during their performance as compared to Nigerians. This is because Ghanaian audience is able to relate to jokes made by the Ghanaian comedians since it normally circulates around happenings in Ghana and things they are familiar with, like Ghanaian politics, religion, ethnical idiosyncrasies among others.

Despite not having a lot of things going for them, GH comedians in most cases outshine their colleagues from Nigeria, but of course Ghana’s media refuse to report it.

Until Ghana starts appreciating theirs, no one will.