Standup comedian, Bright Akpochi, otherwise known as Basketmouth, has stated that he started comedy accident.
Speaking with Joey Akan of Afrobeats Intelligence, Basketmouth revealed that at the time he discovered his talent to make people laugh, he was a rapper.
“I thought that rap music was going to be it for me. And I was on stage performing, doing rap music the day I decided to do comedy,” he said.
On what attracted him to music in the first place, Basketmouth explained that it all started with his love for drums.
“I’ve always loved music. I started playing drums. Nobody taught me how to play drums. I used to go to a church back then. Christ Pentecostal Ministry, yes. No, Christ Evangelical Ministry. I remember. I used to go to church. The drummer, his name was Oreva, used to sit down, play the drums. And I would sit down and just watch him play the drums. And I was watching him, his movement, his timing. I was going there every day. Then I found out they used to do rehearsals on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I’d go there and sit in church and watch him play,” he added.
When asked how he dumped rap music for comedy, the humour merchant revealed that “one of the craziest nights of my life. For like 30 minutes, I was with these guys, yabbing everybody. So I was insulting the whole school and I won (laughs). I quarrelled with the whole auditorium that day. It was in 1998 I think. After that point, my friend Eno Ofugara was like ‘Bright, don’t do rap music for now. Do comedy. That’s your strength.’ I said yes, I’d do it for now… I got into comedy and I got stuck.”