Layi Wasabi, a well-known comedian, actor, and skitmaker from Nigeria, has stated that he didn’t start making comedy to be perceived as intelligent; instead, he just made content that came naturally to him.
Wasabi, whose real name is Isaac Ayomide Olayiwola, claimed that stand-up performances marked the beginning of his comedic career after he realized he was funny through comments from classmates.
The AMVCA-winning content creator stated on the Joey Akan Experience podcast that audiences later referred to his style as “intellectual comedy,” a title he did not initially aim to achieve.
“To be honest, yeah, when I started comedy, I didn’t start out with, ‘Oh, I wanted to be perceived as an intellectual,’” he said. “I just started comedy in a way that felt natural to me. And it was amazing that people were able to see what I do and tag it as, ‘Oh, this is different. This is intellectual comedy.”
“I didn’t go with the intention. I think I started creating comedy for me. Then it found people. I didn’t create comedy for people,” he said.
However, Wasabi said being described as an intellectual comedian comes with pressure, describing the tag as “a cross as much as it’s a crown.”
“I find the tag of being an intellectual very burdensome. It’s a cross as much as it’s a crown.”
“There’s a lot of things that you might fear to explore after being given the tag as an intellectual. Do you understand what I mean? So there’s a lot of things that you might find funny, but you know the kind of audience that you’ve curated.
“Now everybody’s falling in love. I say, ‘Oh, Joey Akan is a fan, so let me not drop this kind of comment.’ So you get that kind of burden. So, I mean, it’s a crown, like I said, but it’s still a cross.”
“Now you have to do deeper work before you put out a body of work or before you put out any content. You have to research, fact-check, just kind of put more thoughts into it.”
“But there’s a lot of effort in being effortless. There’s a lot of research. There’s also keeping your mind updated because you don’t want to have the same knowledge for a long time. It starts to become stagnant and stale.”
The satirical skitmaker also disagreed with Nigerian actor and filmmaker Daniel Etim’s assertion that skitmakers are not actors.
“To be able to be a great skitmaker, you have to be a good actor,”
Lisabi truly excels at what he does, demonstrating a remarkable talent and dedication that set him apart. His skills and passion shine through in every project, proving that he is a master of his craft. There’s no doubt that Lisabi is exceptionally good at what he does, and his work continues to inspire and impress those around him.
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Rose Ajieh
