In the comedy industry, one thing that has given them headache like piracy in Nollywood is the use of another person’s joke without giving due credit to the original owner.
The issue has caused ripples among practitioners and enmity created.
Ace Nigerian comedian, Basketmouth, speaking with Olisa on The Truth, claimed a well known colleague of his stole his joke, first denied it, but later admitted doing such.
Basketmouth said, “My wife once told me that a comedian just cracked one of my new materials that I had just created because she was there when I created the material. I called the guy and he denied it.
“But after a while, as I was persistent, he was like, ‘Eh, Baba, you know… No vex.”
He added, “There are some big and known comedians that are known for that stuff. When I did my research, I found that these known comedians came out with stolen materials from other people. They do not write materials.”
He further revealed why he does not appear on comedy shows organized by his colleagues. “If you have noticed, I don’t do public events but my own shows, my private gigs. But when another comedian is doing their gig, when they call me, I say, ‘I am unavailable'”.
Revealing his top five living comedians in Nigeria, Basketmouth named Gandoki, Bovi, Buchi, Okey Bakasi and Aje Baba.
He explained why he did not mention Alibaba. “I do not like rating Ali(baba) because he is on a different level. He once helped me out and gave me the rights to the jokes.”
This may leave this question, is all well with Basketmouth and other comedians like AY, Julius Agwu, and Tee A?