Warri, Delta State, has bred more than half the population of Nigerian comedians today. One of such outstanding comedians is Godwin Komone, professionally known as Gordons. He started out as a musician in his church choir before branching out to comedy over 12 years ago. A graduate of Integrated Science at Delta State University, Gordons has risen to the top echelon of his career and is in the same league of colleagues like Basketmouth, AY, I Go Dye, Bovi among others. Gordons, who is married with five children and is recently kicking off his comedy show in the United Kingdom on the 22nd of July, spoke to Newton-Ray Ukwuoma about his background, career and inspirations among other things.
Would you say that musical comedians are failed musicians?
I don’t think so. No one is gifted in only one particular area. Most Nigerian comedians are musicians in their own right. It is our additional gift. I don’t think they are in competition with any musician. A music comedian is not a musician. We are just doing what we love to do.
You started as a musician. Why didn’t you stick to music?
Well, my style of music was music with a little bit of comedy. At a point, I decided to pay attention to the comic aspect because it was giving me more attention and audience. It is not that I am done with music. I will still do music. But when I was doing music, comedy was beckoning and I had to respond.
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When did you start singing?
From the church. I was groomed in the choir, World of Life Bible Church choir. I learnt the basics and what it meant to be a professional singer in the church.
You once said that growing up wasn’t as easy and smooth. Would like to share one experience that has remained with you from childhood?
My mum and my dad separated when I was three months. I grew up under my late grandmother. I saw my mother for the first time when I was sixteen. My pain was that even when I saw her at the age of sixteen, she didn’t want to see me. It was painful. I was a child looking for love. I didn’t have any place to run to but to my mum. My father at the time had another wife. You know how stepmothers behave. So, I desperately needed love from my mum, but she didn’t want to see me because she was married to someone else, who was richer than my father. She loved the children of the man and she didn’t want me to come in. You know what it means for you to start feeling like you are a crime! It affected me psychologically for a long time. But I thank God for it all.
What lessons did you learn from that experience?
That children need our love as parents. Not just our children, every child is seeking love from us and if you can show love to them, they can grow with a love-filled mind.
Most comedians come from Warri. How did Warri shape your life and career?
It was a good thing that I grew up in Warri because when comedy was yet to be developed in Lagos, we were already doing comedy in Warri before Ali Baba brought it to limelight. In Warri, there is something we call wording. It is like a competition where we insult each other spontaneously. I learnt how to be spontaneous in Warri. If you say a thing to me on stage you know I will response immediately. That was the training every one of us learnt from Warri. Those days when we were doing wording, if someone throws a word to you and you didn’t reply you wouldn’t be able to play with anybody for a whole week. So, you need to be strong and your mouth needed to be sharp and ready. When someone says a thing to you, you say five things more to them. So, when I engage anyone on stage I wouldn’t allow him to defeat me because I know where I come from. It was a good thing growing up in Warri because we learnt tenacity, originality and spontaneity.
Over the years, what to you are the qualities a professional comedian should have?
A good joke should make the comedian laugh first before he takes it out. A joke may be derogatory or insulting, but a good comedian should know how to embellish his jokes to weed out the insult or smokescreen it. It is just like Tetracycline. It is colourful and easy to swallow, but it is bitter. A good comedian should not only make people laugh, he should also educate them with his jokes. For me, that is the height of comedy, where you are able to take the situation in the country and make jokes as well as educate people about it; that’s when you move from a comedian to a social commentator. I have few of my brothers who do this, people like Bovi and Accepela.
How do you feel when you do a joke that’s not funny to the audience?
I don’t feel bad. Sometimes when you drop a joke and no one laughs at that time, when they begin to reason it, the laughter will now come. It is called hear now and laugh later joke. And there is another one, you drop the joke and it goes flat. You yourself will know that the joke was flat. This kind of joke affects the comedian psychologically, but if you do not know how to wave it away, it will affect the whole performance. Once I drop a joke and it hits the post, I quickly change my method. I try other things. Perhaps the joke wasn’t meant for that audience.
There have been some cases when bodyguards or the police have whisked you away on stage because of a joke. How did you feel about it?
Well, I am like a gynaecologist. No matter who comes to my hospital, I will do my job. Even if my pastor’s wife comes to my hospital in so far is a gynaecological problem and I am in the position to tell her to take off her clothe, I will do so. I am only being professional. For the fact that I cracked a joke that angered some politicians doesn’t stop me from doing what I love to do. It is my job. To crack a joke is not a joke. I do my thing knowing that I have satisfied my conscience that it is right and positive. I have cracked a joke about a lot of people and when they see me they react, and when they react they give me more jokes. That’s how we ball.’
You are one of the most vociferous comedians in Nigeria. Sometimes you are very harsh on the system and the people you criticise. What drives you?
Frustration. My country is frustrating me. And I know that going by the blessings we have in this country, if we can have one good head we will go far. We have the opportunities. Take for instance, the Nigerian police. If they want to work, they will work. But because of the system sometimes they just don’t want to work. They too are frustrated. How much is their salary? Recently, I heard that the basic salary of a soldier, a soldier, who carries a gun, is N45,000. Now, you know why their slap is wonderful. N45,000 for a man with children! How is he going to pay fees? People are angry. If you give everyone a microphone to speak, you will not believe what you will hear. We have seen more suicide in this dispensation than in any other. Third Mainland Bridge is now another way to heaven, beside the fact that it is the way to the Island. How can someone park their SUV and jump into the ocean? People who are trekking have never jumped, but those who are rich jump. It is because they are frustrated. It is not enough to drive a big car, what if you cannot maintain it? Thinking that you will make it one day is less frustrating than when you are not able to maintain your lifestyle after you have made it. These situations get me angry and I want to voice out. It is better to say something than to die in silence. I want people to know that I am not happy with what I am seeing because I know that Nigeria can be better than this. We cannot allow a group of people to hijack this country. This is the most God-fearing nation in the world. The issue is no longer in God’s hand, it is in the people’s. We are religious, but not godly.
Does your social comments affect the number of jobs you get?
I don’t know because I do shows like any other comedian. Sometimes I do more. The truth of the matter is whether they give me the show or not that will not stop me from doing what I am doing. The late FelaAnikulapoKuti has taught us to be steadfast and dogged in our position. However, as a comedian I know what to say in every stage. If my audience are politicians, it will be unprofessional to say things that offend them. Wisdom is profitable to direct.
Do you think your ministry has gotten to the permanent site?
We have left permanent site since, we are now in website. That is where the money is. Small boys are picking money on website, and you are talking about permanent site. In fact, everybody is on website. That is what we do.
How did you get the joke about moving the ministry to permanent site?
You know, there is no church you go to, especially those ones in the hotel that they are not talking about moving to the permanent site. What they don’t know is once you move to the permanent site, your problem becomes permanent. That’s how I got the joke. I am a church person. When the ministry moved from hotel to permanent site, we moved. When it moved from permanent site to camp, we moved. Now, they have moved from camp to website, you don’t want us to move? We have to move.
Talking about the website, social media has become a veritable platform for self-branding for celebrities. Do you have a personal code of conduct about your social media engagement?
To be honest, I am not a social media person. And that is because I do not like gossip. A lot of people use social media as an avenue to put people down. I only put things that educate, that build people on my handle. People hide under social media to say nasty things and I called them cowards. Whatever you want to say to me, be bold enough to say it to my face and whatever happens to you will be the result of how you said it.
What do you have to say about the idea of begging on social media?
It was the celebrities that started it. When you started giving recharge cards and money on social media. That is what I said about the ministry moving to the website. Since it moved to social media, beggars have moved their ministries too to the website.
Is there a project you are currently working on now?
I am doing my first UK stand-up comedy show this July, on the 22nd.
How many comedians are you taking with you?
Just me, AY, Accapella and the Don.
Are there things people still don’t know about you?
People don’t know that I am a shy person; that I am a very private person; and that I am a God-fearing person. Most people don’t know I have never smoked in my life. They don’t believe it. They think I get high before I go on stage, but I have been a church boy all my life.
You are married, but does your wife use your phone?
Yes. She does.
Does she know the password to your phone?
Never. Not in the world to come. I am a realistic person. Before it became an issue, I had to explain it to my wife. There is no day I wake up and I don’t see nasty pictures, nude pictures, from someone I don’t know. The kind of boobs I have seen in this life I didn’t know if they actually exist. If my wife goes through my phone and sees these, it would certainly affect her emotionally and psychologically. Since she wouldn’t want to pack out, why does she want to check something that will hurt her? So, I asked her to trust me and pray for me. I don’t look at her phone, she doesn’t look at mine. But like me, she has the right to ask me question about anyone she suspects with me.
But how do you handle female fans that send nude pictures?
Once you are in the limelight you see so many things. Even our pastors that pray for us, if they are bold enough to tell us the things church members do to them you won’t believe it. Church members are the ones sending seductive messages and pictures to pastors. Now that our pastors are flamboyant and flashy, these girls are enticed. It is funny that the same people you pray for are the ones that want to seduce you. I travel almost every week. When your fans hear that you are coming to their city, they want to not only become your fans, but also your air conditioners. You start getting requests to come to some places. What do I do? Wisdom is profitable to direct. I have learnt how to flirt without getting burnt. If a girl likes me, I will like her back. “Come to my house now.” “Ok. I will come tomorrow.” Tomorrow never ends. I don’t want to lose the fan, but I also want her to know I appreciate her. In my opinion, married men are more sexually attractive to women than single men. Once you wear a ring, women just believe you are responsible. Married men will bear me witness. So, I know how to deal with such stituations.
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