Ghanaians have a certain illness. I don’t know how it is called but I can describe it and explain it to you.
Most of our ‘showbizers’ retire too early in their fields. “Where is Benson Nana Yaw Oduro Boateng aka Funny Face Benson, the Ghanaian comedian?” People keep asking me this question and I tell them to go find him.
Few years ago, Funny Face was all over the place playing gigs, featuring in TV series, commercials and emceeing a lot of programmes. Like or hate him he has been one of Ghana’s finest comedians. His name will forever be in the annals of comedy in Ghana.
However, we hardly hear him MC shows or perform at programmes of late. He can only be found on UTV’s Cow and Chicken TV series, whose popularity is quite below TV3’s Chorkor Trotro which catapulted him to fame.
Of late DKB has been all over playing all the big gigs and I am happy for him. I personally know how people like DKB have suffered in the comedy trade before God has finally placed him where he is. He and his friends have suffered ridicule, humiliation and mockery from a section of Ghanaians who had the erroneous perception that Ghanaian comedy was of low standard.
Honestly, some of the constructive criticisms that were directed at DKB and cronies goaded them on to also work harder to prove their critics and ‘enemies’ wrong. The situation is better than yesterday and DKB, without a scintilla of doubt has been phenomenal.
Some say he has dislodged Funny Face but I am not sure DKB caused that. In fact, in as much as I am happy that DKB is making it big, I am unhappy about the fact that he’s more or less the lone ranger now. It is a harbinger for bleak future for us. To me, the rate at which we quickly consign our stars to the back when we get new ones is very bad. Of course, there are times when something new comes up and it catches people’s attention the more but we must allow the quite older ones to stay in the system together with the new ones for a much longer time.
I would have loved that Funny Face was as vibrant and relevant as he was few years ago; so that we have more comedians. If it doesn’t happen like that, we will always shorten the life span of the comedy careers of our comedians.
If we continue using only one hit comedy act because they are the reigning champions, we get bored of them easily in no time, and later we say they are not talented or have lost their steam.
Let us learn to keep and respect old talents as new ones join the fray. When we do that, we would have a wide variety of acts to choose from and that even promotes competition among the comedians. The moment we make it look like there is only one comedian in town, it breeds complacency and that may kill them before they fully mature.
I am one person who has a wild sense of humour but you must be smart to make me laugh. DKB for the past few years has been up to the task, making sure he nails every show he performs at. Last Saturday at the RTP Awards at the Accra International Conference Centre, he really made me laugh my heart, lungs, liver and intestines out.
However, my fear is that if we don’t fine – tune our system, he will soon be forgotten just as Funny Face has been consigned to oblivion.
Many have posited that Funny Face’s comedy talent has atrophied now and that could be the reason he is virtually missing from the system. The same people that not long ago heralded him and would even carry him on their head like he was a king, are now saying the dude is no longer funny. I am very concerned about Ghanaian comedy that is why I keep proffering ways we could better this fine industry of ours. Frantic efforts have been made by most of the young guys plying this trade and by God’s grace they are making it. But don’t raise them up, hail them and shove them off within a short period.
It will be nice to have the likes of DKB, Baba Spirit, Foster Romanus, Kaybos, Khemikal, Bismark the Joke, Hogan, Aglah and the like all being featured prominently in all spheres of the arts and entertainment industry so that our fight of growing the comedy industry doesn’t be in vain. To those who keep asking the whereabouts of Funny Face, he has a series called Cow and Chicken that runs on UTV. It features Bismark the Joke and other actors.
Yes, he’s on screen but he’s not as popular as he was sometime ago. There may be a blizzard of factors for his lull in the comedy circles but the major of these factors is that ‘certain illness’ I introduced in my preamble and discussed in this discourse.
Ghanaians like killing talents even before they fully mature. Let’s stop that!
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