January 30, (THEWILL) – Justice Nuagbe, a.k.a Ushbebe, is not just a standup comedian, he is also a content producer and actor. He speaks with IVORY UKONU about his passion for the entertainment industry, his annual concert titled Chronicles of Ushbebe and other matters.
You are several weeks away from clocking 40. What special things do you have lined up for the celebration?
It is a day before my annual comedy concert so I will celebrate it during the event. The last big party I had was when I clocked 30 and I celebrated it at No 10, Jay Jay Okocha’s buzz club then. But this time, I would rather celebrate it with the people who have made me who I am today. I have noticed for a long time that I have very persistent followers and fans of my annual concert. I want to celebrate with this set of people. This year will be the 10th anniversary of the concert and the 16th edition, having held it in different cities in Nigeria and Europe.
What will you be doing at this year’s concert, different from the regular offerings to your fans and followers?
Anyone conversant with my concerts knows that every year comes with a new style. I try to tie each edition around trending issues. Last year, we had the vaccine edition tagged The Naked Variant Edition. It was tied around COVID-19, which was trending at that time. So people don’t only come to have fun and a good laugh, but also to learn about trending issues in an entertaining way. Every edition has its own style and theme. You do not know what to expect till the day of the show. Since it is going to be a double celebration, the fun is in not knowing what to expect.
Some comedians who started their own annual concerts have not been able to sustain them beyond five years. How come you have been in business for this long?
Not everyone has the privilege to do this. Maybe it is because they do not have the capacity to put up content consistently. I also think it is because of the fan’s love for me or the way I relate with them. People won’t go where they are not happy. It is wasted energy to pretend to love just because you want to attend a concert. It costs a lot of money to buy tickets and to organise the show.
You have consistently held the concert at the Eko Hotel and Suites and other cities in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. How do you source money to make it happen?
I am grateful for coming this far. Some people start with Eko Hotel, but they may not be able to keep it up after a while. It is sometimes very difficult because sponsorship is not something you can get easily. I don’t bother to wait for sponsorship; I just pursue my direct contacts and pray it happens. I leverage smaller businesses, the ones actually calling the shots. The bigger businesses are not willing to do anything. Maybe it is because I am not a relative of the people running them. But the grace that I have is that people enjoy attending my concert. Also, I have a partner who brings something to the table, just like I bring the contents and part of the money.
Why is your concert called Yadadi?
It is a fun way of saying ‘Your Daddy’ in local parlance, a kind of jocular insult. It is the sub name of the concert. The concert itself is actually called The Chronicles of Ushbebe, which means, showcasing the different characters of Ushbebe. It was a television show before it metamorphosed into a concert. It was shown on local television stations, including Ben TV in the UK. The TV show showcased Ushbebe playing different characters and this has greatly influenced me incorporating acting in the concert.
Why did you rest the TV show?
Drama and politics from television executives are the reasons why I rested the TV show. I started a new one called Abnormal. We shot a whole season, which comprised 13 episodes, but when it was time to air it, I was told by these TV executives that they already had similar contents airing. How can it be similar when comedy content isn’t restricted to a particular set of people? These executives are just afraid that when one brings what they have, it may reduce the attention that another show is getting. I don’t want to mention names, but the fact is that there are so many people like me who are capable of producing great stuff for television. Unfortunately they are unable to exceed the production process and when those who manage to do the job approach these stations, they say they have about three, four similar contents. What is wrong with even having nine or 10 sitcoms? I don’t know what one is expected to create that won’t be similar to other sitcoms. The important thing is to make sure that one is not using the same characters to shoot all of the sitcoms.
How about exploring other media like Youtube?
I tried that, but the energy that the younger ones have to create contents on a daily basis is incomparable. Besides, as a businessman, who runs other businesses, I cannot afford to focus all of my time and energy just to create content every day for Youtube. My other ventures will suffer. Again, these younger guys started when social media became the in-thing. I didn’t build my brand via social media; I started long before it. So the capacity with which I can operate is quite different. That isn’t to say that I am not leveraging social media, but I can’t sweat it out and give it all to Youtube. I am a local content producer and if I am creating content locally, it will be for this space, not a global market. People are making money off this space. The TV executives know this, but they keep us restricted. They fail to realise that it is even better for the stations to start accepting content from providers and pay them accordingly for it. That way, they won’t be short of what to air to their viewers.
Imagine that I will do a show and a TV station will ask me to pay some money before it broadcasts the show. I do accordingly and it broadcasts the show from morning till night and entertain their viewers and sometimes, repeat my contents. The content they are using adds to the number of views that they get. These people travel out and see the way things work over there. They attend symposia, hold meetings, speak English to deceive investors, but when it comes to actual practice, they don’t do it the way they admire the ones abroad.
I can’t spend about N2.5 million to create content only for me to put it on Youtube and wait till when I can recover my capital investment, which is usually not any time soon. I am a businessman and I don’t have that much time. If I have the time, perhaps I can do that, but earning about $20,000 a month from Youtube isn’t going to satisfy me when Youtube eventually starts to pay me. I gained my popularity and fan base from the sitcom, AY’s Crib. It wasn’t on Youtube, it was on local television. Sometimes, what matters most is not even about the money, but the joy of creating content and seeing people enjoy it. We should have as many of these contents as possible for people to enjoy and not restrict them. It is because of the frustration, which the cartel in the industry has caused people that many are now resorting to Youtube. I am not worried about the cartel, I am just concerned about creating good content and making people happy.
What is going to happen to Abnormal, the new show you created?
It was on TV. I shot 13 episodes and had to stop at a point. I mean I couldn’t spend all that money creating content, take it to a TV station and still be the one that will bring adverts/sponsorship to fund the show. If I use my skills to go bring you (TV stations) contents, adverts and the TV station claims it is a partnership, then they have to bring something to the table. That is how it is done. But in this situation, it is my content and my marketing skill that is working for you when it should be a partnership. Television executives don’t want to spend their money, they wait for ready-made content and still expect me to run after adverts/sponsorship. For instance, my concert is my content and my money, but I have a partner who is also bringing something to the table. For now, let Abnormal rest. I am taking my time to come up with the next move.
I am curious. With the advent of the social media, do people still watch television, what is the ratio compared to those glued to social media?
People watch TV and you will be shocked to know that more people watch television than they spend time on social media. That is the truth.
You run a cooking show on Instagram. How did that start?
I like to pretend to be a chef because I actually like to cook. I got that from my mother who taught me at a young age. I also used to date someone who would call me on the phone and teach me how to make Oha soup because she didn’t want other girls to come to my house to cook for me. I was always hungry when I was younger and you would find me in the kitchen preparing something. I also have a lot of friends who are chefs and since I like to experiment with food ingredients, I just call them up and ask them to teach me how to put together certain dishes. So during the lockdown in 2020, I began videoing myself making meals and uploading it on Instagram. People liked it. They didn’t care about what I was cooking as long as I was in the kitchen playing around. It was entertaining. Sometimes when I haven’t cooked in a while, I get messages asking me to cook and upload the videos because they enjoyed the entertaining aspect of it. I have invited a few of my colleagues on live video to eat what I cooked. I even had a DJ with me in the kitchen just to spice up things.
What is the end game of your cooking on Instagram?
I have no end game, so to speak. I am just having fun, but a few people have seen beyond what I do and have asked me to advertise their products while I am cooking. The products are paid for, but I have to be in the mood for that. This is exactly what I mean by TV stations sitting down and expecting finished products as contents to air to their viewers. There are too many things happening that a brand can jump at. It is not every time that somebody has to come and plead with them to use one’s content. For instance, I have a particular company that leverages my concert. They don’t give me money for sponsorship, they just pay for some tables and I just put them as sponsors because I am encouraged by what they are doing. There are several brands that do that, not just to me, but to some other comedians. There are companies that have big budgets for such things, but the people in charge just sit on the money. But we are surviving, regardless. We are not perturbed.
Are you thinking of starting a cooking show on television?
No, it is not in my immediate plans, but if a company wants me to, and it is ready to foot the bill, why not? But I won’t use my money to shoot a cooking show and carry it around TV stations begging them to air it and they asking me to go look for sponsorship. My cooking only ends in my kitchen and on Instagram.
How did you find your feet in the comedy business?
I have always wanted to be in the entertainment business. I started when I was quite young. I tried my hands at music at some point and even taught different choirs how to sing. I can play the drum and the keyboard. I was also a rapper and even released an album, Case to Fame. I did a launch of the album in my church in Gbagada then. As time went on, I began to enjoy the drama aspect of entertainment. I studied Theatre Arts at Delta State University. That is where I met Ayo Makun, aka AY. In school, I did standup comedy at departmental parties. By this time, I concentrated on comedy and left music as there were too many musicians and I knew the art would stress me. I got a job as a banker after graduating from the university, but I still continued doing comedy on the side. After a while, I left the bank and started working with AY. I was his personal assistant and his commercial manager. AY was paying me N15,000 a month as transportation fee at that time. He was living somewhere in Iponri and there were eight other guys who were getting their daily bread from him and living with him and his wife Mabel. Soon after, AY debuted his concert and I had my first real performance at his AY Live show. I started out presenting acts before I graduated to real comedy performance.
Obviously, you owe your success and what you are today to AY
AY is my only mentor. I have always looked up to him right from when we were in school. He was doing big things, bringing all the big names and artists to perform on campus. Which was why, when I got tired of banking and needed to pursue a career in the entertainment industry, he was the only one I considered was good enough to mentor me. And he welcomed me with open arms. I was his ticketer for his show and never stole his money. We are talking about selling tickets worth N75,000 at that time and I never stole a dime. Every character I ever played that has made me popular, AY created them specifically for me. From his shows to his sitcom, AY’s Crib. We both wrote most of the scripts for the sitcom and he told me I would be best suited for the gateman role in the sitcom. I didn’t argue and that character catapulted me greatly. He knows me well enough to know what character would suit me. He knew that those characters would bring out the best in me and he was never wrong. I am where I am today because of my relationship with him and the training I got from him. I was with AY for four years before I went to radio.
Why did you leave Naija Fm?
I had to leave. The schedule became too tight and busy for me to cope with. With all the things that I do, I only had 21 days leave in a year. It wasn’t going to work. I can’t travel and be rushing back to work. I tried. I was on radio for nine years and there was no way I could stay there longer or I would get stuck. I didn’t want to be in the league of those who got too comfortable as salary earners. I felt I had entertained long enough on radio and gained a large following. So it was fair enough for me to leave and do other things.
What motivates you?
My past. I suffered a lot when I was growing up. We were 14 living in a single room apartment at Air Force Base, Ikeja. My dad had two wives. My mother is an Igbo woman, while my dad is Urhobo in Delta State. My mother was a hardworking woman who wasn’t waiting for my father to give her money. She always told me to make plans to get my own house as soon as I start making some money. And God helped me. I did that because I was determined not to go back to living in squalor. Staying far from poverty drives me hard and every time, I want to do more things to make money legitimately so as not to go back to where I came from.
What has been your greatest challenge as a comedian, an actor, and a businessman?
For us to do things the way it is done in the developed countries, which we know about but don’t do. I don’t want to be using my money to organise concerts or create content for TV. In the United States, a TV station/channel can pay someone like Chris Rock or Dave Chapelle, even someone less popular, to create content and these TV stations will still be responsible for marketing the contents to advertisers and source for sponsorship. At the end of the day, both sides of the divide make money. There are big names here, even smaller ones, that can create great content that will translate into mega money, but no, our TV stations here prefer to sit back and let the content creator to do all the work without bringing anything to the table. Nevada Bridge and Iroko TV have been at the forefront of championing this cause, no matter how small the money is, they give to content producers to produce something. I must commend them for that. But we need the money to be increased.
What is your greatest achievement in life so far?
Putting smiles on the faces of people is my biggest achievement. The fact that people appreciate what I do and they are happy when they run into me is fulfilling. I also get a kick out of helping people out of their predicament in any way that I think is best.
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