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OLD STAND-UP COMEDY, ORALITY, SUBJECT MATTER 
AND THE NEWMEDIA: A STUDY OF ALIBABA’S 2016

JANUARY 1ST CONCERT PERFORMANCE. 
 

Awaritoma Agoma  
Department of Theatre Arts, Faculty of Arts, 

University of Abuja. 
Email – oma2omagcon@gmail.com 

Mobile – 08034503394 

Abstract 

Stand-up Comedy is sometimes regarded as a shallow and emerging 
performance genre in Nigerian Theatre practice. Therefore, the paper 
argues that Stand-up Comedy has been well represented in Nigerian 
theatre. Moreover, the origin of this genre can be traced back to the 
times of Oral Literature (Orature) and they are a regular part of 
virtually every function, where there is enough space for the solo 
performer to perform. Thus, the subject matter during the period of 
Orature is not different from what is obtainable in stand-up comedy 
performances today. This paper’s objective is to reveal that the nature
of Solo Performance (one-man show) illuminates the performer more 
and performances; it can be seamlessly recorded for transmission in 
especially the New Media platforms that connects the local sphere 
with the entire global community. This paper is anchored on the 
‘Avant-gardist theory’ of the theatre that allows ample room for
experimentation during performance; as well as the ‘less is more’
concept of the theatre, that gives little room for extraneous materials. 
The field study and descriptive approaches, of the qualitative 
research methodology are adopted for this research because it 
emphasises the importance of observations made rather than 
numerical data. Findings reveal that Orature is thriving in the 
performances of stand-up Comedians and as a popular art, when 
properly refined, stand-up comedy could be used to sell other 
performance arts and other rich elements of the Nigerian culture to 
the rest of the globe. The paper concludes that the stand-up 
comedian’s art enjoys audience followership and serves the same
purpose as the storyteller’s art. Hence, it can fit into the New Media
through the growing electronic performance culture.  

 

 



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Introduction 

Historical facts indicate that stand-up comedy is an entertaining 
performance that metamorphosed from older Nigerian theatre genres like 
the wanderin minstrel and story-telling. However, the new Stand-up 
comedy genre in Nigeria is a product of socio-economic changes and 
change in taste and demand of contemporary Nigerian audience. Though, 
every stand-up comedian is a solo performer but not all solo performers 
are stand-up comedians. Solo performance is a broad umbrella that 
accommodates every one-person performer on stage but this paper focuses 
on the stand-up comedian whose origin can be traced to the origin of man 
and story teller, a major performer in almost every culture of the world. 
Globally, the stand-up comedian: a performer who could be described as 
a modern day version of the story-teller and the monodramatist; is known 
and remains part and parcel of theatre practice and contemporary 
entertainment. This genre of the theatre is very easy to market especially 
with the advent of the New Media because one camera can easily record 
one person on stage than five or six persons on the same stage as has been 
observed in the conventional stage. “Thus, African theatre in its paradigm
shift has been antagonistic, responsive, and accommodating interplay of 
cultural, traditional, colonial, socio-economic and political forces, years 
of experimentation and cross-fertilization of intellectual and ideological 
conceptions” (Canice Chukwuma Nwosu, 150). 

Conceptual Clarification 

An illumination of the key concepts: ‘Performance,’ ‘oral literature
(Orality),’ ‘stand-up comedy,’ ‘subject matter’ and the ‘new media’ is an
appropriate starting point that will position this paper on a clear pedestal 
for better understanding. Richard Schechner believes, “Performance is an 
extremely difficult concept to define”; but Ervin Goffman, according to
Schechner, believes “performing is a mode of behavior that may
characterize any activity. Thus, performance is a “quality” that can occur
in any situation rather than a fenced-off genre” (22). It is believed that
traditional African theatre, which is the generality of original performing 
arts, brewed on African soil and untainted by European civilization over 
the years, may have started as solo; as history indicates the presence of the 
shaman, bard or storyteller. Akporobaro states that, “The written word
today is only an outcome of the “Oral Forms - Orality” which are man’s
earliest and original medium of self-expression and artistic creativity”. (1)



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Oral forms are therefore the beginning of African theatre. And Ruth 
Finnegan in Oral Literature in Africa also posits that,  

There is no mystery about the first and most basic characteristics of 
oral literature – even though it is constantly overlooked in collections 
and analyses. This is the significance of actual performance. Oral 
literature is by definition dependent on a performer who formulates 
it in words on a specific occasion. (4) 

Whether it was the shaman or the storyteller, the occasion has a bearing 
on the performance. F. B. O. Akporobaro explains further, “an oral literary
expression exists as a performance, as a speech act accentuated and 
rendered alive by various gestures, social conventions and the unique 
occasion in which it is performed.” (3) To Isidore Okpewho, Oral 
Literature is, “Literature delivered by word of mouth.” He continues:
“And has turned out to be a very useful concept for those scholars
interested in examining the cultural relationships between those who can 
read and write and those who cannot.”(3) ‘Word of mouth’ does not mean
that body gestures and facial expression are absent, as the body even in a 
state of sleep is known to respond to that (sleeping) activity accordingly. 
Rather, it shows that even the words themselves are loaded with actions.  

Oral Literature has been described variously as traditional literature, 
orature, folklore, verbal art and folk literature. They all point to the time 
when Africans, according to Finnegan in The Oral And Beyond, were 
experts at ‘doing things with words’. She claims: “It envisages words in
the context of action. That is, it is more concerned with what people do 
with words than with language as an abstract, cognitive or somehow 
independent system.” (2) She says of her book, “The volume’s prime focus
is on people doing things with words orally – spoken, vocalized, 
unwritten.”(3). It is worthy to state clearly here, that it is almost impossible
to talk without moving; especially your hands and facial expressions 
definitely will confirm further the meaning of these words. In other words, 
gestures, body movements with facial expressions will always accompany 
voice/words. Finnegan argues further in The Oral and Beyond that, 
“Africa is celebrated above all for the treasure of her voiced and auditory 
arts, and as home of oral literature, orature and orality, and the genesis and 
inspiration of the voiced tradition of the great diaspora.”(1) 

The above assertion indicates that a lot of the solo performers in the 
western world may have been influenced by the orality from Africa, 
perhaps as a result of the slave trade. Jan Vansina sees, “Oral tradition as



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verbal messages which are reported statements from the past beyond the 
present generation. The definition specifies that the message must be oral 
statements spoken, sung, or called out on musical instruments only.”(27)
Performances recorded in the memories of the performer and passed on 
from generation to generation by word of mouth are described as orature.  

The Solo Performer therefore, in Traditional African Theatre, even 
though he was not recognized by that title, was the story-teller, bard, court 
fool, shaman, groit whose activity is inherent in the performance of the 
modern day solo performer. And Vansina captures their mode of 
performance succinctly when he opines, that “The best known situation of
performance is the telling of tales. A performer sits, often in the evening, 
surrounded by listeners and spins a tale.” It is not a mere recitation, He
adds:  

The voice is raised or lowered, used as a means of dramatization. Nor 
does the story-teller just sit there. The tale is acted out with body 
gestures, even when the storyteller is sitting. Sometimes he or she 
may stand up, move around, and mime parts of the action narrated. 
In most cases the public is not just watching. The public is active. It 
interacts with the teller, and the teller provokes the interaction by 
asking questions, welcoming exclamations, and turning to a song 
sung by all at appropriate points of the action. The teller and the 
public are creating the tale together. The teller leads the event but 
responds readily to the public and leads his or her public to 
experience the tale. He or she tries to frighten, delight, worry, and put 
them on tenterhooks, in turn and skillfully builds on the passage 
which move the audience most, expanding the exciting parts and 
condensing or transforming the ones where the attention of the 
audience lags. (34-35), 

Vansina’s postulation above is an appropriate summary of what the
actions, whether then or now of what solo performance entails. They do 
not just recite, they perform. Then and now the standards remain the same, 
the performer must be creative enough to hold an audience and there is 
always some kind of interaction between the performer and the audience. 
He also claims that some storytellers are more creative than others and that 
they have better techniques for making their tales come alive more than 
others. Then he goes further to say some are better at ‘dramatization’
(monodramatist) while some are experts in the area of “comic relief”
(stand-up comedians); and while describing some as ‘spellbinders’, others
he says are good at “involving the public”. Vansina believes “performers



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could be specialists or not.” (36) Okumba Miruka says, “The word
‘performance’ is generally understood to mean the delivery or rendition of
an item” (57). Furthermore, he avers: 

The idea of performance nominally implies a demarcation between 
the performer and his audience. The performance is even guided by 
certain tacit regulations to which every participant subscribes. There 
is an orderly sequence of events and the context of performance is 
defined. For instance, narratives are traditionally told in the evening; 
there is one performer at a time.” Usually the evening narratives take 
place in very informal settings where the narrator is even at liberty to 
suspend his tale to attend to domestic issues and come back to 
continue. (57) 

Performances can take place anywhere including the home of the 
storyteller. Gichingiri Ndigirigi buttresses this point,  

The narrator (usually the mother) of an ogre story for example, might 
break off in the middle of a story to attend to the pot cooking the 
family’s dinner, or to comment about the goat in the shed that never
stops bleating. Or the neighbor might drop in to borrow salt, or snuff, 
as the children are left wondering what happened next. (4) 

In Traditional African Theatre which has been described as oral literature 
or verbal art, performances come mainly as riddles, proverbs, oral poetry 
and narratives. The above exposition is aimed at revealing the stand-up 
comedian as a solo performer wearing the shoes of the storyteller. And 
stand-up comedy is defined as a performance by one person before an 
audience with the main intention of entertaining – evoking laughter. The 
stand-up comedian lives for laughs; he may have messages to 
communicate but his major medium is comedy, historically in Africa, he 
is also rooted in the storyteller. Tony Allen devoted the entire chapter two 
of his book Attitude to the “history of stand-up comedy.” Allen is also of
the opinion that stand-up comedy is rooted in storytelling and he says, the 
story teller chooses “the right story for the occasion. The rest is in the
telling”. He claims: 

A good story teller will rarely repeat the same story word for word, 
and the same story from a different story teller can often be 
unrecognizable to the lay listener. The story teller/writer, as a general 
rule, selects the bare bone of an existing story and then customizes it 
to suit his own style. The process can involve describing and 
interpreting each scene and character through all five senses and in 
terms of a choice of passing or pervading moods. The whole text can 



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be enriched and decorated using a personal repertoire of mnemonics, 
schematic sequences and structural devices. In the actual telling, she 
can inhabit and personify just about anything she chooses, investing 
every detail, every phrase, and every word-verb, noun and adjective, 
every vowel and syllable, with energy or meaning. She could do 
sound effects, sing, snort, spit and gargle. Characters and their 
actions can be described in their own particular language, rhythm and 
sentence structure. (2) 

The storyteller had and still possesses the skills and complete attributes of 
a present day stand-up act and could be seen or referred to as one of the 
first practitioners of the art of stand-up comedy. The village “idiot” or
“fool” or “drunk” has been known to possess some useful skills in comedy.
This accounted for why, in most royal courts or palaces, these ‘idiots’ or
‘fools’ were used to entertain guests and important guests at that. Most
highly placed people or even great kings in history, used to keep ‘court
fools’ for their own personal entertainment and more. To validate this 
point, Iyorwuese H. Hagher says the following about the court fool or 
Wawan Sarki in Hausa-land while talking on the functionality of comedy: 

Theatre is also being used for child and adult education as well as 
mass literacy and mobilization campaigns. Conversely in Nigeria the 
feudalistic emirs have always used the principle of catharsis for 
suppression of the masses and maintenance of status quo. At annual 
sallah festivals the traditional performances are incorporated into 
secular expression for feudal rule. In fact without ever hearing of 
Aristotle each emir has perfected a cathartic device for robbing the 
subject-spectator, of action against oppression. This is done through 
the institution of the emir’s Court Theatre whose major actor the 
hero, Wawan Sarki enacts the frustration of the commoners against 
the Emir’s misrule, on these occasions, and he abuses the emir in
satiric humour to the delight of the spectators. He dances and dashes 
forward pointing to the Emir and throwing sharp jokes and abuses at 
him but nothing happens to the Wawan Sarki. (6-7) 

It was a perfect strategy, which kept the masses in check. They enjoy the 
Wawan Sarki’s performances because it speaks their hidden fears and they
get relieved even though nothing changes after then. This is akin to what 
Alibaba does when performing for the President and other top government 
functionaries as would be revealed much later in the analysis of his 
performance.  



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The activities of this one-man performer today in Nigeria, is best 
represented in especially the performance of stand-up comedians who still 
have very little or no attention and appreciation from especially, the 
academic community, disregarding the words of Vera Mowry Roberts 
who posits that “Any theatre activity, I sometimes think, is better than NO 
theatre activity” (6) Mowry Roberts also adds: ”The amount of learning
that goes on as a result of experiencing comedies in the theatre is in many 
cases, if not all, implicit and not explicit; hardly anyone ever goes to 
theatre of any kind expecting to learn something anyway.”(178-179) This 
means that the average theatre audience goes to seek entertainment which 
does not say learning does not take place in stand-up comedy because 
according to Kyle Haenisch,  

The subject matter in stand-up can range from the basic day-to-day 
activities of the comic to his views on current social issues. There is 
an atmosphere of anything goes in stand-up comedy today,….No
subject is taboo. Drugs, sex, violence, and drinking are all common 
topics of discussion. No one is safe, anyone in public eye is fair game 
to the stand-up comedian. (2)  

Louis Catron also supports the above assertion when he says, “there are
many solo subjects as there are solo performers” (3). What the above
signify is that a lot of learning takes place even if it is just laughter that is 
expected from the performance. No doubt, stand-up comedy is masses 
oriented and is concerned with social change. Therefore, the subject matter 
in Oral Literature is not different from what is obtainable in the 
performances of stand-up comedians and even conventional play 
performances. 

The “new media” refers to the entire body of social network sites, the
internet, blogs, chatrooms, podcasts, personal web pages, face-book, 
instagram, twitters, whatsapp etc. Just with any smart phone anybody can 
record a performance and in seconds it is uploaded into different 
international networks; for onward transmission worldwide. And with 
stand-up comedy which is a one-man show, with total emphasis on the 
actor, the camera or phone does not need to wonder away from the 
performer. Even in advertising the shows, the social media is employed to 
a great extent. And while events are still going on, members of the 
audience can record and stream live to their friends and associates, unless 
they are censored from doing so, which is what is obtainable because most 
of the stand-up comedy shows are packaged for sale or exclusive broadcast 
by supporting media houses.  



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Avant-gardism and Emerging Nigerian Performance Genres 

This paper is anchored on the Avant-gardist theory of the theatre. Stand-
up Comedy as solo performance has been described as an experimental 
and rebellious theatre; this is because comedians are individuals who 
create their own rules as they perform. They are not boxed in by any rule 
of the theatre, to them, they need change and there are no rules but the 
presence of the compulsory elements of actor, audience and space for the 
performance. Every other element is expendable. An ‘avant-gardist’ is a
revolutionist whose main preoccupation is with the essentials for a 
performance. Vera Mowry Roberts buttresses this point when she states 
that, “the core of the theatre is the actor-audience relationship. With it 
there is theatre, without it there is none. This is the only absolute and 
always present factor.” (283) Emeka Nwabueze also affirms, “the term
avant-garde, was used to describe the concept of modernism, hence it 
became a rallying point for movements that rejected tradition and status-
quo and hungered for radical change” (133). Historically speaking, theatre
is rooted in the activities of one man – Thespis; and with modernism, a lot 
of experimentation or rule breaking is the rule. So, one-man shows or 
stand-up comedy is not a new phenomenon. Nwabueze writing on the 
‘origins of drama’ avers: 

In the middle of this presentational activity, one of the chorus 
members broke away from the choral group….This sole actor
impersonated and imitated the hero instead of singing about him, or 
chanting his praises, thereby turning a purely storytelling and praise-
chant activity into a dramatic form before the ecstatic spectators. The 
man who performed this historic act was Thespis, the Greek artist 
credited with the discovery of drama, and who eventually became 
known as the first actor. (11-12) 

And John Cairney corroborates the above claim with his assertion that 
“Theatre is back where it started with one man telling the story to the
group around the fire. In theater, as in life, there is nothing new under the 
sun.” (198) Theatre started as Solo and Solo began with the theatre. 
Cairney also reiterates the fact that the only constant element that makes 
a theatre happen is the actor and the audience: “However one factor
remains constant and that is the direct actor-to-audience 
relationship,...Everything else, lights, costume, sound, setting, are extra to 
this central action which is at the core of drama.”(18)  



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Married to the above theory is the “less is more” concept of performance 
which has been elaborated in minimalism – poor theatre. One man can 
conjure fifteen or more characters as well as vehicles, trains, mountains, 
rivers, animals, trees during his performance and because of his dexterity, 
he prods the audience into participating through their imagination and they 
can actually visualize more images and props on stage than a stagnant and 
monotonous set would convey. This is exactly what the stand-up 
comedian does – conjuring different characters in one story; with the solo 
performer, less is indeed more. Catron elucidates on the ‘less is more’
concept. He opines that, “Typical monodramas observe the less is more 
artistic concept originated by Robert Browning.” Furthermore, he avers:
“The goal is restraint, removing excesses to leave an elemental beauty of
form that matches purpose. In theatre, ‘less is more’ means tightly
restrained productions, discarding nonessentials to focus attention on the 
character and story.” (33) 

This actually allows the audience to focus more on the actor and the 
performance than on other extraneous materials introduced by way of 
multiple characterization, elaborate set and scenery, costumes, props, 
make-up, lighting and sound effects etc. Catron argues further that the 
simplicity of the monodrama’s production style is based on Jerzy
Grotowski’s submission in Towards a Poor Theatre which portrays 
elaborate theatrical productions as “ornate and complicated” which makes
it “distract from the key elements of actor and audience thereby inhibiting
or even destroying theatre’s ability to communicate effectively with 
audiences.” Poor theatre production focuses on the core of theatre: actor
and audience and avoids lavish staging techniques. Stand-up comedy is 
almost the same with monodrama the main difference being the depth of 
‘acting’ that takes place in monodrama is much more dexterous and the 
expectations of the audience in stand-up comedy being mainly an endless 
chain of laughter. Otherwise, they are both solo performance; with one 
being skillful at ‘dramatization’ and the other skillful at ‘comedy.’ 

This is revealed in the researcher’s Field Study that facilitated 
information gathering. This is also combined with descriptive approach of 
the qualitative research method that illuminated the significance of 
observations made. Consequently, the observer could be present during 
the event or view the performance through a recorded video. Furthermore, 
the direct observation brings the researcher face-to-face with the subject 
and this is also very effective and “the qualitative approach’s objective”



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according to Sola Fajana’s “Collecting the Data” ed. By Imoisili C.
Imonitie is, 

To see the social world from the point of view of the actor….Close
involvements with the subjects are emphasized….the emphasis is on
discovery of novel or unanticipated findings and the possibility of 
changing the research plans as unanticipated events occur. (16) 

This researcher was privileged to see face-to-face Alibaba’s 2016 January
1st Concert performance and on request was given the unedited copy of 
the video recording. 

Context Analysis of Aspects of Alibaba January 1ST Concert in Lagos, 
2016. 

Note: Alibaba’s entire performance ran for about 25minutes but this
analysis because of space captures only a few of the jokes he performed 
that night. 

Alibaba: Happy New Year every one (3ce). Thank you ‘Nigeria
Army Steel Band’. Remain there; be still…the Nigerian army steel
band represents a section of the Nigerian army that I need to celebrate 
tonight. My dad worked and retired as the 2IC of the Nigerian army 
education corps in Ojo Cantonment and I think today, no matter how 
much you give to him as allowance, my dad still goes to Asaba to 
collect his allowee. You tell him daddy, what they are paying you is 
just a hundred thousand naira. He said, “yes, I worked for it and they
must pay me till I die”. And so today, to all our officers who slave
and die at the battle front even when people who should make them 
comfortable and pay their salaries don’t pay their salaries…I’d like
us to please rise and honour all our departed soldiers that are fighting 
our battles, all the people who have put their lives on the line…(loud
applause, standing ovation) to serve this country, some of them don’t
even have uniforms like Adadevo…keep your applause together for
them, men who put on the boots to make sure that our streets are safe 
even when they are not properly armed like my dad. And so please, 
with another round of applause can you celebrate the Nigerian steel 
band…Nigerian army steel band (the band commences another round
of music). Alibaba (to audience), please be seated. (Audience sits and 
band plays on). 

ANALYSIS: The first paragraph by Alibaba represents his introduction, 
greetings (bonding with the audience) as well as explanation for his 
costume.  The army uniform, the army steel band, his retired army-officer 
father and later on the jokes on military are all connected. They foreground 



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the fact that presently in Nigeria, there is a new government which is like 
a dictatorship because of Mohammadu Buhari. Also trending is the very 
distinct reference to the topical issue (subject matter) of the former NSA 
(Sambo Dasuki- aka, Dasuki-gate), who supposedly diverted moneys 
meant for procurement of military hard-wares and officers’ upkeep
towards politics. Alibaba uses Nigerians’ disaffection with Dasuki to buy
over the audience and win them to his side for the rest of his performance. 
Lines 7 – 11 captures this effort to use present revelation in the ‘Dasuki-
gate scandal’ to his advantage, where people who put their lives on line
for this country do not even have uniforms and are not paid what is due 
them by people like Sambo Dasuki. It is the ‘kill’ that sold the ‘thrill’ and
very aptly employed by Alibaba, preparing the audience for a very fruitful 
relationship for the rest of his performance.  

Alibaba: And that’s my name that they are 
playing…’Alleluya’…thank you (2ce). (Alibaba moves down stage
centre – like a run way for models – and repositions the microphone 
stand. He has a cordless microphone in his hand with which he 
performs…the band continues playing…people are still streaming in 
and one of them walks by the front of the stage and actually shakes 
Alibaba furtively (the ordinary eyes would not have noticed it but for 
the camera that caught the action…the band continues playing).  

Alibaba: that’s eh…that’s the problem when you ask army band to 
play, if you tell them to stop, they’ll stop only when they want
(pockets of laughter)…if its Police band now, I’ll say stop now…but
army band...they can play anything they want and stop any time they 
want (laughter). Thank you. Now, RMD told you something about 
how I walked into his office in 1989, he was publishing a magazine 
called the “MR” magazine…”MR” magazine (left hand up like a
school teacher soliciting answers from his students, with the right 
hand firmly clutching to the cordless microphone in his mouth…from
a member of the audience – MOA – we hear “MR&MRS” obviously
in response to Alibaba’s question. But that was the name of another
entirely different magazine).  

Alibaba: Alright, then RMD was a publisher, big boy, Warri boy 
wey don hammer, so we had to relate with him. But em, we also 
remember that e be like say the hammer never too strong that 
time…because one time I was with RMD in the car and Police
stopped us by that bend by Sheraton, we were driving to 
Okpebi…they said, “park, come down, open your booth.” RMD said,



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“I’m not opening my booth.” But the car was not too strong
(laughter). RMD came out of the car very upset…”I’m not opening
the booth”…and closed the door, gbam…the booth opened…(loud
audience laughter). 

ANALYSIS: The second paragraph is a continuation of his ‘intro’; more
stage description. Firstly, it is obvious the show was still in its infancy as 
some MOA were still streaming in, and then we observe that one MOA 
passes very close to the stage and shakes Alibaba’s hand. This action can
take place in a stand-up comedy event as well as storytelling events 
because of the closeness of the performer with the audience. Alibaba 
cleverly reveals one of the very bad features in a dictatorship or what has 
been described as milito-cracy – military in democracy – Buhari. The 
problem of having an ex-soldier as President who does things when he 
wants without regards to those who voted him there. This is gleaned from 
the army steel band that refused to stop when Alibaba asked them to as 
revealed in lines 1 – 3 of this second paragraph. Then the connection with 
RMD - a Nollywood star, whom Alibaba uses as the butt of his first joke; 
this attracts a lot of laughter, because if Alibaba can make jest of RMD, 
then any other person is fair game, the bigger the name, the greater the 
laughter. Knowing RMD’s status presently as a Nollywood star, it is
difficult to believe that he once drove a ‘scrap’ or jalopy as his own car.
This is another plus for Alibaba who positions himself appropriately to 
gain more audience confidence. Note also, the response from the MOA 
when Alibaba asked a question in lines 5-8 and got a wrong answer from 
the audience in line 7. Alibaba did not respond to the man because that 
was not the expected answer or maybe he did not hear him, but we heard 
him from watching the video repeatedly. Nonetheless, it shows a very 
active audience - like in every stand-up comedy show.  

Alibaba: Now, now…you may not…I just talked about RMD’s own,
let me tell you about my car…I had a Jetta…not the ‘executive’, not
the ‘champion’…Jetta, ‘personal assistant’, it was the one before all
the…this Jetta, I bought it off a mechanic…many people are going
ah-ah…never buy a car from a mechanic…because if the mechanic
is selling it, it means that he couldn’t fix it (audience laughter). And
then, when you are buying a car, never buy a car that has ‘gerican’
on it…it means that you will die of fuel (audience laughter) because
you will buy fuel continuously…(laughter). Now, I had this Jetta and 
sometimes I’ll take Larry Isamoje…now Larry Ichejele. Then, we
would drive to Ogun state, to produce his ‘Bournvita programme’.
So one time, the car broke down and so he left…I was trying to fix



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the tire and the shaft. You know that shaft that comes off…you have
to hit it back in and use something to tie it and hold it in tact, till you 
get to the next place…one woman slowed down and saw me. She
said, “ah, sorry-o…was the accident serious? (loud audience
laughter), I said, which accident? She said, “did the car somersault or
something?” (more audience laughter) I said, madam why are you
insulting me…she said, “sorry” and then drove off. When she left, I
walked back (walks up centre stage [amidst lots of audience laughter] 
and turns), took a look at the car…and drove from there to the
mechanic and dashed him…(audience laughter). Know what the
mechanic told me…”oga, we nor get space-o!” (very loud audience
laughter). 

ANALYSIS: Here, Alibaba makes himself the butt of this joke; this makes 
it easier for him to take on anybody. Once you have gotten the laughter 
from ridiculing yourself then the audience is ready to also enjoy the 
hammer that will drop on virtually anybody that is in the public domain 
and it does not matter their status.  In fact, in stand-up comedy, the higher 
they are the bigger the fall and the greater the laughter. According to Frank 
Catalano: “The subject matter of most stand-up monologues is 
contemporary topics including current events, politics, famous 
personalities and generic situations such as family, friends, marriage, 
dating and work.” (13) 

The message from the first two jokes portrays many big shots today as 
people who actually started small, they paid their dues. This is to 
encourage indigent Nigerians not to give up, especially with the recession. 
The APC government does not seem to have answers to most of the 
problems facing the nation despite all the promise of overnight ‘change’
and after several months on the saddle, there is now so much suffering in 
the nation and things are going awry. But this comedy concert is here to 
feed the people with laughter as well as put food on the table of the 
entertainers.  

Alibaba: I need to say this…we are in such very tight corners right
now, moneys are drying up… you know…before now, when you 
walk into a store…when dollar was still like one twenty-one 
thirty…you walk into a store…this is how you pick…have that…that
46…and this one…you have a blue…yes, and this other one…that
one on top there…yes the green one…okay yes, all of them…how
much? Now (presently)…ehn…is that one on discount? (loud
laughter)…is it on sale?...no…so, leave that one…what of this other



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one…okay when are you people doing sales? (very loud audience
laughter). I don’t know whether it has happened to you…if you walk
into a store, let’s say the store is like here…let me use this
microphone (stand) and show you something (goes to take the 
microphone stand)…let’s say what you want to pick in the store is
here and you walk into the store…pa,pa,pa,pa,pa,pa…that’s six
steps…how much is this? And they say three thousand pounds. Do 
you know the distance between here and the door now becomes very 
far? (very loud audience laughter)…I don’t know if it has happened
to you. That’s when you now turn away (turns to demonstrate) and
then the first thing that comes to your mind is…what even brought
me to this store ehn? I would have gone into another shop (loud 
laughter)…this people with their prices! 

ANALYSIS: This joke is about state of the economy – the fallen crude oil 
price, the fluctuating state of the dollar and the naira and the inflation it 
has engendered. He hits the hammer directly on the nail in line one 
“moneys are drying up”. Then he takes the audience through the ‘set-up’
of how people used to buy and how they now buy. Rich people’s pride has
been humbled by the harsh realities orchestrated by a government that 
promised to turn one naira to one dollar and alleviate poverty. Most have 
turned out to be empty promises. This joke focuses on the bourgeoisie, 
who patronise only expensive supermarkets. And they are many in the 
audience. Perfect delivery and very impactful, evoking the right dose of 
laughter. 

Alibaba: Ladies and gentlemen in honour of the Nigerian army and 
in honour of the Nigerian Police that is why we are out here in this 
uniform…I will go and take it off…I would have worn some dark
shades because I’ve had some relationship with some military men
lately. Especially the one that was given a letter to become Minister 
in this new regime. Buhari sent him the letter, the man was very 
happy…did thanksgiving… everything… thanksgiving. We had a 
party in Lagos, I MCeed, he paid… then showed up on Tuesday in 
Abuja because they wanted to meet on Tuesday before the Federal 
Executive Council (FEC) meeting. And when he got there they 
said… “sir…” “I’m very happy to serve the country”. So they said,
“you will bring your tax clearance for the last ten years
(laughter)…we heard that you used to be a military administrator, so
you’d give us your declaration of asset before you became military 
administrator and after military administrator and we’d take it from
there”. He said, “yes sir, yes sir” and came to Lagos. He did a medical



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report and sent back and said because of his health (loud 
laughter)…he can’t take the office…it will be too much work 
for…(loud audience laughter). He is my friend…it will be too much
work for him…he can’t…. 

ANALYSIS: The comic reiterates the reason he is in military attire 
because with Buhari’s tyrannical administration, nobody could tell their
reaction against a comedian who appear on stage, in military garb. 
Buhari’s body language is the subject matter in this joke. APC came on
board on the platform of fighting corruption and so, even a retired military 
officer nominated for a Ministerial position quickly tenders a medical 
report that he had health challenges, when he heard the terms of 
engagement. This joke got very loud audience laughter because this story 
was widely reported in the Nigerian dailies and the audience could easily 
identify with it. Very current, purposeful and very entertaining joke.   

Alibaba closed with a joke on ‘excreta’. Ordinarily, one would think such
things should not be discussed in public but the loud laughter the joke 
received from the audience speaks volumes of its acceptability. The 
pressure to excrete is natural; especially when you have to use the 
‘Nigerian public toilet’ if you are lucky to be in a place with public toilet.
It is a very ridiculous experience to the observer of the victim.  A very 
hilarious performance because of the subject matter; people hardly talk 
about excreta in public and Alibaba’s boldness to delve into an area where
angels fear to tread is what evokes the best of laughter and takes his 
performance to the peak. He realizes this and like every good stand-up, he 
bows out when the ovation was loudest. The message is very clear – when 
nature calls, gentility or nobility is thrown to the winds. Alibaba’s
performance generally, portrays daily issues in the lives of Nigerians, it 
also obvious that ‘anything can go’ in stand-up comedy and they deal with 
current social issues and no issue is a taboo and anybody in public office 
is fit news for use by any comedian. 

The large attendance portrays Nigerians’ as lovers of stand-up comedy. 
The topicality and functionality in these jokes cannot be over-empasised 
even if it is only laughter. But the less is more concept where total attention 
is on the performer although we have occasional capturing of the audience 
because they are the dialogue in the monologue and therefore a very 
relevant part of the performance. 

 



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Conclusion and Recommendation 

Stand-up Comedy is one of the forms for the continuation of oral literature 
or orature and the performers have license to experiment a lot on stage in 
order to satisfy their audience. As a performance art, it is individualistic 
and this makes a lot of stand-up comedians depend on their raw talent, not 
wanting to hone their talents. Alibaba’s performance is not different from
that of AY, Basket Mouth, Bovi, Oma Oma, I Go Die, Gandoki, Seyi Law, 
Gbenga Adeyinka, Akpororo, Holy Mallam, Onome Da Saint, MC 
Amana, Mandy, Helen Paul and so on. And they are all reminiscent of the 
performers in the time when Africans where experts at doing things with 
words. 

The very nature of total attention on the performer makes it easy for 
exploitation by the new media proponents, who are in search for easy and 
fast ways to sell their products. Furthermore, that, stand-up comedy is a 
very popular art and highly loved and accepted by the mass majority of 
the people because of the topicality and functionality of the form - they 
deal with subject matters that are just happening, it does not need long 
rehearsals, the ability to be spontaneous and deal with current event stands 
the performers out and makes this sub-genre of the theatre very relevant 
to a vast majority of the people. Jokes are shared online, subscribers of 
mobile companies sell jokes of stand-up comedians and a lot of people 
subscribe to daily jokes from the comedian of their choice. And unlike the 
time of orality where performances are handed down by word of mouth 
from generation to generation, the performances of today’s stand-up 
comedians are now being handed down, from generation to generation, 
indirectly from phone to phone, facebook to whatsapp, You-tube to 
Instagram, TV stations to Radio Stations and VCDs to DVDs, and flash 
drives, through hard drives to computers. Stand-up comedy is tailor made 
for the new media. 

It is therefore our recommendation that all the above, is enough reasons 
for theatre scholars and critics, to begin to look for ways of not just 
recognizing and acknowledging the contributions of stand-up comedians 
to the theatre as well as furthering the age long tradition of orature, but to 
seek urgent ways of synergizing with these stand-up comedians in order 
to use it to help put live conventional theatre back on track. 

 

 



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DVD - Alibaba’s January 1st Concert, 2016


