MANY COMEDIANS STEAL MY JOKES - GANDOKI

Popular Nigerian comedian, Tony Ereku (aka
Gandoki), is like one of the most accomplished
men in Nigeria at the moment, having just set a
new world record in stand-up comedy.
The comedian achieved this feat in a
performance held at the Exclusive Mansions
Hotel in Lagos, it was said to have lasted from
Thursday, September 29 to Saturday, October 1.
Remarking that no other comedian has ever
broken the record before now, in a telephone
interview with The Punch, Gandoki says, “My
performance covered a total of 42 hours, 12
seconds. It started at about 8pm on Thursday
and ended around 1pm on Saturday. I beat a
previous record set by an American comedian.”
He achieved the feat in the presence of a
delegation from the Guinness Book of Records.
The show was streamed live before a global
audience between last Thursday and Saturday.
Gandoki says there was no contest and that he
put up the performance intentionally, after
months of planning and practice, just to break
the record set by the American.
While preparing for the task, he focused on the
basic details, such as how to stand on his feet
for so many hours at a stretch, how to continue
talking without a pause and more important, Howie
to sustain the attention of his audience.
Many comedians were also in attendance. One
of them was so awed by his performance,
especially the spontaneity of the jokes, that he
confessed, much later, that about 70 per cent of
other stand-up comedians in Nigeria always
recycled Gandoki’s jokes .
“A colleague said that in my presence, not me.
But I was surprised to learn this,” Gandoki said.
Some of the other comedians who witnessed
Gandoki ‘dethrone’ the American comedian
include Ali Baba, Bovi, Kofi, Seyilaw, Ushbebe,
Shakara, to mention a few.
Also, describing the solo performance as very
challenging, the comedian says, “One of the
rules was that I should never pause. Even if I did,
it must not be up to one minute. I was expected
to keep talking and I did. Also, I was only
allowed a break once and it was for 16 minutes.”
Interestingly, he admits that he did not rehearse
any joke for the event before going on stage
last.
“Apart from concentrating on how to stay awake
and to make my audience laugh while it lasted, I
didn’t prepare any special joke. But the jokes
kept coming and tumbling out of my mouth,” he
says.
Explaining what motivated him to undertake such
a challenging task, he says, “When I looked at my
career and my past performances, particularly at
the annual comedy event, Night of A Thousand
Laughs, it occurred to me that I had covered a
total of about 148 hours between 1998 and
2016.”
The comedian also notes that his performance
was aided by his penchant for spontaneous jokes
and the habit of adapting his performance to any
environment that he finds himself.
Commenting on the feat, Ali Baba says, “It will
open the minds of comedians, especially those
who are feeding off their colleagues’ jokes, to
the fact they can tell jokes as long as they are
talented and spontaneous. The only way to go is
to be original.”
Also, Bovi notes that Gandoki’s record-breaking
performance has shown he is one of the greatest
comedians of all time. “The quality of his
performance is the real record. No minute
passed without him saying something that
elicited laughter. He is a spirit.”





Sourced and edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE