Do we still have more comedy talents in Ghana?
Are there still more comedians or comedy talents in Ghana? I guess the best person to answer this question is the King of Ghana Comedy, DKB because he recently organised an audition to look for comedy talents, models, ushers, voice over artistes for his upcoming events and projects.
When communication that DKB was trying to be unselfish by providing a platform for young people out there to come and pursue their dreams, I wasn’t particularly surprised. I thought the idea was great and was long overdue.
As a writer, I occasionally get a lot of phone calls and emails from young people who feel they can do or have the talent to do what I do. I get encouraged to know that whatever I’m doing is inspiring other people to want to pursue it.
Aside that, I also get calls from wannabe actors, models and musicians. Often these are people who feel they have the talent but can’t find the right people to connect and help them to achieve their dreams.
Trust me, there are a lot of talents out there but the problem is, they have not been discovered. It is very difficult discovering talents in Ghana because of the lack of events for them.
As usual some who may not necessarily have that talent feel they can do it. That’s the beauty of it. This goes to confirm that, all these things we do and think people aren’t paying attention to is actually inspiring a lot.
DKB has inspired a lot of people through his comedy acts. When you lead people there is a lot of pressure on your neck to deliver. For instance, there is a lot of pressure on President John Dramani Mahama to deliver his campaign promises as the President of Ghana. Obour as MUSIGA President has a lot of responsibilities. It goes on like that and I believe the same applies to DKB as a King of Ghana Comedy.
His responsibilities are enormous as he would be tasked, to continue from where he left off. On Saturday September 3, 2016, DKB in collaboration with Ecstasy Entertainment, organisers of the historic DKB Point of View Comedy Show put out an audition to give opportunity to upcoming comedians.
During auditions, there are numerous things that are being looked out for. There are also expectations from the organisers. Yours truly, a strong critic of comedians in Ghana prior to the commencement of the auditions interacted with DKB.
Before the auditions
“It’s quite simple. The essence of the auditions is to widen our comedy net. The comedy we do lately which is GH Comedy has been us and us only, so I feel like it’s only right to widen the comedy net because consistently I have had young people express interest, day in, day out that they want to join us, they want to be comedians. They believe they are funny, and it’s not once but so many times, so I thought it wise, if you keep having the demands, why not you open and see how they will fare.”
“So far the number of people we have here are over 50. About 30 are here and I understand about 20 are hanging around waiting for it to start. We just started with one or two comedians and they will surely need room for improvement but it’s not appalling at all.
“It gives me the confidence that we have very good comedians in Ghana, they just have to be discovered. The main essence in a nutshell is to yield to the constant pressure, people want to join in the comedy light because they believe they have the talent and I also believe that we have a comedy talent in Ghana, if we have been able to discover DKB, I mean why not, we can discover other people.
“So my expectation is to get a lot of young and talented people here and I think pretty much so we have it just as we wish for. We just started and whatever happens I will surely inform you of the outcome,” DKB told yours truly.
After the auditions
“So the auditions have been successfully done. I have got what I’m looking for. I have got four strong stand-up comedians I will be training. They are Kumi, Akosua Nonfa, Potagon and Krypto.”
“I got some quite average people for the presenting, production, modeling and ushering. These are events and projects that I’m coming to do and I feel I need to give some young, new faces the chance. I need to put them out and give the whole showbiz landscape a facelift because it’s been good to me, so I have to open the door for it to be good to other people, so we are good.”
“I think they do have what it takes to crack us up, especially Potagon. He had strong one liners. Very very strong one liners and I mean you can tell with little polishing, they will be perfect and they will be rocking the big stages. It’s a good thing, they have what it takes, they really do. I’m glad, they need a little polishing but as a comedian I see the vision of what they are about to say and it makes me laugh harder,” DKB told yours truly after the auditions.
Prior to the Comedy Show, there were few comedians who weren’t that known. There are few comedians who were given the opportunity on his show and have seen been a delight to watch. Now Ghana can boast of comedians such as Khemikal, Ajeezay, Hogan, I.D James Brown, Jacinta, Comedian OB, Foster Romanus, TK, Nino and Lekzy The Comic in addition to DKB.
Why I think DKB needs to be cheered on and applauded is the fact that, he is not just scouting for the talents for scouting sake but however he has a lot of events and projects lined up for the talents he is discovering. Obviously during and even after his projects, other opportunities would be opened for them.
DKB was able to write history with his Point of View Comedy Show, I believe his new discoveries would be great additions to the comedy scene in Ghana.
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