Winter Goodwill 2014: #3: President Obonjo/Benjamin Bello

I have recently been ordering, packing, and posting Christmas pressies to a small number of friends. Due to financial reasons, I have had to cut back the number of presents I am buying this year; however, when I look back at 2014, there are more people than ever that I want to express my gratitude towards. That is why I have decided to start a series of blogs entitled Winter Goodwill. In each blog, I will write about a certain person or group, championing them and their impact on my year, as a means of thanking them for being good to me. Hopefully this will put a smile on their faces over the Christmas period, while also celebrating the goodwill that people do across the year, not just over Christmas.

The blogs will cover a variety of people; some are people I have known throughout the year, while others I have only known for a matter of months. Some are close friends, while others are acquaintances - but ones that I hope will one day become a good friend.



Blog number 3 of this endeavor will be about another fellow stand-up comedian, known to most as President Obonjo. I first met this man at a gig back in September, and since then I've crossed paths with him at a couple other gigs since then, mainly because the man works incredibly hard at honing his craft. His comedy act consists of him coming on stage and telling the audience that he is the President of Lafta Republic, and that he is an African dictator. The concept of the character alone really makes me laugh, and his performance skills and writing match the quality of the idea. What epitomises his dedication to comedy is the fact that, on the first night of the Dar Papillon Comedy Club, he agreed to come and do the gig with less than 7 hours notice, and performed not just one 10 minute set, but two; one as President Obonjo, and one as Benjamin Bello, complaining to the audience that President Obonjo was stealing his life. It was the type of thing that made me want to run a night in the first place. I didn't want to run a night with just a load of brand new acts trying out material (though these nights definitely have their place), I wanted to put on shows that had things that were a bit weird and a bit different, and - most importantly - very funny. An act doing one set in character and then another berating his character for stealing his life is something I'd never seen before, so I was delighted that he did it. The fact it was the first time he'd done both acts on a single night, and it was at my club, made me very happy.

Speaking of the club, as of 2014, Leslie will sadly no longer be able to help out in the same capacity that he could before. However, President Obonjo has agreed to co-run the night with me, which I am very, very excited about. He's a great act, and a truly lovely guy, too. We talk quite frequently on Facebook about comedy and silly ideas, and he's one of those people who, when I look back over this year, think "how did I not know you before this year?" I'm really excited to gig with him loads more come 2015.


I had the pleasure of helping President Obonjo film his 2014 Christmas Message yesterday, in a town local to me, Aylesbury. I will post it below. You may notice that it is uploaded to my YouTube channel; this was his idea, as he said "I like to give thanks to people who help me", so he wanted me to do so as thanks for me filming and editing it. I genuinely was expecting a simple "thank you" message on Facebook, so the fact that he let me host it on my YouTube channel, as well as buying me a drink on the day, epitomised the fact he's a great man. Do give it a watch, it's good fun

Vote Obonjo

I also had the pleasure of meeting his 10 year-old son yesterday. As 10 year-old's go, I've never met a wittier one. I am quite sure that his son will be crowned King of Comedy within 10 years, just you wait.



Many thanks for reading,

Tom.

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