Basketmouth believes that the Nigerian comedy business, like Afrobeats, may achieve global fame.
Afrobeats is commonly acknowledged as one of the world’s most popular music genres.
Basketmouth remarked on Thursday at the premiere of ‘LOL: Last One Laughing Naija,’ Prime Video’s first unscripted African original comedy series, that Nigeria is filled with excellent comedians that should be receiving global accolades.
The 44-year-old comic actor went on to say that he sees the series as an excellent opportunity for Nigerian humor to “break into the global market space.”
“I have always imagined Nigerian comedy in a way where it is globally recognised and when I was approached and given the privy of what the event was all about, I was like this is the perfect way to break into that space,” he said.
“Afrobeats broke into the global market. But comedy in Nigeria is yet to own its own spot. And Prime Video is in over 200 countries across the globe. I was like Bright, we have talented comedians that can break into this space and this is the perfect platform to do it.
“And it is actually what we deserve in our space. We do not have our spot just yet. And this is the best way to own it.
“You guys can see that any comedian that came on the show held it down. Many people across the world will start seeing how spontaneous they are and they will start getting interested.
“So this is actually the birth of the Nigerian comedy industry to the rest of the world. And I am so proud to be part of this.”
The comedy series will see 10 Nigerian comedians compete against one another.
They will be tasked to keep a straight face and also try to make their opponents laugh and lose.
The comedians include Okey Bakassi, Acapella, Mr Funny aka Sabinus, and KieKie.
Others are Buchi, Dat Warri Girl, Taaooma, Senator, IGoSave, and Gandoki.
The winner will receive a grand prize of N40 million and donate the money to their selected charity organisation.