•He has become a household name.
•He is famous for including moral messages in his comedy skits.
Image: BIRD
When Christian Best first started cracking jokes during choir rehearsals in church, he made others laugh so much, the church minister’s wife called him the "laughing minister of the laughing ministry". Little did he know the title would stick and forever change his life.
“From that moment I decided that if there is a laughing ministry then it must have a senior pastor of the laughing ministry. That’s how I became "Senior Pastor" in comedy," said Best, beaming.
Today, Best is among Cameroon's top comedians whose skits regularly reduce audiences to tears, even as conflict threatens to split the country in two.
He has become a household name, famous for including moral messages in his comedy skits. He speaks both English and French fluently but is most comfortable cracking jokes in pidgin, the language spoken in most parts of West Africa. This has won him fans both at home and across the region - including Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Before fame caught up with him, Best learned the hard way that the life of a comedian would not always be easy. He made some substantial investments in his comedy show in 2009, only to incur heavy losses. The crowds didn’t turn up as expected.
Determined to get earn back what he had lost, Best decided to hook up with established comedians in neighbouring Nigeria for inspiration.
This effort paid off. He admits his connections with Nigeria enabled him to learn how to manage and run comedy as a business.
Armed with this knowledge he went full time into comedy.
“I gave all to comedy because while growing up, I had something I was doing. I put all my money into comedy. So, when the money didn’t come back, I told myself that comedy must give me the money,” he said.
Best’s fame and fortune are growing by the day, thanks to shifting attitudes towards comedy. This is very different to when Best started out in his career.
“People are beginning to respond little by little because it was something new to them, because they thought that comedians are not well-to-do, comedians are not just serious. But now, they see it as a serious thing. At first, if a child had told his parents he would grow to become a comedian, the parents would chase him out. But now, people are beginning to see the rewards. Little by little, we are getting the attention of the people,” he said.
Recently, Best decided to give back to society by helping upcoming young comedians in his country learn the ropes of showbiz through a masterclass hosted in Douala, the country’s commercial capital.
The masterclass drew in West Africa comedy heavyweights such as Ali Baba Akpobome from Nigeria, President Tchop Tchop, Gordns D’Berlusconi and the queen of the Cameroon film industry, Elung Brenda.
Those who participated hailed Senior Pastor for his generosity.
“All thanks to Senior Pastor for putting Cameroon comedy on a whole new level. Senior pastor is great,” said Spaco Lee, an upcoming comedian.
“We had an amazing time at the Senior Pastor, “I am not joking comeback show’. We met with Ali Baba, a Nigerian Comedy Legend. Congratulations, Senior Pastor Comedian and thanks for having us,” said another popular comedians Caro and Copees.
There are no official recorded statistics of the number of comedians in Cameroon. But it is estimated that there are about 1000. Out of this number, only a few have so far made any impact on the comedy scene.
The industry, according to Best. is growing rapidly. The emergence of a comic industry has seen comedians like Tik Dengue, Danny Green, Caro and Copees, CY International, Johnskid Crazy, MC Calvino, Big Mami Agatha, Eazi Skit, Under Belle and Spaco Lee become popular in Cameroon.
But unlike Best, who prefers standing on stage, microphone in hand, many of the upcoming comedians have taken to social media to showcase their jokes. Most of them act comedy skits on social media platforms like Youtube, Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram and Likee.
According to Emmanuel Mfon, a popular blogger on 237Showbiz, the Cameroon comedy skit sector has seen growing attention from fans in the past two years.
“Gone are the days where there wasn’t enough content around the industry. These days, the new wave of comedy skit comedians impress our social media daily with each of them having numerous original concepts which reflect our community, background and society we grow in,” said Mfon.
John Fonkam Asobo is a comedian known as Johnskid Crazy. Only 18 and wildly popular, his jokes use the backdrop of daily events, blended them a comedy skit. He has huge followings on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.
Asobo now resides in Douala, after being displaced from his village in Pinyin, in the northwest of the country, by the ongoing conflict in the country. He has managed to turn his sad story into one of hope. Comedy has provided an opportunity not only for him but also for his team of actors, actresses and technicians.
“We are at a point where many people have seen that comedy is something which should be taken seriously. I like the way Cameroonians are following it up. We did not use have many comedians. I am happy at the way things are changing and people are becoming interested in comedy and the support it is having,” said Asobo.
Asobo has structured his online comedy to lure larger businesses to pay him advertising for their products and services on his comedy platform.
Asobo started by recording his comedy on a smartphone, editing videos and sharing them with friends. Their positive response gave him the courage to pursue a career in comedy.
“I make money through advertising and also promoting songs, mobile songs. I promote a lot of things on my social media. That is how I make my money and equally from Facebook and YouTube,” he said.
In a linguistically divided country, practising comedy may appear like an uphill task, but the comedians have taken advantage of the country's diversity to make a living. Most of them are now engaging in collaborations and expanding the the industry.
Dr Ako John Ako is an economic analyst. He believes that the entertainment industry in Cameroon has taken off and is having a chain reaction impact on other sectors of the economy. He urged government to support the industry just like any other sector of the economy.
“It should be a domain just like the doctors’ profession, journalists’ profession, equally lawyers where not just anybody can practice,” said Ako.
After more than 6 years is comedy Best said comedy Cameroon has better days ahead. Clad in a trademark cream designer suit, he quipped:
“I have just seen my landlord entering the hotel holding the hand of my neighbour's wife, do you think I should go salute them or just mind my own business?”
What a joker.
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