Nigerian comedian and actor Bovi Ugboma has drawn a hard line on how he works. He says he does not build sketches, specials or stories to chase likes. He builds them to be good. If the work is sweet, he believes the crowd will come.
Bovi made the remarks on Beyond With Ezinne, the podcast hosted by Ezinne Akudo. He spoke about creativity, stand-up, storytelling and the stage of life he now finds himself in.
“When I am making stuffs, I am not making it to say, ‘Will people like it?’ I am making it to say, ‘Let this creation be sweet and the ants will gather.’ Sugar doesn’t go in search of ants,” he said.
That line is the heart of his argument. Quality first. Validation later. For a comedian who has spent years packing halls with Man on Fire and Naughty By Nature, it is a pointed message to younger acts who write with one eye on comments.
He also broke down why story still rules the stage. A joke can miss. A story that holds the room will not.
“If you are a good storyteller you can be a good stand-up comedian because storytelling is about swaying people emotions from left to right, carrying them to a particular crescendo, that’s the truth,” he said.
And if the punchline is not landing? Keep them listening.
“When what you are saying is not funny, make sure what you are saying is interesting. So you hold people’s attention.”
Bovi did not pretend the process is easy. New ideas still scare him.
“I struggle especially when I am trying something new for the first time. It happens,” he admitted.
Then he turned inward. After years of fame, grief and public debate, he said he is beginning to see himself differently.
“I am growing to that stage where I think I am becoming invisible to myself. I am understanding life and understanding that it’s one life. It’s not a rehearsal. It’s the drama that’s on.”
The comment lands after a stretch of unusually personal interviews. On the same podcast run, he has spoken about losing his mother, Margaret Ugboma, in 2016, and how her death forced him to trust his own instincts because she was the person he used to bounce ideas off.