Although a lot of comedians choose to focus, totally, on their craft, Tega Akpobome, known more recently as ‘Professor Lawal’ or Og Tega decided to go further with his academic pursuit.
In this interview, the comedian, who hails from Delta State, talks about his comedy and his values as an individual – and something big that his team – House of Craze – are working on.
On his background, he says he was born in Lagos, went to school in Lagos before moving to Ukraine six years ago and started chasing his dreams in medicine, until “God decided to arrest me and show him a different vision” – comedy.
For the use of Instagram as a platform for his comedy, he started five years ago with a crazy group of friends (the House of Craze team) and came together doing jokes, making the best use of their time as Ukraine was under some kind of insurgency and many people flew out but they decided to stay – also just to maximise the use of Instagram which was only used to share photos then.
Professor Lawal – the character he created for his series on Instagram – was motivated by his experiences when he visited Nigeria and started listening to what people said about their time in school and the things he observed from a teacher-friend that visited.
“I realised that the experiences of students all around Nigeria are usually the same and so, decided I need to do something around that“.
Creative people usually have a message they want to pass with their craft and for Tega, he is only trying to bring out the inner happiness that will form an umbrella around all the troubles we face in Nigeria.
“We are know how to have fun regardless of our situation. So, there should always be a means to escape from our troubles. I just aim to spread love,” he says.
His comedy series with the main character as Professor Lawal and his role as Ade (in House of Craze) is influenced by his day to day experiences as a Nigerian.
“These experiences that you go through will always rub off on you; it is inevitable.”
Aside from his comedy, when he was asked what values are important to him, Tega said, “above all, being morally sound.”
“We choose to see the morally correct option but deviate from it. We always have this inner mind/voice but we choose to ignore it, these moral values are important to me.”
Social media is a leeway to show your craft and for Tega, digital platforms are a new way and there is always something new or an upgrade that acts as a stumbling block but he says it is definitely possible to build a brand especially for those who don’t have access to other ways of showing their craft.
Interestingly, Instagram has helped him, through his comedy connect to bigger brands and to “see him through a better part of my medical education.”
“Na where man dey work, man dey chop” is how he starts to reply a question on if he could do comedy beyond his time in school. But he insists that the vision is bigger and we should all watch for something that will blow our minds.
We have had so many individuals in comedy start out, using social media and drop behind but, Tega says originality is the key. “Carve your own niche, it doesn’t matter if someone else copies you. People will stay with you.” That is what has kept him in the “business” until now.
For the brand – Og Tega – says he will rather focus on his education (Medicine) for now but will continue building his brand from then. And for acceptance, he says he has been blown away.
“I am happy that people see me as worthy to be part of any conversation.”
If you know the American comedian and actor, Kevin Hart, then you will know that many people in the comedy industry look up to him and Tega is one of them. He says it is because Hart changed the game. Basketmouth and Bovi influence him too.
He makes a comment on the Nigerian film industry too. He says “we are not where we are now, considering the potentials, but watch out, we are getting there.”
On the final question – advice for aspiring comedians, Tega says you need to look inside and decide if that is really what you want to do and if that is it, go ahead with it. Don’t listen to negative external voices.
