The good performance of Nigerian comedians have won the hearts of comedy lovers on the continent.

In Ghana, they headline the big comedy events and people eagerly look forward to their shows but Ghanaian comedian, Lekzy Decomic, believes they are not the standard for judging the success of the industry.

While speaking with Graphic Showbiz about the unfair treatment of Ghanaian comedians by their own, Lekzy, whose real name is Emmanuel Nkansah, questioned why Nigerian comedians are always pitched against them when they are not the standard for African comedy.

“Who made Nigerian comedians the standard for African comedy? Currently, a South African comedian, Trevor Noah is Africa’s biggest export. He holds one of the biggest shows in the USA where a white man had to step down for him. No African comedian has achieved that.

“Let’s not go far, Uganda’s Salvador is doing well. Until Salvador came, we thought Nigerians were the best but he has shown that Ugandans are also funny. The truth is if we don’t give people the opportunity to show what they have, how can we know they are funny?,” he queried.

To set the records straight, he stressed that his comments were not to be taken out of context since he admired Nigerians for their hard work. He also praised them for making comedy attractive.

“My opinion is not to disrespect Nigerian comedians because they are doing something right and I respect them for that. However, until Ghanaians learn to appreciate their own, we won’t get anywhere,” he said.

Lekzy Decomic won the Best Comedian at the 2017 People Celebrity Awards and he has performed at most of the big events including Night of Laughs, RTP Awards, MTN Music Festival and he hosted this year’s Easter Comedy Show.

Read also: I don’t work for accolades—Regina Van Helvert

On Friday, September 28, he organised and hosted his Laughline Comedy Show which featured only Ghanaian comedians at the National Theatre.

Expressing his joy about the success of the programme, Lekzy said the show was “a good chance for Ghanaian comedians to prove their critics wrong and I’m happy we nailed it”.

Showbiz