Papa Ajasco, leading Nigerian comedian, explains his interest and exploits in the entertainment industry.
By Bright Ewulu
For everyone, it is important to remember the birth days. In fact, for some it is so important to remember such days and celebrate them with some presents or you lose their friendship.
However, it is easier to recall some people’s birthdays and not so with others. That is why those born when important historic events, natural catastrophes or remarkable news events happened, easily come to mind without much ado.
Hence the birthdays of people born during civil wars or world wars or eclipse or famines can be recalled easily as well as their age mates. Also, if you were born at Easter time, new yam festivals or during the assassination of a great statesman or politician like a pope or a president it won’t be very difficult for your relations, friends and acquaintances to recall that your birthday has arrived, each year.
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For the man Abiodun Ayoyinka, popularly known as Papa Ajasco his birthday is on a Christmas day and so he cannot forget his birthday, even if he chooses to because there is every likelihood that his friends and family will remind him of it and the need for him to celebrate it.
Thus, even as Papa Ajasco disclosed this to our Reporter a grin played strangely on his lips, suggesting or rather revealing his excitement that his birthday happened the same day as Jesus Christ. Although, he was well aware that for thousands of years there have been disputations over the exact day Christ was born about two thousand years ago, what is clear to this Christmas baby is that it was while Christ’s birthday was being celebrated in 1960 that he was born.
And what makes his birthday so much unforgettable is that he was also born the same year that Nigeria gained her political independence from Britain. Perhaps, his birth was a sign-post to the fame and popularity that would follow him as a dramatist and actor.
In Nigeria today, he is one of the top three comedians on television, arguably. Of course, he is the best for many Nigerians out there. Even suggesting that the character, Papa Ajasco, is second to any other television character could cause a rumpus, if not a riot.
Speaking to us in an interview at the Lagos Ministry of Culture, Alausa, Ikeja he disclosed that his interest in the theatre and acting field was inspired by the acting standards established by people like Duro Ladipo of blessed memory on television in those years of yore. According to him, ”in those years when I watched television, I always enjoyed Ladipo, Hubert Ogunde and others.
”However, I developed the love for acting back in secondary school. I was in the drama troupe and we used to go to inter-school drama competitions as well as poetry competitions. At that time, I always loved to recite poetry, especially Yoruba poetry off hand”.
As he revealed, this acting bug followed him to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). It was at the University that he actually studied the various aspects of theater and met the gurus of Nigerian theater and dramatic arts that enabled him gather the kind of skills that made him rub shoulders with the best in the industry.
For him, it was Ife that transformed his life from a rookie actor to a professional in the making. He said, ”Of course over the years there have been improvements in Nigerian film industry and television.
”My first film was at the University of Ife; a film by Professor Wole Soyinka entitled ”Blues for the Prodigal”. He (Soyinka) was my head of department.
”I must note that Ife didn’t just train me to act, it was a total dramatic arts education that we acquired – am also good in technical theater, music, dance and costume making because I can handle the sowing machine and can sow. My degree was in Dramatic Arts”.
It was in Ife he met a lot of other leaders of the Nigerian theater, including Ola Rotomi of ”Gods are not to blame” fame.
According to him, it was at that tertiary institution that he watched the film ”Papa Ajasco played by Peter Fatomilola in 1983/84. As he put it, ”I watched the film, ”Papa Ajasco” as was portrayed by Peter Fatomilola. I watched the film back then without knowing that I would be playing that role in the future, which is today”.
Going further, he disclosed that his path with that role crossed again after school when because he enjoyed the comedy and character, he used to enjoy buying the cartoon, then published in a popular magazine.
As he told us, ”I used to buy it (Papa Ajasco magazine) and read it voraciously without the inkling that I would be playing the part in my acting life”.
According to Ayoyinka, in 1997 he met Wale Adenuga, owner of Wale Adenuga Productions (That was 23 years ago) and has been playing that role ever since. Although there was a period of interregnum when he left the role, his replacement couldn’t match his acting capacity as the followers of the programme began to thin out hence his return to the role.
Initially, as he disclosed to us, he was supposed to be wearing a mask in order to look the part of the character, but on second thought he decided to shave his hair to match the look of the character and it turned out well.
Ayoyinka matches the bald looks of the character so much so that many of his fans will not believe that he is actually a handsome looking Lagos civil servant.
‘But as he told us, ”Immediately I left University in 1983, I started working for the Lagos State Arts and Culture Ministry. I have been here for a long time. And am now retired. ‘But he is not retired or tired of the acting game.
One thing he loves about his life in the arts is that it has enabled him travel the world without much ado. As he maintained, ”I have been to United States, India, Mexico and so many other countries ”
Although he is happy with the improvements in the acting industry, Papa Ajasco is not happy with the state of the theater in Nigeria. It is his belief that more can be done in the area of sponsorship of the arts, culture and theater by the different levels of government in the country.
He believes that the availability of funds is not the problems but effective management and positive application of available funds is the issue. According to him, if funds are well applied the sky will not be the limit for Nigeria’s film, television and theater etc.
Ayoyinka who is from Ipara, Remo, Ogun State was born on the 25 of December 1960.We say happy Xmas and a prosperous New Year, in advance to this Christmas baby.
Papa Ajasco and Company (formerly The Ajasco Family) is a Nigerian family television sitcom created by Wale Adenuga in 1996. The show is a spin-off of a feature film of the same title produced by Wale Adenuga in 1984, which in turn is based on the comic Ikebe Super.
The story revolves around the Ajasco family and their comedic interpretations to major societal issues. The main characters include womanising patriarch Papa Ajasco, his long-suffering wife Mama Ajasco, their mischievous son Bobo Ajasco, local playboy Boy Alinco, promiscuous gold-digger Miss Pepeiye, and illiterate ne’er-do-wells Pa James and Pa Jimoh.
At its prime, Papa Ajasco was widely considered to be Nigeria’s most watched comedy series, viewed weekly in twelve African countries.
Adenuga released Papa Ajasco movie in 1983, which was one of Golden Age Nollywood productions. He stated in an interview that the title character was motivated from the lead role in Ikebe Super. Adenuga began producing and airing the television series as Ajasco Family in 1996.
