My Most Embarrassing Moment On Stage - Comedian Elenu Reveals

One of Nigeria's renowned stand-up comedian, Julius Babatunde Akinlami also known as Elenu, has revealed how he came about his stage name, what led him to take up comedy as a career and his most embarrassing moment on stage.

The humour merchant, who is a regular on the popular AY Live series, spoke to Daily Trust's Weekend Magazine.

On how he came about the name 'Elenu', the comedian said: "It is a nickname I have been called from childhood because I like to talk a lot. When people came to my house to look for me instead of asking after Julius, they simply asked for Elenu. 'Elenu' means someone who likes to talk a lot".

Responding to a qustion on how he found his way to comedy, the UNIBEN graduate of Computer Science said with a laugh, "When I was hungry enough". He added that he didn't become a stand up comedian because he wanted to make ends meet.

"It was something I did for fun as a student. When I was much younger, I enjoyed mimicking the likes of Gbenga Adegboye, Papa Ajasco. Basically what we referred to as 'yabbing' in those days. Later in 2001 when I played instruments in churches, during night vigils when they have sessions for jokes, people would come up to crack jokes and all that. Colleagues and friends started comparing me to famous people who were already in the business. They would say, 'you are funnier than this person why not give comedy a try?' That was when I decided that I would take it seriously and see if I would make an impact in the business. I knew people who were doing a lot then but I didn't know they were making money from it. I decided to do it alongside my other activities and develop a brand for myself", he revealed.

Sharing an embarrassing moment when he failed to get his audience to laugh, Elenu recalled it was in 2007 shortly after he won the AY Open Mic comedy competition.

"Once I went to Delta State University to perform. I had seen Jedi do what I planned to and it worked for him in Lagos. Delta is my home and when I was introduced to come up stage, I got about six applauses. Then I said they should welcome me better on the stage and went back and made another entry. This time I got zero applause. That taught me to study my crowd better", he narrated.