When Chibuike Josh Alfred, popularly known as Josh2Funny was born to trader parents in Anambra State on December 18, 1990, nobody would have assumed that he would become a celebrity who has influenced two different global trends. All his parents knew was that their son was not a big fan of school and that he was funny.
Josh started to tell hilarious jokes since he was in secondary school somewhere around Mushin, Lagos State. He and his family moved to Lagos when he was eight years old. He unknowingly started developing his skills by making jokes out of what he read from the newspapers. ‘I wouldn’t say I was born a comedian, but when I was in secondary school, I used to do a bit of comedy. I was also a part of the literary and debating society. Whenever we had special events, I would crack jokes about the things I had read in the newspaper. At that point, I didn’t know that comedy could be a business; I just took it as a hobby’, he told Punch in a 2017 interview.
Despite not being a big fan of school, Josh’s parents encouraged him to get a degree. He bagged his Computer Science degree at the Federal Science and Technical College in 2009 before going on to study photography at Qban Centre, Ikoyi.
Bello Kreb: His Friend, His Partner
In 2008, he met his partner and friend, Bello Khabir in the drama group of Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries church, and they hit it off. Kreb is Josh’s friend turned brother, partner and hype man. Khabir, who many call ‘Bello Kreb’ is also a comedian. He joined forces with Josh, and they started trying to make it in the entertainment industry together. They first joined a dance group before launching their studio, trying to break out into the music industry, and finally moved to skits.
Last year, Josh reaffirmed the strength of their friendship to the whole world when he presented Bello with a new car as his Christmas gift. He shared via Instagram, ‘Been my friend for 10 years, very loyal to a fault. I mean when we started this hustle, we been plenty, but as the hustle got tougher they all left. We started with a dance group, then our studio in Mushin, then music and rap that didn’t blow. Days when we go lap for bus and Keke, days we paid to perform, my realest gee… I could go on and on baba. I don’t have much now, but I swore to do this for you. This is a token of appreciation to a loyal man like you! God bless you @bellokreb, the man after my kidney, OBIEZE! We are just starting.’
The Journey
In 2011, he got the opportunity to appear in the Project Raw Talent Hunt Competition and decided to become a professional comedian after he won. He then mentored under veteran comedian, Koffi Da Guru for five years. Koffi helped to point him in the direction of musical comedy and gave him the name, Josh2Funny. Josh explained this in a 2018 interview saying, ‘I started comedy music when my mentor, Koffi suggested it because I used to sing in the studio and they found it funny. He suggested I just make jokes out of people’s songs instead of always going on stage and cracking my brain to make jokes.’
When his skit first went viral in 2016, he introduced himself to the world as ‘Mama Felicia’, one of the many characters he plays. He was dressed in his usual native dress and scarf and was playing the role of a mother to another comedian, Longman. He has since created several other alter-egos for himself because he is constantly evolving. In an interview with Okay Africa earlier this year, he talked about being afraid of people getting bored of him. He said, ‘When I started with Mama Felicia, I got a lot of side-talk. People were saying this thing would not go well, and it would soon fizzle out. I just wanted to prove people wrong, to show that I could do more than that and last longer in the industry.’
As of today, he has created characters like Tunde Tupac, Zuga, Agro, Gbas Gbos, TTP, Think About It and Optununu, among others. Perhaps his most loved character after ‘Mama Felicia’ is the ‘Brother Zakius’ character – the minister always seen in bright-coloured, oversized coats and a hat — who is the voice behind “Resurrection Power” and Affiliated Music Records.
The All-round Artist
Asides from his hilarious skits, Josh2Funny also creates music, mostly comical. Music was Josh’s first love, and he joined his Church’s choir when he was a teenager. Before Josh made it as a comedian, he was a music producer. He owned a studio in Mushin that he ran with his friend, Bello Kreb. Josh has said in a few interviews that Terry Apala and a younger Oxlade used to record at his studio. He also tried to produce some of his songs at the time, but they didn’t get very far.
Now that he has grown a fan base of almost 2 million people, Josh has started working on his sound again. He has released two projects. His first, ‘Upside Down’ has funny covers of people’s songs – one of his best being the Igbo cover of Rihanna’s ‘Work’. His second and most recent album, ‘A Break From Jokes’ is filled with his original songs and sounds. It was released in April this year.
He told Techpoint in an interview in June this year that he released his second project so that people can see how versatile he is. He said, ‘I was trying to get serious and make people see that I can do something real, something different from comedy.’
Josh2Funny is also an actor. He has appeared in a few episodes of Africa Magic’s ‘Flatmates’ alongside Basketmouth, who he looks up to. He has also found a way to take his characters into movies. In 2018, he featured on Mike Ezuruonoye’s ‘Lagos Real Fake Life’ dressed in his signature Mama Felicia outfit. This year, he joined Falz, Toke Makinwa, and Bovi on ‘Therapy’ as ‘Pastor Zakius’.
The Trendsetter
Josh2Funny has also successfully inspired a couple of global trends. In 2019, he inspired the ‘All My Guys Are ballers’ trend that went viral globally. One of his many characters, Emeka in his popular series, ‘The Audition’ sang one line from Wande Coal’s song ‘Ballerz’, but it was so funny, everyone was soon creating remakes. He also made ‘Gbas Gbos’ trend, and it has now become a slang with everyone still saying it in Nigeria till date.
Earlier this year, Josh inspired yet another global viral trend across all social media platforms. His ‘Don’t Leave Me Challenge’ started with him standing on a leaf and saying he’s on leave. Bello Kreb, who was recording the video shouted ‘Don’t Leave Me’, and a new trend was born.
The ‘Don’t Leave Me Challenge’ didn’t start in 2020, it started in 2018 when he started using puns and dry humour to make comic videos. However, the video that made the challenge go viral was posted on March 24 this year. He explains in an interview on CNN earlier in the year that he switched things up. He said, ‘I decided to add some more fun to my skits with puns. I didn’t want people to get tired, so I tried to be dynamic and added stronger words. Someone later did a similar video like mine, and that’s how it started trending’.
Josh2Funny picked the right time to release his video as the world was on lockdown. That is not to say that the video may not have trended if things were normal. Gbenga Sogbaike, CEO of Plaqad Inc, an influencer marketing company, believes that it could have trended either way, but the lockdown served as a fuel. He told NET, ‘The lockdown contributed to the virality of the challenge. But even if there was no coronavirus pandemic, I think the challenge would have gone viral because of its uniqueness. It’s something people find relatable, exciting, and interesting. You want to do it, you want to show that you are creative, and can come up with witty comments.’
The stats agree with him. The video has been watched more than 500,000 times on Twitter and recreated multiple times by TikTok users from Nigeria, the United States, Japan, and Europe. On TikTok alone, the videos relating to the challenge have received more than two billion views. Stars like Olu Jacobs, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Falz, King Bach, Omoni Oboli, Iyabo Ojo, Funke Akindele and more all tried their hands on the challenge.
Josh2Funny is only just getting started. With his first live show, ‘All of Me’ under the belt, Josh is only gearing up for more work. He will keep improving his craft, proving he is more than just an Instagram comedian with more live shows, and appearing in Nollywood films until he is as great as Kevin Hart or Tyler Perry.