Thank God we’ll never have to know what life would have been like in 2020 without comedians. The year was tough, strange, stressful, but at least we had these special people to help us find some relief through laughter.
These 15 comedians grew their careers exponentially last year and set themselves up for more wins this year. We’ll be looking out to see them get more wins and you should too, at least to laugh away your sorrows.
1. Abdulgafar Oluwatoyin
The Cute Abiola became popular in 2017. He published a hilarious video supporting Bisola in the BBNaija house. Since then, he has grown his Instagram following to 2.8 million followers with the interesting characters he creates. One minute he is the comical Lawyer Kunle, the next he’s DNA Doctor, and later, he is ‘Ankara Gucci’. All of his characters have endeared him to fans and even made him a certified meme.
He grew his account by 2 million followers in only 2020, and shot his first web series, ‘Kabi’. He also put out ‘Lawyer Kunle Talent Hunt (Part 1) on YouTube. He has already started this year with a bang by releasing the second part of ‘Lawyer K Talent Hunt Part 2’, and it’s hilarious!
2. Abisi Emmanuel
Nasty Blaq started to put out comedy skits in 2016 as Nasty Nuelcy. He attained popularity after he released a parody skit that was reshared by many celebrities. Nasty’s content is not everyone’s cup of tea as the comedian has faced a ton of criticism over how he treats women in his videos. Yet, he has over 1.2 million followers who all seem to truly love his admittedly hilarious videos. In 2020, he worked on creating new characters different from the philandering one he became popular for. We know he’ll keep evolving and we can’t wait to watch that growth happen.
3. Bello Khabir
Everyone knows Bello Kreb as one of Josh2Funny’s partners. The comedians create content together, and their partnership makes their strengths better. But Kreb is more than just Josh2Funny’s sidekick. He also creates hilarious content that is completely different from Josh’s. He has also created his own unique set of characters like ‘The Delivery Guy’, ‘The Therapist’ and ‘Pamera’. He has already proven that 2021 will be a content-filled year by releasing a new episode of ‘The Delivery’ and ‘Psychopath Psychotherapy’.
4. Bukunmi Adelani
Everyone calls him Bukunmi Preacher because of his unique ‘preaching style of comedy’. You may also know him as ‘Prophet Theophilus’. He started comedy when he was a student at Federal Polytechnic, Ede. But he got his first break doing stand-up between breaks on the set of ‘ The Teju BabyFace Show’ in 2014. He has created a special comedy style and worked with MC Lively, Broda Shaggi, Arole, and Bisola Aiyeola.
He hosted his first live show, ‘Becoming Preacher’ in February 2020 where the entire show was a comedy stage drama following his life story. This year, the show is returning as ‘Becoming Preacher: My Call’ and will focus on the story of ‘Prophet Theophilus’. We just know that he is going to kill it.
5. Debo Adebayo
Mr Macaroni first became popular in 2017 after Redeemer’s University expelled him over some comments he made on social media. His friends began a social media campaign to ask the university for a more lenient punishment, and many celebrities jumped on the matter to defend him. Before that scandal, he had acted in and produced a few short films, but he was still trying to make a name for himself.
He put out his first skit on social media in July 2019. He became popular after he created the ‘Mr Macaroni’ character and his signature ‘You are doing well’ phrase. He featured in Tunde Kelani’s ‘Ayinla’ movie that wrapped production in 2020. He also won even more fans after ferociously fighting against police brutality last year. We can’t wait to see what he has in stock for them.
6. Destiny Osarewinda
Dezny started sharing one-minute comical clips in October 2019. He isn’t yet as popular as others on this list, but he has great potential, and he is consistent. He has published 43 videos in the 16 months he has been active as an online comedian. He teams up with fellow comedian, Godwin Kelvin, popularly known as AGK to shoot most of the videos. Their tag team often create fresh, local content that resonates with their home audience in Benin and across Nigeria.
They enjoyed more popularity after a video they released on January 16, 2021, about conductors figuring out passengers’ change went viral. The video has been shared multiple times across several social media platforms. The innovative and relatable way they put together that video and many of their older skits show they have what it takes to be better comedians with time. They also proved that they are one to look out for, and we have great hopes for them.
7. Diribe Chidi Richard
MC Pashun, his stage name, started dabbling in comedy when he was a teenager but he only started it professionally in 2013. He started by performing at comedy clubs until he became a supporting OAP on ‘Comedy Happy’ with De Don on Rainbow FM and ‘Comedy Runs’ on Star FM. However, he only attained mainstream popularity after he joined the cast of Basketmouth’s ‘My Flatmates’ in 2017. Since then, he has taken on stand-up on big comedy shows like ‘Lords of the Ribs’, ‘Sunday Nite Laughs’, and ‘Comedy’s Finest’.
In 2020, he started ‘Matters Arising with MC Pashun’ on social media and a few radio stations. He discusses current issues on the show with his hilarious Igbo/Calabar accent while wearing his signature bandanna. In December he announced that he will be headlining his first comedy show, ‘Pashun Live: 2 Seconds’ later this year. We can’t wait to see him pull off his first show.
8. Femi Uche
Spreado, as he calls himself, has a unique way of creating content. He is the ‘think about it’ guy whose hilarious and interesting way of looking at life issues actually makes sense and successfully tells jokes through punchlines. Femi has been consistent since he started putting out his ‘Dry Jokes Wednesday’, ‘Stupidity Saturday’, and ‘Am I Smart or Just Very Stupid’ videos in July 2016. He puts out at least one witty, intelligent and comical content every month and they never fail to hit just the right spot. After releasing steady content last year and his first 2021 video, each one more hilarious than the last, we can’t wait to see what he does next.
9. Ismail Adebayo
When you hear ‘F*ck Sh*t!’, you’ll instantly realise that Isbae U has done yet another foolish thing that is about to get him killed. If you were not watching before, chances are you’ll pucker up and rewind just to see what nonsense he was up to. No other person does comedy quite as he does, and it’s that difference that gives him an edge.
He came into limelight in 2019 when he started working with other online comedians like Sydney Talker and Mr Macaroni. He has grown his Instagram to over 238,000 followers since he became popular with his consistency. This year alone, he has already put out nine hilarious skits, and we can’t wait to see him grow some more.
10. Josh Alfred
Josh2Funny has been charting his career path since 2011 after he won the Project Raw Talent Hunt Competition. However, he became popular in 2016 after his first skit as ‘Mama Felicia’ went viral. He has since created characters like Tunde Tupac, Zuga, Agro, Gbas Gbos, TTP, Think About It and Optununu. In 2020, he joined Falz, Toke Makinwa, and Bovi on a web series, ‘Therapy’ as ‘Pastor Zakius’. He hosted his first stand up show in February 2020, ‘Josh2Funny: All of Me’. He also inspired a global viral trend across all social media platforms, ‘Don’t Leave Me Challenge’. We can’t wait to see what else he puts the ‘Josh2Funny’ stamp on this year.
11. Ogunleye Olamide Babatunde
Oluwadolarz joined Instagram in 2014 to publish his skits. He became popular after award-winning musician Olamide reshared a parody video he made for the artiste’s song, ‘Wo’ in 2017. Since then, he has stayed consistent and continued to put out great content regularly. His mom now joins him on his skit, alongside his younger siblings, ‘Intelligent Tope’ and ‘Scientific Ayomide’. In 2020, he put out a hilarious 2-part short film and his already gearing up to do more this year.
12. Samuel Ajibola
Samuel has been in Nollywood since he was a child. He has three different ‘kids actor’ awards. He has also appeared in many other productions like ‘Shuga’, ‘Street Kids’, and ‘Last Flight To Abuja’. However, it was his role as Spiff in Africa Magic’s ‘The Johnsons’ that brought him to the limelight. He professionally began to regard himself as a ‘comic actor’ after he started playing Spiff. He created his self-produced series, ‘Dele Issues (Daily Issues) in 2017 to show his range as a comic actor.
For eight years, the actor alongside other cast members of ‘The Johnsons’ has entertained Nigerians, and they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. He appeared in ‘The Call’, a comedic film produced by James Abinibi that came to Netflix in 2020. We hope to see him appear in more movies this year, especially in comical roles, and we have our fingers crossed.
13. Steven Chuks
Steve is a comedian, actor and content creator. He started putting out comedy skits on Instagram in 2016 and has grown to have over 277,000 followers. He creates family-oriented content centred around women and their reactions to things. As a true creative mind, he has come up with several different characters including the classy Cleopatra Williams, The mummy – Madam Goldin, Udodinwa, Jumoke, Ebuka (Bubu), and Sis Eby, among others. He speaks Igbo often in his skits, and that usually adds authenticity and more hilarity to them. Steve, who has a degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Lagos and has created two editions of his stage play, ‘I Be Man’ created his second web series, ‘Cleo Unfiltered’ in 2020. Knowing how this young man is constantly creating new characters, series and ideas, we are excited to see what he pulls off this year.
14. Sydney Egere
Sydney Talker posted his first comedy skit, ‘Power of The Tongue’ in 2015 via Instagram. But he finally hit mainstream popularity in 2016 after his skit, ‘The Poor Power Supply’ went viral. Over time, fans have called him the ‘Nigerian Mr Bean’ because of all the funny faces he makes and ‘The Towel Guy’ since he’s either dancing in a towel or has a towel around his neck.
Sydney has transcended being just a regular Instagram comedian. He performed on Stage at ‘Josh2Funny All of Me’ in 2020. He has also appeared on Bovi’s hit comedy web series, ‘Back To School’. Despite the ‘coronavirus’ scandal he faced in 2020, he grew his Instagram page by over 1 million followers. His dedication, consistency and raw talent have helped him to flourish. The only way for the towel-wielding comic to go from here is up, and we wish him all the success he’s been working hard for.
15. Tamunokuro Tonye-Nathan (Tee-Kuro)
Tee Kuro, has successfully carved a niche for himself as an online Instagram comedian. He portrays a wide range of characters, regardless of gender through his skits. He refers to himself as a ‘comic content creator’, and it’s quite evident in his skits. He started creating comedic videos in September 2018. Recently, he moved from creating the regular ‘different reactions in the same scenarios’ skits to making Nollywood parodies. He went from having 80,000 Instagram followers in June 2020 to having over 134,000 followers as of January 2021. He is the youngest and one of the most innovative comedians on this list, and we just know it will be a lot of fun watching him on his journey to attain full potential.
