A few years ago, not many would have been able to key into the idea that skit-making will become a booming industry that helps talents get spots in Nollywood or even make millions in revenue yearly, but looking at it now, we can say yet again that creativity sells in any form it takes.
Over the years, we have seen the rise in the skit-making industry in Nigeria, with many people channeling their inner comedian due to its benefits of it. We have witnessed the rise to the stardom of many skit makers and how their comedy video has helped them create a brand for themselves and become a name on the lips of their audience.
This could be said to have helped shoot comedy to the next level in Nigeria as it is now ranked the third-largest entertainment industry in Nigeria with an estimated worth of N50 billion.
Emerging digital technology, which enables content generation, delivery, and consumption, has recently helped the Nigerian entertainment and creative business advance quickly and because of these factors, it has been named by analysts as one of the economy’s top job-creating sectors, particularly for young people.
When we talk about this industry, there is a small section of it that does not get enough attention which is the young skit-makers who have already built a name successfully. Here, we highlight five of those young Nigerian skit-makers with a huge social media following.
Emmanuella Samuel known as Emmanuella
At age five, Emmanuella began her journey into comedy. She was said to have met Mark Angel while on a family vacation where he called a few kids he knew for the audition for a spot on his comedy team since he wanted some kids for his comedy shoot, but they couldn’t memorize their lines.
Emmanuella performed admirably despite the 18-hour film shoot, which he staged to test the youngsters’ stamina. After being chosen, Angel had to persuade her parents to allow her to join the Mark Angel Comedy team.
In 2015, she won the G-Influence Niger Delta Special Talent Award. In 2016, she was featured as a host on CNN. She also won an award for the most subscribed YouTube creator at the inaugural Sub-Saharan African YouTube Awards in 2016. At the Afro-Australia Music & Movie Honors, she also took home the Best New Comedienne and Princess of Comedy awards (AAMMA). She was nominated alongside Davido for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in the Favorite African Stars category in 2018, and she won the award in 2021.
Ikorodu Bois
The Ikorodu Bois are three siblings, Babatunde Sanni, Muiz Sanni, and Malik Sanni, as well as their cousin, Fawas Aina, who are renowned for duplicating and mimicking music videos, Hollywood movie trailers, spectacular photos, and popular celebrity videos.
The three little boys perform and appear in the films, while the oldest of them all, Babatunde Sanni, edits them. They are known to utilize everyday home things to recreate situations.
Hollywood producers, The Russo brothers, invited Ikorodu Bois to the premiere of Extraction 2 after the group re-enacted the teaser and uploaded it on Twitter and Instagram.
US actor, Will Smith also posted footage of Ikorodu Bois’ reenactment of Bad Boys Forever on his Instagram page in April 2020.
After viewing a parody of the Spanish series created by the young Nigerian skit-makers, Alvaro Morte, who played Professor in the film Money Heist commended their work.
They appeared in a Netflix Oscar Weekend Film Brand Campaign in April 2021, which was on display at Times Square in New York City. Netflix had given them filming equipment the previous year.
Enorense Victory known as Kiriku
Enorense Victory, popularly known as Kiriku, is a 7-year-old Nigerian child actor and skit-maker. Kiriku rose to stardom after numerous of his skits were shared by social blogs like Instablog9ja and Tunde Ednut.
He began his career in his birthplace of Benin City before moving to Lagos, Nigeria’s entertainment center, to pursue a career in comedy. He has worked on projects with Broda Shaggi, Mr. Funny, and Iyanya. He has also collaborated on comedic projects with Officer Woos and Cute Abiola. The Sun dubbed him “Nigeria’s most sought-after kid comedic actor.”
At the Net. ng awards, Kiriku was named Breakout Social Content Creator of the Year 2022.
Temitope Babatunde known as Intelligent Tope
Temitope Babatunde, known as Intelligent Tope, is a child actor and skit creator who began his career alongside his older brother, Oluwadolarz.
Intelligent Tope rose to fame on Instagram for his facial expressions and interpretations of his part in his older brother’s skits, and he has since begun creating his own skits with his sister and mother.
Intelligent Tope has appeared in skits with famous label boss, Don Jazzy.
Aunty Success
Aunty Success is also another young Nigerian skit-maker and child actor discovered by Mark Angel.
She came into the limelight after featuring in several episodes of the Mark Angel Comedy skits. She joined the team in 2017 and due to her ability to master lines and great acting skills, she has been able to build a name for herself in the industry.
Her style of videos is asking people questions that they will not have answers to and leaving them dumbfounded as to how she was able to think up the question in the first place.
Conclusion
With this crop of young Nigerian skit-makers, we can confidently say that the skit industry as well as the comedy space in Nigeria will not run out of talented people to keep the torch burning. These young talents have all been building their brands and at the same time putting smiles on the face of their audience.