When Ali Baba said that comedy is a serious business, it sounded like one of his many jokes but the crop of stand-up comedians running the show now has taken the act to the next level. They are not only rubbing shoulders with the music and movie stars in popularity, they are also giving them a run for their money .
They now look everything but funny. They drive the latest fast cars; wear the most expensive designer labels; and live in palatial edifices in the reserved highbrow locations that only the plum income earners can afford. The top of the draw characters have simply arrived.
I Go Dye, the comedian who hails from Abraka in Delta State, and has been a fan favorite for more than a decade. He was turned down four times from the stage of "night of a thousand laugh"
It will be recalled that just two years ago, I Go Dye collected a whooping sum of $195,000:00 US Dollars from an American Company, Point Gate for a tour of the USA and Europe in ironical contrast to the N100 he received for his first performance back in 1992.
It is almost unbelievable to hear that I Go Dye collects between three to five million Naira per event but when you bother to find out how and where he lives, then it will sink in real deep.
A visit to his palatable mansion spoke volume of opulence and wealth. The mansion tucked inside a choice area has an expansive well-trimmed field big enough to serve as a football pitch; a walk into the apartment presents an air of pure royalty.
The main sitting room is tastefully furnished with Italian eighteen-carat gold plated Versace settee which must have cost some whooping thousands of dollars from the high well-designed pop roof down which hangs the magnificent , 60 Lights Maria Theresa chandelier with 24-Karat gold plated frame and dressed with 30% full lead crystals, and some other accessories staggeringly disarming in grandeur and opulence
The sitting room which has a state-of-the-art electronic gadget system from the wall screened 46 inches 3D TV and classical paintings of I Go Dye dressed like Prince Albert. The interior décor looked totally flawless.
Tours of the other sitting room looked a far cry from the previous one and suffice to say that the multiple award-winning humor merchant sure knows how to live life to the fullest, an apartment reminiscent of a Roman Palace.
The visible designs of Versace in almost all the dinning settees and kitchen utensils shows that the widely travelled rib-cracker has a serious affinity with the designer.
The seven bedroom mansion has spacious two sitting rooms, a well structured private nite club, with exotic wine bar, a mini cinema, including high -tech game room that can host 10 players at a time. The description can not be complete without mentioning the snooker board, a personal library and multi-media editing suit.
His break in the industry on his first major break, I Go Dye said though he started comedy at the tender age of thirteen on Delta Television, his first national break could be traced back to 2000 on the stage of "nite of a thousand laughs". "That evening became a turning point of my career as I Go Dye became a household name around the nation
I would say that things have been looking up since my eventful emergence into the very competitive industry that has seen many come and go over the past ten or more years, though the challenges involved are highly enormous and you have to come up with new materials and wit to keep you relevant over time" he said.
But peeking into the comedian's wardrobe, we found out that he was just being modest as all sorts of designer clothing from Gucci to Armani are arrayed in a neat pile. Anyone could have mistaken it for a boutique in Paris: hundreds of pairs of shoes, suits, shirts, jeans, several bottles of perfumes, assorted belts lined up in elegant display.
Vanguard
Vanguard
