After about four
months of buzz, the now-annual comedy show, ‘Ay Live’ has arrived in
Lagos. Tagged ‘AY Live: The Invasion’, the event, which took place on
Sunday, May 1, drew a huge crowd to the expansive Expo Centre of the
Eko Hotel and Suites, which was filled almost to capacity. In recent
years, the ‘AY Live’ comedy show has threatened to overrun other comedy
events in the country in terms of appeal, repertoire and class, and it
fully achieved this feat with its 2011 installment.
In the hall
Inside, the
sold-out hall was so full that some guests had to stand, though this
didn’t seem to stop them from having as much fun as the seated guests,
who paid up to N300,000 for tickets at the VVIP tables. The First Lady
of Lagos State, Abimbola Fashola, former Super Eagles captain, Austin
Okocha, and a host of Nollywood stars and fellow comedians were in
attendance at the show.
At about 7pm, ‘AY
Live’ began with memorable performances by upcoming comedians, most of
whom are past winners of the Ay Open Mic comedy competition.
Established comedians, including Akpororo, Gboy, Ushbabee, Pencil,
Whalemouth, Emeka Smith, MC Shakara, Elenu, Seyi Law, Helen Paul and
Princess, also took the stage at different intervals, delivering
top-notch, original jokes.
The show also
featured a musical performance by former West African Idol contestant,
Jodie, who is currently enjoying a renaissance of sorts with her new
single ‘Kuchi Kuchi Baby’. Other musicians who graced the stage
included YQ, Kas, Skuki, D’ Prince, Yemi Sax, Kaffy and a host of
others. However, it was the appearance of Duncan Mighty that really got
the crowd going. The Port Harcourt-based star, who rarely makes an
appearance in Lagos, must have been surprised and overjoyed at the
amount of love shown to him by the audience. Several guests were
familiar with his songs and most jumped up from their seats to dance
and sing along with the singer popularly known as “Port Harcourt’s
first son.”
A visionary host
AY might not be the
most talented or exciting personality in the art of comedy, but he
makes up for his shortcomings with boundless class, vision and
creativity. Apart from the high quality of the show, which was
commended by the audience, his acts were works of genius. Though most
of his previous comedy trailers and skits have become sensations on
YouTube, the new ones unveiled at this year’s show were real beauties.
His entrance
trailer stars AY as a white garment prophet who was kidnapped by Aki
and Pawpaw, the diminutive Nollywood comedy actors. The trailer was
infused in his performance when he tumbled onstage from a trailer scene
and continued his performance from there. He reenacted his usual
prophecy session in a lackluster manner, sparing the usual target of
the now-popular joke, Sammie Okposo, this time around.
A fashion show
featuring Uti Nwachukwu, Kenneth Okolie and others, who modeled pieces
from Yomi Casual, took place before 9ice and Tuface came on stage
towards the end of the show. 9ice gave an accomplished performance of
some of his hit songs. He was joined by 2face on their duet, ‘Street
Credibility’, before paving way for Tuface to take the proceedings to
the riveting climax.
An afterparty followed at Jay Jay Okocha’s ‘10’ lounge.
