Endorsement from AY is an inspiration – CEO Chuks Comedy Court

Day in, day out, people trend on social media for bad and good reasons. But in the case of Chuks Ineh, a comedian, he has been trending on social media for all the good reasons.

Chuks ventured into comedy some years ago by setting up Chuks Comedy Court, with the purpose of promoting other up and coming comedians - not knowing his own talent to crack ribs is a hot cake.

Recently, he uploaded skits of his video works online, and it has since gone viral.

This caught the attention of Nigeria’s multi-award winning comedian Ayo Makun popularly known as AY and he gave him thumbs up, among other applauds he got from fans from different countries across the globe.

In this interview with GhanaWeb, Chuks took us down the memory lane of his love for comedy and the inspiration behind his current works.

How did Chuks Comedy Court started?

Chuks Comedy Court was part of a conglomerate and our main services included an event center, a sports bar, and a restaurant focused on Nigeria delicacies. It was established in 2011 at Adenta Aviation road but was closed down due to challenges we had concerning accommodation at the time.

On January 31st, 2014 Chuks Comedy Court metamorphosed into a YouTube Channel - Comedy Court where we focus on working with unknown comedians, also covering comedy events and uploading it online. We also supported the rise of Ghanaian comedians.

What makes Chuks Comedy Court content on YouTube Channel unique?

Well, I can confidently tell you that Chuks Comedy Court is the only Ghana based YouTube channel that strictly focus on comedy videos. We have a lot of videos; they are so much that when you visit our YouTube channel, you’ll need no one to convince you that you have landed on a true comedy platform.

How many subscribers do you have on the YouTube channel, and how many comedy videos?

We have 4,065 Subscribers and a total of 110 videos from many comedians.

How has technology, social media helped you in starting all over again after the first shutdown?

In fact internet and social media served the purpose of resurrection of Chuks Comedy Court. We invested quite a lot of money during the first one. Of course, we have definitely invested more but social media has really helped us break our geographical limit, as we are now global. In short, most of our viewers are not resident in Ghana.

For me technology helped us save the brand and took it to a different, more exalted platform.

What inspired Chuks Comedy Court series that has been trending on social media for some time now?

I love comedy. I have always focused on promoting other comedians while making my very close ones laugh – behind the scene - every time. So what I simply did this time was to showcase my own talent to the world.

There’s a particular episode that has gone viral; fans prefer to call it “Pastor Ike”. This particular episode caught the attention of Nigeria’s multi-award winning comedian Ayo Makun populary known as AY and he published it on his Facebook page and gave you a thumbs up for it. What inspired such a funny conversation?

To God be the glory for the success of the video. January is often a tough month for individuals and families because of the huge expenses often incurred during the festive season. However, one of the things that plunges people into more financial difficulty are Pastors and Prophets who says all manner of inspirational stuffs to dispossess their church members of the little they have. As a matter of fact, majority of the Pastors and Prophets in this category perpetuate poverty in the lives of their members by tactically robbing the members - even more - on 31st December night. My aim is to share the sentiments of the people through comedy.

How did you feel when you started receiving positive feedback across the globe about your work?

That's the key to continuity, because it inspires me to do more. I received calls, messages from friends and fans from different parts of the world. They are asking us for more rib cracking jokes now.

And the lesson I learnt is: Once the work is good, people will love it and share it. I am now under pressure on who to call for my next episodes as people are now giving me names of who to call and what to say, but how to say it remains my calling.

Is there any difference between your type of comedy and stand-up comedy AY, Gordon, Basketmouth are known for?

You see, we are all comedians. The gift is from the same source, but the mode of delivery differs - considering our different faces and upbringing. However, I have done MC jobs and few stand up on small platforms and people enjoyed it, so I can as well make people laugh on a stand-up comedy show.

AY uploading your comedy on his page on Facebook seem to be a big endorsement for your work. How did you feel when you first saw it and do you mind working with him?

It was an inspiration, to say the least. It’s a sign that I am doing something right - for someone of AY’s status to have uploaded my comedy on his page, and I am so grateful for his generosity and the kind heartedness he has to promote it. I met him for the first time during the 1st Golden Movie awards at State House, and I hope to work with him someday. In fact, I want to earn working with him.