Ghana’s latest comedy sensation, Benson Ohene-Oduro Boateng, known in showbiz as Funny Face, reckons his phenomenal rise to fame remains synonymous with the massive patronage and goodwill he currently enjoys among his fans, particularly the women.
But he also admits he has had challenges in taking up comedy as a trade, particularly with the way people sometimes took him for granted, even though he considers himself “a very serious, business-minded person.”
The stand-up comedian-cum-actor told Spectator Agoro exclusively that he regards the support of his fans, especially the women, as next to the providence of his GOD and mother, as far as his success is concerned.
“God picked me from nowhere and has now put somewhere. I’ve starved for long and for God to turn things around this way and then make life bearable for me, is something I’ll forever praise and thank Him for,” the ever-jovial Funny Face said.
“But after God, my mother comes and then my fans, especially the women. In fact, for their unflinching support and patronage, I’ll die for women and even kill for women,”
Funny Face is currently the lead character in the television serial Chorkor Trotro, an initiative of Gama Films Productions aired every Tuesday evening on TV3 after the major news bulletin.
Delivering the role of an unassuming, yet controversial driver’s mate (or bus conductor) by name Chemu, who occasionally fans misunderstanding between passengers, he sometimes becomes the keeper of the law because he never hesitates to hand over rioting passengers to the police. He also does not take it lightly at all on passengers who try to be all knowing and attempt to use their knowledge to ‘beat’ him into submission. That aside, he can at times become a lover-boy who, though not the typical Casanova type, consistently insists the rights of women should never be compromised by anybody under any circumstance.
In such scenarios, he is often caught ranting: “I’ll die for women” or “I’ll kill for women,” which is only one of the numerous popular ‘jargons’ he is now associated with. The rest are Obaa Wo, No Baga Waya (which literally means ‘No Weapon Fashioned Against Me Shall Not Prosper’), Bebbbe, Kpo Kpe Kpo Kpooaa, Mafemihabo Obaane, I get my swaaag-on and I get my eye on You, among others.
These are catch phrases he creatively couches in a manner that automatically spook laughter out of the mouth of his patrons i.e. television viewers. He indicated he has greater respect for women “so that’s why I’ll die for women and kill for women, as I’ve always said in Chorkor Trotro”.
Touching on how he became a comedian and suddenly the toast of Ghana’s, Funny face said he had always been himself since his days at the O’Reilly Secondary School (completed 2002) where his amiability and love for entertainment eventually saw him through to become the Entertainment Prefect.
“I really don’t find myself as that funny person who speaks and acts and everybody will be laughing. In fact, that has been one of my challenges in this profession – people not taking me for serious.”
To buttress his claim, he told of an experience he had with the police whilst on his way to the office of The Spectator on Monday, recounting: “I was driving and at the same time making a call, so the police caught me and sent me to their MTTU office.
“I thought I was dead, but it was only when we got there that I realised they were also my fans and wanted to laugh once they had me,” he said, expressing gratitude to the police for the love and support they have shown him.
“But to tell you the truth, I’m a serious, business-minded person who is a scientist and a pilot in the mind,” Funny face hails from Kwahu Abetifi, but born and bred in Jamestown (British Accra). He will soon be pursuing a tertiary education abroad.
