Kalybos: From mini skits to becoming worldwide star

Richard Asante, known more commonly as Kalybos, is a thrilling YouTube comedy superstar who is awestruck by the fame he now enjoys on the Ghanaian comedy scene.

The "Only Boss" with one ‘S’, rose to fame through his popular free-for-downloads comedy skits dubbed the ‘Boys Kasa Series.’

These series include Kalybos goes to Brazil, The Fat Bill, the Good Samaritan, One Bottle, Tweaa and The Pharmacy Wahala.

In an exclusive interview with Starr Entertainment News, Asante who became a brand ambassador for telecommunications network – Airtel- as a result of his YouTube series, revealed he was just being himself and having fun when it all started.

According to him, he was not expecting to become so popular and accomplished within a short period of time.

“I never knew it could get to this level. For the start we were doing it for free and we didn’t know it was good work and that people would appreciate…”

Kalybos said his deal with Airtel came after his team put out their eighth video, adding, the move gave him confidence that he was making an impact.

“…a Telco got to notice what I was doing and got to like it and called me to be on board. So it’s been a wonderful journey for me…moving from the ‘Boys Kasa’ mini skits I was doing to being a brand ambassador for Airtel it’s been great.”

A second year student studying ‘Cinematography’ at NAFTI, the natural born comedian developed interest in acting when he worked for movie producer, Shirley Frimpong Manso and her Sparrow Productions for three years.

But Kalybos gives much of the credit to movie producer Kofi Asamoah whom he said encouraged him to start the series.

“Kofi Asamoah who is a producer director in Kumasi. He brought the idea and it worked”

“One day he said to me, I haven’t seen you on camera but I know how funny you are and I have trust in you so let’s just start doing this…we had no concept in mind but we started – the Camry was the first one” he noted.

The Good Samaritan star said he really admires Comedy King Kwaku Sintim Misa-KSM for his admirable style, Funny Face for his originality and David Oscar for his energy.

He said he is working hard to adequately manage the fame he now enjoys.

“Things that people didn’t know about me at first, they see now...I have always been that funny person and now everyone knows me and recognises my skills. I have more friends now I can’t even count them. So now I have to find a backup SIM and a backup phone to store the contacts” he said casually.

The YouTube star currently has thirteen videos to his credit and has many more recorded and yet to be released.

“We have a whole lot of skits coming up. Right now, only thirteen skits and there are like 20 more that have not yet been edited.”