Legendary Nigerian comedian Bright Okpocha, popularly known as Basketmouth, has announced that he intends to quit being a professional comedian when he turns 50.
In an interview with Hitz 1039 FM, Basketmouth disclosed that he would like to try something different from comedy. He noted that quitting comedy professionally does not mean he won’t crack jokes anymore. But he would not crack jokes professionally anymore.
Basketmouth said:
“For the past six years, I’ve just been floating. So last year, I told myself and my team that you know what, I’m coming back to comedy and I’m going to do five years and I’m quitting. Yeah, I’m quitting in five years. I’ve got five more years to do this and I’m done. There’s a plan. The way I’ve planned my life, I was like okay when you get to 50, you drop the mic. Definitely, I’ll be cracking jokes every now and then but it’s not going to be the professional thing for me.”
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Continuing, the comic actor said, “So if you see me doing a gig it’s just maybe I’m doing pro-bono but I’ll not charge anybody to perform again. You understand? Because I’ve made enough, I won’t say I’ve made enough but I’ve committed myself to the act long enough that I’m like take a break or quit and whatever you’re doing from now till the end of time, you’re just having fun.”
His decision was informed by the fact that he is “into TV right now, movies, series, and all that; concert production. That’s where I want to try. I want to start a new journey. I want to experience something new. At the end of five years, that’s like 31 years in the game. That’s a lot of time. That’s pretty much out of my life. So I want to do something else and I want to be remembered for other things other than you know.”