The Floor Mag sat down with Nigerian content creator Layi Wasabi to discuss his journey to global success through his passion for comedy, collaboration and content.
What made you pick up your phone and record in the first place?
So for me, I've always s had a passion for comedy since I was younger. The school is tired of me being a class clown and all that stuff. But I mean, content creation didn't really start for me until like the Vine era, you know, the Vine era where you had people doing funny skits.
In the beginning, for me, I was more passionate about stand-up, because that was a form of comedy I was more familiar with, you know, being a class clown, you will tell jokes in front of the class… I tried to do a couple of skits then in 2015/2016, but I didn't start taking content creation seriously until 2021/2022.
Lovely, and it’s good to see that you use your native language (Yoruba) and Pidgin English as well. While using your natural dialect, did you expect your videos to have such a global reach?
When I started making videos I never even expected to have like national reach to be honest. I felt like I was creating the content for like a niche group. Maybe a small set of people might relate to this, I didn't mind, I was just looking for an audience no matter the number. But when I started doing content, and I had people from different ethnic groups all over Nigeria, some people from Ghana… I never knew that I was going to get to this point. Now I keep that in mind too when I'm creating skits, that it’s not just you know, for the smaller group I had my head it’s now for a much wider audience.
For sure, apart from pivoting some of how you curate your content, what kind of impact has this new audience had on you? For example, how does coming to London and being recognised/having your skits being repeated back to you make you feel?
I was never aware of my London presence until I got here. Initially, I was met with a lot of Nigerians at Heathrow Airport. But now I’m in the UK and there are people who would’ve been in the UK all their lives with the whole English accent telling me “Oh, they love Layi Wasabi” Like what? I never knew I had that reach. So yeah, it's amazing and also helps me to be more strategic, you know because it makes me know that a lot of people have a wide palate for our comedy.. Also, I’ll be more understanding of the audience that I have now. It’s been a great experience since I've been in London.
That’s a great and useful thing to recognise, although you were unaware of your full reach before, your videos have always been captioned. Was this an intentional choice because you wanted other people elsewhere to be able to understand what you're saying?
Yes, it was intentional. In 2021, I had a few viral skits, then the point where I started subtitling my skits started when I did a remake of a Nigerian Yoruba movie. So I did this skit and had a lot of comments, you know, saying “Ah Layi we’re fans and we are Igbo can you subtitle it in English so that we get on with the comedy too?” And I'm like, “Oh, wow, that's amazing.” I could be speaking English, but I will still subtitle it so that even if you’re in class sneaking to watch my videos, you don't need to play the sound, you know, it's already there in text.
In terms of your creative process, what kind of space are you in now with all this new information? How do you decide what your next skit is or your next move?
For me, now, I think I'm a little bit in tune with the audience that I have, you know, but definitely, as an artist it is very important to evolve. People will get tired of the same thing, let's be honest. It’s easy to stay on brand when you've grown an audience with that brand; but sometimes try to give the people what is different from what they've been enjoying.
It could be the same character, but just something to keep the excitement going. So for me, I don't think is a worry as to, you know, the next piece of content. For me, my biggest thought right now, like the headspace I'm in, is all on the next phase.
The next phase, where do you want to take it beyond social content? Are you seeing yourself on the big screen and things like that?
I think it can be a character or Layi as yourself. Partnering with Netflix or Amazon, running a series on a platform. I think that would be really cool, it’ll be exciting.
Okay. Yeah, that's, that's one of the things we're looking to do next! Hopefully. I'm shortlisted for a couple of movies, hitting the cinemas very soon, and from there Netflix. I also want to do my own movies as well, on the major streaming platforms. There’s work in progress towards that, hopefully. I hope that I'm able to make you happy as I start my career on the big screen as you have hoped for me as well.
Yes, I have hope for it, I'm ready to see it all happen.. I hope we also get the exclusive drops and the early previews! If you do a show in London we’ll need the invite.
All right, for sure. For sure.
And you did mention Netflix who you've done a partnership with before - as well as drinks brands, financial services, tech companies, etc. How do you make your brand partnership so seamless? Do you make sure to have a big say in the creative? Or is it just in the way you pick your brands?
Yes, definitely it’s first of all a conversation with a brand. As a brand, it’s smart not to want whatever pitch an influencer is going to do for you to look very salesy because I think some advertisements are just off-putting. Let's be honest, the internet is saturated with advertisements. And when you find content you enjoy, sometimes having adverts in it feels like “Ah people are trying to sell stuff to me again”. So usually brands are like “We know that we want brand placement and all that. But the advertisement part of it, you know, you should do quite subtly.”
So yes, that's the technique and the conversation that we normally have with brands. But some brands are still stubborn o, they say “This long list that we’re giving you please tell everything to your viewers”.
How important is having creative control to you and who you collaborate with?
Since I've been in the UK, most of what I've been doing has been collaborating with content creators. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to collaborate with some of the creators that I have on my list. I've been able to grow a small amount of following in the diaspora. So the idea for us was to come to the UK, do a few collaborations, and basically preach the gospel of Layi Wasabi to people here.
So we've been collaborating with content creators to that effect and I think it’s important.
Also collaborating with other Nigerian content creators, and it's not even about the number of followers, I've had people who newly meet my content when I collaborate with someone that has a smaller following than me. The internet is a wide space, you can never reach everybody so collaboration is really important and effective.
Are there any other Nigerian comedians, skit makers and content creators that you admire?
Yeah, a lot of Nigerian skit makers, you know, because I have a great deal of them as friends too. I think off the top of my head right now, people who I would say I admire a lot are people like Brother Shaggy, Kiki, Macaroni, Mr. Funny, Sabinus, Brain Jotter… We have a lot of amazing comedians in Nigeria that I look up to, to be honest.
Are there any more old-school Nigerian comedians or actors you sometimes channel? Or you'll think, ‘I want to do X Y, Z and the way they did this’?
Yeah. Oh, geez, definitely. In terms of international presence, Basketmouth is someone that I think is very exemplary in that aspect. Because Basketmouth, you know, sells out shows in the UK sells out shows in the US. I think he’s a major figure in that aspect. There’s also Bobby because Bobby does the same thing as well. Then some people have been relevant for years, like Alibaba, so, it's amazing what these people have been able to do. Just trying to follow in their footsteps.
That’s a vibe: Layi Wasabi selling out UK venues.
We’ve gone this whole chat without mentioning your height which plays a part I feel in your characters. I wonder, has anyone ever asked you to reach anything strange, like their cat or their hat from a tree or something?
I can't recall anything strange. But I think an exciting one is, okay this might not sound crazy because I do it on the norm. I can change light bulbs without getting on a stool like I just reach for and change it. My mom has gotten so accustomed to that, if there's a faulty light bulb she’ll just give me the bulb and I'll just reach for the ceiling straight up.
Right well now we know who to call if any lights are faulty!
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