Lyfewealth Charles Wobo Shares His Inspiring Journey To Stardom In This Intimate Q&A

Step into the spotlight with Lyfe Wobo, aka Orlu Papa, as he pulls back the curtain on his creative genius in an exclusive, no-holdsbarred interview with Diaspora Watch’s OBINNA EBOGIDI and ABIGAIL EKINE. From his humble beginnings to becoming a household name in Nigeria’s entertainment scene, the University of Port Harcourt graduate and multi-talented sensation shares his unfiltered story of triumph, creativity, and perseverance as a skit maker, actor, and brand influencer.

Your skits have become incredibly popular online. What inspired you to start creating them, and what’s your creative process like?

My creative process is usually into three phases, and they are the most difficult stages in creating a skit. The first one is getting the skit idea that will make people laugh. After creating the idea, the second one is editing the video skits, and the last one is shooting the skit content.

How do you come up with ideas for your skits, and what do you think resonates with your audience?

I get my idea from extensive thinking, most times you see things happening and you will be driving by and you will feel the urge to develop something from it, something hilarious that will make people laugh. I get the idea, then I extend it and develop it, then it turns to a solid idea, then it turns to something that can crack one up, and also by working with some scriptwriters’ ideas. I resonate with my audience by playing different characters, different roles in my skit, the nature of the character I play, that is hilarious and ability to crack people up. My fans love the characters I play with, and they vibe with it.

You are successfully transitioning from skit making to stand-up comedy. What challenges did you face, and how did you adapt your style for live performances?

I started entertainment as a stand-up comedian, but due to stage fright, I backtracked. There is always this stage fright when they call you out, as you see the crowd, you are supposed to crack them up and make them laugh, most times there are crowds of people mixed up with characters, you don’t know what you will say that will make them laugh, you have that fright. So that stage fright was what made me leave stand-up comedy for a long time. That was not because I can’t stage joke, fear of will this thing make them laugh, that was what made me leave stage-up comedy. Then I ventured into skit because I am a very good actor and I have a very crazy skit idea. Now that I think I have a very good platform, people know me, I have gained what we called fans’ love, it has been giving me that confidence, whenever I am called out, people shout Mr. Lyfe. They are using my skit words, they are hailing me, so it gives me that confidence, it is easy for me to drop jokes, crack jokes that make them laugh, that’s why I came back to start-up comedy. Actually, it was last year (2023) December that I came back to start-up comedy, and since then, it has been going on fine.

Your online presence is big. How do you leverage social media to reach your audience and promote your work?

Because I have the platform that is already known and registered, I just shoot my skit and basically like, if I want to promote music, business, I just make content and put it out there and just tell them to patronize me because of the fans’ love for me, it’s easier for them to go and patronize that business that I advertise.

Collaborations are a big part of the skit-making world. Who’s been your favorite collaborator, and what made that experience stand out?

Alright, to be honest with you, Sabinus is my boss and my friend, and we have been shooting a lot down till now. And I can tell you boldly that he is still my biggest collaborator, although I have one or two collaborators. I have collaborated with Charles Okocha  Mr.

Sabinus is my bossand my friend, and we have been shooting a lot down till now. And I can tell you boldly that he is still my biggest collaborator, although I have one or two collaborators

Phenomenon, Kanyo O. Kanayo, Gentle Jack, a whole lot of social media big names out there, but I can tell you that Sabinus has really been my biggest collaborator. I have also collaborated with Mark Angel. Those are the ones that I can remember now, but Sabinus has always been my biggest collaborator, and he will always be my biggest collaborator. That guy is something else.

How do you balance your online persona with your real-life personality, and what do you hope your audience takes away from your content?

Every one of my content carries a message, each and every of my content as funny and hilarious, it may be it comes with a message. That message is one of the things I am passing to my audience amid the humor.

What’s next for you? Will you continue to focus on skits, explore more standup, or venture into other creative projects?

I am focused on my skit, I am still exploring stand-up comedy, and yes, I am also very open to any other creative project, be it whatever that will come.

How do you stay current and relevant in the ever-changing online landscape?

Things are happening every day, crazy things are happening, this is Nigeria, and things are happening every day. So it is all those crazy things that happen, that we coin them, make a message out of it, like try to tell people, see this thing that happened, it should have happened like this to prevent this.

Can you share a particularly memorable or embarrassing moment from one of your live performances?

The embarrassing moment happened when I was in school, then I had not entered into skit, I went to do a stand-up comedy, and I don’t know if I was not pushing to the crowd for whatever reason I don’t know. The crowd started bullying me, the started shouting: “ewe ewe, get out, get out,” I was so embarrassed, that thing really dented and killed my moral and confidence and everything. That was the main reason I shy away from stand-up comedy for a very long time. They bullied me out of the hall, out of the stage. Then they started to clap, that thing really demoralized me, like, killed my confidence in stand-up comedy. I was scared of appearing, I never wanted to have that experience again. There was always this fear, even when I came back to stand-up comedy, I was still having that fear. So I was like God, abeg o, don’t let this kind of thing happen again. So then, there was a second embarrassing moment I had. I was coming to come back to stage, I gathered many jokes that I was like it will make people laugh, I believed so, one of my friends invited me to a party, actually a big party, so when I was there, the guy called me out to crack people up. He introduced me and I took the mic, immediately I took the mic, all the jokes, all the rehearsal, all the preparations that I had gathered in my head, everything disappeared. Everything vanished, I could not remember one single joke I had rehearsed and crammed in my head. I was looking at the audience, I didn’t know what to say, I just told them I came to support my friend’s birthday, I didn’t really prepare to come and make anybody laugh, that was the excuse I gave them. I dropped the mic and left. I went home so embarrassed. Then the memorable moment, when I finally decided to say I’m going to do this, after the second embarrassment. I went home and I crammed it again, memorized it and said to myself: you can do this. I’m not giving up on stand-up comedy, no. I love stand-up comedy, and I’m not giving up. And then one of my guys was doing a show, I told him I want to perform, so he was like Jesus, you mean am, because now I have had this big platform online, so I had this respect even from a lot of standup comedians. As they don’t see me do stand-up comedy a lot, they see me online, so when I told the guy I want to perform, the guy felt honored and he made room for me. When he introduced me, because of the online presence I had, the way people cheered me, before I said anything, so it gave me confidence, and I was like this people know me, so why I dey fear, so I had no fear. I just did my joke, they laughed, it was funny, and I had my confidence back, and I had a good performance, so that was how I gained my confidence back, and now, believe me, I can perform in front of anybody.

What advice would you give to aspiring skit makers and stand-up comedians looking to break into the industry?

All I will say is you know yourself, you know your craft, you know your talent, and you know your creativity. Just keep pushing, put in your best, hardworking, and perseverance will always pay. Make you break into the industry and even be big, take the industry by the horn and take over.