2Face Made Me Drop My Music Career - Klint da Drunk
Afamefula Igwemba a.k.a Klint da Drunk is a trained painter at the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Enugu abandoned his brush for the stage to make a living through comedy. Several years, after he made his mark as an ace comedian in the country, Klint reveals why he abandoned his career in music for comedy and many more.
Weekend Magazine: What else do you do apart from comedy?
Klint da Drunk: Believe me, comedy is a full time job. If you don’t know, know it now! In due course, you will get to see all the things I have done that are packed up and you would be asking yourself, how did I get the time to do all those things?
If you were not a comedian, what else would you have been doing for a living?
I studied Fine and Applied Art. I’m a painter by profession. If I wasn’t a comedian, I might have been painting or acting professionally, or maybe pursuing a career in music. I’m somehow blessed.
I still act, sing and also do my comic act. My album is coming out soon. I’m still painting, and in fact, I’m going to hold a solo exhibition of my recent works very soon. I can’t stop painting and I can’t drop my brush for anything. I still find time to paint. I love painting, and I don’t joke with my colours.
Have you ever gotten any negative reactions from fans?
Yes, I do. I remember a certain time, a woman confronted me, telling me how she liked my comedy but disliked my act. On inquiry, she told me that my act reminded her of her former husband who used to be a drunk, adding that each time she watched me on stage, she always flashbacked to the circumstances that led to their being divorced.
Based on that, I’m planning a show that will kick off in Abuja and Lagos respectively very soon. It will be a travelling show, a kind of campaign resulting in making people to drink responsibly. I’m the face of who you are, that person you are not meant to be.
My face as a drunk on stage represents the faces of so many drunks that are not supposed to be drunks. Whenever you see a drunk, he’s always staggering and talking carelessly. The message is: don’t drink to be like Klint da Drunk. I’m a drunk personified. I’m not a drunk per see, but I’m a representation of who a drunk is.
I’m the only person who’s in a better position to preach against drunkenness. That’s why I want to use my act to preach against drunkenness and its essences. The campaign will start off very soon. We are planning it big, and perhaps, before the first quarter of this year runs out, we would have kicked off the campaign.
I don’t have any regrets whatsoever for acting the drunk man on stage. It’s an act that has given me leverage over my contemporaries in the business.
Is it true you have changed your name from Klint Da Drunk to Mr. Clint?
I did not change a name, I only added a name. I am introducing an art called Mr. Klint which is going to be showcased this year. I have a comedy art called Klint Da Drunk; it is a comedy art and not a comedy. I’m going to come as a standup comedian as Mr. Klint and Mr. Klint is also into many other things, all of which you will see soon.
How did you come about the drunken character you always portray?
There’s this man called, Scatter Mojo. He used to be our caretaker in the village. Mr. Scatter Mojo was a real drunk, following his kind of person and the odd jobs he did in the village that usually got soaked.
So, each time he got drunk and staggered his way back to our house, I noticed that my father and my uncle usually entertained themselves on that day. Sometimes, I would mimic him, without knowing that I was consciously preparing myself to earn a living by adopting the character of a drunk. I just kept on practicing what Mr. Mojo was doing. Then, I used to sing and perform on stage while I was in secondary school. I wasn’t really portraying the drunken comic, until one day I went for a show where I was to sing and it happened that 2Face Idibia was newly admitted into the IMT. At that show, 2Face was scheduled to go on stage before me. And when I watched him perform and heard his voice on stage, I immediately sneaked out of the place.
So you were intimidated?
If you say intimidated it’s an understatement. I was downgraded and belittled by 2Face’s performance. I felt I was stupid to even venture into singing because 2Face’s performance overwhelmed me. And because of that encounter, I decided to change my career. 2Face himself is aware of what I’m staying. He was the one who made me to change my career in music. 2Face talks about it even till today.
I found solace in trying my hands in comedy, perhaps, recreating the drunk character that the man in my village was noted for. I did it once, and people embraced the act. And before I knew what was happening, I was everywhere in Enugu. Then, I was the only functioning comedian in the Coal City. I didn’t relent in my effort as I had to set a standard for myself. And it was a decision that actually paid off because it was in Port Harcourt that I hit the limelight
You seem not to be off the movie radar for sometime, does that mean you’ve quit acting?
I have always been in the movie business; I purposely withdrew from it because every role given to me, I must be a drunk, so I withdrew. I’m trying to repackage myself before coming back.
How did you meet your wife?
I had known my wife for a long time. We were good friends. I met her while she was sojourning in Jos with her parents. Before proposing to her, I remember going on one knee and asking her to marry me. But one funny thing about us is that I was not really attracted to her then. We were just good friends. But after so many years, I realized she was always there for me. Then, I started developing serious interest in her. I love my wife very much, and we have been married for years now.
What advice do you have for those willing to go into comedy?
They should try to be original and know that if they have the talent, nothing can stop them from being who they want to be. Nowadays, some people come into the business with the aim of being someone else. They say: “Let me be like this person or that person.” You don’t have to be like any one, rather, just be yourself and keep going and by so doing, God knows, you will get to the point, where people will want to be like you too.
source: weeklytrust
