Sam Loco, Osuagwu, Inojie inspired me, says Funnychef

Funnychef, born Ben Oyas Perekpo has revealed the veteran comic characters who inspired him to pursue comedy as a calling, affirming that the trio played a huge part in shaping his childhood fantasies.

He said, ” I grew up watching Nollywood movies, especially comedies featuring the likes of the late Sam Loco Efe , Victor Osuagwu and Charles Inojie. As an entertainer if you don’t have money to follow up with the business you will fall out when others are still moving, so me and my friends came up with the idea of having our own team with the name Sirbalo Comedy. Honestly speaking, we started shooting our skits with blackberry phones because we didn’t have money for cameras then, but God has been faithful.

Funnychef, who is now a producer, actor and director of photography also revealed that he started his career officially in 2014, adding that prior to that he had had a brief stint as a director of photography as far back as 2011.

Ben Oyas Perekpo is an indigene of Bayelsa State but had both his primary and secondary education at Burutu, Delta State. He is the first child of a family of six.

Funnychef said he fell in love with acting, comedy in particular, since he was a child. According to him, all he had wanted to do was act but the opportunities were not forthcoming. He was particularly impressed by the characters Sam Loco, Victor Osuagwu and Charles Inojie play on the screen and said he wanted nothing but to tow the line of these great thespians who held sway at one time in Nollywood as colossus.

Funnychef states that he has no regrets choosing the career path he has found himself as he is living his dream.

“From my secondary school days, nothing has interested me more than acting and to see myself on screen in the mold of my role models. But the Sirbalo Comedy group has played a more profound role in my life as they have given me a platform to make my dream come true. My teammates, I mean Sirbalo Comedy is the best in Africa in content creation, he added.