Big Johny Tells Mild and Rib-cracking Jokes At Cambridge

By Michael Kolawole

Big Johnny’s jokes are mild but rib-tickling. Remote Out of Control, his 2024 comedy show at Cambridge, offers a glimpse into his humorous side.

Pacing around the well-lit and decorated stage, he tells jokes that elicit chuckles and hysterical laughter from the audience.

The video begins with him engaging a lady in the audience in a conversation about age and marriage, both speaking Nigerian Pidgin English. “If you look am well well, you go know sey dis one don marry pass forty years,” the lady playfully says. Big Johny retorts by saying that someone should help him call his children to the stage. Everyone laughs at his comment.

I have been married for a long time, BigJohny says, staring at the audience who are eager to hear the actual year he got married. “I’ve been married for a long time… eighteen months.” Everyone laughs uncontrollably at his punchline.

After that, he advises anyone who isn’t married yet not to think of it. The audience is wondering what kind of wedding advice someone who was just married eighteen months ago has to offer. BigJohny gives his reasons: marital pressures, even on insignificant things. He recounts how his wife called him one day to come home quickly. He ran home, thinking it was an emergency. But he was shocked to see his wife sitting calmly on the couch when he got home. He asked her what the problem was and she replied that she couldn’t find the television’s remote. His narrative style and demeanour amuse the audience.

He talks about his problem with the Nigerian community in the UK who always advise the Nigerian at home to come to the UK, telling them it’s easier to amass wealth there. Then after some months in the UK, some people complain about how difficult it is, compared to Nigeria. BigJohny, however, believes living in the UK is the best thing to ever happened to him. He explains he was living in a shared apartment when he first moved to the UK.

His story, and how he narrates it, cracks the audience up. Big Johny builds the tension to create a false expectation in the audience. The audience is already happy for him, thinking he has moved to a better apartment. But then he unexpectedly deflates the audience’s expectation when he drops the gag line: “To the glory of God,” he says, “after six months, I’m still in the same apartment.”

In another joke, Big Johny narrates how he hunted for several jobs when he first moved to the UK and didn’t get any. He almost got one when his CV was exaggeratedly written by a friend, who ascribed the role of a chief surgeon to Big Johny, even though he has no experience in the profession.

He was employed at a reputable hospital and everyone believes him to perform exceptionally. But when Big Johny got to the ward, a man in need of surgery held his hands and said, “My brother, as I’m looking at you, my life is in your hands.”

As an astute comedian, Big Johny subverts the audience’s expectations. He explained that he looked the sick man straight in the eyes, and calmly told him not to expect any miracle from him. “It’s better you die peacefully now than me operating on you,” he told the sick, adding that he wasn’t capable of saving lives. The joke sticks and the audience roars in laughter

After watching the audience laughing their heart out, Big Johny tells another story about his experience working in a warehouse, which put his hands on autopilot, even when he wasn’t at work. His demonstration of how he would walk on the streets and automatically perform his duty of throwing boxes into the conveyor system, delights the audience, who can’t control their amusement.

With all his comedic brilliance, the show’s poor audio production makes it difficult to grasp some of Big Johny’s jokes. One needs to watch the video multiple times and listen attentively to hear his humorous stories. Another issue is its exclusivity. Most of his jokes are in-jokes; they might be unintelligible or unfunny to outsiders.

The show’s title Remote Out of Control is an abstract, one of the jokes Big Johny tells is connected to it. The closest one is the joke where he narrates how he was urgently called by his wife to come back home. And told him when he got home that the TV’s remote had been missing. It would have been interesting had he told a joke that is strongly related to the title.

Be that as it may, Big Johny has a good sense of humour. But he can improve by learning to make his jokes inclusive and land better for stronger impacts. To achieve that, he might need to regain control of the remote and put things in order.