Barely a month after Opa Williams shocked the entertainment world when he announced his decision to rest the premier comedy show, “Nite of A Thousand Laughs”, the comedy merchant is stepping out again with a repackaged comedy series tagged “ Nite of A Thousand Laughs Xtra.” The show is billed to debut in Kenya and Uganda from February 18.
How is it different from the rested Nite Of A Thousand Laughs? You may want to ask. “Audience members will now have the chance to laugh a thousand times like in the past when we started off. While I will not reveal everything about the new show, the only teaser I will let out is, we will have just four best comedians from four countries in Africa at any edition of Nite Of A Thousand Laughs Xtra.”
“Two from Nigeria (including the compere and three in-form comedians from other African countries. And how would you like to see your favourite celebrities in a comedy drama skit in every edition of the show?
A Festus Keyamo (lawyer and human rights activist) and others you know who are not actors for example, giving you a reason to laugh a thousand times… Well, the best way to find out that we have broken from the norm is to attend just one edition of the new show,” Williams said.
“Nite Of A Thousand Laughs Xtra” will follow the same schedule as its rested “Nite Of A Thousand Laughs”, across the country as well as other African countries and Europe.
Apparently, at the celebrated last editions of ‘Nite of A Thousand Laughs”held in Benin, Edo State, on December 26 and January 1, 2012, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Williams was almost mobbed when compere of the events, comic act Bovi announced to the audience that they were witnessing the last editions of the show.
Attempts by Opa Williams to explain to the crowds at both shows met with boos and jeers. Some even threw empty water bottles at him in Benin. “I was shocked, I knew Nite of A Thousand Laughs was popular but on these days I realised how popular the show was,” Opa said.
The movie maker continued: “after the show in Benin, a man and his family of four requested to see me backstage, he was having a hard time with the security until I came to the entrance and inquired what was going on.
Anyway, we sat down eventually and he said I was about to take his and his family’s annual joy from them with the decision to rest the show. I wept.” What further brought tears to Williams’ eyes was the man’s offer to help in the area of sponsorship; if indeed finance was the reason why Nite of A Thousand Laughs was going off.
What the concerned man in Benin did not know too was that Williams was facing a similar situation from his show sponsors. His sponsors were piling pressure on him to rescind his decision to rest the show.
“I had to put on my thinking cap so as not to be called a villain and kill joy.” At that point, Williams decided to return with a repackaged “Night of A Thousand Laughs” to appeal to the large fans of the comedy show who did not want it to go into extinction.
Culled from Vanguard