Aloma Isaac Jr, popularly known as Zicsaloma, speaks with SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN about his skit-making career, endorsement deal and other issues. Excerpts:
You signed an endorsement deal with an automobile company a few months ago. How does it feel starting the year in a positive way?
I definitely feel blessed. I also hope that this year, I will get more of those juicy deals. 2022 was definitely a great year for me. I was able to complete more projects and achieve more. Starting with a deal in 2023 shows that the year will definitely be better.
A lot of people believed you bought a new car when you announced your endorsement deal. Is the car part of the deal?
Yes. The car was part of the deal.
How did your journey into the entertainment industry begin?
Zics Aloma started from the church as a choir boy. It started with singing at the Chapel of Redemption, Imande, Kaduna. I am from Abia state. I was in the children’s church choir. I had felt that I could sing. I was about eight years-old at the time. From there, I joined the youth choir and later the adult choir before I started pursuing music fully. I went for several auditions before I made it to ‘ The Voice Nigeria’, a singing competition in reality show.
It was after my exit from ‘The Voice Nigeria’ that I started doing comedy. I did not even plan it; it was spontaneous. One day my mom brought out her old caps from the store. I just put one of them on my head and crossed a wrapper over my body, I did a selfie video and started talking and posted it on Facebook and the video started going viral. People started sharing it and they asked me to shoot more videos. Before you know it, I started posting on Instagram.
How long did it take before you got your big break?
I had been going for music auditions since 2010. I think my first music audition was for ‘Glo Naija Sings’. I can’t even count how many cities I travelled to for auditions in the past. On some occasions I had to sleep outside because I had nowhere to stay. So calculate from 2010 to 2020, during the lockdown.
Are there goals that you couldn’t fulfill last year?
Yes, one or two goals.
What do you plan to achieve with your career in 2023?
In want to start making my own movies. I want people to see me doing greater things than comedy skits.
You mimic women a lot in your skit. Is it right to say that it’s your mother that you mimic with those female characters?
Not really. I am just generally a very observant person. I could go to a place for one day and mimic the whole place as if I’ve been living there for a long time. When I started, I noticed that people didn’t really like my male characters. They preferred the female ones.
Maybe it was because I started ranting on Facebook wearing my mother’s cap or maybe because I am more dramatic. Even on Tik Tok, if I make a skit, it doesn’t trend as much as I would have loved it to trend, but the female skit trends more. Of course, I’ve been around ladies more. When I was in the university, there were more ladies in my department. At least, 90 percent of students were ladies.
You complained about the activities of hoodlums while shooting last year. How were you able to cope with their disturbance?
It was hard but we were able to find a way out. Most times, you have to end up negotiating a payment with them so your equipment would not end up being destroyed or something worse.
What do you think can be done to curtail their excesses?
I think there should be laws against such behavior. Artistes should be able to move around freely and do their stuff without fear of molestation. You can’t just walk up to people when they are filming and demand money from them by force. It is barbaric.
A lot of people believe the content creation industry is a place to acquire quick wealth because of the way skit makers display their wealth on social media. What’s your take on this?
It seems so because people just focus on the result of several years of hard work. People should read about the process of many content creators. Nothing good comes easy without hard work, creativity, strategy, etc.
Most skit makers are doing well, but many don’t believe that the flashy possessions they display on social media are from the proceeds from their skit making alone. What do you think?
I can only speak for myself first, though I know some other skit makers who are working genuinely to make a living. I’m an Instagram comedian and that is what pays my bills. However, I have plans for other businesses and I have investments in real estate. I saw many comments from doubting Thomases when I bought my house and posted it on Instagram. It is very funny that people think that way. It is also painful that some of the comments were from young people. People don’t think that young people can make money in a legitimate way and that is very disheartening. The Internet has much potential.
I have endorsements and I run adverts for some notable brands. Online platforms also pay me. There was a time I was living in a one-room apartment and in less than six months, I was able to buy a duplex in Ajah, Lagos State.
Owning a house is very essential because everyone knows the stress of paying house rent in Lagos. Also, landlord palaver is an unpalatable experience. I know how it is living in a one-room apartment with the owner constantly breathing down one’s neck. They all didn’t come overnight, like I told you. I was once lining up to contest in singing competitions. Those were my days of little beginning. I was once a lecturer, too. None of those critics said anything when I was struggling. I became successful because I worked hard. I shot content for years without being recognised until it got to a point where my content started going viral.
You said you were once a lecturer. Any regrets for quitting your job for content creation?
Yes, I was a lecturer at Kaduna Polytechnic on part time basis. I had started to shoot skits then, but I was not so serious about it. I later quit my job for skit making. And I have no regrets at all. That was one of the best decisions of my life.
When are you going to put your singing skill into full use?
I will definitely drop a song very soon. So just watch out.
You were studying for a Master’s degree and a PhD some time ago. In what discipline did you put in for both programmes?
I had to quit studying because of entertainment. I was a jack-of-all-trades at that time and working as a teacher was paying my bills. But I had to be at the top of my game. As I blew up in the comedy industry, I definitely had to quit school because I could no longer concentrate on that. I was simultaneously running a postgraduate diploma in education and A Master’s in Literature.
Do you see yourself using any of the certificates in future?
Yes. I still plan to set up my own school in future.
Do you think skit-making will soon overshadow standup comedy?
I think it has already. The world is more on the Internet than anywhere else.
