‘I was strange': How this comedian's defence mechanism became a lucrative career
Demi Adejuyigbe is one of the US' most acclaimed young comic talents but, as he explains on a Zoom call from Los Angeles with his cat, Leo, making people laugh was initially more of a 'defence mechanism' than a career path.
Born in London to Nigerian parents, Adejuyigbe moved to Dallas, Texas, when he was five years old and soon found he had a knack for disarming humour. 'I was one of very few black kids in my school and I was very small,' he says. 'I was strange and didn't feel like I fit in, so the ability to make other people laugh, and to make fun of myself before others could, felt like a good tool to have.'
The 32-year-old grew up on The Simpsons, developing a love of parody songs, while Late Night with Conan O'Brien stoked his interest in sketch comedy.
After a summer teaching himself the After Effects video editing software from YouTube tutorials he started making short comic films, achieving virality on the now-defunct Vine platform. Among his hits were an alternative theme song for TV show Succession, a Will Smith-style rap summarising the film Arrival and – one of his favourite creations – an imagining of a heartsick Lana Del Rey pining for animated mouse Stuart Little.
He's now combined these different strands of his career into his live show, Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going to Do One (1) Backflip, which has already earned him a best-newcomer nomination at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It features videos, songs, low-pressure audience interaction and even mock phone calls from Barack Obama.
Adejuyigbe says he sought to create a show more multifaceted than traditional club comedy. 'To me, stand-up always feels like a play, where it's not very interactive and it's just 'here are my jokes',' he says.
'I think it's more exciting when it's built on the element of surprise and you feel like you're in this environment where anything can happen. It's very fun to play with different elements of comedy and have this theatrical kind of adventure.'
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