How did the name ‘Lepacious’ Bose come about especially as it contradicts you physically?
Lepacious Bose: The name Lepacious Bose started when I was in school, when people used to abuse me that ‘I am fatty,’ ‘Orobo;’ I would reply them by saying they are the ‘Orobo’ while I am the ‘lepa.’ It all started as a joke and eventually it stuck.
On your blog you said at a certain stage you had to deal with depression. What was that period like for you and how did you deal with it?
Bose: At that stage of my life I was trying to write a memo of a plus size person, if you have someone who is big, at a point in their lives they are bound to experience depression. I dealt with it by learning to love myself, like Beyonce said ‘the greatest love of all is the love for yourself.’ No one can love you as much as you love yourself. It took me a while to realise this and get to that point where I had to start loving myself. I had to do a lot of re-analysing, re-focusing and re-channeling my thought to my thinking. I did a lot of reading, studying, I watched a lot of programmes on how the mind works. That really helped me. If I had to wait for people to love me before I loved myself then I would never get loved. I had to show people that I loved the way I looked and then people loved me back. That way depression became a thing of the past for me.
You studied law, why did you decide to focus on mainstream comedy?
Bose: I studied law because my parents are both teachers and I grew up in a home where you had to do something that everybody liked to please them. I always wanted to be an actress, a stage person, own a restaurant or a hotel. I studied theatre arts before I went back to study law. So yes, I am a lawyer but had to do something that I was comfortable with. This is not to say I am not pleased with being a lawyer, I just needed to express who I was and had to focus on entertainment.
Do we see Lepacious Bose going back to practice law soon?
Bose: When you say going back to practice law as in going to court, I would say No! But then I do a lot of legal work in the background, I do consulting for people and still in one way or the other connected to the law profession. But going back to it full-time isn’t doable for me.
Have you always been on the large side or was it something that came with maturity?
Bose: It was something that came upon me like a witch’s curse. I have jogged, exercised and dieted but I didn’t lose weight. I registered in gyms but no result. Many gyms and dieticians have made money with me all in the name of trying to lose weight. That is why I say it must be witches that I offended some time back that have placed that curse on me. Please, I would want my fans to help plead with them to allow me reduce my size a bit (laughing).
Can you recall your first time on stage?
Bose: I have been getting on stage since I was in primary school. My first time on stage as a comedian was when I was in the University of Ibadan. I belonged to a group called ‘Laffomania Organization.’ It was a group that specialised in making sketches in form of cartoons to relate to issues concerning the campus. When the sketches were made they needed someone to anchor them, my brother then used to do it for them till he graduated. I was then asked to anchor them because they felt I could do it. I was skeptical about it because I didn’t know what I was going to say but they encouraged me and that was how I started. It was a hit and people congratulated me and since then I have known that I was meant to be an entertainer.
Your comedy style is mostly about you. Why did you choose that style?
Bose: I don’t have the guts to use others because I don’t have a backup godfather or mother who would stand for me if whoever I use for jokes gets offended by my jokes of them. But also in reality, the reason why I use myself is that people would always make jest of fat people. When I got into comedy most comedians were already making jest of fat people. It is one thing when someone who doesn’t know what you are going through uses it to insult you. If you are 45 years or 50 years old and you are still single and your cousin who is just 25 years old uses it to insult you, it would be more painful than your friend who is your age mate and still single insults you with it, you don’t feel spited because you know she is not insulting you. So, if someone who is not fat jokes about you who is we don’t receive it lightly as much as if it is coming from someone who is fat. It is kind of psychological because as soon as I got into comedy and started making jest of myself being fat, comedians stopped making jest of fat people because they know Lepacious Bose will still come and say it. As a fat person I understand the plight of a fat person and would know how to joke about it. I used myself to give succour to others who are fat.
After all you’ve said, do slim ladies intimidate you in any way?
Bose: They don’t intimidate me instead I see them as lucky people who don’t necessarily have to do much to remain slim. On a second thought, they are intimidated by me. I am the way I am because I was destined to be that way. No slim lady intimidates me.
What sets you apart from other comedians?
Bose: I don’t know. I see comedy just as you who wake up and go to the office to practice journalism. It is just that my job needs publicity to go with it. So, what sets me apart still narrows down to the fact that my comedy is about myself and I feel good kind of comedy. I make people with low self-esteem feel that there is nothing wrong with being fat. I use myself as an example to the society, so maybe that is what sets my kind of comedy apart.
Has comedy paid the bills so far?
Bose: To be honest, comedy has paid the bills. Just as I said earlier, I don’t have a godfather or mother who can easily invest huge amounts of money in my life that would make me drive a Range Rover and build houses in Lekki. Those who have such I am happy for them, me I don’t have that but so far comedy has fed me, paid my bills and given me a better life than I had expected.
You have had so many stage performances, what is the most memorable?
Bose: For me, all my performances have been memorable because the audiences are different and have different reactions. Whether you are performing for 50, 500 or 1000 people, the audience is always different, hence creating a different attitude and feeling when you leave the stage. I always have a memory attached to all audiences which is always overwhelming.
If all have been memorable, which has been the most embarrassing?
Bose: I had a very embarrassing one during ‘Laff Mattaz 2013’. We had had a very long show that started very late, almost every comedian had been called to perform and the people had heard every kind of comedy, then around 11:30 pm I was called. Most of my fans are family people, married women and men, all of these people had gone at that time I was called on stage. I got on stage and I felt the people were laughing back at me, in comedy it is called ‘flogging.’ The reaction from the audience didn’t come out as I wanted it to be. It was like after waiting for hours and anticipating going and doing your thing and go, you are leaving the people in a more boring state than you met them. I couldn’t get over this experience for a very long time; it even degenerated to stage fright for a while. But I overcame that and moved on.
What is the next big thing for you in the entertainment industry?
Bose: I will rather not talk about it right now, Nigeria is not like other countries where you say your ideas and they are not picked up by another. There are times I have said ideas casually and the next thing you know I was seeing it on television. So, I will rather remain mute before my idea gets kidnapped or abducted.
You also act, which do you prefer between acting and comedy?
Bose: I have always loved acting, I have done a couple of movies, and I have worked with Uche Jumbo, who by the way is an excellent person to work with. I recently acted in Omoni Oboli’s movie ‘Being Mrs Elliott,’ I enjoy acting more because am not under pressure to impress the audience instantly. In a movie, after I have acted you have to go and get the movie to watch without me being there unlike comedy where I get immediate reactions from audiences as I perform.
How do you handle fame?
Bose: Am I famous? If I was and I needed something, I would just go there and introduce myself, immediately I am attended too. I don’t think there is any famous person in Nigeria.
What do people not know about you that you wish they knew?
Bose: What I really wish they know is that I am more of myself, I am more of a home person who enjoys her own company more. People think because I am a comediaenne I always want to play around. What they don’t realise is that I am more serious minded than they presume. I love my space and privacy when I need it.
Is Lepacious Bose still single?
Bose: I get asked this question a lot. And my response to that is ‘do you have a brother who is still single that I can marry?’
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