My relationship with Mr. Macaroni — Mummy Wa

Kemi Ikuseedun is one of the popular content creators on social media.

The busty talented skit maker, popularly known as Mummy Wa for playing the role of the wife of Mr. Macaroni (Debo Adedayo) in his skits is a chartered accountant but her interest in the entertainment industry won’t allow her to practice.

Also known as Kemz Mama, Ikuseedun, who grew up in Orile Iganmu, had her secondary education at Queens College, Yaba, Lagos state.

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She bagged a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the Bells University, Ogun State and a Master’s degree in Management from the University of Lagos, UNILAG.

Kemi is also a qualified member of the institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN).

Her acting started in front of her mirror, mimicking major characters like Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Genevieve Nnaji and others.

“I’ve always loved the idea of acting. I will look into the mirror and try to mimic and act out different characters. I will pretend that I am Omotola or pretend that I am Genevieve. Sometimes I just sit alone and act out whatever I have watched, especially scenes that I really liked in movies. I also acted out something I saw in real life that I really liked. I just act it out myself,” she recalled.

She was an active member of the drama club at her secondary school and university. Despite not enjoying the full support of her parents to pursue a career in acting, she decided to join the Royal Arts Academy school after the completion of her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in order to sharpen her skills.

Determined to become a known face in the screen industry, she started attending auditions, hoping to be featured in movies, but the breakthrough didn’t come as she had anticipated. She was not selected by producers.

Disappointed but not discouraged, the 25-year-old comedienne decided to follow the trend by making skits, hoping to get the attention of producers in the industry. However, this was still not enough to get her noticed but it launched her into the comedy skit industry, where she is now one of the famous names.

“I was going for auditions but I was not getting the feedback I wanted. So, I started doing monologues, hoping to get the attention of producers. I had to go with the trend that everybody was doing skits. I just said since directors and producers are not watching my monologues, let me just try something that will make people laugh,” she said.

That was the start of her happy journey to fame and fortunes.

Today, Kemz Mama has featured in some TV series like Conundrum, Time and Chance, Hustle and many others. She made her major debut as Joyce in the Soap Opera, Tinsel.

However, her major breakthrough in the comedy industry came when she started acting as Mrs. Macaroni or Mummy Wa in Mr. Macaroni’s skits. Unknown to many, Kemz Mama had played other roles, including one of the side chicks, popularly known as ‘freaky freaky’ in previous episodes.

“I acted as one of the freaky freaky girls in the skits. He saw me on a particular day while I was doing my own shooting as Kemz Mama and he asked me to be part of his next shoot. When I got there, he said I was going to play his wife, using Kemz Mama’s outfit. I was shocked because I was expecting another freaky freaky role,” she recalled.

She also spoke on how the character ‘Mummy wa’ was introduced.

“Daddy Wa (Mr Macaroni) created it. He called me ‘Mummy wa’ during the shooting and I responded by saying ‘Daddy Wa.’ That was how it started,” she said.

On her relationship with Mr. Macaroni, who was vocal during the #ENDSARS protest in 2020, she said: “Mr Macaroni is my boss, he is my elder brother, he is my friend. He is someone that has pushed me, encouraged me, motivated me to where I am today. I am grateful to him. God bless him and everything he wants to do. He is a wonderful person and a blessing to all of us in his team.”

One of the challenges of fame is that she can be easily picked out from the crowd, denying her the opportunity to do some of the things she would have done in the past, without being noticed.

She recalled an event where some fans started arguing after spotting her while buying suya.

“They were arguing that she is ‘Mummy wa, she is not ‘Mummy wa’”. I was putting on a cloth that I loved so much and I had uploaded a picture on my page before with that particular dress. That was the dress I wore that day to buy the suya and they were saying, “omo, she likes this cloth gan o. She has snapped with it before and she is still wearing it up and down.” It was really funny and embarrassing,” she said.

The actress who would turn 25 on September 29, said she always feels old whenever people call her ‘Mummy Wa’ but she has come to accept the role.

The young actress is definitely living her dream and will need to embrace the role which has become synonymous with her name.