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| MR. FRACIS AGODA a.k.a " i go dye" |
His name Francis Agoda, but people call him “I go die”. Attended Baptist Primary School in Okpara, waterside, Delta State. When his mom found out that he could not speak Pidgin English, she insisted he should start primary school afresh which he did all over. From there, he moved to the College of Commerce, Warri. As the best technical student, who constructed a Hover that worked with battery, but since he was not even born with wooden or plastic spoon, there was no money to further his education.
At a tender age, his parent thought he would be one of the
greatest engineers because anything he sees, he could construct. He also
constructed Agoda satellite that received many television stations. So
Agoda hoped that money would come so
that he could further his education.
How he came into comedy was far back in warri, everybody
that lives in Warri is blessed with his or her mouth. And they have different
ways of relating their experiences. As a Wafferian, sometimes the way they
speak was comical to everyone that listened to them. Because comedy itself
originated from warri and when a warri man or woman talks, you will know that
this person comes from warri. Also their Pidgin English is quite different from
any other in Nigeria. Our day-to-day life is also comedy, for instance, if you
go to any Warri market and you price things, you will get the reply in comedy
and you will be wondering why she is not polite. So when they travel outside
warri like Lagos, Abuja or Kaduna, they try to relate what has been happening
in warri and people will laugh. It all started when he was in the village with
his grandmother. When Agoda was 16 years old, he realized that his grandmother
was not his real mother, so he felt very sad.
So the first time he was in Warri, he caould not speak the
normal Pidgin English that the Warri man speaks, he only spoke Urhobo that made
him a laughing stock. Funnily enough, his mother had a shop in their compound
and he was put in charge of the shop to sell provisions. So what do you expect
from a salesman who don't know how to speak English? Comedy of course. Because
a lot of people came to the shop and he could not speak simple “wetin you wan
buy?” he was like a comedian to them. So the story spread around warri that
there is one big boy who cannot speak simple pidgin, a real Urhobo boy.However,
when he was in the College of Commerce, there was a drama club and a friend of
his told him “Agoda, let us stroll into the club and see what they are doing
there.” he went there and saw a guy who came out cracking jokes and he said “okay,
let me just tell them one or two jokes” so he started telling them about one
boy who came from the village and could not speak Pidgin English, his mother
put him in a shop, they never knew he was talking about himself and they were
laughing seriously. That was how he developed the interest in comedy.
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| "i go die and family" |
The name “I go die “was gotten from his surname “AGODA”, from a royal family in Abraka. When he was in secondary school, most of his teachers, instead of pronouncing the name A-GO-DA, rather chose to call him “I-go-die”. So when he started presenting a programme on Delta State Television, he said the only way of projecting himself is to adopt the name people knew him with, that is “I-go-die”. But there is an impression he corrected here, the “I go die” is not die, as one killing himself or saying why the boy wants to die. It is “I-go-dye”. When there is no life, I have to dye to change one thing. So it is spelt “DYE” and not “DIE” as people are wont to calling me.
His first show started in warri. When he started, he said he never believed people would pay money to watch him. And they struggled for the microphone during any event to and entertain people and at the end of the day he would use the power of the mike and say “Una no go spread this man wey de make una laugh”. But a friend of his who was organizing a birthday party said to him, “I go die, I like make –u- add some fun to this event. So he asked him how much was was his fee? “I go die” said they should pay him N100. So his first show fetched him N100. And that N100 was like millions to him because he needed the money more than any other thing. And when he got that N100, you can't believe it, he photocopied it for record purpose.
His Biggest show then was “A night of a thousand laughs”. He
tried more than three times to get Opa Williams to feature him on “A night of a
thousand laugh, but it was after the fourth attempt that he eventually gave him
a chance. It was during the Nigeria Movies Award night that Opa spotted him on
stage and said: “Men you are damned good and you will performed at the next
Night of a thousand laugh”. He had since become a regular feature. So he said
the biggest show that exposed him was the Nigeria Movies Award night. If he didn't
have the opportunity to perform at the award night, he might probably not be
known today.
“Agoda” wanted to be an Engineer. He noted that one of these
days, he will go to Japan to develop his engineering talent, like charger
(showing it to Sunday Sun reporter). Because it is a talent God had deposited
in him.
“I go die” had made so much firm around the world with his
own style of making comedy, some of his salad-chicken moment includes his
“Europe tour“ he spent up to two months
in Europe doing shows. That was put together by Isaac Izera Golden
Entertainment. It was an opportunity to let the Europeans understand Nigerians
better because a lot of them believe Nigerians are “419”.Isaac Entertainment
believes that one of the ways to clean Nigeria is through comedy. He traveled
to France, Holland, Germany, Spain and Belgium. The tour also afforded him the
opportunity to shoot a film entitled “Last crime”. It will be out soon. It was
also in Europe that that he realized his popularity, through “A Night of
thousand laugh CDs.
He is not married, but into a very serious relationship. He
said “My girl friend is my microphone, and my wife is the crowd that I
entertain”
Comedy had really don a lot in his life, he said he no longer queue up in the banks or embassies for money or visa. Whenever he is in a bank or an embassy, he is being called “I go die, leave the queue, come and cash your cheque or process your papers. Agoda had travel to sevral countries because of comedy. Infact, if not for comedy his story will not be on this page.
Source: naijagist
