His real name is Debo Adebayo but he is more popularly known as Mr. Macaroni. He is a fantastic actor, and more recently has risen to become of the most celebrated comedians in the country today. In just a little over a year, this hugely talented thespian has set on fire not just the comedy industry but the entire Nigerian social media space with his hilarious and highly entertaining comedy skits. His impeccable interpretation of his sugar daddy role in his videos has earned him millions of followers from all over the world with his videos hitting over a million views in just two days each time he drops them. And although, things didn’t quite pick up for him as quickly as he would have loved to a couple of years back, but today, Mr. Macaroni has become a household name. The astronomical growth of the brand has exceeded the expectations of it’s creator, Debo Adebayo.
Today, whenever people want to let off steam and laugh away their frustrations, they turn to the extremely hilarious videos of Mr. Macaroni and they are never disappointed.
In this interview with City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290). Mr. Macaroni took us through his somewhat uneasy road to stardom. He shared with us how he got the Ooni of Ife to appear in his skit and how the effort impacted positively on his career.
Enjoy excerpts of the first part of the interview.
I understand you’ve only been into comedy skits for a little over a year, how have you been able to achieve so much success within such a short time?
If I can remember clearly, I think all of these started between August and September last year, that was when I started to create contents intentionally for online media. But I’ve been in the movie space for as far back as 2012. I’ve been doing movies, both Yoruba and English. I’ve doing series, soap operas, Face to face, Papa Ajasco, Super Story and all of that. And at that time, I was still juggling with school and my University experience wasn’t the most pleasant. So, when I eventually finished from school and I had a lot on my hands, I just noticed that what I wanted for myself, the sort of attention I wanted for my craft, I wasn’t getting it. I kept going for different auditions but I just noticed that they were not really looking for talents, and I just said to myself, why not start something of your own. At first, I’d always said to myself that I wasn’t going to do this skit of a thing, coupled with all the social media drama and stuff. I’m a thespian, I studied Theatre Arts. I was trained personally by one of the finest thespians we have, that’s Professor Ahmed Yerima. He was former Director General of the National Theatre. So, he trained me, along with other amazing lecturers at the Redeemers University where I graduated from. I remember that when I first resumed at Redeemers, I met Professor Kola Oyewo and the likes of John Iwoh, Damilola Babarinde, a lot of them. Before then, I’d also done a lot of stage dramas and went to different film schools just because I wanted some form of connection. For instance, I felt if I went to PEFTI, they would call me for roles, but things didn’t go as I expected. When the whole skit thing started and a lot of people started doing comedy skit, I was saying to myself, I couldn’t do this. It looked to me like slapstick comedy. I felt I would fare better doing standard movies and soap operas. All that period, I was not happy with myself. I was feeling utterly useless. And I was like what’s going on? I’m not getting roles, I can’t produce movies, so that was when I started producing those videos around August 13 last year. I was just playing around with ideas. The truth is, I never used to see myself as a comic actor. Though I did some comedy plays back in school but I used to prefer serious roles. I like roles that depict what society is going through, roles that can stretch me as an actor. So, I was just looking at trying different things until one day I stumbled on this tricky daddy concept. And I thought why not do something on these randy old men that love going after young girls. I put the first video out there and people loved it. I saw the love people have for that character and I intentionally began to create stories around that character.
So, you were not even thinking seriously about comedy, the idea just came to you?
No, I wasn’t thinking seriously about comedy at all. People that know me know that I’m a very serious actor. I love to take on serious roles. Not that I can’t do comic roles, but in my mind I just felt that comedy is not serious. I like to take on serious roles that would stretch me and show my depth as an actor. It was when I started that I realized that these comic roles that one portrays are even more serious than the ones we think are serious roles. That’s why in my videos, I still try to use those comic moments to teach lessons and pass serious messages.
Can you tell us the difference between Debo Adebayo and Mr. Macaroni? Many believe that, by nature, you must naturally be a player yourself, someone who likes women and is probably a big playboy when it comes to dating women. How close is that character, Mr. Macaroni, to your person?
I think that in terms of playfulness, I can say the character and the actor are close. But in terms of the attitude of the character, the philandering, I think the character is far from the actor. For me, as Debo the actor, I’ve been single for more than ten years. And in my being single, I’ve not been irresponsible. Yeah, I have female friends and we get along very well, but the irresponsibility of that tricky daddy character is far from Debo the actor. You won’t find me chasing after different girls or having multiple girlfriends. I created that character to teach morals. Yes, people will laugh and everything but the idea is to teach people lessons. That’s why that character never gets his way, something will always happen. Even when he sends money and all, he never gets to have what he’s looking for. I intentionally created the character to teach. I don’t think the character and actor are close in that regard.
You just said now that you’ve been single for about ten years, but now that Debo is popular and loved by many, and is in fact one of the hottest bachelors in showbiz as we speak, how much pressure would you say you’re getting from the ladies right now?
Yeah, quite a lot of pressure. I’ve always found myself in that space and I think by God’s grace I’m handling it well. It’s a personal decision to remain single for now, I don’t know what the future holds. It’s not that I don’t meet beautiful women, in fact, I’ve met someone that I really do admire but intentionally, I’m not letting anything happen because right now, I don’t want that. It’s been a personal decision for a while now and I’m just sticking to that.
So, for the records, you’re saying Debo Adebayo is unattached, single…
(Cuts in) Yeah, I’m single and I’m not searching.
Lets talk about the skit you did with the Ooni, that one simply wowed everyone. Not many entertainers have had that sort of privilege because you more or less gave the Ooni a script and turned him into an actor. How did the idea come about and how easy or difficult was it getting the Ooni to be part of that project?
It was an overwhelming experience. The Ooni’s emissaries arranged for me to get an invitation to the palace and we went. As a person, the Ooni has always been someone I admired. He’s youthful, he’s vibrant, he’s passionate about the youth and that’s a beautiful thing to see. He’s also a very accommodating person. Before that time, I’d been to his palace once. But of course, then, I wasn’t the Mr. Macaroni that everybody knows today. We were on a movie project then called Lugard. I was a cast in the movie. We filmed in Osun state and Yinka Salawu said lets go and greet the Ooni, that we might see him because he has access to the palace. It was a gamble. Luckily for us, we met him. He engaged us, asked about the movie industry and how it’s going. He asked for my name and I said Mr. Macaroni and he said, ‘ah, Mr. Macaroni, ma worry, won ni pe ma ko e je’, meaning, ‘don’t worry, people will soon start celebrating you.’ He didn’t even remember but when I reminded him he said, yeah, and started talking about that day and what transpired. He remembered everything clearly. I was totally overwhelmed because he showed me that he’s been following me. He told about the particular videos that he really loved. He convinced me beyond doubts that he knows my craft. He was even speaking the way I speak in those videos, so it was totally overwhelming for me. I didn’t go there to shoot a video, I didn’t plan to do a skit or anything like that but I took my crew along. That’s what I do anytime I’m going to some places that I consider could hold prospects of a possible shoot. So, I said to my people, ‘guys, let’s go, anything can happen.’ So, when we had spoken and saw that he also loved my craft, one way or the other, I just chipped it in. Though I was fidgeting, kabiyesi knew I wanted to say something but didn’t have the liver to say it. So, kabiyesi now said, what is it, say what you want to say. I now said to him that, ‘kabiyesi, I’m just wondering if you could do something for us that can pass a message to the people. And he agreed. If you noticed, that particular video was more of a didactic. Although I like that most of my videos are always out to teach something, but that particular video, the way it was structured, it was strictly to pass a message because when I got to the palace and I prostrated, he was like, so you can prostrate, abi? That in my videos I always say, ‘aye on kunle mo,’ that so why am I prostrating then? And everyone was laughing. And when I say that in my videos, it’s not to ridicule culture, it’s to ridicule the character, that he has thrown away his status as an elder in the society and he’s even going as far as telling the young ladies, ‘aye o kunle mo, ma kunle funmi,’ because of what he’s looking for. But regardless, looking at it from the angle Kabiyesi was explaining to me, he said people might not see it like that. He said I have a large following, a large influence on the youth, when I say ‘aye o kunle mo’, it kind of says that culture is now outdated. And I’m a Yoruba myself and I don’t want to be the one to pass across that kind of message. I don’t want to be the one saying people should do away with that that part of our culture. So, it was there that the concept of that video came and if you noticed, from then on, I stopped saying in my videos that, ‘aye o kunle mo.’
So, you’re saying that you have stopped saying, ‘aye o kunle mo,’ in your videos?
Yes, if you noticed, from that video to now, I have never said it again. I dropped that line completely.
And how has that particular video with Ooni boosted your career?
Oh, no, it was everywhere. The video was everywhere. All of the top blogs wrote about it. The newspapers also did the same, it was everywhere. In all honestly, it contributed immensely to my career. A lot of people, a lot of brands, now saw that this person is worthy to be associated with by God’s grace, I mean, we are talking about the Ooni here and we all know he’s no small king. For him to have appeared in the video, it meant a lot for me and for my brand as well and that was evident in the way people received it. It was awesome. It was overwhelming.
