May we with you?
My name is Gladys Ivie Adeleye I was born in Ewohimi of Edo state, Nigeria. Esan is my tribe and I did all my primary school education in my village. I started my secondary education at the Pilgrim Baptist High School, Ewohimi and then moved to boarding School in Agbor, Baptist Girlss High School. I left there after class 3 to Idia College Benin City where I did SSS 1-3.I attended University of Benin and studied Biology Education and a Masters degree in Educational Philosophy from the same University. I taught for 7 years in Nigeria one of the Schools was Olashore International School and then relocated to the UK in 2004.
Within 3 months of getting to the UK, I secured a teaching job and have been teaching for nearly 12 years now in the UK; giving me a total of 18 years teaching experience. I obtained my British QTS (Qualified Teachers Status) in 2007 from The Cambridge University. I am married to Pastor Olufemi Adeleye and we are blessed with 3 children.
I'll say as far back as I can remember, I have always loved comedy films. I used to love sitcoms like Some mothers do ave em, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the Parkers, etc. Eddy Murphy movies, Whoppi Goldberg films and when Nollywood was born, I mostly bought Nkem Owohs or Mr. Ibus movies and the like. Also, I knew that I was very good at imitating people in a funny way for instance in Secondary School, we did a few comedy dramas which I wrote e.g. the "night-soil man" and in Uniben my friends and I used to get together to gist and laugh until our ribs ached! When I got a job at the Olashore International School, my students started calling me "Oprah Winfrey because of the motivational talks I often gave them. They also laughed a lot at my jokes.
No not at all the kids are there to learn and I am there to teach but when I began teaching in the UK, my students started telling me that I was so funny and even ask if I was a comedian? If you know British children, they say it the way it is; if I wasn't funny, they would not say I was. Also, some of them would laugh so much, they would actually have tears in their eyes. Initially; I didn't pay any attention to these comments but as I moved from school to school and got told the same thing; I began to think, maybe I should pay attention to this talent. One day, I went into a School and a student said "you're even better than Lee Evans", I didn't even know who Lee Evans was. So, that day I bought a copy of his Biography. I watched a few of his clips and I felt "if a student says I'm better than this guy, then I have really got talent".
You are an MC also or tell us about that is it part of you Comedy act?
Not really I never set out to or thought of ever being an MC in went into it by accident the first real occasion I anchored as, you know, the "MC" was a friends wedding several years ago. The MC didn't turn up, so all our friends agreed that I was the best person to step in. At the end, everyone was asking if that was what I did for living. I then began to do MC at different parties in Northampton and I got very good feedback. One day at a friends wedding anniversary in London, I did a bit of stand up for like 15minutes and as I walked to my seat, a guy walked up to me and asked for my card, I gave him. A few weeks after, I got a call through this guy saying he had introduced me to the organiser of the Bendel Schools Reunion 2015. I got the job and did the MC/stand-up.
It was at that even that I met my very dear big sister Primrose, she promised to bring me to Dublin and she did. I and "Youngest Oldman", did the stand-up at that event and I got very wonderful feedback that day as well. So now, I can say that I am fully ready to pursue this talent with a lot more vigor than I have done these years. Its about time.
I write all my jokes by the way. I think that is what makes people like my jokes because they are really different from what they have heard before. Many people have told me that I am very natural. I guess that is because 99% of the jokes I crack come from personal experiences or what I have heard people talk about. I am a very imaginative person and a very good listener. So when people talk, I can literarily pick everything they are saying, then analyse it and look at from the funny angle. Trust me, I can see humour in every situation, even if its not funny, I chose to see it through a funny-binoculars. That has made life easy for me kind of. I have a tendency of laughing-it-off rather than let things worry me.
Do you have any hobbies and how do you relax? I have a number of hobbies that help me relax but really; I enjoy talking (I get paid to talk by the way); and then writing. By that I mean writing anything, be it story, poem, song, TV talk-show, drama script, debate, just anything. If you give me a piece of paper and a pen, on a specific topic, I will start writing and will not stop until I get to the end of the paper. I do it so effortlessly that I am convinced its a talent. That is why its easy for me to do comedy because I don't really have to plan ahead so much because once I start, it carries on flowing, if they don't take the microphone from me, I wouldn't stop.
As an upcoming comedian, who inspires you in the comedy industry internationally and locally (Nigeria)?
Locally I will proudly say the father of comedy in Nigeria Ali Baba, Bovi, Julius Agwu and Seyi law and Baasketmouth inspire me a great deal and I pray to one day meet them and possibly be on the same stage with them. Internationally I will say Whoopi Goldberg and Eddie Murphy
Where do you see yourself in 5yrs time?
In 5yrs time I see myself becoming one of the most popular and sort after Nigeria MC/Comedian in the UK because I can both entertain a typical British audience the same way I can a purely Nigerian audience and I also want to use my comedy to send a very serious message to parents on the importance of getting involved with their children's education because seeing children achieve their full potential is dear to my heart
Any message for your fans?
Thank you so much I appreciate your support, I promise to give you the best of me comedy wise anytime and any day
Thanks for talking to us MC Gladys
You are welcome
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