Upwardly mobile stand-up comedian, Nev Harrison has revealed
that he introduced ventriloquism art of comedy to the Nigerian scene in order
to immortalise his late younger brother, Ejiro who initially had the plans of
becoming a ventriloquist.
Nev delivers his comedy through the art of ventriloquism
with the aid of his sidekick ‘Kporkior the Puppet.’ Kporkior is a 38inch tall
professional ventriloquist puppet (a handmade wooden puppet and first of its
kind in Nigeria).
Nev’s comedy style is largely determined by the audience. If
it’s a performance in front of children, the puppet is made to appear
unintelligent while Nev acts as the wise one. However, when performing before
an adult audience, Nev plays the foolish one while the puppet plays the wise
and crafty one.
Ventriloquism is an art of comedy that is very popular
abroad, and Nev believes it was a risk worth taking when he introduced it to
Nigeria.
According to Nev, “my journey into ventriloquism was
triggered by the death of my younger brother Ejiro, who initially had plans of
becoming a ventriloquist. While Ejiro was getting ready to start a career in
ventriloquism, he never lived to see that dream come through; this was because
he lost his life at a teaching hospital in Lagos days after an early evening
armed robbery attack in October, 2012. It was in a bid to keep the
memory of my late brother alive that I learned the art over a one year period,
without the aid of a tutor or ventriloquism school.”
Nev has some comedy television dramas to his credit as
creator and writer. Among them are ‘Half A Dozen Plus’ featuring Chika Okpala
(Zebrudaya), and ‘Living Together,’ a production of Kisil Entertainment
Network.
Nev has also written for television stations like the
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Wazobia Television, and Royal Roots
communications network, owners of Royal Roots TV.
As a comedy actor, the graduate of Theatre Arts from the
University of Ibadan, Oyo State, plays a major role in a soon to be released
situational comedy titled ‘Living Together.’ Meanwhile, a notable none comedy
drama that features Nev Harrison is a drama by the NTA titled HILLS AND VALLEY
(where he played the role of a gangster known as Murphy).
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