When Instagram comedy began to make waves a few years ago, I wasn't a huge fan as my belief was, if it isn't standup comedy then it is a total joke or something close to counterfeit.

Well, just like a lot of critics, at some point you have to soften your pedals, set aside personal beliefs and observe. That was how yours truly fell in love with Instagram comedy.

Interviewing one of the most popular Instagram comedians, Taaooma, was part of my initiation as a new found and true believer of the annex of standup comedy.

The beautiful comedian visited our studio on Monday, February 17, 2020, where we got to chat about her blossoming career. The first thing I noticed was that she was shy (Far from the Iya Taaoo we all laugh to every day on social media). 

Personally, all I wanted to do was meet the talented comedian and find out how she became one of the most talked-about Instagram personalities in the country in less than two years.

"I never thought of making skits, it was never part of my plans until I met my boyfriend, Abula who is a music video director in Nigeria," she said.

"So, I met and asked him to teach me how to make birthday videos, join pictures together and as a result, I started learning to edit and I started making skits to be able to learn to edit.

"Because I cannot just learn how to edit without clips, that was how I started making skits."

For everyone who has come across Taaooma's skits on social media, her distinct and creative prowess can't go unnoticed.

It was only normal for me to ask how she comes up with those insanely amazing ideas.

"I have my storybook, that's what I call it. I just write stories, any ideas that come to my head and when it's time for me to shoot, I just go through my stories and see which one I'm feeling at that moment," the comedian said.

"Because writing the stories down doesn't mean you can feel it at that moment. So the ones that I feel are important are the ones I just shoot when I want to shoot.

"Since my storyline is always about African parents...and their acting and my mum also gives me a lot of stories sometimes."

Taaooma gets a lot of slaps from her mother in all her skits which is one of the highpoints in her now-famous videos.

The comedian says the reason she includes the slap scenes is because a lot of her fans anticipate those scenes.

"I exaggerated the slaps for the sake of humour. Not like mum slaps every time like that although she nags and does all those things, I just added the slap as a signature to make the story funnier," she said.

"I noticed that people like the slap more and when I don't even add the slaps to the skits, people will be like 'why didn't taaoo get slapped, so I decided to add them to all my skits as a signature.

"There are so many things that Taaoo would do that doesn't warrant a slap but I have to add it to all of them. But that was not the way I was raised, not even close to it."

Taaooma says she has received plenty of plaudits from people since she started making these skits.

According to her, putting a figure to the number of people she meets daily who have become friends, is an understatement.

Her Instagram following, interactions and engagements have massively increased on her page. I asked her when she realised that her skits were becoming very powerful and popular.

"I think it was when I uploaded the skit about when your mum drives you to school and everything started changing," she said.

"And I never thought it was going to be this big or it was time just yet. I didn't know the time had come for me to become Taaooma."

Taaooma says she has a cordial relationship with other Instagram comedians but her concept makes her stand out.

She also gives credit to another known comedian Maraji whose consistency played a huge role in her not quitting at the time when things weren't blowing up for her.

Several Instagram comedians have tried their hands on stand-up comedy a few times.

For some, it was an easy pie while for others, let's just say no show promoter will be making that mistake again.

Taaooma says she will not be trying her hands on it anytime soon because she is not a fan of standing in front of a lot of people.

For her future plans in comedy, Taaooma says she is planning to go into movie making.

"I don't know what the future holds, although I want to go into making my movies with my own company, The Grenade Company which is an entertainment company on its own," she said.

"Probably I'll stay with making skits but would add other things later or it depends on what God says."

Taaooma's decision to venture into the very popular Nollywood industry led to my next question: which was what her reaction would be if she gets a call to star in a movie.

"I would jump at it but it depends on what I'm supposed to do, the character, the kind of movie and not trying to say I cannot do any movie but I feel like I want to do more English movies," she said.

"Because one of the main reasons I cover my hair mostly is because I'm a Muslim. So, some people might say because she covers her hair, it's a movie set and they might want me to wear a wig and I might not be able to, so that is why I say it depends on what character."

It gets interesting when I asked her if she will ever remove her scarf for a movie role; "

"I actually started covering my hair like two years ago, that's like a born again Christian, born again Muslim. I find joy covering my hair," she said.

Then I pried further by asking her what happens if she gets a cheque of N50m to remove her scarf.

"I won't take my scarf off. It's like a path that I have chosen to follow and I don't want to divert," she said.

"And ever since I started wearing my scarf, people don't even notice in my skit. They don't notice if my hair is covered or not, they just want to see what I'm doing and laugh. They don't really notice it so it doesn't affect anything that I'm doing."

To round up our very interesting conversation, Taaooma had some advice for people who would love to be successful in social media comedy.

According to her, it doesn't require tutoring. Rather, it is something you must desire first. 

She went on to say there might be times when giving up will be the only option but it shouldn't be.

Finally, she said praying is also a major key to becoming successful at anything anyone sets their hearts to do.