So I spent my whole day yesterday watching Kenny Blaq (Otolorin Kehinde Peter) perform, well, YouTube videos. He kept talking and as I laughed, I couldn’t help but notice a few things:

Kenny Blaq Can Sing:

Duh! Anyone who knows Kenny Blaq knows his comedy style is “musical-comedy” (Don’t know if a genre exists like that) but you get what I mean. Kenny sings well! (Yeah I watched him on YouTube for over 4 hours, so we are now friends. I can call him Ken, Kenny, K) Does great Ibo and Yoruba impersonations but can still pull off the Naija and international sound and wield it into a joke. Kenny is awesome.

Naturally I am guessing he would have been advised to try out Project Fame or The Voice (I don’t know if he did) but I am very glad he did not and if he did I am glad he did not win because he probably will never have found out his talent in musical comedy. I love how he uses his musical talent. It made me realize that there are diverse ways to use your talent. The more unique your application of talent, the better. A talent can point you in many directions, pick the most unique one. Don’t be boring. Don’t conform.

Kenny Blaq Always Tells Stories:

Kenny Blaq ties his musical comedy with stories. It is so lovely. As I watched him, I couldn’t help but value storytelling even more especially when they are relate-able or founded on a common truth. Storytelling has been a very consistent strategy across industries. People are more likely to listen and feel an emotional connection when you tell a story.

He Always Has a Surprise Element:

It is awesome how you think you know where Kenny Blaq is going with his joke and from no-where he infuses something. He is so spontaneous and makes use of his environment. Even when he repeats a joke based on popular requests, he infuses a surprise element.

He Studies His Client and Audience:

Kenny comes into place, studies the environment, the client and the audience. He pays attention to the environment and cracks jokes that appeal to them. He respects and understands the power his audience wields. He uses the audience as props. He picks elements within the environment and make them materials for his jokes. I listened to his jokes in church, London, Lagos etc. and they were different and tailored for the different audiences but his style was consistent.

I could go on and on about different elements I love about Kenny Blaq and why I think he has grown in the industry so quickly but it would not be enough to express how much I learned from him and his brand yesterday by just watching 1 million Youtube videos (okay I am exaggerating). He is great and you can learn from him too. Even your business may learn a few tips.

Disclaimer: It’s possible you may not love him or his sense of humor but he has inspired me to be dynamic in my thinking, pay attention to my target market and find ways to appeal to them. He also thought me to never be afraid to ask. In the middle of a performance he can say: “You can spray” and people actually sprayed!!!. He is often thankful and acknowledges the people that have helped him grow along the way.

Enjoy one of the clips I watched yesterday: