About AY
Compere, Comedian, Presenter, Promoter, Producer, Actor, Director, Writer, PR consultant and Event Manager.
About AY
Ayodeji Richard Gboyega Makun, AY is a multi-talented, multi-award winning Standup comedian, and one of the most successful comic acts Nigeria has produced. He comes across easily, as Nigeria’s most creative comedian as he has proven himself as an established authority as a Compere, Standup Comedian, Radio and TV Presenter, Promoter, Producer,
Actor, Director, Writer, PR consultant and Event Manager. Ayo Richard Makun, AY hails from Ifon in Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State. He was born in warri, of the former mid-western state, which later became Bendel State and is currently known as Delta state. He was born as the first male child of the seven children to late Mr and Mrs Samson Olorunyomi Makun.
Growing up AY always exhibited traits of leadership and distinguished creativity from his days at Olodi Primary School, College of Commerce and NNPC junior staff club where he worked as a barman for a few years before gaining admission into Delta State university in 1994 to study Music.
Entertainment
- After spending almost four fruitless years in Music department, He switched to the Theatre Arts department of the same university where he holds an enviable record of being the first student to direct a convocation production in the history of the department, before graduating in 2004.
- After being crowned as Mr Corporate of Delta State University in 1996, Ay started Corporate World Entertainment in 1998 and automatically dominated the entertainment Space as the organiser of the prestigious Delsu most beautiful girl on campus beauty pageant and Delsu Achievers Merit awards (DAMA) which brought some the biggest names in the entertainment industry to Delta State University Abraka.
- After his graduation from Delsu in 2003, he was invited to Lagos by Alibaba who was completely impressed by his organizational skills and trustworthy nature.
- Upon arrival in Lagos, he served as Alibaba’s Personal Assistant for 2 years and within that time his talent for making people laugh was discovered and encouraged by Alibaba which led to his giving a spot on the stage of the prestigious Nite of 1000 laughs where he stole the show as one of the fastest rising comedians. He quickly gained fame through impersonating Rev. Chris Okotie in his comedy routine, and by 2006, he was named the Best Up-Coming Comedian in Nigeria.
AY Show/AY Live
In 2006 he started The AY Show, arguably the best Comedy variety Show on Nigeria TV, He started his flagship concert Ay Live in 2007 and since then AY Live has held an enviable record-breaking title on the attendance to its annual concerts in Nigeria and London. In 2008, he held Lagos spell bound when the second edition of AY Live, Lagos Invasion drew a record crowd forcing him to do two shows instead of one, as planned. Two years later, similar feat was re-enacted in Nigeria’s Federal Capital City, when AY Live, Abuja Invasion stood Abuja still, and becoming Abuja’s most attended entertainment events, ever.
Today, Corporate World Entertainment powers AY Live (the always-sold-out Comedy and Music concerts); The AY Show (the award-winning TV show), AY’s Crib and the newest spinoffs of the AY brand are Call to Bar and the Next NaijaComedy Star which both commenced in 2020.
Movies
AY’s first self-produced movie, 30 Days in Atlanta which was directed by Robert Peters and is currently the only Nollywood film listed in the Guinness Book of World Records with box office gross of 1 million dollars. Since then, he has produced other box office successes including A Trip to Jamaica, 10 Days In Sun City and Merry Men, The Real Yoruba Demons, Merry Men 2 and most recently Almajiri and the record breaking Christmas in Miami.
During his movie career AY has attained feats such as being:
- Highest Grossing Box Office Actor - Leading roles.
- Highest Grossing Independent Producer.
- Highest Grossing Male Producer/EP.
- Only Producer/EP to consistently gross over N150m in 5 consecutive films over 5 years (2014 to 2019)
- Longest running Box Office record 30 Days in Atlanta for films in the cinema.
- Creator of valuable Film IPs- Akpos and Merry Men Franchise.
- Holder of Highest Grossing box office film for July (10 Days in Sun City) and September releases (A Trip to Jamaica) for a Nollywood film.
Awards
Awards received by AY include:
- Comedian of the year: Diamond Awards for Comedy
- Comedian of the year: Teens Favorite
- Comedian of the year: MBG Abuja Merit Awards
- Comedian of the year: National Daily Awards
- Comedian of the year: Arsenal Award for Excellence
- Comedian of the year: Mode Men of the year Awards
- Comedian of the year: Nigerian Entertainment Awards
- Most creative Entrepreneur of the year, (comedy category): Creative Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (CEAN)
- Best Event A.Y Live: NELAS Awards 2018, United Kingdom
- And most recently he was recognised in the United States Congress by Congress Woman Federica S. Wilson.
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