Before online skits, stand-up comedy specials, Nollywood comic characters and viral social media humour became part of Nigerian entertainment, Yoruba travelling theatre had already created a strong culture of laughter, satire and musical performance. In that world, comedy was not only about jokes. It was drama, song, movement, costume, exaggeration, moral instruction and sharp observation of society.
Among the unforgettable names from that era were Papalolo, Aderupoko and Jacob. Together, they became widely remembered as the faces of Jesters International, a Yoruba comedy trio whose work helped carry stage humour into television, records and popular memory. Their performances entertained families, filled broadcast time, circulated on vinyl and left behind a comic language that later Nigerian entertainers inherited in different forms.
The Men Behind the Names
Papalolo was Ayo Ogunsina, also written in some accounts as Ayo Ogunsina Williams or Ayo Ogunshina. Aderupoko was Kayode Olaiya. Jacob was Tajudeen Gbadamosi. These names are important because Nigerian comedy history is sometimes blurred by memory, repetition and informal retelling.
Papalolo should not be confused with Moses Olaiya Adejumo, the legendary Baba Sala. Baba Sala was a separate pioneer of Nigerian comedy and a towering figure in the Alawada tradition. His influence on Yoruba comedy and Nigerian popular entertainment is beyond dispute, but he was not Papalolo. Papalolo belonged to a different comic formation with Aderupoko and Jacob, although all of them came from the wider Yoruba theatre world that shaped many of Nigeria’s earliest screen comedians.
Baba Sala built his own powerful comic identity. Papalolo, Aderupoko and Jacob built theirs through a three-person chemistry that became the heart of Jesters International.
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From Yoruba Theatre to Jesters International
The story of the trio begins in the Yoruba travelling-theatre tradition. This was a world of touring actors, musical drama, live performance, improvisation and direct audience engagement. Performers learned how to hold attention without relying on modern editing, digital effects or studio comedy tracks. They had to create laughter through timing, voice, facial expression, song and believable character work.
Papalolo’s career was connected to older theatre masters and the performance culture of western Nigeria. He recalled the influence of figures such as Hubert Ogunde and Ajimajasan, popularly known as Baba No Regret. Aderupoko also traced the trio’s development to Omonitan’s theatre circle, where he met Jacob and Papalolo. From that environment, the three men eventually moved into their own comic identity.
Jesters International emerged as a distinct group around 1979 and 1980. The trio had already gained experience in earlier theatre structures before Jesters International became their recognised platform.
A Different Kind of Yoruba Comedy
The comedy of Papalolo, Aderupoko and Jacob was rooted in ordinary life. Their humour came from family misunderstandings, false pride, hunger, greed, drunkenness, public embarrassment, social pressure and the desire of small people to appear powerful. They understood the behaviour of the street, the market, the family compound and the public office. That familiarity made audiences laugh because the situations felt close to home.
Their performances were also deeply musical. They used songs, parody and rhythm as part of the joke. Aderupoko remembered that they adapted popular songs into comic versions. A familiar tune could suddenly become a satire, a warning, a quarrel or a ridiculous confession. This made their comedy easy to remember and easy for audiences to repeat.
Unlike comedy built around one dominant character, the trio worked through balance. Papalolo had his own expressive timing and comic face. Aderupoko brought flexible stagecraft, exaggeration and verbal humour. Jacob added physical presence, reaction and a memorable personality that audiences loved. Their strength was not only in individual talent but in the way they responded to one another.
Television, Records and Popular Memory
Jesters International became important because their comedy moved beyond the travelling stage. They performed live, appeared on television and recorded comic material. Papalolo recalled that their work appeared on stations such as NTA Ibadan, WNTV Ibadan, OYO Ibadan and OGTV. Through television, their humour reached homes and became part of family entertainment.
Their vinyl-era presence includes Papalolo, Aderupoko & Jacob in Awada Extravaganza, associated with Yinka Esho and carrying the catalogue number ESLP 100. The record remains part of the documentary trace of Yoruba comic performance in the analogue entertainment era.
Other remembered works and sketches connected with their tradition include comic pieces such as Jacob Is Ku and Soldier Kekere. These examples show how the trio used humour to make sense of social confusion. A false death report, a drunken misunderstanding or the imitation of military authority could become comedy, but beneath the laughter was a sharp understanding of Nigerian life.
Jacob’s Death and the Change in the Trio
Jacob’s death in 1987 marked a major turning point. Aderupoko later explained that the audience had become used to seeing the three performers together. Once Jacob died, the rhythm of the group changed.
Jacob was not a minor supporting figure. He was central to the group’s appeal. Jesters International was not simply a brand name. It was a living performance relationship between three men whose timing, reactions and personalities worked together. Removing one part of that balance changed the force of the group.
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Their Place in Nigerian Comedy History
Papalolo, Aderupoko and Jacob belong to the bridge generation of Nigerian comedy. They stood between the older Yoruba travelling-theatre tradition and the later worlds of television comedy, home video, stand-up shows and internet sketches. Their work helped prove that Yoruba comic theatre could travel across platforms. It could survive on stage, on television and in recorded form.
Their legacy also reminds us that Nigerian comedy did not begin in the digital age. Long before skit makers became celebrities, stage actors were already using humour to question society, entertain households and preserve cultural memory. These performers understood that laughter could carry truth. Through exaggeration, song and character, they exposed foolishness without sounding like lecturers.
Papalolo, Aderupoko and Jacob should therefore be remembered not only as old comedians but as important figures in the development of Nigerian popular entertainment. They helped shape a comic tradition that was local in language but national in influence. Their work came from Yoruba theatre, but its importance belongs to the broader history of Nigerian performance.
Author’s Note
The story of Papalolo, Aderupoko and Jacob is a reminder that Nigerian comedy was built by performers who mastered theatre before television and records carried their work into homes. Their humour came from ordinary life, music, satire and the power of shared performance. Remembering them correctly means separating Papalolo from Baba Sala, honouring Ayo Ogunsina, Kayode Olaiya and Tajudeen Gbadamosi by name, and recognising Jesters International as one of the groups that helped carry Yoruba comic theatre into Nigerian popular memory.
References
The Nation, “Hubert Ogunde Propped Me to Be a Comedian, 80-Year-Old Papilolo,” interview with Ayo Ogunsina Williams, 2018.
Punch Newspapers, “Despite Fame, I’ve No Money, Car, Papalolo,” interview with Ayo Ogunshina, 2017.
Punch Newspapers, “My Major Movie Earning Came After Over 40 Years of Acting, Aderupoko,” interview with Kayode Olaiya, 2017.
Dusty Groove, “Papalolo, Aderupoko & Jacob in Awada Extravaganza,” Yinka Esho LP, ESLP 100, 1975.
Nigerian Tribune, “Moses Adejumo: Father of the Modern Nigerian Comedy.”
Biographical Legacy and Research Foundation, “Adejumo, Moses Olaiya.”
