On the day we agreed to meet #GreatmomentsinPNMHistory was trending on Twitter and every social media influencer with a sizable audience including my interviewee, chimed in with images of every great Trinbagonian thing that was red. As I sat down for our meeting, I had an inclining that Kwame Weekes, who for many is now largely recognizable for his “behind the bar” comedy skits that rack up tens of thousands of views online, was much more than a comedian with a magic touch for punchlines.
A serious “church boy” while attending Presentation College, San Fernando where he currently teaches History and Social Studies, Weekes admits that he was neither the class clown nor the classmate you would run to for quick comic relief. The Catholic boy with the big heavy cross on his chest, as he recalls, was serious about becoming a preacher upon leaving school. As fate would have it, his formative years preaching at school assemblies, prepared him to face large audiences later on with his stand-up comedy acts, and gave him the confidence to speak confidently his new found Gospel.
Weekes admits that although quite flattering and impressive he pays scant attention to the social media numbers from his posts, even while they continue to grow. By being authentic to his craft and paying particular attention to the content he produces, he has caught the attention of soca music artistes and the business community alike. We sought to learn from his journey thus far, and came away with these major business and life lessons:
Know your craft inside and out/put in the work
Long before Weekes became the latest social media sensation, he was already known on the comedy circuit, and dedicated significant time to developing his comedy chops. Without formal training in drama or theatre arts, he honed his skills through involvement with Outlish Magazine, the satire news website the Late O’Clock News as an editor and writer, and Caricomedy a digital media comedy group which he co-founded with Denith McNicolls and Aaron Seaton. He also jumped in to spoken word poetry with the 2 cents movement which he admits provided tremendous growth and experience.
“I’ve been all over the place, in my teens I wanted to be a priest. I was a journalist at Newsday, worked in the basement of RIK book stores throwing boxes, at some point I was also a receptionist in a gym,” he said. “I eventually ended up doing spoken word poetry with 2 cents movement. Joining this group was very impactful on my life and I got experience with performance and writing for a while. It was the first time having people respond to my voice.”
Don’t be afraid to branch out on your own
While Weekes may appear to some to be an overnight success, virtually popping out of no where on our timelines and through re-posts and re-shares, he has certainly put in the work. Through the experience of putting on comedy shows with Caricomedy he learnt the business side of comedy and after being groomed on the ins and outs of the art form for the last seven years, as part of a group decided to branch out on his own.
“I have been in comedy for a little while but never had anything behind my own name, it was always another name so I decided to put some effort into developing my own material” he said.
Weekes still performs as a collective of comedians throwing comedy shows from time to time, but he has certainly realized the goal he created for himself through the risk he took by branching out on his own.
Set Goals
When asked, Weekes admits that he is still surprised by how well his content continues to perform on social media, referring to it almost nonchalantly as “just numbers.”
“I had a goal in mind when I decided to get behind this seriously (in September). I had a number, I wanted to reach 5,000 followers by December (2019) and somehow I reached 7,000. So people just liked me from the very fist video and that was just very weird,” he said.
Without spending a single penny on social media advertising for his posts, Weekes set out with the goal of releasing one video per week from September to December, confessing that it was more successful than he thought it would be.
“I usually plan my Instagram videos in advance however Twitter is just whatever I’m thinking at the moment. I remember going to bed with 7,000 followers on Instagram when I posted the video of the Preedy song (Yuh bad/No Stressing), and waking up with 11,000 followers,” he said.
Simple does it!
So exactly what tools does Kwame use to make those memorable and engaging videos? Nothing too fancy, just his Samsung S10 mobile phone. “I hold the phone outside my bedroom window, no selfie stick just my hand, and then I transfer the content to my computer and put the subtitles on it using Adobe plus pro.” he said.
Of course, experience in video editing helps… along with a willing girlfriend to vet his content before posting! “I will only post if she says its hilarious,” he chimed in, with a bit of hesitation about how the revelation may be perceived.
The simplicity theme also translates to the content he creates as his jokes are intentionally geared towards fitting into the one minute format. “Even a minute feels long to me. I always try to make my jokes no longer than a minute and make it as punchy as possible. I now have a sense of what people like and what would make it shareable.”
Know your brand/when you’ve found your unique thing
Defining his brand isn’t easy for Weekes and it’s understandable, he actually prefers other people to define his brand for him. As a teacher he admits that he has to be practical with the kind of comedy he can perform, as Trinidad and Tobago is a fairly conservative place and it’s easy to make people uncomfortable. “I curse in real life and sometimes on stage but never online.” he said.
“What I want to do is be as honest as possible in my craft and where my inspiration comes from. I want to be honest in a funny way. I’m not worried about offending anyone and I try my best when writing stuff not to do so. As long as I can defend what I’m saying. Online I definitely try to stay away from certain topics because its hard to control how people respond on the internet. If you catch me on stage I can talk about anything.”
And how does he feel about being labelled as the “burglar proof guy” and how did it come about?
“It became my brand but it wasn’t intentional, it became intentional afterwards because I realized it was a thing. But I didn’t really want to do that at the start. I don’t really study aesthetics naturally, like I care about the content, the story being told. Before I tested some of the material for stand up via Instagram stories and I used to do it from my bedroom window where I’m looking out. It was the natural place for me to go to film those stories and people would comment, “Dan why you by the window and I hope your head stick”, and that’s the only thing people would talk about. So I said I have to do this the next time, and then it became the thing!
And despite the pleas of this blogger for Weekes to hold onto the “burglar proof guy” for much much longer, he is determined to eventually branch away from it. “Nah man I must find a way to break out of that,” he said “I have an idea. But I like how people think there’s some deep meaning behind it,” he added with a chuckle. “People does send me some comments like they think it’s a serious message I’m trying to send, like I’m locked up. Somehow it suits- but it was pure coincidence. I learnt that after. I guess I can make this my thing for a while, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Plan ahead- Think what’s next…
Thinking that Weekes is about to rest on his laurels when it comes to successfully finding his niche in a saturated online market, then think again. Weekes has big goals ahead and is determined and focused on continuing the journey of creating entertaining and engaging content with impact.
“I personally enjoy performing live way more than online. Seeing likes is fun but actual laughter from the crowd is… hearing hundreds of people laughing there’s nothing like that. I want to do a live show and I’m actually thinking about a free show.”
“I want to start working on more stand up material and dedicate some time to live sets with 45 minutes to an hour of material. I want to focus more of my time on live performing. The online stuff (content) that could happen fairly quickly. I have one line stuff written everywhere on my computer and phone. Once I get an idea for a video that could take up to six hours, well more, like a day’s work. A stand up joke is different and way more complicated- I want an audience to be my sounding board.”
In addition to an increased focus on live performing, Weekes plans on acting, writing a movie script and creating an online TV show of his own, stating that he already has the premise for the show.
There’s no one formular for success
Rocking back into his seat, Weekes seemed to have some reservation about answering my final question: “What’s your advice for others?”
“I doesn’t know how to advise people. What I do wouldn’t work for everybody. How I approach it (comedy) is so different from my comedy friends,” he said (throughout the interview Weekes mentioned several comedy influences including Keevan L (Keevo) and Rachel Price).
“Spend time with yourself, go figure out who you are and what works for you and be consistent online with your funny stuff,” he added. I never personally wanted to put out content just for putting it out sake, which is what some people advise and it works for some. I always wanted to make sure that what I’m putting out is something I liked so I put a lot of thought into it. I would rather miss a week than put out sub-par content.”
“It’s been seven years since I’m at it and it’s still hard to predict what would hit and what wouldn’t, so put your best foot forward, be smart and think about what you’re doing. Ask yourself questions, question your self every single time, try to be as good as possible.”
He also advised anyone seeking instantaneous riches, to prepare for the possibility of being poor- a fact that he embraces, not letting it be a deterrent to his determination to succeed.
“As someone in the arts, if you want to dedicate yourself to it you have to accept the possibility of being poor. Show your love for your craft by saying ‘maybe this wouldn’t work.’ Whatever art you are in, you have to accept you would possibly be poor and be OK with that. Only a select few make it big, but you can still have things out in the world that you’re proud of.”
Natasha Brown
Great article, Natasha! Keep up this necessary work.
A pleasure to read…Well written article!! Great job …
Very well put together .this is what i am proud of a few perso s ppersuing their dreams and sharing their exprience .