WHEN he was just ten years old Funmbi Omotayo’s family moved from Hackney in London to Lagos in Nigeria.

Thrown into a new culture where he was the subject of both fascination and hilarity due to his accent, it was down to the young Funmbi to adjust.

But then some six years later, having got to grips with his new environment and new friend, it was back to Blighty for Funmbi and the whole process had to begin again.

This experience of being tennis balled between two countries and cultures is the basis for this up and coming gagman’s new show Legal Immigrant.
“It is the dual culture thing which made me feel a bit out of place,” says Funmbi. “Going into Nigeria with the British mentality you were thinking: ‘I am never Nigerian enough for Nigerians’, then when I came back it was whether I was British enough for British people.”

He goes on: “I was only ten and there was a desire to fit in. A lot of my classmates thought I was really cool because I had a different accent. It is like when you go to America and everyone is amazed with your British accent, it was just sensational.” 

Funmbi originally moved to Nigeria with his mother, three brothers and sister, and they were joined by his father a year later.

But even growing up in the UK for the first ten years of his life there was still a stigma attached.

“It was interesting when I was growing up in England, Africans were not cool so we used to pretend to be Jamaicans,” he says. 

“The moving around has given me a sense of the understanding of my origins. Being African was not cool because of all the things you see on the television.

“But then when you live in a foreign country it is very important to be proud of where you came from.”

After moving back to the UK when he was 16 years old, he said there was a period when he was “learning the ropes again” as he readjusted to life in London. It was after he moved back he began to discover his love of comedy and had an unexpected diversion when he worked as a porter at world-famous department store Harrods.

“Of course it was not the job of my dreams but it was a good place,” says Funmbi. “There is that initial: ‘Oh my god, I am working in Harrods,’ but you get used to it after a while. I was working in the distribution department, the hard labour section.”

While spending his mornings working at the ritzy Knightsbridge store, he would then go to The Poor School Drama College in King’s Cross in the evenings.

Despite never really settling in the school, it was here he had his start on the stage in the wine bar Corks in Bond Street back in 2004.

“I was about to get let go from the school so my sister arranged for me to have five minutes on stage,” he says. 

“I remember bits and piece, I can’t remember the entire routine, but I remember not wanting to go on stage and thinking I was never going to be able to do it. It is weird, I was so nervous. Give me five minutes now and it is barely enough time to say my name.”

But after the shaky start Funmbi persevered and now has enjoyed a bumper year having debuted his Legal Immigrant show at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and performed a slot on The John Bishop show which earned him a legion of new fans.

“It has been so hectic over the past few months,” he says. “Just work, work, work and then show, show, show.”

“I started out on the urban scene but when I did the John Bishop show things kind of shifted and then after Edinburgh it double escalated.

“Being born in Hackney, it is my dream to do two nights at the Empire and that is what I am working towards.”

Doors 7.30pm, tickets £11
Call 0845 293 8480