As the social media age continues to grow, a number of Kenyan youth have seized the opportunities presented online to make a living and a name for themselves.
Content creation has become a leading source of income for talented youths in the country over recent years.
In this segment, Nairobileo.co.ke looks at one of the most entertaining comedians in the country at the moment, comedian Meshack Kiprop Biwott, popularly known as Arap Uria.
The 26-year-old comedian commands a huge following on social media thanks to his comic presentation of some of the most iconic commentaries in the history of football.
His videos appeal to lovers of the sport as well as the rest of the netizens for his comic outfits and props.
Read More
Arap Uria began recording videos about three years ago, and at the time, he only did it for fun. Little did he know that it would once become his main source of earning.
The comedian was born in Kamauwa in Moiben Constituency, Uasin Gishu County, and attended Mutei primary school.
He sat for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations from Tambach High School and proceeded to join Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology where he pursued a Bachelor of Education degree and graduated in 2019.
He majored in Mathematics and Geography.
Uria is his family name, and his character embodies his grandfather. The comedian initially did comic videos in his native Kalenjin and often acted as a drunken. This displeased his father who is a devout Christian.
His mother encouraged him to pursue his passion, despite the father bearing the opinion the character was all wrong.
However, after his videos became popular and he began to attract a huge audience, his father came on board.
For Arap Uria, growing his followers was the biggest challenge when he began making comic videos. He would share content but the traffic was low as he had very few subscribers at the beginning.
Relentless with his pursuit for success, he would subscribe to his channel whenever he got hold of someone else's phone. He would also sneak into his father's phone and share links to his WhatsApp groups and later delete it to cover his tracks.
He later decided to change tact. Arap Uria began mimicking prominent figures in the country and around the world, and his near-perfect imitation caught the attention of many.
His attention to detail, and the costume gave a comic sense to his performance, something that began to greatly improve his viewership.
Arap Uria would study and memorise speeches by famous people including Deputy President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga, and he would then record the videos and share them online. They all drew great responses.
He then got an idea to do football commentaries since a lot of people are soccer fans, and he began with a commentary from veteran commentator Martin Taylor, which got a lot of views.
He then proceeded to do commentaries by Peter Drury and this got him millions of views and grew his subscribers greatly.
As of today, Arap Uria has over 288,000 subscribers on YouTube and has accumulated over 15 million views.
He commands a huge following from outside the country with some of his fans being from Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Senegal among others.
One of his euphoric moments occurred when his video was tweeted by legendary British football commentator Jim Beglin. He commented that he loved the mugs.
Apart from mimicking football commentaries, he also does some videos on Facebook with his friend who goes by the stage name Gogo Smallz. He plays the role of his wife in the videos.
