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Comedian Ola Dada on location

Photo courtesy oladada.com

From accounting to comedy, Ola Dada on the rise in Canada

Published 2:01 PDT, Fri March 20, 2026

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Ola Dada is a rising star in the comedy scene here in Canada. He is originally from Nigeria and moved to Canada. His latest tour is called Coming to America.

OCT: You were born and raised for the first few years of your life in Nigeria. And then you

ended up moving with your family to Fort McMurray. Not only did you move to a colder place in Canada, but you moved in early November. Let’s talk about your first thoughts on going from tropical Nigeria to this.

OD: I finally understood the true definition of cold. There were a lot of new things I learned about snow. Did you know that snow can actually blind you? I bet you didn’t know that.

OCT: How long have you been in Vancouver?

OD: I went to University of Calgary in 2013, then I left Calgary to come to Vancouver in 2015. I have been in Vancouver about 10 years now.

OCT: We always like to ask people in your position like actors, musicians, comedians what it was that attracted them to their profession. Did you see somebody that made you think — I really want to do that?

OD: It never was really part of the plan for me. I went to school for accounting and while I was in business school, I found myself doing comedy on the side. I was working at a bank and doing standup comedy was not in the vicinity of my plans at all. I just really enjoyed doing it at times.

OCT: When we first met, you were already cracking us up. You obviously had a good talent early on for making people laugh, even though you were working at the bank.

OD: I had a good relationship with a lot of people. I found I was good at connecting with people, but for the most part, I guess I never really considered a career in standup comedy. I was just very sociable so for a lot of events, people would ask me to host. I didn’t think about asking for money.

OCT: We always must ask this question, what was it like for your first time being on stage?

OD: My first time doing standup was great, so I thought wow this is amazing. I thought I’m just going to come here and do this occasionally. However, the second time was a problem because the first time I went with all my friends. It had been a spur of the moment situation, and I just made fun of my friends, so it turned out beautifully. It wasn’t a big room either. There were only around 15 of us and it was set up for me to win. Unfortunately, for the second time, my friends were not going to be there with me, so I thought what am I supposed to do? I went onto the Internet and started googling how to be a comedian. To be honest, it was awful.

OCT: But you still must have said to yourself, I must do this because you certainly have done well. Some of your credentials are:

· You were a finalist in the 2019 Sirius XM Top Comic competition and

· You made it to the semi-finals in the 2022 Canada‘s Got Talent

OCT: Something pretentious was said about comedy and the comment was that “comedy is tragedy plus time”. Your comedy doesn’t seem tragic. Your comedy is similar to other great comedians in that everything is drawn from things that have happened. Often this type of comedy is very self-deprecating. Is that how you see your comedy?

OD: I don’t really like the word self-deprecating, but a lot of comics do – do that. I like to laugh at my own shortcomings for the most part, but not make it become who I am. It’s more like this is what I used to do, and this is who I am now. That’s where I like to be when it comes to my stand-up comedy. There is an allure to draw from sadness and depression, when it comes to comics, I think that can be a very dangerous path to stay on. I try to show the audience “this is where I’ve been and this is where I’m trying to go”.

OCT: Do you feel like you have evolved as a performer? Do you feel your talent has become better as you performed over time?

OD: Yes, at least the topic of things and how I’m tackling certain issues now has evolved. I have more foresight and more depth with the issues. This happens with a little bit of research, and I actually do more research before I go on stage to talk about things that I do.

OCT: You have been doing standup comedy for about a decade. Would you say the playing field has changed compared to what you could say 10 or 12 years ago that you don’t want to touch on now?

OD: Personally, I don’t think there shouldn’t be anything we can’t laugh about. I believe laughter is a powerful tool for healing. I would ask myself do I have a right to speak about this? I do have to be more attentive to what angle I take and understand who could potentially be hurt.

OCT: Congratulations Ola Dada. You have produced so much content in your performances, which is a real credit to you. Your first comedy special, Unlimited Data was a success, and you recently performed at Just for Laughs here in BC not to mention your current tour in Western Canada, Coming to America.

For the full video interview go to www.richmondsentinel.ca/videos or www.oladada.com