All comedians talk about how many times they’ve died on stage,” says Emmanuel Sonubi. “But because it had never happened to me, I had this big fear that it would.” It was the late 2010s, and the London-born comedian was having a moment. He was gigging constantly at increasingly high-profile venues, and as a result the fear became bigger. “Dying on stage, on an open mic in some random pub, no one cares about. Doing it on Live at the Apollo is terrifying.” Then, in 2019, Sonubi did nearly die – actually die – going into heart failure during a gig in Dubai. “After you’ve experienced the worst, telling a bad joke isn’t that bad,” he says.
After six years and plenty of emotional processing, Sonubi has mined his brush with oblivion for seriocomic detail in his new standup show Life After Near Death. It was one of the big hits of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival – a roundly well-reviewed show that juggles punchlines and pathos to cement Sonubi’s growing reputation as one of the country’s most reliable up-and-coming stand-ups. Now Sonubi is touring it around the UK. Speaking today over video from his home in North London, the 44-year-old comic is in good form. We were supposed to have done this in person a week or two prior, but for a bout of Covid on my end. (“I have held it against you,” he says, straight-faced, “and you are now my nemesis.”) Yet even over Zoom Sonubi radiates easygoing charm: it’s easy to see what’s made him such a popular performer on stage.
