Toju

Toju has been dubbed a 'Hip hop impressionist' because of his skilful blending of stand up & impressions drawn from rap & music culture.

Kicking off his stand up career as a teenager, Toju made a blistering start, debuting on television inside a year, on BBC 2 's groundbreaking multi cultural sketch comedy, The Real McCoy.

Peckham's finest has since racked up an impressive list of TV credits since this debut, including BBC 1's The Stand Up Show.

A series of searing performances in front of Hackney Empire's notorious Phat Friday audiences led to a regular spot Get Up, Stand Up (Channel 4), where his weekly guest stand up spot stole the show from the show's core of sketches.

Toju's uncompromising stand up has also led to TV outings on BBC 2's The A Force (BBC 2) and Channel 4's Nights at the Empire (Ch 4).

What the Guardian said about Toju
The Guardian Guide 13 July 2002

That legendary letter writer, Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells, should have lots to write about this week, when Toju comes to town. Toju is one of the most invigorating young stand-ups to emerge from the new generation of black British comedy, and his uncompromising attitude is a welcome break from the safe conformism of most comics on the circuit. Toju's targets include the empty commercialism of modern pop music, but many of his reference points are actually quite mainstream -gangster films, martial arts movies, even 1970's TV stalwarts like The Incredible Hulk. "If the Hulk was black he'd be changing every five, minutes, because brothers get frustrated quick. "The breadth of Toju's material reflects his own broad influences, from cutting-edge US comics like Bill Hicks and Denis Leary to classic UK sitcoms like Rising Damp. His Nigerian heritage sets him apart from most black British comics, but he's also quite unlike any of the other Anglo-African comics I've seen. Toju is his own man and he's got his own agenda, but although his act is often angry it's also gloriously inclusive. William Cook