Veteran comedian Yaw Donkor known as “Nkomode” who passed away recently has been laid to rest today in his hometown, Wasa Akropong in the western region today.
Nkomode until his demise took the country’s comedy to a very high pinnacle.
Nkomode became a household name alongside the likes of comedians Bishop Bob Okala, Iced Kenkey, Agya Koo and several others who featured in the then Key Soap Concert Party .
These men and many others including women like Kumiwaa, kept Ghana’s theatre alive until the early 2000 when majority of them started moving into mainstream movie making.
Nkomode was a member of the vibrant Kristo Asafo Drama Group. As stage acting back then took a nosedive, the likes of Nkomode and others traveled abroad in search of greener pastures.
But even in his case, when he left Ghana in 2002, he was at the peak of his comedy career, although that skill was not rewarding financially at the time.
At some point, there were rumors that Nkomode had been arrested in London and jailed for dealing in drugs, which turned out to be false.
Nkomode, who returned to Ghana in 2011, finally cleared the air saying he was never arrested and that he had not dealt in drug before and would never do it.
He however admitted that he got involved in some visa racketeering incident which is normally referred to as ‘visa connection’ locally, but he was finally able to clear himself.
His funeral is been attended by most Ghanaians including high profile comedians and movie actors and actresses like Agya Koo, Akorobeto el etal.
The man Nkomode
Nkomode in his best days as a comedian won the Key Soap Concert Party Champion of Champions competition for three consecutive years.
He defeated local comedian Bob Okala (Real name: Kwadjo Buabeng) in 1996, to win it for the first time, he beat another comedian called ‘Original 32’ to win the Champion of Champions for the second time; in 1997, and Nkomode defeated Agya Koo (Kofi Adu) who is currently the most popular actor in Ghana in 1998 to win the title for the third time running.