Tumusiime is an actor and musician. Dressed casually in cargo pants and black jumper, he recently sat down for an interview with Quick Talk.
Good afternoon, Trilz; Quick Talk understands you are trying to rebrand.
People know me as Trilz, though as of late I am trying to rebrand from Trilz to my real name Abbey Tumusiime. I feel like I should use my real names; this is advice I got from Anne Kansiime. She told me creatives regret not using their real names after they make it to the top.
Did the Google Gaga joke give you the spotlight as a creative?
No, although it has propelled me to success. But I would say the one dad joke that has really put me in the spotlight was the Samsung joke, which had Samsung reaching out to me.
It was hilarious due to the fact that Samsung has a model of a phone called the Galaxy. So, I am the guardian of the Galaxy. Yeah, and then maybe the other joke was about the elephant, and another about me working at a zoo.
How do you come up with these jokes?
Creating the dad jokes depends on my mood. As you know, every creative experiences a mental block. So, there are those days where you won’t be able to come up with a joke. And then there are those days where you just look at something and you’re like, this is a nice joke.
For example, my brother has diarrhoea. Shortly after, I also get diarrhoea. And my punchline for the joke will be, ‘It seems it runs in the family’. So, as a creative, it is easy to come up with a joke when you’re in the mood.
What has been your biggest stage, so far?
Kisumu, in Kenya. It was a fundraising, but I performed my Dad Jokes on stage for 20 minutes with breaks. I would say it was hard, because 20 minutes were not a smooth sail for me who is a start-up comedian.
For creatives like Anne Kansiime, Patrick Idringi, it is super easy because they can crack you up for a full one hour, but I was glad I was able to pull that off.
How do you overcome stage fright?
Mostly, I use a simple technique: breathe in, breathe out. Before your popularity on social media, people knew you as a musician and actor.
Is that career on a hold?
To be honest, the music bit of my career was paused; I feel like it was really so much to handle, which makes me have big respect for musicians. For acting, I am having projects I’m working on right now.
What inspired you to begin the Dad Joke on TikTok?
I had paused creating content but back in the day, I used to do comedy and skits. One of my friends, who always writes for me my jokes, came to me and said, “I think we should try out this concept. There’s no one doing it in Uganda”.
He gave me a script, and told me to check it out. I remember I had taken four months without posting anything at that time. So, we made the video, and I was so excited; so, I made sure I edited it that day and posted it. It was around 9pm when I posted it and slept off. In the morning, I realized that my first dad joke was trending.
So, what was the concept of the first joke?
The joke was, I realized my dad is only 22 years old, because he only became a dad after I was born.
What inspires you to keep moving?
First, the people around me, most especially my team. Another thing is, the fact that I’m earning from it is motivation and a very big one. My fans on social media sites also keep me moving due to their compliments and support.
Did you ever think Dad Jokes would ever become a big thing that people take seriously?
I saw it on the first day that I posted my first dad joke. From that time, I knew this thing was going to become big, but I never knew it would be this big. My following has grown on Instagram, which is so surprising. I grew from 1,000 followers to 500k in less than a month, and from 500k followers to now having over 792,000 followers. My TikTok has grown to 800k followers, from 90k followers.
Wow! Good for you. Was your childhood full of jokes?
My childhood was tough! Living in a household of parents who are teachers isn’t easy; they don’t get so much money. So, you go and admire what others have, then come back home and live with what is available. This caused me so many troubles, because I’m someone who admired so much.
I admired so much at some point, I had a ‘long hand’. Though, my parents were really good at disciplining; so, I got back in line. My parents were so determined and they had so much love for me. They ensured that my brothers and I went to the best schools and universities, despite their low pay.
Which schools are those?
I studied in seven schools for my secondary [Huh? Those are even more years than there are secondary school classes!]: Seroma, then Jinja College, Goodini SS, Busoga College Mwiri, Dynamic High School, Lake View Holy Cross, and then Muljibai Madhvani ,where I did my A-level.
For primary, I attended Iganga Boys Boarding primary school and I didn’t face expulsions like I did in secondary. They would cane you so hard; I think even the devil was scared to prevail!
I am currently at Uganda Christian University completing my Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication.
Do you plan on further education?
I plan on going for further education, but not in journalism, because my interest has always been in ICT. I am planning to find a way to fix myself into ICT, because at the moment, if someone asks me for my profession, I say I’m a web developer, because I run a company of web development, web design called Trilz media, and we’ve had so many clients.
What do you do in your free time?
I’m still wondering if I have free time. There’s always something coming up. But what I would love to do in my free time is relax.
What’s your dream as a content creator?
I want to be rich.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I see myself doing corporate performances. Extremely corporate performances. Having a simple family like two kids or one, because I’ve seen how much my parents had to struggle with three children. They never had the money. I wouldn’t want to have kids that I won’t give time to.
Which comedian would you love to meet?
I would love to meet Trevor Noah, Kevin Hart and Patrick Salvador, because he is just too good.
Do you have any joke for Quick Talk?
Yes, I do have a dad joke to wind up this interview: “This generation is really messed up; one time I was in church and I saw a youth lighting a cigarette using a church candle. I was so shocked that I almost dropped my bottle of beer” [he laughs].
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