The little-known comedian, in the skit highlighted by SuperSport, performed an impression of famous football commentator Peter Drury and it earned him an interview from the football channel as well as a special message from the man he imitated.
Eager to one day meet Uria, Drury stated: “So sad that the week you’re on, I’m over here in Doha to witness the World Cup draw… Listen, I love what you do. I hope you’re laughing with me not at me, I must say I’m certainly laughing with you, it’s terrifically funny, it’s superb!
“Football shouldn’t be taken too seriously, just seriously enough and with all the passion that you have shown for it. I do love your work and I do hope one day we’ll get to meet each other face-to-face and you can teach me how to commentate,” the British football commentator invited.
Responding to the international recognition, Arap Uria stated: “It means a lot to be recognized by an International TV. Thank you dear Lord, continue opening doors to success.”
Uria has also done impressions of Sky Sports British commentator Martin Tyler.
Here is all about Arap Uria’s journey to success;
The 27-year-old comedian commands a huge following on social media thanks to his comic presentation of some of the most iconic commentaries in the history of football.
His videos appeal to lovers of the sport as well as the rest of the netizens for his comic outfits and props.
Arap Uria began recording videos about three years ago, and at the time, he only did it for fun. Little did he know that it would once become his main source of earning.
The comedian was born in Kamauwa in Moiben Constituency, Uasin Gishu County, and attended Mutei primary school.
He sat for his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations from Tambach High School and proceeded to join Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology where he pursued a Bachelor of Education degree and graduated in 2019.He majored in Mathematics and Geography.
Uria is his family name, and his character embodies his grandfather. The comedian initially did comic videos in his native Kalenjin and often acted as a drunken. This displeased his father who is a devout Christian.
His mother encouraged him to pursue his passion, despite the father bearing the opinion the character was all wrong.
However, after his videos became popular and he began to attract a huge audience, his father came on board.
For Arap Uria, growing his followers was the biggest challenge when he began making comic videos. He would share content but the traffic was low as he had very few subscribers at the beginning.
Relentless with his pursuit for success, he would subscribe to his channel whenever he got hold of someone else’s phone. He would also sneak into his father’s phone and share links to his WhatsApp groups and later delete it to cover his tracks.
He later decided to change tact. Arap Uria began mimicking prominent figures in the country and around the world, and his near-perfect imitation caught the attention of many.
His attention to detail, and the costume gave a comic sense to his performance, something that began to greatly improve his viewership.
Arap Uria would study and memorise speeches by famous people including Deputy President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga, and he would then record the videos and share them online. They all drew great responses.
He then got an idea to do football commentaries since a lot of people are soccer fans, and he began with a commentary from veteran commentator Martin Taylor, which got a lot of views.
He then proceeded to do commentaries by Peter Drury and this got him millions of views and grew his subscribers greatly.
As of today, Arap Uria has over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and has accumulated over 15 million views.
He commands a huge following from outside the country with some of his fans being from Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, Senegal among others.
One of his euphoric moments occurred when his video was tweeted by legendary British football commentator Jim Beglin. He commented that he loved the mugs.
Apart from mimicking football commentaries, he also does some videos on Facebook with his friend who goes by the stage name Gogo Smallz. He plays the role of his wife in the videos.
