The arrival of a relative from the village is one of the great equalizers of Nigerian life. Regardless of your income, your apartment, your routines, your Netflix subscription — when Uncle arrives from the village, it is a completely different world. This skit is for every Lagos resident who has survived one of these visits.
👥 CHARACTERS
- Chidi — 29. Has lived in Lagos for 5 years. Has built a nice, quiet, ordered life. This is about to end.
- Uncle Ezinwa — 56. From Enugu. Has been to Lagos exactly twice before. Has opinions formed from those two visits that have not been updated since. Energetic. Generous. Present in every room simultaneously.
- Chidi’s Roommate, Victor — Signed up for a Lagos apartment. Did not sign up for this.
🏠 SETTING
Chidi’s modest Lagos flat. A clean, organized one-bedroom. Before Uncle Ezinwa arrives, everything has a place. After, nothing has a place.
🎬 FULL SCRIPT
A knock. Then a bang. Then several more. Chidi opens the door to Uncle Ezinwa surrounded by bags.
UNCLE EZINWACHIDI! My blood! My nephew! Lagos has made you fat oh!
CHIDIUncle! Welcome — how was the journey—
UNCLE EZINWAHelp me with these bags. There are nine. Be careful of the third one — the chickens are in there.
CHIDI…chickens.
UNCLE EZINWAThree. Your mother said you people don’t eat properly in this Lagos. I brought proper food. Also dried fish. Also palm oil. Also— Victor! Victor is here!
VICTOR(appearing, alarmed) Good evening sir—
UNCLE EZINWAYou are still thin! Lagos is not feeding any of you! Come, I will cook tonight.
VICTOR(whispering to Chidi) Chickens?
CHIDI(whispering back) Three.
Uncle Ezinwa inspects the apartment.
UNCLE EZINWAThis is your bedroom? This is very small. In the village, my parlour is bigger than this.
CHIDIThis is Lagos, Uncle. Space is—
UNCLE EZINWAAnd the bed. You are sleeping on this small bed? You are a grown man. Where will I sleep?
CHIDIYou will sleep in my room. I will take the couch.
UNCLE EZINWAThe couch is not comfortable.
CHIDIUncle—
UNCLE EZINWAYou should have bought a bigger couch. Anyway. Where is the kitchen? I need to start the fire.
CHIDIThere is no fire. There is a gas cooker.
UNCLE EZINWA(staring at the gas cooker with deep suspicion) This thing?
CHIDIYes. It is how we cook here.
UNCLE EZINWAThis is how you cook. And the food tastes like food?
VICTORThe food tastes fine, sir—
UNCLE EZINWAVictor. In the village, we cook on firewood. The smoke enters the pot and gives the food character. This “gas” — this fire has no character. That is why you people are thin.
Later. Uncle Ezinwa is attempting to use the microwave. This has not gone well.
UNCLE EZINWAChidi! CHIDI! This box is making noise!
CHIDI(running in) Uncle, that is the microwave—
UNCLE EZINWAWhy is it speaking?
CHIDIIt is not speaking, it is beeping—
UNCLE EZINWAIt is upset about something. This box is upset.
CHIDIIt is done heating the food. Please don’t press any more—
Uncle Ezinwa presses several buttons. The microwave makes new and interesting sounds.
CHIDIUncle!
UNCLE EZINWAI am trying to make it stop talking!
Victor opens a beer quietly in the corner. This is day one. There are 13 more days.
UNCLE EZINWA(from kitchen, cheerfully) I found your big pot! I am going to cook the chickens tonight! All three!
CHIDI(to Victor) We were keeping those chickens alive—
VICTOR(drinking) Were we?
CHIDIThey are LIVING chickens, Victor!
VICTORNot for long.
UNCLE EZINWA(singing cheerfully from kitchen, loud Igbo song)
Chidi sits down on the couch — his couch that is apparently not comfortable enough. He looks at the ceiling. He loves his uncle. He does. His uncle is here for 13 more days.
🎭 ACTING TIPS
- Uncle Ezinwa’s energy must be warm, never mean. He is not difficult — he is enthusiastically himself. The comedy comes from love colliding with lifestyle.
- Chidi oscillates between genuine love and quiet despair. Both must be visible simultaneously.
- Victor’s role is pure reaction — he is an audience surrogate and every cut to his face should reward the viewer.
- The chicken moment must land as a slow-moving disaster — Uncle is cheerful about it, which makes it funnier.
📷 CAMERA IDEAS
- Opening shot: the bags. Wide shot of Uncle Ezinwa’s luggage — let the audience see the scale before anything is said.
- The microwave scene: shoot over Uncle Ezinwa’s shoulder as he examines it — his face should fill the frame when he calls it “upset.”
- Victor drinking in the corner: cut to this as a punctuation to each major revelation.
- Final shot: Chidi on the couch, looking at the ceiling. Hold. No music. Just the distant singing.
🔊 SUGGESTED SOUND EFFECTS
- Chickens clucking in the bag from the opening
- Microwave beeping — escalating as Uncle presses buttons
- Uncle’s singing — genuine, warm, loud Igbo highlife melody
- Heavy bag thud sounds as luggage is set down
📱 TIKTOK CAPTION IDEAS
🔄 ALTERNATIVE ENDING
On Uncle Ezinwa’s last day, he sits Chidi down and tells him he has arranged a meeting with an important business contact in Enugu who can partner with Chidi on a deal that could change his life. The contact is real. The deal is real. Uncle Ezinwa, it turns out, has been networking the entire time in Lagos while his nephew thought he was just eating and sleeping. “Did you think I came here just for the chickens?” he says. Chidi has no answer.
Nice skit script, I really appreciate your work