Comedian and content creator Isbae U’s interview with former President Olusegun Obasanjo has crossed one million views on YouTube less than 24 hours after its release, recording one of the fastest viewership surges in the history of his popular show, Curiosity Made Me Ask.
The episode, released on Saturday, has drawn massive attention following the unusual pairing of the former Nigerian leader with Isbae U, whose show is known for its sarcastic, provocative and roast-style interviews.
A check by NPO Reports on Sunday morning showed the episode showed it had climbed to 1.2 million views in 17 hours.
The episode’s early performance is particularly striking when compared with the viewership of several of the show’s previous episodes.
Among the show’s biggest previous episodes are the Bobrisky episode, which has about 2.7 million views, Simi’s episode with about 2.33 million views, and the episode featuring Kiekie, Wunmi Toriola, Bolaji Ogunmola and Bisola Aiyeola, which has about 2.12 million views .
Other major episodes include Peller’s, with about 1.89 million views, Portable’s, with about 1.85 million, with about 1.8 million, and Victor Boniface’s, which has about 1.38 million views.
However, many of these view counts were built up over a considerably longer period, dating back to a year or more, making them less representative of the show’s immediate recent performance.
NPO reports that Pete Edochie’s episode which went live on September 5, is the closest recent comparison, eventually reaching about 1.8 million views after 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, the Obasanjo episode reached the million-view mark within its first day, suggesting a significantly faster initial audience response.
The episode featured the kind of unconventional exchanges for which the show has become known.
A behind-the-scenes video from the recording also showed Obasanjo interacting casually with Isbae U and members of the production team.
The former president was seen marching alongside the comedian while singing the viral soldier song, giving viewers a glimpse of the lighter moments away from the main interview.