James Iroha launched his creative career in 1967 with the Eastern Nigerian Broadcasting Service, eventually rising to director of television and deputy general manager. In the wake of the Biafran War, he used comedy to lift spirits, creating The Masquerade, which later became The New Masquerade on NTA.

Running from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, the show became one of Nigeria’s longest-running and most cherished sitcoms, celebrated for its sharp satire on postcolonial society and its role in fostering ethnic and cultural unity.

Iroha also starred in the 1994 Nollywood thriller Nneka The Pretty Serpent, adding film to his enduring legacy in Nigerian entertainment.