An interview with Black Kasper

What were you doing when you were 12 years old? You were probably riding your bike to the park or just sitting on your porch eating ice cream with your brother or sister. Well I guess that is just for “normal” kids. For a kid like comedian Black Kasper when he was 12, he was giving himself a name.

“I did my first show at a college when I was 12 years old,” said Kasper. “But I knew I wanted to be a comedian when I was 9 years old. I knew I wanted to be like Flip Wilson.” He says that comedy is his first love.  He just didn’t know that he would make a career out of it. It’s obvious that he learned that you can do anything you put your mind to.

The Atlanta, Georgia native calls himself “Black Kasper” for a number of reasons. Reason #1: “It was a childhood name because people would say whenever the cops came around, I would get ghost.” Reason #2: “My uncle gave me the name when I was born because he claims I had a very large head and that made me look like Casper the ghost, but I was black.” And reason #3: “My look. It is very different. I have a white beard and white eyebrows.” You definitely do no see that everyday.

The up and coming comedian has been the opening act for major headliner comedians such as Earthquake, D.L Hughley and Sommore and has also done shows all over the world but Kasper claims his absolute favorite place to perform is Columbia, South Carolina. “The audience just really embraces me as a comedian and just really makes me feel welcome every time I perform there,” Kasper says. Living in Hollywood, California, he also loves doing shows in Los Angeles. “I did a show at the Long Beach Laugh Factory and it sold out in minutes,” Kasper said. “it was a big night for comedy and I was happy to be a part of it.”

To become the best, you have to learn how to take constructive criticism and Kasper says that he is his own biggest critic. “I’m a perfectionist. I’m the type to iron my underwear.” He recalls an interview he saw with Ice Cube when he said: “before I cast anyone in my show or movie, I cast myself in it. That’s how you know when something is right or not.” Kasper took that advice and put it towards his career.

Another name the proud father of a 19 year old daughter calls himself is, the “Metallica of comedy.” That might sound strange being that Metallica was a heavy medal band from back in the 1980s but once he breaks down his logic, he makes perfect sense. “Metallica made it big without being signed and that’s how I am. People know exactly who I am so in my eyes, I’ve made it big.”

In the next 5 years, Black Kasper, who also has a love for animation, would like to do some work in front of the camera, write and do some producing for television and short films. When you get to the top, it makes no sense to stop. Just keep going until you can not go anymore. And that exactly what Kasper is doing.

So the next time you see a baby being born and you want to give them a nickname, think good and hard before you give it to them. You might just be giving them a name that will cause more than jokes. It could cause a legacy.