CELEBRATE COMEDY AT MARTHA’S VINEYARD
COMEDY
There has never been a better time to return to normal, return to comedy, and return to fun. Steve Capers highlights the Martha’s Vineyard Comedy Fest returning in August 2021. by Steve Capers
O
ne of my favorite comedians, Richard Pryor, once said, There's a thin line between TO LAUGH WITH, and TO LAUGH AT. That I think encapsulates the history of Black comedy in our country. Because, just as everything else in the Black experience, we’ve had to make the best of sometimes awful situations and find joy and a reason to laugh. Black Comedians have been bringing us that joy and allowing us to laugh with each other for all of our history here in America. My name is Steve Capers, and I am the Managing Partner, along with my wife Dorothy, of Knock-Knock Comedy Productions, the founder of The Martha’s Vineyard Comedy Fest and, I hold the trademark for Black Comedy Month. Most importantly I am a comedy enthusiast who has used comedy as a way to entertain, and as a medium to drive Black entrepreneurial success. My professional entertainment career began in 1993 when I joined Black Entertainment Television in Los Angeles. There I worked on some of the network's most iconic shows including Video Soul with Donnie Simpson, Teen Summit, and Rap City. It was through my work at BET that I met DL Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Sommore, the hosts of BET’s Comic View, and began my education in Black comedy. I can truthfully say that I was bitten by the
The 10th annual Martha Vineyard’s Comedy Fest returns this August in New York.
comedy bug! In 1998, I was recruited by Comedy Central to head up their Chicago regional headquarters. The network was founded in 1989 as The Comedy Channel and was the first cable channel devoted exclusively to comedy-based programming. There I planned comedy events for nationally-acclaimed comedians and personalities including Jon Stewart (The Daily Show), Lewis Black, Ben Stein, Adam Corolla, Bill Cosby, and Sinbad. After five years with the network, and with a lot of knowledge under my belt, I launched KNOCKKNOCK PRODUCTIONS in the Summer of 2003 to produce upscale comedy events for corporations, non-profits and colleges, and universities. We tailored our shows for
conferences, fundraisers, and corporate events. My client list included Bell and Howell, North Carolina A&T, and Milliken University. Out of that, came the idea for a monthly comedy show that I and comedian Damon Williams conceived called FUNNY FIRST SATURDAY. The show was launched in Chicago and was key to revitalizing a once vibrant comedy scene in the city that once had national recognition with clubs like the legendary All Jokes Aside in the 1990s. Knock-Knock also produced Damon Williams’ NEW YEAR’S EVE COMEDY BASH and many stand-up comedy networking events. Along the way, we were meeting and working with a national stable of CODE M / JULY 2021 13
