WEEK FIVE

African American Heritage House (AAHH) Lecture Series: Steve Capers

Please join us online at CHQ Assembly on Friday, July 30 at 1:00 pm EDT for our fifth program of the 2021 Summer Assembly Season. We are pleased to present Steve Capers, Comedy Enthusiast, Managing Partner of Knock-Knock Comedy Productions, and producer of the Martha’s Vineyard Comedy Fest (MVCF), as he delivers a talk entitled Black Face to Black Faces: Celebrating African American Humor with Comedy Enthusiast Steve Capers.

Capers made his professional entry into the entertainment industry in 1993, when he became an executive at Black Entertainment Television (BET) in Los Angeles. It was through his informal work with the team behind BET’s “Comic View,” hosted by DL Hughley, that Capers gained access and insights into the world of comedy. In 1998, Capers continued his career in the world of comedy and entertainment as the head of Comedy Central’s Chicago regional office.

In 2009, Steve Capers had the idea to produce a comedy festival featuring primarily African American comedians who were on the cusp of stardom and whose performances were relevant and edgy, yet family-friendly. This culminated in the first Martha’s Vineyard Comedy Fest (MVCF) in 2010 — featuring Damon Williams (The Kings of Comedy Tour), AJ Jamal (In Living Color), and Roz G. (Last Comic Standings). In 2017, Capers marked August as BLACK COMEDY MONTH™ as part of the 7th Annual MVCF.

Capers believes his path in entertainment was set as a young boy while watching his Tony Award-winning aunt, Virginia Capers, perform as Lena Younger in “Raisin”, a musical version of Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun.” His groundbreaking work has certainly allowed us all to celebrate African American comedic genius, but most importantly, it makes us all laugh. 

AAHH lectures will remain available on the CHQ Assembly Platform assembly.chq.org and will also be archived on the AAHH website AAHeritageHouse.org a few days after the presentation. 

Note: the speaker will not be on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution.