When @HewasFunny and Techpreneur merge with Jon Laster

Greetings Glocal Citizens!
This week's guest and I share a bit of our own personal Black history going way back to grade school, when his younger brother and I were in the same class from Kindergarten through primary school. We all met up again in high school as "jocks," doing our thing in the Colorado athletics scene. Fast forward to the late 1990s and there we were again bright-eyed and ambitious in New York City--Brooklyn to be exact, laying the groundwork for becoming the adults that we are today. From the basketball court to the comedy stage, Jon Laster has always been a crowd pleaser. He moved to New York City to realize his dream of being a Comedian and quickly moved up the comedy hierarchy establishing himself as one of the funniest comedians and most sought after hosts. Early in his career, he appeared on three season’s of BET’s Comic View [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103356/], hosted the first and second Underground Comedy Festival in New York City, completed a year-long tour with the National Association for Campus Activities appearing on college campuses across the US and hosted the longest running weekly comedy room ever in Brooklyn. Performing and hosting comedy clubs and colleges such at - the Improv in Los Angeles and Miami to Caroline’s and the Comedy Cellar in New York City, from the out skirts of Nebraska, to the shores of Bermuda, Jon has stood audiences on their feet across the globe.

In response the tragic murder of George Floyd and national upheaval that followed, Jon found himself wanting to do more than simply protest. He wanted to do something that would directly impact and improve Black lives. Targeting Black businesses in particular, Jon recently ticked a new box on his resume becoming a tech CEO, with the launch of the Blapp app.
Blapp connects is communities to local Black businesses across an array of sectors--bars and restaurants, boutiques and markets, professional services and much, much more. With nearly 20,000 downloads since launching in October 2021, Blapp is well on it's way to becoming a game changer in both the brick and mortar and online shopping spaces!

Where to find Jon?
Blapp App
Comedy Cellar
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On Twitter
On YouTube

What's Jon watching?
Valley of the Damned on Discovery ID
Disney+'s Mandalorian

Other topics of interest:
Former CSU President, Albert C. Yates
About Leslie Jones
One Bedroom Film
About Margot Merrill Fernandez
Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Venmo co-founder