Meet the Jersey City-born Emmy-Nominated Comedian Returning Home in June

Wilson is headlining the Jersey City Comedy Festival at Art House on June 11th.

After performing across the country, numerous TV appearances, and writing for Emmy-nominated “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” stand-up comic Kasaun Wilson is coming back to Jersey City.

The comic grew up in 1990s Jersey City, where he was a self-described “sheltered church kid.” He went to Ocean Avenue Baptist Church and attended a Christian grammar school in Bayonne, then went to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from Howard University.

“Where all y’all was outside just jumping rope and playing with the fire hydrant, it was that one kid with Kirk Franklin playing in the background looking through the blinds.” Wilson said in a 2022 performance. “Couldn’t come outside because he had a little Bible to read. That was me.”

Since beginning his comedy career in college, Wilson has performed at Gotham Comedy Club in New York, The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and everywhere in between. But he’s maintained a firm connection to his hometown, where his entire family still lives. In fact, he wants Council President and mayoral candidate Joyce Watterman to attend his next show, because he needs his “future mayor, Joyce Watterman, to be in the building.”

Wilson’s material often centers around his religious upbringing and Black identity. On stage, he often spins stories of the Jersey City churches he grew up in.

Click here for the full JC Times feature by Ben Ackman