If you’ve ever planned a party or event, you probably know how difficult it can be to secure quality live entertainment. Oftentimes, you don’t really know what you’re getting until the day of, which can lead to disappointment. Thankfully, there’s now a solution for that. The Special Guest App allows you to book entertainment directly from your phone, making it easier than ever to secure solid talent for your next party or event. The app, co-founded by actor and comedian Damon Wayans Jr. and bestselling author and entrepreneur Kris Jones, bridges the gap between talented performers and the people who want to hire them! I recently had the chance to chat with Kris Jones about entrepreneurship, celebrity encounters, and what’s next for the app.
The Special Guest App offers a solution to a problem many performers run into- getting booked for paid gigs. How did that idea come about?
My partner Damon Wayans Jr. is an actor and stand-up comedian. Several years ago, he was rehearsing jokes at an “open mic” in Los Angeles when he was moved by the performance of a young woman with a guitar who performed before him. As she exited the stage and he entered he asked her “who represents you?” She responded that not only did she not have a manager, but she had never performed for money. This got Damon thinking. He considered that only about 5-10% of talented people have a “manager” meaning that the other 95% have to be both performer and entrepreneur. He didn’t feel like that was right and he believed that with the success of apps like Uber, Instacart, and Ubereats maybe someone needed to build an app to help talent (like the woman he watched perform) get discovered and booked. Damon was later introduced to me via a common friend and the rest is history, as we joined forces and launched Special Guest App.
What kind of performers are available for hire on the app?
Special Guest has been referred to as “America’s Got Talent” in your pocket. In other words, Special Guest helps all types of talent get discovered and booked, from comedians and musicians to dancers, actors, magicians, mind readers, circus acts, impersonators, DJs, photographers and more!
Damon recently appeared on the Ellen Show and talked about Special Guest. I can imagine that was a proud moment for you both!
It was not expected, so more than anything it caught us both by surprise! We knew he was going to be on a lot of talk shows, including The Late Show with James Corden, The Talk, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and others. But we didn’t know if any of them would ask about Special Guest, so it was super awesome when Ellen decided to bring it up during her interview with Damon. As you can see from the video, Ellen loves Special Guest!
In 2017, you and Damon appeared on Apple’s Planet of the Apps. Did you ever feel starstruck in front of the celebrity judges?
No i did not. I was already friends with Gary Vaynerchuk, and while it definitely took some adjusting to have cameras following me around, I actually really enjoyed it. For several months I got to work with Will.i.am. Most of the time was spent at his LA office called “The Future.” I’d say we probably taped about 100 hours of film and that was condensed into 20 minutes of episode 4 of Planet of the Apps. There were a ton of conversations between Will, Damon and myself that never made it to TV.
Right now, Special Guest is only available in the U.S. Do you hope to achieve international reach in the future?
Absolutely! I’d say Canada is next (probably in 2019) followed by Europe.
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