JACKSONVILLE, Fla — From cracking the mic to cracking the whip, former news anchor turned TikTok star Jacques Ze Whipper is taking his act from renaissance fairs to the comedy clubs as he’s performing at the Comedy Zone on March 24 with daredevil Ses Carny.
Jacques, real name Jack Lepiarz, sat down with WOKV’s Chase Bunker to talk about his act, his audition on America’s Got Talent, and the possible TikTok ban.
“The ren fair idea is real easy, I grew up performing at ren fairs and in the circus. I was 6 years old when I was working at my first Renaissance fair with my dad. And then the whipping came out of, my dad did a whip act and I wanted to learn that because of him and because of Indiana Jones. The singing came...it was sort of this happy accident. I was just cracking whips with another circus friend and we ended up accidentally doing the beat for “We Will Rock You,” and we started singing “We Will Rock You,” then we were like ‘Wait we can change these lyrics, we can make this we will whip you or we will whip for you,’ now it’s “we will Jacques you.” So it was sort of this happy accident that I started doing in my show as a way to be loud and get people to come see my show, at the start of the show. And then clips of that went on the internet and now it’s what I’m most famous for. It’s a weird life we lead,” says Lepiarz on the origins of his act.
When asked about the possible ban of the popular app TikTok, Jack says “I go back and forth on it. I’m not convinced that TikTok is not a platform for the Chinese Communist Party, and I say that as a creator on there. I’m also not convinced that any of the octogenarians in Congress who voted to ban it have any idea how TikTok actually works. What I will say is, I would like to see some of the evidence that they claim is so important that is apparently all classified and we’re not allowed to see it. I would like to see some of that evidence around TikTok and around why it is a national security threat. I, also though, feel like TikTok has not done itself any favors in its really secretive algorithm in how it handles content. I have had content that has gotten me shadow banned that I’m like ‘Why did that get me shadow banned? I have no idea,’ and TikTok won’t say why. So I have mixed feelings on it.”
You can listen to the full interview below. Tickets are on sale now.
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