Official History

Yo’ Mama Jokes have been popular since the beginning of time as a means of a verbal defense. In the United States, they began gaining traction from the turn of the century. In the 1940s and 1950s, New York City was comprised of boroughs with many different ethnic makeups. There were Black communities, Italian communities, Jewish communities, Irish communities, Latino communities, Asian communities and many other factions that still hold true today. Every neighborhood had a gang to protect their community. If you were on the wrong side of town after a certain time, you would probably get your butt whipped. LOL!

In the 1960s, all of the gangs called a citywide truce. Instead of fighting each other, they started to gather at a neutral corner and battle it out verbally, sometimes throwing around insults. This was known as ‘joning’. The insults would use Yo’ Mama as the premise because it would cut deeper. Everyone knew that you held your mother closer to your heart than your father. The jokes were positive and these battles created an atmosphere of unity, changing the entire city. What made Yo’ Mama Jokes so popular was that anyone could easily relate to them. The more vivid the joke, the funnier it was and you ended up winning the battle.

Flash forward to the early 1990s, I was at the World Famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles with Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Chris Tucker, Robin Williams, Carlos Mencia, to name a few, and decided to create several Yo’ Mama Jokes of my own. They were expressive, concise and to the point, anyone could easily visualize the joke. I drew them out and the Original Yo’ Mama Joke Book was born. It turned out to be something very special. Everyone loved the jokes and the illustrations, kids as well as grown-ups. I began selling the books to raise money for my Foundation which helped high school children entering college.

In the last 30 years, The James Stephens III Scholarship Foundation has raised over a half million dollars for laptops and financial aid for at-risk kids and kids with financial hardships to help them attend and succeed in college. With every book sold, you are helping a child experience college and obtain an education that will advance their life in unimaginable ways. Hosea 4:6 Today, we are taking the Original Yo’ Mama Joke Book to another level with an online and physical gift store presence, where all fifty sketches are on Canvas, Greeting Cards, Coloring Books, T-Shirts and other fun and usable merchandise.

“God has blessed me with a gift to connect with people and bless children… I hope that this book brings joy to anyone who loves culture and community as much as I did when I was a child. May God always be with you and bless you.“

James Stephens III, Comedian, Actor, Writer, Producer, Artist, Philanthropist…