This KC native loves to troll your favorite celebrities: ‘Just playing with you’
Interacting with a stranger can be a challenge for some people. Whether you see someone you find attractive in public, or catch your favorite celebrity out and about, there are a million things running through your mind at that moment. For Gerald Huston, he’s never been shy when it comes to those interactions. He’s so comfortable with them, they’ve garnered millions of followers across social media.
You may not know his face or name, but there’s a good chance you’ve seen a video of the Kansas City native trolling your favorite celebrity. The concept of his videos are simple: Using meta-glasses with an embedded camera to record, it’s a point-of-view shot of him approaching a celebrity, in which he gives them a hug, and calls them by a different name. For example, he once went up to comedian Kevin Hart, but called him Eddie Murphy.
Whether you think it’s funny or call it rage bait, the numbers don’t lie. Huston has amassed millions of followers between TikTok and Instagram, and over 800,000 YouTube subscribers.
“How many people you know call somebody the wrong name joke with them? How many people have that much courage to go somebody and do that to them?” he said. “I just wanted something original that nobody would else do. Because people steal from you all the time. I’ve had creators steal stuff from me, but they don’t steal this.”
His comedy journey starts back when he was growing up in Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in the 18th and Vine neighborhood. His parents are both preachers, which meant Huston was spending a lot of time in the church, where he’s seen plenty of characters that he would imitate or talk about. This would have an impact on his own comedic development.
“You got a deacon with no teeth, you got another deacon who be stealing the church van. Be missing for weeks, nobody can find them. They got all kinds of kidders in the church,” he said.
Huston first started his comedy career doing stand-up in Kansas City in 2016. He recalled a night early on when he performed at The Kansas City Juke House with his friends and family, with his peers hyping him up prior to the show.
He ended up bombing it. It was so bad that he remembered people online were saying his career was over.
Everything began to turn around for Huston following that moment. He went on to book monthly shows at the Uptown Arts Bar in 2017, where he would emcee open mic events while getting some of his jokes in. A year later, he went back to the Juke House where he had bombed and put on a “killer performance.”
The turning point for his comedic career started when he got into the Kansas City Improv Club in 2018 and was invited to a comedy competition where the winner got to open up for more well-known comedians. He ended up winning, where he eventually got to open up for comedian and media personality Jess Hilarious.
“She sold out those tickets. I was impressed. Like, dang, that’s crazy that she sold all those tickets from being on social media,” Huston said. “My brother told me, ‘You taking the slow route. You’re going to all these open mics, waiting to get on stage, and everybody just getting on the internet doing videos.’”
The celebrity mix-up that changed it all
Huston’s viral videos first started with him approaching women he’d see out in public and conversing with them. Or as the kids call it, rizzing them up. With those videos, he said he wanted to bring chivalry back, while also showing young men that as long as you’re being yourself, it’s easy to talk to someone you may find attractive.
“When I was a kid, I remember my homie Tony, he pulled out $5 and said ‘I’ll give you $5 right now, one of y’all get her phone number.’ I just like talking to people,” Huston said.
Before the introduction of meta glasses, Huston would record his POV videos using the Snapchat Spectacle glasses. This would allow him to record everything in front of him while using a pair of glasses, rather than his phone.
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2019 was when Huston made the move from Kansas City to Los Angeles as a way to advance his career. He already had a few videos where he called a celebrity a wrong name, but it was a video involving a beloved NBA point guard that set the tone for Huston’s virality.
Huston once found himself in a shoe store with now retired NBA player Rajon Rondo in 2020. Clicking record on his glasses, Huston greeted Rondo and gave him a hug, but he referred to him as Chris Paul, a different NBA point guard. Rondo looked at Huston with disgust, asking “who are you?” before walking away.
If you’re not aware of the NBA lore, Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo aren’t too fond of one another. Their rivalry reached its peak in 2018, when the two engaged in an on-court brawl during a matchup between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers. Paul alleged that Rondo spat on him, though Rondo denied that.
Huston’s video resulted in a running internet joke where fans would refer to Rondo as Chris Paul. And it essentially became the moment where calling a famous person by their wrong name turned into Huston’s bread and butter.
“In the midst of me creating, I always end up creating something else. So in the midst of me hugging people, calling them wrong name, it involved me calling people a name of a celebrity they look like,” Huston said.
His videos have amassed millions of views on social media. Some notable celebrity targets include Anthony Edwards, Terrance Crawford, Keith Lee, Kai Cenat and many more. When Huston met Edwards during the 2026 NBA All Star Weekend, Edwards recognized Huston and even brought up the Rondo video.
There was a small discourse in the comments of Huston and Edwards video, as Huston told the NBA All-Star that he’s from Detroit. Huston told The Star that he was born in Detroit, but his heart truly comes from Kansas City. He even has the Chiefs Arrowhead logo tattooed on his forearm.
Huston’s come a long way from cutting hair near 87th Street and Wornall Road. Huston has been invited to events like the BET Awards and the Grammys, but he made it clear that despite his interactions with celebrities, he’s not chasing them. He said that his interactions are not staged, but feels that they were destined to happen.
“I believe that my energy is drawing these people to me. When you live in your purpose and do what you’re supposed to do, then everything just comes to you,” Huston said. “I really believe that I’m the reason why I’m meeting these people, because I’m just drawing them to me.”
Moving to the front of the camera
While he’s gone viral for his videos where he’s behind the camera, Huston believes it’s time for people to see his face more.
His goal is to produce seven shows that can be posted to social media. One of those shows is “I Look Famous,” a series where people are auditioning for Huston, trying to prove that they look like a specific celebrity.
Some of the celebrities look-alikes he’s already seen include Tia and Tamera Mowry, MGK, Shedeur Sanders and more. The first episode premiered March 12 and can be found on his YouTube channel along with future episodes, @Iamgeraldhuston.
The March 19 episode was filmed in Kansas City. Prior to the episode’s release Huston said the city has some characters that fans will enjoy on the show. Kansas City contestants showed up dressing like the Wolverine, French Montana
In 2023, Huston appeared in the locally produced short film “Stateline,” which saw him playing the role of Kevin, in a film that attempted to solve the age-old question of who has the better barbecue: KCM or KCK?
Comedy can go beyond what you see on the stage or on social media for Huston, as he said his next priorities revolve around getting into acting. The 36-year-old’s confidence oozed when talking about that next step in his career, saying he believes he has just as much range as Samuel L. Jackson.
“I want to be a comedic actor, but I want to be able to play multiple roles. A lot of my comedian colleagues, they play comedian acting roles, and that’s (just) what they play,” he said. “We’re going big with the acting, very big. That’ll be another part of my career.”
The point-of-view videos will continue in the meantime. When asked about his favorite viral moments, he said his interactions with Young Thug, Anthony Edwards, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Gates are up there. The Young Thug interaction was roughly six seconds long, when Huston saw the rapper at Lenox Mall in Atlanta and called him Future. This resulted in a moment that has stuck on the internet to this day.
As for celebrities Huston hopes to add to his troll list? Barack Obama and LeBron James were two that came to mind, as he would call the former President Nelson Mandela.
Some celebrities have gotten mad at him about the interactions, and some of them laugh about it with him. But Huston ensures that despite his trolling efforts, his intentions are pure when it comes to his content.
“I never do it with negative intentions. It’s always a positive vibe; I’m really just playing with you. That’s the energy I give off when I hug somebody,” he said.
