Tapper was born in New York City, but moved to the then-blue-collar Philly neighborhood when he was young. He was raised in the Queen Village house, where his mother continues to live, before his parents divorced when he was 8 years old. Tapper then split his time between his mother's house in the city and Merion, where his his father, a pediatric doctor who continues to provide care for patients in South Philadelphia, lived. As an eighth-grader, he drew a weekly comic strip for the now-defunct South Street Star.