Troy Davis
WHERE: Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub, 101 Pine St., Dayton
WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, and 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23.
COST: $5 Thursday, $10 Friday and $12 Saturday
MORE INFO: (937) 224-JOKE (5653) or www.wileyscomedy club.com
ARTIST INFO: www.comedian troydavis.com
Troy Davis is a comedy everyman, which he credits to his background as a blue collar worker.
“My stuff is just real life and that’s why people really relate to me,” he said. “I do a lot of divorce material. The first show is all older folks, but the second show is all kids and nobody has been divorced. Nobody has even been married so you’ve got to switch it up.
“I’ve got one side that’s all serious, talking about my gay son and my three divorces and this, that and the other.
“Then I’ve got another side that’s completely silly, with goofy observational stuff,” Davis continued. “I’ll open with that and get them to like me first and then I can kind of slip the divorce stuff in later. If you open with it they’re like, ‘Oh, OK, whatever? A lot of times it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”
Davis was running his own bricklaying business in Indianapolis when he started doing comedy in the mid-1990s.
“I worked for myself so that made it easy for me to transition into comedy,” Davis said.
“Any time I had a gig, I’d make my own schedule so work never kept me from pursuing comedy. In five years, it went from 90 percent bricklaying work and 10 percent comedy to flip-flopping the work.”
Although he has remained focused on comedy, Davis still does some bricklaying work, which feeds his comedy.
“I got poked in the eye accidentally when I was out on a job,” he said.
“I went to the doctor and he gave me some tests and it turned out to be OK. When he was giving me these tests, he said, ‘Have you had any vision problems in the past?’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve got three ex-wives. I never saw that coming.’ I thought it was funny and had to put that in the act.”
CONTACT contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.
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