Text © Robert
Barry Francos / FFanzeen, 2020
Images from the Internet
Trenton Davis
@TrentonComedy
Uproar Comedy, 2020
www.uproarcomedycd.com
For me, what makes Trenton Davis funny is not that he shares
the name of the capital of New Jersey, but the fact that rather than just relying
on jokes, he bases his material on his real life. These aren’t super long
stories but rather vignettes into modern relationships and dealing with people
in your life, not just strangers.
For example, he starts off his set talking about his 7-year-old
daughter’s fixation with Beyonce, and an extremely funny bit about how she seems
to know things beyond her age in her dreams. Of course, he also has much to say
about his daughter’s mother, to whom he is no longer in an intimate relationship,
which leaves many questions and doors either open or closed to others. There
are a few bits of gender normative moments, but that fits into his brief forays
concerning a couple of anti-Pakistani/Indian cabbies and anti-Jewish moments,
though it feels like it’s more for the shock value than an actual belief. Davis
doesn’t always use the shock value, so when he does, it is that much more
effective.
While profanity laden in spots, it does not approach
the Richard Pryor-Eddie Murphy-Bob Saget level of “fuck-poetry” as I call it. Here
he uses the word as it was meant to be, as a manifestation of an emphasis or exclamation
point.
While taking a strong African-American position on his
life, it is still transferable and understandable to anyone else in the modern
world. For example, his longest bit is about the control women have in the
larger scope of defining a relationship, and about breaking up with partners.
His multiple codas deal with specific, or specific
kinds of women, such as 20 year olds, Caitlyn Jenner, and especially relevant
in today’s “Karen” world, racist white women. Personally, I would have liked to
have heard him talk more on this last bit, but his observations are sharp, as with
most of his material.
Davis is funny, there’s no doubt in my mind about
that. This CD is a good example of a 45-minute set. Below is a clip of Davis
that is not directly from this, but the material overlaps to give you some good
idea.
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