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Comedian Jay Davis Continues to Build His Own Stage - page 2

By Jessamyn Cuneo on June 30, 2006

Jay Davis, pictures, picture, photos, photo, pics, pic, images, image, stand-up, comedy, comedian, interviews, jokes"I'm really adamant about having the best possible comedians on the show," Davis says. "The talent pool that I'm pulling from is [all] stars."

These stars include Cook, Tony Rock, Daniel Tosh and more. The talented seem to trust their talent with Davis. There are few, however, that Davis trusts himself.

"The older I get, the more I realize I want to do things on my own," Davis says. "I don't like auditioning for other people. I'm a hands-on control person. I'm a control freak. When I do something myself, it's going to get done right. When I put my talent in someone else's hands, it scares me a lot."

"When I put my talent in Dane Cook's hands, I trust him," Davis continues. "I know that he's going to take care of us all, and make us all shine. I would love to always do business with people like that."

And so, through hard work and salesmanship, Davis is creating a unique path to his own version of life. He's built his name, his stage, and with them, his own career.

It seems to have all been set in place from the age of three for Davis.

"My dad was a salesman," Davis says. "The first thing I learned as a three-year-old kid was how to shake a hand."

Davis claims he's always been a "people person," and above everything else, he loves making people laugh. Inspiration comes naturally with the terrain.

"Comedy's healing," Davis explains. "Every Tuesday night [at Dublin's], this doctor who worked in the ER room would come down. He said, 'Tuesday's my only night off, and I make Tuesday a regular night for me to come here and laugh. You have no idea. You're healing me, and I'm a doctor. I've seen people die, I've seen the worst tragedies, and to come here and laugh is so healing for me.'"

Moments like that become the ever-burning fuel behind Davis' quest to become the best comedian he can be. He continues to help out as many other comedians along the way as possible. He seems to do this effortlessly, all because he holds his own potential with strong hands. There's a simplicity to his words that exposes a clear and peaceful mind.

"Everybody works differently, and that's the great thing about comedy; there's no rules," Davis says. "You gotta learn the way you gotta learn. I want everything to come from who I am as a person. I'm still developing and I'm excited about my development process. It's a slow process. I'm not in a rush."

The off-screen Davis shows no signs of the tension that the "Tourgasm" cameras capture. The show seems to get crazier with each episode. When you take such expansive and sensitive personalities, and throw them in a petri dish under a microscope — it's not surprising that they end up poking each other's soft spots.

"I felt [the tour] would have been a lot different if the cameras weren't there," Davis says. "The cameras take all the emotions up 100%. I had high expectations that we were all going to get along; have the best time ever; just get to do comedy. I didn't know that there were going to be such emotions that were going to run wild, and that we were going to butt heads with some people."

What also unexpectedly surfaces in the series is how dramatically different most comedians are, in person, from their stage presence. There are tight, gripping moments of dispute between Davis and Kelly, right before either one of them is forced to go onstage in front of thousands of people. And then, somehow, once they get out there, they smile and laugh like it's all they've ever done.

"It's weird. When you're living the dream, and you're right in the middle of the dream, you gotta step back and go, 'Wow, I'm in the middle of living a dream,'" Davis explains. "I felt like there was a lot of misery right amongst us. Here we are, doing something so special, yet we're emotionally fighting and freaking out. There was a lot of pressure."