From Cubicle To Comedy Clubs

A shy loan officer from Norfolk turned his nerves into rocket fuel and found a home under the lights. We sit with comedian Rome Davis to unpack the seven-year grind behind a “90 seconds or nothing” America’s Got Talent audition, the nightly rituals that calm the shakes, and the hard lesson that changed his voice: stop faking it and tell the truth.

Rome walks us through early reps at the Venue on 35th Street, where poets, musicians, and even wrestlers sharpened timing and stage presence side by side. He talks about building material from real life—family, work, grief—and why honest jokes quiet hecklers better than any clapback. We trace the milestones: DC Improv, Baltimore, Mohegan Sun, a Laugh Factory shot that felt impossible, and a first WHRO Story Exchange special that proved long-form storytelling still hits. Along the way, he shares how watching sets on mute, studying crowd work greats like DL Hughley, and borrowing rhythm from wrestling promos improved his delivery and connection.

Beyond the stage, Rome opens up about being an introvert who needs silence after shows, how meditation and reading help him reset, and why he uploads full sets on YouTube instead of chasing clips. We dive into satire and church culture, the belief that comedy can ease racism by spotlighting shared experiences, and the simple aim that drives every gig: give people a real laugh after a long day. If you want a candid blueprint for building a stand-up career—writing, testing, trimming, and trusting your voice—this conversation meets you where you are.

Enjoyed the conversation? Follow, subscribe, and share with a friend who needs a laugh. Leave a review to help more people find the show, and tell us: what truth do you wish more comics would talk about?

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Rome Davis, Comedian
• 1:12 Chasing The AGT Callback
• 4:20 Comedy School And Early Grind
• 7:20 Building Material From Real Life
• 10:25 Sets, Credits, And First Special
• 12:24 Laughter As A Cure For Racism
• 15:45 Stage Nerves And Rituals
• 19:10 No ID Podcast And Guests
• 22:10 Handling Hecklers The Right Way
• 26:05 Heroes: DL Hughley And Beyond
• 31:10 Church Culture And Satire
• 35:10 Laugh Factory Dreams And Reality
• 37:50 Upcoming Shows And Goals
• 40:40 Norfolk Roots And Hustles
• 45:00 Family, Loss, And Support

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Hello everyone, that's Al Nealy with Listen Up Podcast, and today we have uh Rome Davis, Jerone. He's from the Hampton Roads area. He's a comedian. And Jerome got started in Funny Bones, uh, the local comedy club here. And it was about seven years ago you've been doing comedy now. Yeah, going on seven years, yeah. Yeah. And um he's been fortunate enough to appear and travel uh throughout the country, California, and most recently he just had an audition for is it Americans Got Talent? Okay. Welcome, Jerome. Thank you for coming in. Man, appreciate you having me. Yes. Appreciate your patience with everything. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, uh, we're busy. You you have um you have quite a few irons throughout uh your life and just about everything. So talk to us. Talk to us about the audition.

SPEAKER_03: 1:12

So I auditioned for America's Got Talent. Yeah. Um, which was in Sacramento, California. Okay. Now this is my third time auditioning for this one, but this is my second time going there. So uh I auditioned back in 2024 in uh California. Uh I forgot what part of California. Um, but I went out there. Um, I did not make it. Uh tried out again last year, of course, with the fires. Oh, man. I did I wasn't able to make it out there, and I got rejected. This time I saw the audition and I went to I got the alert because I I'm I'm not trying to say I'm crazy, but I have the alert set up for America's Got Talent Auditions for my Instagram. So those are the only notifications that I get. So I uh went out to Sacramento, California. Uh got there on a Thursday. My audition was on Friday at Cash Creek Casino Resort. Um and it's only 90 seconds, but the prep for it is weeks, years just for you to get this 90 seconds. So hopefully we get a call back and then go back out there in March. And hopefully, March I go through and I just go up there one time. That's all I need.

SPEAKER_00: 2:36

Hopefully, um, how long have you been doing comedy?

SPEAKER_03: 2:40

I mean stand-up. I've been doing comedy seven years. Stand-up, or have you done any other type? You can probably just stand up? Just stand up. Okay. I tried the skits when I got in a stand-up, but boy, never again. All right. Yeah. That's to do it by yourself sometimes, you know. Yeah. Is that how you like to work? I like to work by myself. I uh I joke with a lot of people about this. I like to do the Kendrick Lamar approach. Where it is, you don't know when I'm coming, but you know that I'm coming, right? Right. And when I'm there, I'm dropping hits at the hits, and then I go right back into the Batcave and do something else. Like you don't know what I'm doing the next. So I like moving like that. So what inspired you?

SPEAKER_00: 3:25

Because you I I think you said you work for the government, right? Yeah. You probably had to tamper down some of what you're gonna say, right?

SPEAKER_03: 3:35

I had to tamper down. I started I started comedy when I first started, I was working at as a loan officer.

SPEAKER_00: 3:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 3:44

So uh going from a cubicle to a stage is is different. So as far as tampering down, as long as I stay away from like the politics, I'm okay, you know. But they know what I'm doing. You know, they know the comedy, they see the podcast. So, and a couple of them have been to the shows, so they they not tripping. My my manager went to one of my shows, actually toned myself down because I knew she was coming. And then she said, Why'd you do that? And then I did it, I didn't do it the next time she saw me, so we're cool. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. What was your inspiration for doing stand-up? I always wanted to try it. Um, I got into comedy in 20, I started doing stand-up in 2019. And at that time, I just lost my uncle on my mom's side, my uncle Gerald. Uh diabetes. He went in for a procedure and just never came back. And um we I went to uh a comedy show at the funny bond, Virginia Beach Funny Bond, and saw Godfrey. And they was talking about comedy school,$250. And I was like, Alright, well,$250, you know. And I didn't want to say it because I had a young lady with me, you know, I was trying to set something up with her, but um, Godfrey actually walked out the funny bone, because you walk out the front, you know, instead of walking out the backstage, and he was like, Comedy school, you should do it. And walked away. I ain't see him after that. So I eventually went. It was a sign. How did he know? He saw the sign. He had, you know, they gotta make the the uh the announcement sometime. And he he was like, just go. And I ain't never looked back since. I did the six-week course, and it was interesting. It was definitely some characters in there, to say the least. Uh, but I wouldn't change it though. So I did six weeks there, and then um a buddy of mine told me about a place called the venue on 35th Street. You familiar with that? Yeah, yeah, man, and um I I I became a beast by going in there every Thursday. Um for the last six years. Uh I had a mentor, two mentors, uh, Marlon Hargrave and James Cooper, and they put you to work in there. You you you not only do comedy, but you do music. You may do poetry. Um, we had a couple of wrestlers. What do you mean you do music? Like they'll have musicians come. No, I don't play no instruments. They'll have music. It's a class of Iron Shams is iron, excuse me. And they have musicians and you know, they come in there and play their instruments. Yeah, poets to come do poetry, comedians, authors, and uh um I got one guy, he's a professional wrestler. He comes in and does his promos before his shows come up. And yeah, you get you get a little bit of everything. So you get to network, but you also get to grow at the same time.

SPEAKER_00: 6:45

So that's awesome. And your material, where would you say you pull from your material? Life. All right.

SPEAKER_03: 6:57

You gotta find a way to laugh at life, you know what I'm saying? Like you just gotta look at the asses. We were just joking earlier because I turned out the lights in the bathroom. That's right. But see, that's cultural things.

SPEAKER_00: 7:09

I know, you know, from your generational, yeah. So somebody was yelling at you, turn out the lights and get stuck, close the door, stop letting the air out, you know. How many times have I heard that? So um life. So how long would you say? I know you did a 90-second set, right? By now, seven years. You probably have so much material. How long a set can you do with materials? Hour. Really? I could do a black one. Have you had to do an hour before? Nah, the most I've done was about 35 minutes.

SPEAKER_03: 7:53

Okay. And that was So where are some of the places you've been? Uh Virginia Beach Funny Bone. Okay. Richmond Funny Bone, uh Baltimore Improv. Okay. DC Improv, Mom's Maybelly Club in uh Baltimore Motor House, um, Comics Roadhouse, which is in uh Connecticut. So that was at the Mohegan Sun. Mohegan Sun Resort in Connecticut. I did that one a couple of years ago. It was in the last comic standing. Chocolate Sundays, uh Don't Tell Comedy, Push Theater, Ziders Theater. I did my first special last year on WHRO on East the Story Exchange. I was the first part of the first uh story exchange for WHRO, which ended up turning into a special for me. So yeah, I've been everywhere. I've been a lot of places.

SPEAKER_00: 8:48

And long as says 35 minutes. All right. So I see that um your belief you believe comedy can cure racism. Yep. Tell me why you feel like that.

SPEAKER_03: 9:07

Yeah, but look into the crowd. When you perform it, when you look into the crowd, no matter the background, no matter the religion, the gender, the race, everybody is laughing at something that you didn't say. Right? I have jokes about crazy family members. You have crazy family members?

SPEAKER_00: 9:29

Yeah, I think everybody, right?

SPEAKER_03: 9:31

Right? So it's just relatable. You can cure laughter, it's a cure for a lot of stuff. Racism, uh, depression, anxiety, um getting to know somebody. You know, some people do like openers to joke up, you know, joke with get to know people. You can cure a lot of stuff with the with the microphone if you're a comedian. I've seen some great comedians over time in person and on television, like George Carlin, DL Hughley, Vale Croft. They tell stories, yeah, man. Uh, another one, Mike Goodwin. Um you just had, I think you had one up here. I love her to death. Kales Morton. Oh yeah, Kales. Kales is dope. Um, they her little crew she has, ladies of comedy, dope, right? And it's a mixture of. You ever see her social media? Yeah. Promos. She's yeah. She used to act her seeing her picture with you is the reason why I hit you up.

SPEAKER_00: 10:32

Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. She uh she kind of opened my eyes when we were, and when I first met her, we were at Chicho's and she, I went up to her and started talking to her. And um, she was real, she's real chill, very easy to talk to. And um she got up there and she did her thing. Then she came in here. I'm like, so you don't get nervous. She's like, yeah, she said, when you were talking to me, I was real nervous. She says, but after you get up there for a while, you know, a few minutes or so, you you get that first laugh. It's like, okay, I'm the professional here. Just let me take over. So do you have nervousness before each show? Every show. Really?

SPEAKER_03: 11:24

Every show. Some people will see me. If they say uh we'll call us at 6 30, I'll be there at 6 15 because I'm just superstitious. Um, I will pace before I go and do my set. I've told these jokes hundreds of times, millions. I still have them on a poster card, just looking over, making sure my set is in order, how well I need to do. Yeah, I get very nervous before I perform, but as soon as they call my name up, Rome Davis, it just goes away. But yeah, I get nervous before every show. Um I'm 37. I still call my mom up to tell her that I had a good set or I'm there. So it's that's just me. It's just I I feel like if you're not nervous doing it, or before you're doing it, you sometimes love is gone.

SPEAKER_00: 12:18

You don't care, huh? Yeah. I think that's your whole idea is from what I understand, what you're telling me is you have an interest in making people laugh, right? Yeah. So when that goes away, I'm assuming that why are you up there? Why are you up there? Yeah. Yeah. So you also have a podcast. Yeah, no ID Podcast. Yeah. So you said you had several dominatrix on there, right? Yep. Rome, come on. Why? And how did you do that?

SPEAKER_03: 12:57

Why? Uh the podcast, no ID, was created to change the norm, right? Polka Bear. Okay. Right? And Dominatrices came up there probably like the second season. Yeah. Um, these are like people you know. One of them I knew. Not personal experience. Not personal experience. But one, I had one friend up there, she was into the industry, and then once you get one, the rest of them say follow in. And I want people to realize, like, yeah, they may be dominators or fetish models or in the in the adult industry, but these same people could be bagging your groceries or making your coffee and stuff. They just average people that just want to tell their story. And I do with no judgment, I don't flirt with them. You know, just do the interview, keep it pushing. I feel like everybody has a voice and everybody needs to be heard. So it's just a judgment-free zone.

SPEAKER_00: 14:00

That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. So throughout your seven years, one of the things I always want to talk about when I I get a comedian on is hecklers. How do you typically deal with hecklers? Because there's one, I have not been to a show where there's not somebody that does something throughout a show. I don't know if it's the alcohol or you know, they think they should be up there. Yeah. So give me one of your your personal experiences with um a heckler. I had a chicken bone thrown at me, but get out of here.

SPEAKER_03: 14:48

It was a flat. It was a flat. Uh I was at a I couldn't win that one. The lady was heckling me for three weeks straight on a Monday. We'll go to this, I would go to this open mic at a bar. And where the bar was at, the quote unquote stage, it was just almost on the floor. Right. And for three weeks, this lady just kept picking and just picking. And I was ignoring it because I was fresh in the comedy. And uh I I roasted her back. I just got tired of it. Her legs look like two rolled up sleeping bags. And yeah, she threw a chicken bone at me. And she got mad. She got mad. They turned my microphone off, they cut the music up, and I never went back to that mic. And I started no idea that. So, but hecklers, hecklers come when they're drunk, but you really don't get heckled if your material is hidden. If your jokes are hidden, they're not gonna pig with you. You know what I'm saying? So it's it's rare now for me. When I first started, yeah, I got a couple hecklers, but now that my I'm grown into the performance, the comedian I am, and still am growing, I don't get it anymore.

SPEAKER_00: 16:06

So who in the industry have you you are would you say that has inspired you or you look to for style or inspiration? It's a lot of them, but uh DL Hugley.

SPEAKER_03: 16:27

You like DL? I love DL Hugley. I've seen every DL special, every movie, every episode of the Hugley's shows a lot. The way he carries himself and the way he's evolved, right? So for people that don't know, before Kings of Comedy, DL Hugley already had two specials out. I had no idea. He had a 30-minute special when HBO was doing these 30-minute specials, and then he had his going home special. If you've seen he had this yellow suit on and he had TVs, he was talking about home. And the Hugley was already moving from like ABC to UPN at the time. So when King of Comedy, the Kings of Comedy came out, he was already, in my opinion, established, right? Right. So watching him from the 30-minute special up into now and in person is like his style is just like it's just chill. You know, you don't know if he's doing material or not, if he's just spitting off the top of his head, he's freestyling, he's improving, and his crowd work is astonishing, right? And I that's one of the guys like he's he in my in my eyes, he's on that on my list of like top top tier. Top tier, top tier. Like the all the kings of comedy were cool, right? Yeah, right. But you had you gotta realize you had not only kings of comedy, and I'm sorry for rambling, but you had kings of comedy, you had blue-collar comedy tour, which was dope. You had Queens of Comedy, Latin Kings of Comedy, you had so many of them. And then you had like before that, you had Def Comedy Jam, then you had Bad Boys of Comedy, right? And Bad Boys of Comedy was highly underrated because you had like uh Tony Woods, um who mentored Dave Chappelle um back then, and uh Ali Sadiq was up there. Yeah, yeah, and I had no idea. Yeah, yeah, it's deep, it's a deep history, especially like Tony Woods. He'll pop up at an open mic, he might be at a fish restaurant telling 10 minutes worth of show. And I've seen it before. I'm like, you're Tony Woods. Like, I've seen your seen all your stuff, right? And I've seen him at the funny bone, but like DL is is goaded. He's goaded. Yeah, he's goaded in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00: 18:54

Yeah, so um Bernie Mac, man. You made me think about that. Uh that's a as as a major loss, but um, I'm thinking of the Kings of Comedy.

SPEAKER_03: 19:10

Um I thought he was special. Man, very special. Yeah, I know you love Bernie, but on Walter Latham's comedy page on his uh YouTube page, you will see the old clips of the Kings of Comedy before it became a movie. So you actually see them perform and work out the material prior to the actual movie coming back, coming out. That was like that's a dope era. So I watch a lot of stand-up, unfortunately. You know what I mean? That's usually Or you're supposed to. Yeah, that's on my that's the that's my agloretic. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So yeah, it's uh it's you'll see like the old kings of comedy and before DL was even on the tour, I think it was one of the Tory brothers was hosting prior to that. Like Steve wasn't hosting prior to the movie. He was actually doing a spot, he was doing his 10-15 minutes like everybody else. And DL came on was like a second option. I think Guy Tory was up there doing it. Yeah, so I don't know how DL and them came up there, but DL came up there and was like, all right, this guy's goaded. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 20:21

Alright, so here's a question for you. I know we were talking about trends earlier, but you pay attention to Drewski? I do. Okay. So give me your thoughts on everybody that's coming at Drewski right now for the mega church pastor. What's your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_03: 20:48

I love the skit for a few people. But have you seen Righteous Gemstones? No, that was a whole show doing the same thing. Um, that was on HBO. There's been skits and yeah, and uh previous stuff. He wasn't poking fun at the church, he was poking fun of the of the pastors. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 21:13

Yeah, yeah, and and and I wonder, you know, why people actually getting upset about that. Um yeah. Uh how accurate would you say that is? First of all, did you grow up in the church? I did grew up in the church. In Norfolk. I didn't see none of that. Okay. So you your pastors are probably a little bit different, you know. Yeah, way different. The ones back then were a little bit different. You know, they didn't they didn't necessarily have to have the Bentleys and uh and the Louis Bouton. Yeah. But um Would you think say it's pretty accurate?

SPEAKER_03: 21:59

Yeah. Have you ever seen a Peter Pop off infomercials back in there? Yeah. Yeah, man. Have you seen a Peter Pop off? This man was selling Aquafino water. Shots of Aquafino water in a in a in a sandwich bag. And it's called Hill and Water. And he will send it to you because I signed up for it. He will send it to you.

unknown: 22:27

Really?

SPEAKER_03: 22:28

I signed up. And after three donations, well, no, after three of them. How much did you give give him? I didn't give anything. Like after that third bag came, I just threw it in the trash can. It was like, this is literally aquafina and some Vaseline. It was supposed to be like healing water, holy water, and uh I don't know if you remember that episode of Good Times when James' friend was supposed to be a pastor and he found out that James was gonna be an actor and then and it was an old episode of Good Times. I was like, oh, this is what it is. I like the Druzy skit. I like Drucky skits in general. I think they're very spot on. People are in a frenzy because art imitates life.

SPEAKER_00: 23:08

I tell that.

SPEAKER_03: 23:09

Yeah. So I mean, now the pastors aren't wearing the big chains and stuff on the on their. I got seen them on Instagram now wearing the big chains and stuff. And I came up in the Peter Popoff era, and as raw as this sounds, there was a pastor called the topless pastor. And then it was a pastor I saw, the BBL pastor. Yeah. And I'm like, you put it out there, and now somebody's actually imitating you. There's no need to get offended. Just take it for what it is. People gonna make fun of us. People make fun of me all the time. I'm five foot four with a receding hairline. They're gonna jump on me all the time. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 23:46

I thought you were taller than that.

SPEAKER_03: 23:48

My feet swinging, that's what I'm leaning right.

SPEAKER_00: 23:51

Okay. Well, you're taller than Kevin.

SPEAKER_01: 23:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 23:56

So you um you said you've been to the laugh factory. Mm-hmm. What was that like? Nerve-wracking. Really? Nerve-wracking. Yeah, that's one of the places that um, if you get an opportunity to go as a comedian, you definitely want that on your resume, right? You definitely want to. What was so nerve-wracking about it?

SPEAKER_03: 24:16

The wait list. And when I first signed up, the wait list told me I wasn't gonna be able to perform to 2035. Get out of here. Yeah. So a lot of comedians will screenshot and you'll see the year, the date that they're supposed to perform, like 2035. So I got in on a whim doing um this first impressions thing.

SPEAKER_02: 24:39

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03: 24:40

And yeah, nerve-wracking. Um, the host was to Carl Williams. So beautiful. I shot my shot prior to the uh the show. I didn't even know she was hosting it. And she got mad, don't you ever give up on your jokes again? Because I didn't know they was hitting or not. And I mean, it is what it is, you know. I got the I got the credit. Right. But I ain't got nothing else.

SPEAKER_00: 25:09

Okay. All right. So what do you have coming up now? I have Where are you gonna be? Virginia Beach.

SPEAKER_03: 25:18

Uh Williamsburg, the 31st, Epicarious Beer Project. I got a couple of shows in February. I'm just waiting for the paperwork to come back. Um, I got one Canvas Social in Hampton on the 28th. The 20th. I'm doing jokes on tap. Uh the 27th, I think I'm in Waverton, Virginia. I got a couple coming up at Coastal Brewery.

SPEAKER_00: 25:47

And yeah. What are you trying to do with comedy? Eventually leave the government job? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 25:58

I want to walk in that job. I'm like, I made it, and just peace on out. You know. That's what I want to do. I want to be able to uh give back to the comedy community.

SPEAKER_00: 26:14

I want to be able to talk about your background. That's a good one. Because people we like to know a little bit about your background. You're born in Norfolk. Born in Norfolk.

SPEAKER_03: 26:24

Yeah. I graduated from Norview High School in 2007. Where'd you live?

SPEAKER_00: 26:31

In Norview? Uh yeah, Wellington Oaks. Oh, yeah, if y'all don't know about Wellington Oaks, uh tell them about Wellington Oaks.

SPEAKER_03: 26:40

It's a little rough.

SPEAKER_00: 26:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 26:43

It was a little rough, man. But um if you got a sense of humor, you can get out of anything up there. Yeah. Yeah. Um 2012. I graduated with a bachelor's uh in business administration from ECPI University. I actually flunked out of Towerwater Community College. Um You weren't serious? Nah, I wasn't at all. Oh, come on, man. Yeah, I wasn't serious at all, man. I had to pay them students back. Right. So yeah, I flunked out. Your parents weren't happy. Nah. Honestly, if it wasn't for my mom, I'd probably be in the military because my dad was ready to ship me out at that point. Wow. So uh yeah, I graduated in 2012. Um and then after that, I tried to do this entrepreneurial thing. Uh I went through a bad breakup. I tried to flip sneakers, be a sneaker investor. I tried to buy 7-Eleven, Dunkin' Donuts, Subway, and I always got to the right there to the endpoint. And I was like, I'm cool. And I think my last call was when Toys R Us went out of business, and I had the bright idea to buy American Girl Porcelain dolls and flip them online. Little known fact, I'm afraid of porcelain dolls. So it was new. I didn't know they had porcelain dolls.

SPEAKER_02: 28:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 28:07

I'm not selling them things, man. So uh I tried a lot, man. I I I was in Why you afraid of dolls? You ever seen Toy Story?

SPEAKER_00: 28:17

You made a little woody and buzzed and all that?

SPEAKER_03: 28:22

Yeah, come on, man.

unknown: 28:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 28:25

You know, you got Toy Story, you got Chucky, Puppet Master. Those movies right there just shaped me. Like, you know, I don't, I don't, uh, I'm I'm still afraid to go take the trash out in the dark. So I don't know if Jason's gonna but I I grew up in a two-parent household. I have a sister. Um, my mother is a retired school teacher. My father was retired military and a computer engineer. Um, my sister is now a school teacher now, and I work in finance. Um, my mother's also a comedian as well, too. No, yeah, that's a lot of pressure. Yeah, a lot of pressure. That's my home. Let's see who's the funniest, right? Oh, we go heads up. Okay. We go heads up, man. And um, you know, uh she my before my father, my father passed in 2023. Um, but my father was one of my biggest supporters when it came to the comedy in the podcast. Like when I went to comedy school and they said 250, he paid half. Podcast equipment, right at best by paying half. Well, it wasn't one half. I was actually swiping his car. I'm like, oh, you know, I get you back when I can get you. I never got him back. So, you know, he was he was a big supporter. My mom, like, even now, at this age, like I came from Sacramento last week, the week before, I was in DC and a couple of weeks ago I was in Baltimore. Mom picks out, helps pick out the outfit, helps book my hotel, um, I helps me pack. She's your manager. Manager, therapist, notepad, because I'll bounce some jokes off of her. My father was the same way, but my father was a little different. My follower would, he was my actual manager. You know, I would tell him about his idea, and he was like, Well, you know what you want to do. Uh, man up, toughen up. This is what you're standing up for. So my sister is like my my common spirit, per se. Because what I would hear, I probably just flip out, you know, with all these ideas and some of the stuff that you go through in comedy, the people and the energy that you're around, you like, you know, why you like this? You know what I'm saying? And instead of venting to another comedian that's gonna probably go back and repeat it, I just vented to my sister. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:08

And um You think you think in some kind of way, um comets are it's a reflection of some of the things that are going on, their materials that inside of them. Um they they may have dealt with or I'm sorry, they may not have dealt with. Yes and no. Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 31:35

You can you can you can see when a comedian is lying on their on their when they do their set, right? Because they don't believe in a set, and that's how you get hecklers. That's how you have bad stage presence, that's how you bomb. Um, because there's no truth behind it, right? One of the greatest truth tellers in comedy is Richard Pryor. Right? Richard Pryor, numerous specials, man burnt himself up, came out, released a special, talked about it. Right, right? So um you can see that. And as a comedian, you have to find a way to take your life, your experiences, your truth, and make them funny and relatable to whoever's in that crowd. Right. And a lot of comedians don't do that, right? And we see a lot of them do it, but it's there's more that don't do it. Um we were talking about Kill Tony earlier. There's not a lot of truth sometimes behind those uh ghost comedians. Even when I go to the open mics and I see some of these shows, I'm like, just be yourself up there. Just tell them like the interesting about you because they'll laugh with you. They're not laughing at you, right? Right. And that's what a lot of us struggle with. We don't we don't go up there and tell the truth. My first two years, I was lying, and chicken wing got thrown at me. I was like, all right. That's what changed. That's what changed. Yeah. I took a month off, started a podcast, and then I came back and uh COVID happened, and I was like, all right, well, let me just watch all these comedians and see what they're doing. Like, if you just go up there, tell the truth, and act like it's a natural conversation, I guarantee you, man, you'll go far. That that 90 seconds, that 35 minutes, it'd be smooth. It'd be just natural conversation, just make it relatable. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00: 33:47

So tell us something that we haven't talked about that you know that we haven't we don't know about you. I'm shy. Really?

SPEAKER_03: 34:10

I'm very shy. I'm very quiet. There's if a microphone is in front of me, I'll talk, but if one is not in front of me, you probably wouldn't be normally. So you're introvert. Yeah, I'm very introvert, antisocial. Um, when you're doing shows, does it take a lot out of you? Yeah. Like I'm ready to just go home and sleep. After a show. After the show. Because you know, after the show, I gotta pass out business cards. I gotta kiss hands and shake the babies.

SPEAKER_02: 34:35

Oh no.

SPEAKER_03: 34:36

You have t-shirts and all that stuff. I used to have t-shirts, but now I don't do the t-shirts anymore because they it made me talk even more. So I just after a while just start giving t-shirts out for free. I was like, I'm not doing this anymore. So um I'm very, very shy, I'm very quiet. You know, I don't brag, you know, but like I said, you you wouldn't even know if I worked for the government. I was a comedian. No idea. Yeah, like you wouldn't, like I was a loan officer telling jokes. So one minute I'm denying you for a loan at three o'clock in the afternoon, but at nine o'clock at night, I'm crushing it on the stage. So you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You know, I'm very peculiar about my material, about where I perform at. I rehearse material for months just to get a good five minutes. Um, I I I go to the venue on 35th Street every Thursday. Um check that out. Yeah, get my material right. You know, that's a stand-up. Yeah, I do my stand-up every Thursday night at 9 p.m. Okay. Sometimes it can go to one o'clock in the morning. Yeah. It's five dollars to go up there and perform. And they do an open mic on Mondays. I may pull up to that open mic some Mondays. Um I watch a lot of stand-up, but I watch it on mute. I want to see how they move. I want to see their body gestures, their facial expressions, how they like who are they focusing on on the audience? Um I watch a lot of wrestling as well, too, for the promos, because the connection that they have with the audience to tell a story. You know, I like to I do that stuff, but like if you really want to know more about me, um, I'm reading now more per se. I'm reading uh Art of War by Sun Tzu and Automatic Habits, and I go to meditation classes at the Hallista Treehouse. So people don't know that. I may crack Joe's and be quiet, but two times out of the month, I'm at the Hallista Treehouse doing chapter of us meditation. You know.

SPEAKER_01: 36:55

Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 36:59

Sun Tzu read that right now. It's it's a lot of what he talks about is going on in the world.

SPEAKER_03: 37:07

Yeah, I just finished the sub of the art of not giving an F. Um when it's about working smarter and caring less. And I've read that book twice. Just like a Bible, I would highlight what sticks out and go back and make my notes. And you know, that's how I'm that's my piece. I don't like a lot of noise. I meditate, not just at the list of trials. Sometimes you may see me outside, literally in my garage with the door open. Like just watching nature. I don't have my phone on me all the time. Um looking at birds. Just stand there looking at birds, like listening to Grover Washington. Oh, okay. Now now, you know, it's Philly boy there, so yeah, like I'm listening to Andre 3000's album or like, you know. Like him too. Yeah, Lil John from the Lil John East Boss got a meditation album out, meditation albums.

SPEAKER_00: 38:10

No.

SPEAKER_03: 38:10

So I'm listening to them, like, you know, and Bob Marley, is I'm just that's that's just me. It's just very much of an introvert, you know, holistic practices, reading, meditation, easy going, you know, and quiet. Like, this is gonna be the most I'm gonna talk all day. And I got free will. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 38:38

Okay. So um you you name some of the places. How can we find you on uh social media? Well, first of all, what social media platforms are you on? I'm on everything. Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 38:52

Uh Instagram, Comedian Rome. Okay, YouTube at Comedian Rome Davis, Twitter at Comedian Rome.

SPEAKER_00: 39:01

Do you have any of your on YouTube? They have some of your your clips of your stand-up? I got the full stand-up. Oh, on YouTube?

SPEAKER_01: 39:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 39:10

Okay, good. Full podcast episodes. I don't believe in uh not putting the full clip up. I'll put a teaser up there and then I'll upload the full clip. Um because somebody gotta see me, you know. Whether I get one view or ten views, it don't matter to me as long as somebody watched it. So I know I'm doing the thing. So we could Okay. Where we at on TikTok? Uh Comedian Rome.

SPEAKER_00: 39:41

Actually, I get better with TikTok. Okay. Uh Letterboxed. But like you said, you know, the attention span. That's what that's what TikTok's for. Those people that have like the short attention span. Yeah, that attention span, very short.

SPEAKER_03: 39:54

Letterbox, the comedian Rome. I review movies, Substack. I write Substack articles. Uh Twitter, Comedian Rome, uh, Facebook, Rome Davis. You can find me up there. I even have a website. If you go to one of those pages, if you click that link, um, it'll put you on all the social media, the mailing list, the podcast, any articles or interviews I've been featured in. You'll see all of those. Okay. Okay. And I appreciate you having me up here. I've been looking at your book collection, your poster collection outside.

SPEAKER_00: 40:30

Yeah, I'm a little different, probably.

SPEAKER_03: 40:32

But what do you think? Oh no, I actually like this because I saw the Art of War by Sun Tzu. I saw the Ben Carson book. Uh, and I was about to ask you about the Black Revolution on campus, and this is actually dope.

SPEAKER_00: 40:44

That's that's Stokely Carmichael. Yeah. So it's it's kind of interesting. But um, I had to get Ben Carson because if someone was telling me how they were impressed with Ben Carson, you know, all the things that he had accomplished. And um I picked it up at a thrift store, and it was um it was an older white lady, and we were out in Gloucester, and she picked it up, and she was just pointing out Ben Carson. And I'm sitting here thinking that's probably one of the few black people that she's known that's accomplished anything. So she I identifies with them because she's probably in the same political party, and I'm just sitting there growing up in Philly. I mean, that's you know, that there's doctors, black doctors everywhere, you know. Um so, but I I picked it up, that Ben Carson book. So I started trying to figure out what his thinking was about. Like I said, I like to read and teach.

SPEAKER_03: 41:56

Yeah. So you been to the African American Museum in DC?

SPEAKER_00: 42:01

I have not recommended. Um, you mean the one that they're trying to close? Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 42:11

I was there two weeks ago. I was like, hurry, I was like, yeah, well, my friend. I told her, I was like, yeah, baby, you gotta go quick because they're gonna shut this down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 42:20

Um, but I I probably know a little bit more about most history, African-American history. You know, coming from Philly and then going to HBCU. I kind of had my eyes opened up. A lot more. My history teacher was uh he was actually mayor of Chesapeake. So and um it's this was it's kind of funny. Before he, you know, you had the internet and everything, you could sign up for newsletters and enroll, and he had signed up for like the Ku Klux Klan newsletters and everything, and he would bring him to class and talk about them. And um, of course they didn't know who he was, right? Because everything was by mail. So um I learned a lot from just going from the HBCU and and the thinking here. Your grandparents with you? Yeah. So they can tell you stories.

SPEAKER_03: 43:20

Oh, yeah, they told me a lot of stories.

SPEAKER_00: 43:23

Um, my father did too. Um your mom and dad are from here. Yep. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 43:31

Yep. Yeah. Yep. Both graduated from Norview High School too. Oh, okay. That's awesome. That's good. Same yeah, so yeah, I heard a lot of stories. And um, like I was saying about that that that the Smithsonian American, um, African American Museum. I learned a lot, but I feel like they didn't touch on certain things. I feel like they could have added more, but it's we just got it in 2020. It's 2026 when I saw it. So I know it'll be more. To come um to it, then you know, maybe one day listen, listen, your podcast might be in there. Maybe my podcast may be in there.

SPEAKER_00: 44:09

Yeah, you might be up there because, you know, like you said, you feel like comedy is something that brings people together. Yeah. Right? So um you may be there.

SPEAKER_03: 44:23

Comedy is a gateway. The microphone, per se, is a is a gateway. Yeah. Music is too though.

SPEAKER_00: 44:28

Yeah, it is. Music and comedy, I s I I I see connect people.

SPEAKER_03: 44:32

Yeah, you get to travel a lot more, you know. Like I didn't never think I was gonna be going to California, Sacramento, California to be a Zach, to do stuff like that and and meeting these people that I will watch on TV. Yeah, you know. I'm at Seinfield.

SPEAKER_00: 44:54

Yeah. Yeah. So we're getting off. Yeah. What do you think? Coming growing where you growing up where you are and going and meeting people and different people, how has you how has it shaped the way you see people that have maybe from a different area, socioeconomic level, culture, cultural backgrounds, um, has opened up your eyes, would you say? Nah. What would it how has it influenced your thought?

SPEAKER_03: 45:31

My only thought is like the social, economic, or the backgrounds, like everybody just wants to laugh. Okay. So everybody's there to laugh. Nobody goes to a comedy club not to laugh. Nobody goes to comedy clubs. Doesn't matter. Yeah, don't matter where you come from. Nope. You just want to laugh. You might have had a hard day working for the government.

SPEAKER_01: 45:53

You probably do right now.

SPEAKER_03: 45:54

You probably have a lot of those, right? You just here to laugh, you know what I'm saying? You trying to escape for two hours. Right. And then in them two hours, you didn't paid to see me. Or you came out to see me, so yeah. I gotta do my my part to make sure that at least when you go home, you like, man, that little guy was was killing it up there. He was funny, you know what I'm saying? So I feel like everybody needs to laugh. Like, it's too much going on right now. You gotta laugh, man. If we ain't laugh, we wouldn't have to be. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00: 46:29

Okay. I appreciate you coming in and talking with us. Appreciate you having me. We need to get out to see you a little bit more. And um your podcast. We gotta check that out. How often does that record? I mean, you uh put that out.

SPEAKER_03: 46:52

Uh I got two episodes off of season 12 now. So I put out an episode maybe once every two weeks.

SPEAKER_00: 46:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 46:58

All right.

SPEAKER_00: 47:00

All right. Thank you for coming in. Thank y'all for having me. That concludes today's episode of Listen Up. We'll catch you next time on Listen Up. If you enjoyed today's episode, I'm gonna ask you to click on the links below. Follow, subscribe, become part of the conversation. And remember, listen up.