Description
A worldly realist in the vein of George Carlin or Richard Pryor, Trenton Davis is mindful but unflinching. In “@trentoncomedy”, his follow up to “It Had To Be Said” (also on Uproar Comedy), jokes matter. Putting jokes front and center; kidding is imperative. Trenton Davis’s cool, sophisticated attention to detail, his comedy craftsmanship, feels familiar yet fresh. Trenton’s material is lived-in and personal, but avoids being precious or self-aggrandizing. His view of his world coupled with his talent gives a clear and uncompromised picture – bitter truths, pettiness, insecurities and all.
“@trentoncomedy” is a well-rounded, classic, laugh-packed comedy album. While provocative, Trenton is too grounded to be a purely shock comedian. While brazen, he’s too measured to be overwhelmingly obscene. Trenton Davis has the ability to know, to toe, to step over, and gently coax the audience over the line. He’s an engaging, affecting, smart, charming, confident comedian that puts funny first. To that point, the album’s title is a thinly veiled self-promoting allusion to the comedian’s social media handle. Trenton is upfront and refreshingly frank with the crowd about the “business” in “show business”. Social media followers mean casting, opportunities, Trenton jokingly explains to the audience. “@trentoncomedy” is full of laughs, realness, and wisdom. A commitment to candor, as well as a commitment to funny. “@trentoncomedy” encourages you to lower your defenses and laugh, or be mad at your own peril.
Richard Lanoie –
Published By: Richard Lanoie of The Serious Comedy Site.
If you enjoy relationship comedy, you are well served with @trentoncomedy by Trenton Davis. Davis hits all the style’s targets with stories about his wife and child and the difficulties of being in a couple.
Trenton Davis’ material is above the usual fare. That in itself is refreshing. This does not mean he does not get tripped up by a couple of the usual tropes such as “happy to be here, means I am not at home with the wife and kids”.
Davis makes interesting points such as who decides when there will be break-up or being answered with questions to get in even more trouble.
Things get real in Racist White Women where the stand-up comic takes on racism in America head on but not agressively.
I was rather less impressed with the material on Caitlin Jenner as there is nothing special there but Davis is smart enough to segue into how women are treated.
I particularly liked the bit where Trenton Davis promises his child black Band-Aids but cannot find any anywhere. It is a very subtle take on something in America
Robert Barry Francos –
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.