Tommy Davidson is a man of the people.  The comedian, whose classic impersonations were a staple of the 90s variety show In Living Color, prides himself on his ability to make anyone laugh, regardless of race.

“If you’re laughin at me you’re laughing at everybody,” he says.  “I can make blacks laugh just as loud as whites.”

Growing up, Tommy’s family was different than most of the others in his Washington D.C. neighborhood.  At the age of two, Tommy was adopted by a white parents and was raised alongside two white siblings.

“I grew up with every type of person; Jewish, Latino, Carribean, African, so I got exposed to everything out there,” he says.  “It let me know that we’re all the same.  We’re different in our ways but we’re all basically the same.”

He was just like any other kid.  He got along well with his classmates and stayed out of trouble for the most part.  “I was a good student with bad study habits,” he says.  He went to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland, where his favorite subject was history.

After high school, he worked a few jobs before entering into the comedy world.  He worked at a nearby hospital and a home improvement store, which in hindsight, he says, “was a really good job.”   Until one day his friend, who worked at a strip club, pushed Tommy into trying his comedy out on stage.

“I wouldn’t get on stage because I’d never tried it.  But he said ‘I’ll put you on for 10 minutes, just try it out and see how it feels to be up there.’  So I just did it.  And I havent stopped since,” he says.

Ten minutes is a long time to be alone on stage, especially for the first time.  So how did Tommy prepare for it? “I didn’t,” he replies, very matter-of-factly.  Tommy’s comedy has always been done in an off-the-cuff, improvisational way.  It’s a style that helps him look at what he does as just more than comedy — but as an art form.

“I’m just creating,” he says.  “I’m creating on stage and I’m performing at a higher level because I’m not thinking about what I’m doing.  I’m finding new stuff, and at the same time, I’m finding new ways to do my older stuff too.”

His approach first caught the attention of Robert Townsend, who invited him onto his HBO variety show, Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime, which Davidson credits as his first big break.  This led to many more opportunities for Tommy, appearing on The Arsenio Hall Show, going on the road with Luther Vandross, and filming a TV pilot with Eddie Murphy, who is one of Davidson’s biggest inspirations.  “That was like a dream come true,” he says.

Eventually, Tommy was casted for a TV variety show, In Living Color, an advance that he took in stride.  “I wasnt that fired up about it,” he says.  “Making comedy isn’t hard.  I knew it was harder to get it on the air than it was to make it.”

After the show ran its course, ending in May, 1994, Tommy went on to appear in various films and TV episodes, from MADtv to The Bernie Mac Show to Everybody Hates Chris.  As he slowly transitions from comedian to screen-actor, he has not forgotten the individualistic nature of his comedy, and has continued to tour across the country, doing nearly 200 shows per year.  As far as his preference between sketch-comedy and stand-up goes, he says he wouldn’t give either of them up.

“I guess I’d pick stand up because it’s mine, all mine,” he says. “I’d rather go on doing my own thing.  I think thats the only way you get things done.  Jimi Hendrix would never be like, ehhhh, I’d better bounce some ideas off someone before I do it.”

Funny, sharp, quick, stoic, excitable and occasionally deadpan, Tommy Davidson’s attributes fit together like jigsaw pieces, forming a truly original and innovative comedy style.

“At first I didnt want to be a comedian because I wanted people to take me seriously,” he says.  “But I found out that that doesn’t really matter.  It doesnt matter if people take you seriously or whatever, what matters is that people care about what you’re doing.”

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