DC comedian Tommy Davidson returns home to ‘dispense happy’

Next week, the D.C. Improv hosts hometown favorite Tommy Davidson for six shows.

Davidson explained to WTOP contributor Joe Yasharoff that “his trips to comedy clubs are about dispensing happy to people.”

“I go into these little enclaves in this country and sit there with people from all backgrounds, with different minds, different likes, different dislikes, and make them laugh at the same time,” Davidson said.

Before he became a household name on “In Living Color,” his story shows dreams do come true.

“How can you get left in a trash heap in Mississippi, end up in Washington, D.C.?” Davidson said.

Yes, Davidson was abandoned as a baby and was rescued and adopted by a woman who raised him in Washington and Maryland.

He moved through neighborhoods in Wheaton, Rosemary Hills, Silver Spring and Takoma Park, and attended Rosemary Hills Elementary School, Sligo Middle School and Bethesda Chevy Chase High School.

His mother cried when he didn’t continue college at UDC. Davidson said she told him she wanted that for him because she vowed to get him through school after finding him in the trash.

“As long as you do something that makes people happy, you’re not hurting anyone and you’re able to help people, I’ll be happy with just that,” she told him.

He worked jobs at Walter Reed, Roy Rogers, IHOP and Hechinger before a friend convinced him to try stand-up at a club in downtown D.C. Davidson said the manager gave him five minutes.

Less than a year after Davidson grabbed the mic and made everyone laugh, he was in Hollywood.

Davidson credits his upbringing for shaping who he is, calling his old neighborhood a place where love was practiced as a way of life. He says every time he takes the stage, familiar faces including his former teachers are still sitting in the crowd.