Philadelphia-Fairmount area stand-up comedian David James – the first Philly’s Phunniest Winner at Helium and the creator of “How to Drive in Philly” on YouTube and Facebook – is gearing up for a busy April with gigs at Odd Logic Brewing Co in Bristol, PA (April 2), the Poconos Palace and Cove Haven (April 8-9) and the AC Comedy Club in Atlantic City, NJ (April 15). That’s a lot of comedy.
At a time when comedians are expected to bare their social-oriented souls or stand up on issues, Favid James does not think of himself as a political comedian or even necessarily a conscious one. “My comedy is most autobiographical, focused on things that frustrate me, but those observations don’t go toward the social one,” says David James. “Everything bugs me, but it’s not political. It’s the things that just don’t make sense to me, or pisses me off – like getting into six car accidents in 2 years when I lived in South Philly – that I write about or develop into a bit.”
As for having to be careful about what he and any other comedian can and can’t say, James finds it ridiculous that people living on social media will go out of their way to damn a celebrity. “People went after Joe Rogan by going back finding out how many times he said the n-word. Those same people who accused him of that don’t ever talk about context. Rogan’s been doing his show for thousands of episodes. Now you’re going back and finding these emails? Some people have nothing better to do than tear someone else down. That’s frustrating. Having to be so careful. Me personally, I don’t care if people are offended over what I say, because I know that nothing that I say comes from a place of hurt.”
It should be noted that David James is an African-American male who didn’t take great issue with what Joe Rogan or his guests said in regard to the n-word. “Part of me goes through something where I defend the comic first, because I know that someone could twist my words around… I mean the best thing, or at least the smartest thing, would be to not say the word the n-word if you’re not Black. I would also have to see a pattern of hatred or being a racist. Either way, attacks on comics and cancel culture pisses me off more.”
For David James, the divisions between comics shouldn’t be politicized by party lines or social. “Inclusivity is necessary, that’s a fact,” he says. “But the division should be actually whether you are funny or not. Working on your material or not. There are people now who’ll blame their lack of success, following or getting on shows for being part of one community or group of people. I’m like ‘No. You’re not on this show because you’re not funny. Last time you were booked you were supposed to do twenty minutes, you did badly, and you bailed at eleven minutes even though you got paid for twenty.’ There’s no arguing with people about it.”
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