Tommy Davidson headlines at Ricochet in Miami Beach

By Mike Hamersly1/25/2012

These days, everybody's a comedian. Pick up a mike, turn on the camera, get goofy and go viral on YouTube, right? Well, not quite. Few comics can stand the test of time, but one who has is headed for Miami. Check out Tommy Davidson, an original member of  "In Living Color" - the early-'90s comedy sketch show created by the Wayans brothers that also launched the careers of David Alan Grier, Jamie Foxx and Jim Carrey (not to mention former Fly Girl, JLo) - as he takes the stage at Ricochet Bar & Lounge on Monday night. He talked to Miami.com about his act, what he loves most about Miami, and why "Saturday Night Live" sucks.
 
Q: What can we expect from your show?
A: Ooh, everything - I'm the best in the business. I've been watching Michael Jordan playing basketball: Dribble left, dribble right, dunk left, dunk right. Anything you want - I do impressions, I do improv, I do characters, I do political, I do story-telling, I do it all - And One. I'm actually not a stand-up - I'm actually a stand-up performer. I'm the first of a kind, and so was Richard Pryor. They hadn't defined that art yet.
 
Q: Speaking of your impressions, who are some of your favorite people to impersonate?
A: President Obama - I love doing him, because he's current, and I can actually do it. But my staples are Stallone and Sammy Davis Jr.
 
Q: Back when you were doing "In Living Color," did you all know it was special?
A: Yeah. Especially when it didn't get picked up the first time around [laughs]. We were all disappointed, but we were so used to it, you know?
 
Q: What was it about that show that stood out the most to you?
A: That it was actually funny. No, seriously, when I say that I mean that. You know, with sitcoms, funny goes a little bit backwards, because they run laugh-tracks, and you don't have to have a real laugh. All you have to do is have a pattern where you can sneak in a laugh. "Saturday Night Live" was a show that was so successful and funny at first, but they just accepted mediocre shows because it was the only show in town. It was weak. I mean, nobody can take anything away from Aykroyd and Belushi and that group, and there was even brilliance with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey - they had their bright spots, but the real squad was the Chicago players. That was us - we came in as like a genuine core of really, really funny people at a time when there wasn't any competition in that area because "Saturday Night Live" sucked. Still do. So we're the reigning champs of sketch comedy over the last 20 years.
 
Q: Are you still close with any of the guys?
A: Me and Jim [Carrey] are really cool. He was my friend back then.
 
Q: You're a Northeast, D.C. kind of guy - what do you think of Miami?
A: Love it - it's my favorite place. One of my favorite places in the world. You got it all. You. Got. It. All. You got the Caribbean weather, with everyone from everywhere in the world. Everywhere from Russia to Brazil, from Sweden to Belize, from Costa Rica to Kosovo, and everything in between. It's one of our few international cities - we've only got a few: San Francisco, we got Los Angeles, we got Miami and we have New York. But probably Miami and New York are the two real international cities in the U.S. - but the weather is so much better in Miami than in New York. And the real reason it's my favorite is it's close to Cuba - that's my favorite joint in the world.

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