Where do you go for your real-world understanding of money and how finances work? You can hit YouTube and do some research, hit up some of your favorite websites, or get edutained. The term may be kinda wack, but it’s a great way to get knowledge: you learn while you have a good time. One of the stand-up comedians who makes sure to inject some financial literacy into his comedy is Nore Davis, who you’ve seen on Succession, Conan, and Group Therapy. While it’d be easy for him to spend his entire set riffing on COVID or sex, it’s awesome to hear Davis bring up paying rent, or his credit score––things every artist worries about when it comes to making ends meet.
“It’s the playing cards of the capitalist country that we live in,” explains Davis when asked about why he speaks often on being financially literate in his sets. “I’m trying to translate it into my stand-up.”
Fresh off an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon (where he riffed on likely renting forever), Davis talks money with Complex. For anyone trying to figure out how to make money (and stay making money) as a stand-up comedian, Davis has some tips, including why he got on SoundExchange, how he stays dripped in Jordans, and much more. Get edutained!
Talking Money Onstage
The Long Road to Getting Paid
“It’s really just figuring out the game yourself. My dad [is] a retired police officer, my mama, retired teacher, so I have that family of, ‘Go to school, get an education, and you get a job.’ Well, even jobs today, or even back then, don’t even pay enough for you to live.
“What I figured out, [and] what a lot of comics also do, [is] go on the road with a bigger headliner. I would be on the road with Tracy Morgan, and that was a good one, because he would pay really good, and I would open up for him in theaters. Or a Patton Oswalt, or Bill Bellamy, all them cats like that. And they bring you on the road. You’d get about five stacks, and you’re like, ‘Word, all right, got a big weekend.’ But talking about money? No, it would always be about either getting money from a booker or figuring out how much your gig is to do.
“Or another [hustle] is a writing gig. That would help out a lot, too. Writing on a TV show, punching up scripts. Did that in LA; lived in LA for three months. That was 2011, before my daughter was born. I was living in LA for three months––I hated it, but I needed that $5K. It was for a pilot. It was, like, $5K, $6K. I needed that.”