Billy Wayne Davis Gives Us All a Trip That We Needed in Comedy Specials with “Testify”
The pacing of comedy specials churned out by Netflix and HBO and others make it seem like the majority of what an hour long stand-up comedy special will be is a well-rehearsed, considered hour of jokes done on a mostly empty stage with a mic and mic stand. Thanks to the likes of Bo Burnham, Hannah Gadsby, Hasan Minhaj, Moses Storm, Maria Bamford, Christina Catherine Martinez, Adam Sandler, Danny Jolles, Nick Vatterott, Whitmer Thomas, Gary Gulman, and more, there is a wave of reimagining what the comedy special is and can be.
Billy Wayne Davis’ brand new special Testify marvelously furthers this notion on top of Davis’ wry use of his Southern drawl and the sharp panache of his storytelling and observations.
Taped at Denver landmark, The International Church of Cannabis, Davis recounts parallel narratives of a drug trip and a trip to a parole hearing, which could be enough to account for a solid, traditional-looking special. Billy doesn’t waste the space his chosen with utilizing projected flourishes of colors that go with all the “religious” use of cannabis at that one-of-a-kind church. Soothing hip music and a dream sequence are all in the mix to distinguish Testify as a stand out special, but not to the degree where it would outshine the core of the hour (and what should be the core of any comedy special, no matter how experimental it is), Billy’s precisely whittled comedy. Davis deftly and, almost stealthily, works in differing reactions and explaining references in a way that feels less expositional and just simply part of a really funny bit.
None of how splendid Testify is should be surprising considering that one of Billy’s first recorded works was at Jack White’s hallowed Third Man Records (and only a handful of other comedians even got to record at such a rarefied stage).
Billy Wayne Davis’ Testify premiered live already, but is available to stream for replay at Moment. Go buy and watch it over and over (it’s definitely that type of special that demands that) here.