Leadership Lessons from Improv and Reinvention with Christopher Davis

Can improv make you a better leader?

In this episode of Insight Into Leadership, Caroline talks with Christopher Davis about how improv, adaptability, and reinvention shape confident, effective leadership. Learn how to think on your feet, embrace change, and grow into your next level.

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Insight into Leadership explores what becomes possible when leaders stop operating on autopilot and begin leading with clarity, awareness, and purpose.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Well welcome, Christopher. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:02

I'm good. How are you? Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Well, we're glad to have you here. I know the last time uh I think since the last time I saw you, you were in Japan. That must have been really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

It was the best time in the world.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

That's one of the places on my list to go. It's just so rich in culture and history and the arts.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Yes. It was the art was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

How about the food?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

The food was excellent.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Very artistic too.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Artistic and just really good. I love everything about Japan from the anime to the culture to just their food and the architecture and design aesthetic. Just been a big fan of Japan.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Well, everything about it. I mean, as an artist, as a creative, um, that country is just so rich in art. Even even their handwriting is just so beautiful. Japanese calligraphy is and they write from top to bottom and so fleft to right. It's just and each word is like a picture.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Yeah. Yeah, because literally, like I think some of the words are like there'll be a word that looks like a house, and that is a word for house.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Well, that's definitely a place I I want to go see one day. Because where's the country? Did you go hiking?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Yes. We went on a uh the pilgrimage trail to use go by little temple stops wherever you can get your like little booklet uh stamps.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yeah. So we were hiking. It rained at one point. We were hiking up the mountain in the rain and had several stops, little coffee shops, little cafes, and little places, and it was just the most beautiful scenery.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

So, how many how many miles a day were you guys hiking?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Man, I don't know how many miles that was.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Okay. Well, that's good. You were just kind of taking it through scenery.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

From nine to five, I don't know. Seven million miles. That's what it's like.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Seven million.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Not like seven million miles, but the scenery was gorgeous. It was amazing. Amazing. Everything we came by. Farms, rice farms, people, yep, just living their lives out in the countryside.

unknown 1:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

It's really nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

So what else have we been up to?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Uh, what else? Everything. I've been hosting a lot. Just finished doing an art show, art walk downtown. That was great. One of my best art walks. I had so much fun. So a lot of art, met a lot of good people, saw a lot of good friends, made some good connections. Uh, and then right after that, I hosted the Moth Grand Slam at Dorothy Jemison Day Theater. And then in Toto, as a group I work with, we do outreach to homeless shelters and men and women and veterans. So I hosted our fundraising event for that the next day and do stand up and improv. Got improv shows coming up, did improv on the two days later after that.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

And hosting the moth coming up and teaching improv. Yeah, so it's busy.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Well, that's the the great thing about you. You're so multi-talented. I mean, you know, is with the art.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

But I know you've you've grown up here in in Birmingham. You're a native of Birmingham and spent some time in in Savannah. But if you would, just for our listeners, just kind of give us a little bit of background, you know, your upbringing and and how you got into art and all the creative things that you do do.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, North Birmingham, Collegeville, to be specific. And after high school, I went to Lhasa State Community College for a couple years. And then I just stopped to work full-time at a florist. I was a florist for four years. And then at the ripe old age of, I think, 22, so I said, well, I need to go finish my art schooling. So I applied for uh Savannah College of Art and Design, got in there, was there for several years, got a degree in graphic design.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

So why the Savannah School of Art?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Um, I had always known about it since high school. There was a pamphlet, a brochure. That's where we all started.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

And it's like, well, this is where I want to go. This is where I want to go. Uh but in typical 18-year-old.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

So that was your vision board. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

That was it. Yeah. The typical 18-year-old fashion, I was dragging my feet and didn't apply literally and figuratively. But Lost Estate had visited the high school, my uh professor, Stephen Walker, and uh they were offering scholarships. And I was like, oh, this is a nice opportunity. This is like a I guess I got a scholarship, I got grants, and uh I really enjoyed my time at Lost Estate, and it really prepared me. And my professors, Stephen Walker, he really prepared me for a lot of things. Just like from my high school art teacher, Mrs. Gilbreath, to Mr. Walker. They both really prepped me for future education and just life in general. I remember in high school, Mrs. Gilbreath said, uh, okay, when when you go off to college, it's gonna be a much different place or whatever if you go up to art school. So she held up a piece of paper and said, Okay, I'm your professor and this is your art. And she ripped it and she said, What do you do now? And I was like, very wide-eyed. It's like, oh, I didn't know anyone was allowed to not like me. I was the star little artist in high school. Yeah, so that that stuck with me to this day and all through college. And Mr. Walker showed me a a lot of a lot of cool techniques. I mean, illustration, the sculpture, the sign painting. Like I'm 19 years old and I'm making a bust of myself. You know, never thought I'd be doing that. And everything transferred over to Savannah.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

And so it was a kind of a smooth transition.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

It was really smooth. Yeah. Because even people who were at bigger schools, their steps didn't transfer, like Lawson did. They it all it all transferred, I think except for math or something, which was terrible. I'm terrible at math. I had to take math again, bait up my existence, followed me all the way to Georgia.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

But I mean, as far as uh when you look back, it's like, wow, you know, it was really meant to be. I mean, as far as you know, setting you up for success, and then those two mentors, the one from high school and college.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

So uh Yeah, they're really, really intrical in my education and just becoming the artist and person I am.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

So, as far as going to Savannah, uh, what was that experience like?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Because you said best move I've ever made in my entire life. Yeah, it was the most eye-opening, wonderful experience. Everything was was great about Savannah. I took a tour there once just as a visiting. It was just the school was amazing, the scenery. I'd never been to Savannah before. It was just gorgeous. It was gorgeous. It was there's a palm tree growing in an alley. I have to come here.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Oh, I I love Savannah. I toured it and I saw the school. I wanted to go into the school, but I wasn't allowed to go into school and take a tour. But I saw all the bikes lined up.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

That's oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

That was pretty. They're all different colors.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Yeah, I love the bikes. Gotta lock your lock your bike up. I locked mine up and they stole the other half of it. A lot of bike deaths from when I was, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

You live in Larry.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

So then you finish up with a degree in graphic art, um, as a graphic artist.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

And then decide to come back to Birmingham.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Yeah. So I um I was working full-time right after graduation. And uh, I took my last elective class, it was a furniture design class, which I had to have one elective, and I took furniture design. I just had one. If that was the first class I took, I don't know if I would have been a graphic designer.

unknown 6:54

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

I loved it so much. I still love it. I want to get back into it one day. But I was working at a restaurant there on River Street, and I applied to, I had an interview in Chicago at one place, and I applied to Slaughter Hansen advertising. In fact, I told myself when I left I was not coming back to Birmingham because you know, you'll never see me again, hometown. I don't know, kind of weird animosity, but that was just when you're young, it's like you'll never see me again. But I interviewed at Slaughter Hanson. I got very fortunate on my first job out of college was at Slaughter Hansen. So I was there for a year. That was a great experience. Um, I was a little green, though, a little greener than some of the other designers there, and things weren't quite working out. My boss gave me a second chance to kind of come up to speed, but it didn't work out, so they had to let me go, uh, which is fine. But uh a testament to being nice at work. I I really, I really suggest people don't be a jerk uh at your at your place of employment. Because my last day after I let go, everybody was like, hey Chris, hey, how's it going? Um, because I had a good relationship with them. And um, they knew me, they like me, I like them. I didn't have a computer at home yet. So I was up there using a computer to work on my resume and my portfolio so I can get another gig. Shortly after that, um, I got a job at Southern Living magazine. So I got lucky enough to the two places I want to work at, I got to work at.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

And Southern Living. Great great magazine.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Best job I've ever had in my life. Best job ever.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

So where did you start in in that journey with them? Were you in graphic design? Did you start there?

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Yeah, I um they hired me as a uh in the art department. So I did Paisley out. Then eventually we had an illustrator there, but he left. So eventually I started doing illustration. I would do some logos and icons and other special sections and design work, and then that just branched off into sometimes I do some photo styling. I did a floral design for a story.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

We had a lot of experience with that.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Yeah. I just got to randomly do things around the building. It was just this odd, cool stuff. And I got to write one story, which was great because I really love writing.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

So, what was the article on?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Savannah Film Festival. I kept pitching it for years. It's like you gotta do a story in a Savannah Film Film Festival, and maybe you should send me. So convinced them they finally sent me, had an excellent time, wonderful experience. I finally got a little story in the magazine. Very little. This little. Tiny.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Were they impressed and said, hey, we'll give you more.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Um I didn't get much. No, I didn't get any more after that. I always pitched stuff. I did help people with blurbs and titles a lot. That was that was pretty, pretty fun for me to do. Some people were like, I don't know how to title this, and I would give them an idea, whatever, and they would go with it. So I only have one story, but several of my blurbs are are out there in Southern Living. They're all over the place. I'm a good blurb man. Blurb is uh there's the title, and then there's that bit underneath the title. That's the blurb for people who don't know what blurb is. Now that I say blurb one more time, it sounds like a ridiculous word. You better stop saying blurb. Start at it again.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

But as far as uh working with them, how long were you there?

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Ten years.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

It's great.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Ten really cool years. Me and 200 of my closest friends got laid off from Sun of the Living. But the economy was tanking with the whole housing crisis. We're in a recession. Print was being hit really bad at that point because the digital world was coming up. Yeah. And people weren't buying magazines as as much. So a lot of people were getting laid off, including me. And that's when I had to uh pivot.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

And what was the pivot?

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Well, I became a freelance graphic designer. And by became, I mean I had no choice because I just got laid off.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Basically, you were you were working for yourself, your own business, yeah, type deals.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Yeah, and it was feast or famine, mostly famine. And I had a few projects I was working on. We did a short-lived uh internet and public access show called View of the City. I was working on. So we had a few episodes of that, but it was one of those things that didn't last because people had we weren't getting any revenue for it. So you can't have people working completely for free all the time. So that didn't work out. I am very proud of what we did with that. And that was doing more freelance, and then I decided, you know, I want to do an art show. I've always wanted to do an art show. Yeah. I'd been to art shows, loved it, and never done myself. I'm gonna do an art show. So I applied to uh a little art show at uh a place called Bottle Tree, which isn't around anymore. Yes. And then I said, I applied and I got in. I said, yay! And then I thought, oh, I need to figure out what I'm going to do. So I remember this dog illustration that I did at work. It was just some random sketch. I said, maybe I do like those dogs, and maybe I start doing those. So doing all these dog drawings, that was my thing for a while. I called it the dog and no pony show. And we got really popular. Started to do more art shows, and I started to do the bigger ones, and I got to be featured artist at Manic City Art Connection one year, and that was an excellent, excellent year. But I kept drawing dogs, and people started saying, Hey, will you draw my dog? I say, sure, I never draw anybody's dog before. So I was doing it in my style, and then that style evolved into a slightly more realistic but still pop art style. And so that led to me doing pet portraits. So I do pet portraits.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, the style that you've used for those dogs, I just love it. I mean, the colors, you know, it it just pops and and uh it's very vibrant and thank you. Um it's almost like personality is jumping out at you from those pictures. So you're able to capture that.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Yeah, trying to capture the dog's personality as best as possible. And when people get it, the portrait is like, Oh, you really captured your personality. So I that makes me feel good.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Move from the dogs to birds.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Yes. So I've been doing these silly bird illustrations lately. Last year, not two years, just after the pandemic, had this idea of drawing birds with speech balloons saying, uh, but before that I had done a um a design project for Alabama Audubon Society for their bird banding uh for 2020. Then the pandemic happened, so it was moved to 2022. And when I was doing that, I was sketching birds a lot just for the design. And then I made one that was talking with speech balloon, and that's how the bird art came about. And that just evolved into other elaborate bird art, and then now is I'm doing these little wiggly birds that are just kind of they're cute. Yeah, they're thank you. They are cute. Bewildered looking birds, very wide-eyed.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

So while you were working on your art, um, as far as I know you mentioned performance, there was a little bit of that, and then it just kind of because you know everybody went their way.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Um, as far as the improv and being on stage, at what point did that get introduced to?

SPEAKER_00 13:36

That was really by chance. I had no inkling of doing comedy, like performing it. Uh, I did an internship at a radio station while I was in Savannah in college, and I loved that. And I love being silly and being fun. I always knew I was funny and I've been funny around my friends, but had no idea about doing it professionally or theatrically at all. And uh this this will date me. My sister wanted to rent a DVD from the video store, and she didn't have an account there. So I said, okay, I'll go rent one for you. So we went over there and it was a flyer, wanted 10 to 12 people for an improv comedy troupe. And I thought, that's kind of interesting. So I saw the flyer on Sunday, auditions were Monday, and I went down there and auditioned, and I got in, and I've been doing improv for 25 years now.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

So as far as the improv goes, I know they're you moved into the teaching, teaching improv. When did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 14:30

That happened with Red Mountain Theater Company. They approached me about teaching improv. And I had taught improv and improv classes with uh ETC with Douglas O'Neill who started at ETC. So he would have a class at Stanford University and I would sit in with that and help teach. And then uh Red Mountain Theater asked about teach the summer theater program uh for their summer boot camp. And uh that was a great experience. So, and I've been doing that for several years. I teach an adult class with them. I taught at Red Mount Theater Company and Art Play at UAB and just at different schools and places around town and out of town, like recently, the last two years in Troy, Alabama.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Yeah. So I go there once in the spring to teach a coup for a couple of days in the school system.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

So as far as you know, working with businesses and corporations, um I know a lot of people are talking about improv and and what it can bring to the individual, what it can bring to the team, what it can bring to the company. Um and as far as being present, being creative, thinking on your feet, all that. As far as working with companies, are you doing more of that?

SPEAKER_00 15:37

I am, fortunately. That was my goal last year to do that. And I've been very fortunate that I've gotten to do that a lot this year. Improv is is great for entertainment, except for those people who don't like improv. And I know who you are. I know who you are, and you're wrong. It's awesome. I think some people don't like improv because probably because they've seen a lot of bad improv. But we try not to do bad improv. But improv is great for in their jobs and our lives, because it really teaches you how to be present with people. Sometimes things are going smooth at work, sometimes there's conflict, sometimes you're working with customers. So it teaches you how to be present, be an active listener, and try to find a solution to the problem. Don't let it devolve into an argument. You know, it's it's a great experience to have, I believe. The people come away from it with really some good tools. And that's my goal. Because I don't want anybody to just come in and like, oh, that was fun. I didn't get anything from it. So I really want them to get something positive and useful from it.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

So the people that are coming to you for the classes, and I I guess if it's through a business or corporation, they're just like, oh, hey, Chris, here's like five people and you know, they're coming to you and they might be resistant. They might just like, well, you know, my boss told me I had to be here or yeah, you know, I had to sign up for this.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

And you'll you'll definitely get that. I've gotten that where it's like, uh, this isn't my thing. I didn't sign up for this. Um, word to the wise, if you're going to have an improv workshop for your co-workers or employees, maybe tell them. Sometimes I've gotten there is like they didn't know what was going on. It's like, oh, what is what is happening? So I got it's just a cult. It is a cult, by the way. Improv is a cult.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

They were asked to get into the car and drive somewhere. They have no idea, and then they show up and they're like, What? I'd just spend the next four hours.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

It's a friendly cult. Nobody dies. You only get chuckles.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Well, do you have any success stories of people that were very resistant and they came out of their shell or you know, were surprised at the end result?

SPEAKER_00 17:28

One of my students recently, a very shy person, but she's very delightful, very nice person. And she was working at a restaurant at the time, and she just wanted to be more open, more expressive, more engaging. And uh she was taking the class and she did mention to me, it's like I think my tips are better now. So, but just you know, how to make eye contact with people because making eye contact is it's difficult for a lot of people. And in my class, I say, hey, be honest, raise your hand, raise it up high if you have trouble making eye contact. And I get a few hands up. It's like that's that's totally fine. I didn't look anybody in the eye until I was 18. Yeah, because I was super shy back then. I always tell them it's like a nice little cheat, them in the eyebrows. They'll never know. So you're making eye contact. Wink.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

As far as the public speaking part, as far as you know, having teams when you're doing improv, I'm the spotlight's on you a lot of times. Um, you know, as far as you were saying, you know, they're shy, they're quiet, they come out of their shell. Um, as far as teams doing the public speaking, and maybe they're not as shy, but you know, thinking on their feet, is there any tools that that can provide them as as an individual or as a team, you know, as far as giving presentations?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Well, when you're giving a presentation, you you were alone. You were there by yourself. So when improv or with improv, uh I always say like you're not there by yourself. It's a team effort. We have a phrase in improv, support your fellow player. So never think you're up there by yourself. Now, of course, if you're giving a presentation, you are by yourself, but consider the fact that everyone out there wants you to succeed and they want information from you. You know, so consider the fact that you are all together. You're the solo person up there, but everybody is looking at you and they want you to, you know, do your best. Also, they want something from you, they want something productive and important from you. So you have to consider that too. You just can't get up there and just talk. One of the examples for that, I got lucky to host the Addy Awards, which is local advertising awards. And uh the first time I did it, they gave me a list of the winners. And it is just page after page of people who won. So it's like, hey, Joe Schuel for logo, give it up for him, Jane Schmo for logo, give it up for her. And it is just a list. Nobody gets up, there's no acceptance speeches. You're just announcing winners and they're up on the screen. You're you could just go up there and read a grocery list of winners and what they won for. And that wouldn't be very interesting. Um, I had to do some banter in between. An in-doubt banter. That is another improv thing. So if you don't know what's going on, just keep talking to keep the conversation going. So in between, like I'll read off five and then I'll make a little joke or a quip or some kind of commentary on something like that, just to make it more interesting. Um yeah, just commenting on what's going on. Uh so that made it more interesting. And people came up to me afterwards the first time I did it, and I was like, they're very complimentary. They really like my style, they like the way I did it. So I I really appreciated that.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Well, you know, with the improv thinking on your feet, I'm sure that's you know something that you teach, you know, continuously and keeping it.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Especially when you have technical difficulties like we've had before, once once a day Addies we did, and other things we had technical difficulties. So you gotta keep the ball rolling.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

You gotta think on your feet. Yeah. So yeah, I I know we worked together on something a few years back. And yeah, that day, I think the first day it got cancelled because one of the photographers couldn't show and the next day, I think it was a few weeks later, and all the technical stuff went wrong. And you were the cool, calm person. You were the s the sanity, right? Like everybody was like, Okay, Chris, what do we do? And remain calm.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Breathe. Breathe deep.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Like a flat attendant on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah, you ha you have to. I forget where the phrase comes. So if you can keep your head with all those are losing theirs, you will inherit the wind or something like that. But yeah, but that's my job. And that's just my natural demeanor is to that's your personality. So why were we here?

SPEAKER_01 21:33

You must have learned that when you were young. I mean, was that something that you kind of developed, you know, before college, during college?

SPEAKER_00 21:40

I'm sure when I was a kid, I developed it. It was just my my natural demeanor to do that. I didn't like bullies. I didn't only had a few bullies. I didn't like bullies. I didn't like things that devolved into arguments because you know, nothing's happening. You know, even as a kid, it's like if we're standing around fighting, that means we're not playing and watching cartoons, which is the most important thing. Thing we need to be doing, people. Come on, let's get together. Yeah. So I'm just trying to find the solution to the problem. Bringing people together has always been my thing. And I've learned that more and more as I go on. I'm in high school when we had to get stuff together. I was usually organizing art projects together. And then in college, doing the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Well, even Southern Living, like just looking out what's moving everybody forward. Oh, there's, you know, this story, perhaps we should do this and that. So as far as moving people around you and just seeing the good and and moving forward towards that.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Um by the time it gets to us in the art department at the magazine, you know, has already had a meeting about the story. It's had who's gonna go travel for the story, who's gonna write the story, and who edits the story, who's do the photography for the story, who does the photostyling for the story. So by the time it gets to us, we have all the parts together. So we put all the words and the pictures together, because we're the final, final uh line of defense, you might say, at least before production. And production makes sure that we did everything right or give us the right tools if something needs to be changed or moved around. So you have to be ready for that kind of production.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

And of course, there's all these different personalities that you gotta work with too as far as deadlines and all that.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

People. The worst. Yes, you do have to work with a lot of different people. And a lot of different people have different styles and different attitudes. I was very fortunate, Sun of the Livings. I got along with everybody, like some of the greatest people. But if I ever encountered somebody who's a little bit prickly, you know, it's like, well, I don't know what's in their craw today, but I know craw aside, we have to get this magazine done and get this over with. So just like, okay. If you need me to come back later, I can. If you need me to help you with this, I can.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Well, as far as the improv I've been at some of your shows.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Um, I wish I could go to more, but uh, they're always great. They always draw a good crowd. Thank you. And uh you know how to work the crowd.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

And as far as engaging your audience, knowing your audience, it's like you have that warm-up and then you kind of get a feel for what people are liking. And I mean, as far as that, bring us into the process with that, how that works.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

First time I really had to work a crowd and be in charge of a crowd, and our first improv troop, a torrential downplay, that was a very that was the one I auditioned for and got in.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Friday and then got in Monday.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Yeah. We did improv games, these short form improv games, which I still do at ETC and we do more full-length things too. But everybody wanted to play. Nobody wanted to be the ref. Nobody wanted to be the like who was like, oh, I don't want to be the ref. I want to be a true, I want to play. But it wasn't fair to Catherine, who was the founder of the troupe, for her to be the ref all the time and not get to play. So we were like had a discussion. I was like, okay, we have to do a round robin of this. Everybody's gonna have to take a turn hosting. And I did not want to host, I wanted to play. And the first time I hosted, it's like, oh, this is fun. I like this. I'm not doing all the heavy lifting. I get to be in control of what's going on and I engage with the audience. That's the first time I host it. And and that I would I would love to host. And when you're hosting, you still can be part of the show. You're very much a part of the show. So that was a lot of fun. After that, somebody said, Would you host a fashion show behind this consignment shop? It was Zoeys in Forest Park. And it's like I've never hosted a fashion show or hosted anything. So I hosted that. It was a huge success. It was a lot of fun. And after that, I've just been hosting things.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Well, you've done auctions too. Yeah. There was an auction that you did.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Yeah. What auction was that? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Oh, it was for a nonprofit a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Okay. I can't remember half of what I did. Uh yeah. So but I'll uh as my friend Doug says as he introduces me, is like, ladies and gentlemen, the man who will host anything that isn't tied down or on fire, Chris Davis.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

How did the how did the TED talk um, you know, for Birmingham, how did those uh, you know, come around?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

So TEDx Birmingham was a lot of fun. Uh so I was approached to do a stand-up bit at the end of the uh of the TED talk. So after uh each of the speakers went, my stand-up routine was basically piggybacking off all the things they said. So the first time I did it, I didn't prepare anything. I just listened intently to everybody and I made notes. And uh and at the end, I rehearsed it, it rehearsed it before I went on stage, backstage, and then just got on and did it. And it was a lot of fun. It was great. It's great to piggyback on stuff like it's just doing commentary. Stand-up, stand-up is commentary most of the times. Uh, but this is stand-up commentary specifically for a TEDx audience. So that was that was a new thing for me, and I really liked it. So I got to do that twice.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Well, um, I know with COVID.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Oh COVID. I remember that.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Well, I have to say, you actually pivoted in that time because I know there were a lot of creatives, a lot of artists. Their careers were just put on hold.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um, and as a performer, you know, I'm done. You know, there we can't do any live shows. We can't do anything like that. I can still sell my art pet portraits, just people they can come out to my courtyard and I'll throw it at them so they don't get close, don't touch, don't breathe on me, don't lick me. Uh so I could still do that, which was, you know, fine. But I couldn't do any live performances. So, like almost immediately I said, you know, I want to do something. I want to do something that'll keep me interested and be entertaining. So I decided to do a Facebook Live show because Facebook Live was a thing, uh, but it became more of a thing uh afterwards and YouTube and stuff. So I did a Facebook live show called Walking Around with Chris.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

It was my favorite time of day.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

I would not miss it. It came on at lunchtime.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yeah, it was every day at noon, like every day at noon. And I remember the first time I did it, the first episode, I was like, well, that's the show, everybody. I guess we'll be doing this for, I don't know, three or four weeks, maybe. I thought it would be it as we uh did the the shutdown. Uh but I would walk around the neighborhood. You wouldn't see me on camera. I would point it down, I'd step it around on something. But uh, you just see what I saw. I'd have my little opening theme song that I would sing and hold up my sign and just show you what I saw around the neighborhood, wherever I walk, my neighborhood, someone else's neighborhood, downtown.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

It was so educating.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

I mean you can call it that. Well, I lived in Birmingham and you know, I passed by some of these places, you know, daily, weekly, and I had no idea.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

And I was learning so much.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

I'm glad. I'm glad. I I really tried to give some good information. You know, I was being silly and fun, but there were some things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

There was like history.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Yeah. Over here in this building, this is where this happened. And over there, that's where that happened.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

No, it was great. And then I think public radio reached out to you.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Yeah, public radio featured me, I think Enos Elliott and and some other folks who were pivoting as well uh during the pandemic. So they they did a little story on us doing our thing. Yeah. And uh walking around with Chris was Man, it went all the way to 2022. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Well, it might have been 2023. I know they they just had something similar this past summer.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

So I did it from the start of the pandemic till then.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

That was it was amazing because every day was different. Every day you came up with stuff and it wasn't prepared unless you did.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Uh, only thing I prepared was I uh after a while, I started to like make it a little more interesting. I would find out whatever birthdays, like National Hot Dog Day.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Or donut day, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Yeah, donut day. Yeah. So th those made it interesting too. And and I would do voices and but the comments were key. So Yes. Yeah. So if I was doing it by myself, it wouldn't be as fun. But the comments were great. And people would go to me into doing things. It's like, hey, Chris, do that. Go over there, go over here. No, turn left. And somebody would be watching, goes like, hey, my apartment's right around the corner. Make a left and make a right, blah, blah, blah. And one time they said, I was by a fountain over by the hospital. And I said, We dare you to get into the fountain. So it's like, okay. I missed that one. I took my shoes off and I stood in the fountain.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Yeah, well, I mean, it was so entertaining. And the fact that you were able to come up with something, like I said, different every day. And um, and just think on your feet, and then, you know, have the comments rolling in and then kind of expand on that because you were answering questions.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

And you were walking at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah. Sometimes I had to pause and back up. It's like, because somebody somebody would comment on something.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

On the street. Seeing the street. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

It's like, what is where were the people commenting on? So I had to go back. It's like, oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

And it was it was always standing citizens. Okay. Watching out for your Yeah, so don't cross, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Careful, Chris. It's a fire hydrant, Chris.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

So what big things do you have planned? I know you're you're kept very busy and your art has been changing. And um you talked about getting new tools. And um is carpentry like as far as sculptures and and things like that, is there anything that you've been working on, developing or exploring?

SPEAKER_00 31:03

I have been accumulating things for years. I want to do a found art show.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

So I've found a lot of odd things that look interesting to me that I want to turn into an art project. And I think next year is the time to do it. So I've just been accumulating these things. And something good is I I have a lot of ideas and I don't get to do them or follow through with all of them, and then I'll get depressed about it. So this idea, I just said, this is for the future. I never put a date on it. And it was such a relief. It was so relieving to my psyche because I'm not thinking, oh, another year's gone by where I'm not doing this project. And I suggest people do that. If you have a project you want to do in the future and you're getting ready for it, just get it ready for it. If you don't have a date set for it, that's that's fine. But I think next year I'll do this. But I've been accumulating just weird pieces of wood and metal and things that look interesting. I found a piece of driftwood in Oregon that looks like a femur bone. So I I saved that. That was odd to fly back with. They didn't know what that was. They unwrapped my wooden femur. It was like, it's not a weapon.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah, no, that's great. And it's it's interesting what you were saying about and um putting them aside, knowing that they're there and getting to them. And a lot of artists, well, even creatives, I mean, they have all these wonderful ideas. They just come pouring out and then they want to get everything done, especially if you're type A personality, you know, you're just accomplishing so much and you're like, I need to accomplish more. I'm only as successful as my last show, you know, that sort of thing. So how do you ground yourself um or be present in the moment and not get too far ahead of yourself or you know, look back and say, oh no, I should have done this, could have done that. Because I know a lot of artists look at their art and they it's always like, that could have been done better.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

I try very hard not to do that. Uh, but it's it's almost impossible not to get in that because I do it often. What I want to do now and in the future, I want to do more uh one-man shows. They're stand-up comedy, some of it's stand-up and commentary, but I want to do more of those. I have a few plan. I have one where I um I'm a self-help guru and uh actually try to help people with their problems. Not serious problems. Don't come to my show with serious, sad things trying to do comedy. Um I have a show I want to work on where I just do commentary about what's going on. And I have another show where it's only live stream I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

It's live stream, no audience. It's something I was going to do during the pandemic, uh, but now I still want to do that idea. Because I was gonna do a live stream comedy show. It was just gonna be me and the camera person.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

No audience.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

No audience. Because we couldn't have an audience back then. But now I still want to do it in a in a different way. So that's a project for the future.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Like a personal challenge.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Like you just want to just kind of and it's very interesting because being a performer and not having an audience, you think, like, why would I do that? But this is this is a cool idea, I think. I want to do. And people don't have to leave their homes to do it. And who knows, I can get maybe even much, much bigger audience. It's not just the people in town or down the street. It can be the whole state or the whole country or the whole world, you know. So I'm looking forward to doing that.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Well, that sounds that sounds exciting. Do you have a data mind or I don't.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

I'm trying to see which theater is available and will let me come in and do this foolish thing. Um, I have to figure out the live stream part of it to to do it properly. We're just, you know, for a good company that's not gonna be all glitchy and stuff. And I would like to still sell tickets to it, you know, a smaller amount, of course, to see who wants in. And it would be nice to do it once a month, I think. Have a monthly show.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

You can do a monthly subscription to it. Yeah. One of the things I know you do um is a lot of um helping the people in the community. And that's that's very near and dear to you. Uh tell us a little bit about some of the nonprofits, some of the work that you've done, because you give back a lot. And I don't think people realize that. But I mean, as far as helping people, maybe even mentoring people. And I'm sure there's people out there over the years that you've mentored.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

There have been. I I I do my best to give back in whatever way I can. And being an artist, it's it's almost too easy for me sometimes because like my pet portraits, people like them a lot. I'm very thankful for that. But I will donate pet portrait gift certificates to to like hand and paw sometimes or the Humane Society, you know, and that's that's my way. It's a small bit that I can do, but it has a lot of impact because if people auction off a gift certificate, which normally costs a certain amount, but if it goes up into hundreds and hundreds, because they want to support the event, that's what I can do. Sometimes I'll host events pro bono, because if it's a good call, isn't it? It's a fundraiser. I love hosting fundraisers in town. It's it's always a good time. And teaching through in total, which is like one of the best things that's happened to me as far as outreach with people, it gives me a nice direct conduit to people. I just had an improv class uh this week at the firehouse men's shelter, and there was a small amount of men in there and introduced them to improv and expressing yourself and using your imagination and being positive and saying yes and not saying no. They really enjoyed it. It really took to it. I'm very happy about that. And in Toto, we do stuff at men's shelters, women's shelters. We do classes with the VA. Those are very rewarding.

SPEAKER_01 36:26

So when is Toto?

SPEAKER_00 36:28

In Toto, so in Toto, I-N-T-O-T-O, it is a nonprofit group that does outreach for people who are on the margins of society: homeless people, people experiencing homelessness, people getting into rehab and out of rehab. So we do, I teach improv, but we also do movement classes, yoga, creative writing, visual arts, you know, painting and drawing. Just a wonderful outlet for people to express themselves. Because once you've been at a point where you don't really have anything going on in your life and you're trying to get your life back together and you're struggling to do that, a quality of life is super important. And they really love it. They come up to us and say, like, I was really depressed and down this week, but I took this class and I feel so much better. And you have to have that good attitude because that attitude leads to you being more progressive and doing better for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Well, it's giving them something to look forward to and and something to they do look forward to it. Yeah, something to kind of take them away from maybe the circumstance or what they're going through. And like you were saying, it's it's just moving people forward. Yeah. It's just always looking forward.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

So it's building a community. Now now these men and women who may not have known each other, now they have a community with each other and have community with us, and we try to be as supportive as possible as we can with them. That's the uh our voices is our annual fundraising event and art show and performance. So there's spoken word, there's music, all the art that the Antoto artists do, like the people in the shelters and everything, all that art is for sale, they get 80% of the proceeds of that art, you know. And uh the rest goes to support and total, but the artist gets 80%. You can't get too many galleries in this country where you're gonna get 80% of what you make from art.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

So great. Well, if people want to reach out and and um hire you for one of their events, um, how can they do that?

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Um, you can contact me through my Instagram or Facebook, like if you want to direct message me, but uh Chris Davis Doestuff is my Instagram. You can also email me at my fancy schmancy email at aol.com. Yes, I have an AOL email. D C O Z at AOL.com. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

Well, thank you, Chris. Always a pleasure to sit down and and catch up, hear about what you're doing and all that you do for everybody around you.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

So thank you so much, Carolyn. This is really great. I really appreciate this. It's good to see you and and good to ramble into a microphone.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

You're welcome.