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The Act Out - S01E23 - Dave Jay

·40 min·1 clip

Applied to festivals during COVID lockdown, got called next day for HBO

Dave Jay comes on The Act Out. The host starts with the basic question, and Dave says he has been doing comedy for a little over three and a half years. That is a quick rise. The HBO Max credit from Ha Festival with Steve Trevino and Ralph Barbosa gives the opening stretch a bit of shine, but the conversation keeps its feet on the ground. Dave says he is from Massachusetts and is in Austin. From there, the talk opens up. Books sit in the background, and Dave leans into how much history he reads. That interest is not just decoration, because he talks about starting a new podcast called This Day of History with another comic, where one person tells a story and the other answers with one of their own. He describes it as a way to keep the stories specific. Rather than staying on broad subjects, he likes the smaller episodes of history that have a tighter shape. A battle like the one around Operation Valkyrie fits that idea. Travel comes up for that reason. He likes going somewhere, finding the local national park or history museum, and seeing what is there. The host follows that thread with the idea that even in the middle of nowhere, there is usually something distinct to see. Dave stays interested in that kind of detail. He talks about being near history without wanting to get swallowed by it. The close circles back to support for local comedy and to the idea that stories, clubs, and scene life all feed the work. It leaves the whole conversation feeling like a working comic talking through the things he reads, visits, and carries into the set.

As heard by us

A comic with a fast HBO Max break and a strong history streak.

Dave Jay's stop by The Act Out traces a clean arc from open-mic beginnings to an HBO Max spotlight, with the host folding in Ha Festival and names like Steve Trevino and Ralph Barbosa.

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Why you'd press play

A comedy chat with HBO Max bragging rights, then a detour into history-nerd territory.

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