“Funny is funny … I ain’t never seen a color on a laugh.”
David Motte said it while sitting on the old school stage inside the former Banneker kindergarten building, now home to Dunbar School memorabilia. The setting felt fitting. We were talking about stages, the literal one beneath our feet and the ones he now steps onto as a comedian.
Each Tuesday, volunteers gather inside the historic building to serve a free community dinner, accepting donations to help repair the aging school floors. On this particular afternoon, Motte had been frying fish before taking a seat to talk about comedy, creativity and the unexpected path that led him there.
Motte is easy to talk to and easy to laugh with. Humor comes naturally to him, but his journey into comedy was not carefully planned. It began by accident, a spontaneous moment during a poetry event that revealed a gift he did not realize he had.
What started as an unplanned moment on stage has grown into something deeper, both a calling and a craft discovered unexpectedly but embraced fully.
About seven years ago, Motte was hosting the poetry portion of a show when a spontaneous comment drew laughter from the audience. Curious, he tried again.
“If I say something one more time and they laugh, I’ll try comedy,” he recalled. They laughed again and a new direction was set.
Soon afterward, Motte found himself on stage in Coffeyville, Kansas, performing in front of hundreds of people during what was technically his first stand-up set. What was intended to be a brief opening segment stretched far longer as the audience continued to respond. That experience, he said, confirmed the impact humor can have.
“You get on that stage … somebody in that audience might be thinking about killing themselves tonight. If I can make them laugh for five or ten minutes, I possibly could change their mind.”
For Motte, comedy is more than entertainment. The ability to help people laugh, even briefly, can provide relief from the pressures of daily life. “You gotta laugh at something,” Motte said. “It’s enough to cry about … it’s medicine in it.”
His approach blends candid observations with crowd interaction, allowing audiences to feel like participants rather than spectators.
While comedy may now define his public persona, Motte’s creative roots trace back to poetry. He describes himself as a poet at heart, discovering his ability to write in eighth grade after being inspired by Langston Hughes ‘Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.’ Without formal training, he developed a natural style grounded in honesty and instinct. “I’ve never had any poetry classes,” he said. “I just write.”
Though he describes himself as a private person off stage, performance offers an outlet for expression and connection. Engaging with an audience, he notes, requires attentiveness, understanding when humor invites participation and when it requires restraint. That awareness helps create an environment where people feel included in the experience.
On April 4 at 8 p.m., Motte will bring that calling to the stage during an open mic night at Tavern 56, inviting the community to gather for an evening centered on humor, creativity and connection. The event is open to anyone who wants to perform, whether through comedy, poetry or music, and offers an opportunity for new voices and seasoned performers to share the same spotlight.
In a world carrying more stress than most care to admit, Motte sees humor as something deeper than entertainment. It is relief. It is connection. And sometimes, it is survival.
As he puts it, “it’s medicine in it … you got to laugh.”
