HBO
So let's start with the low point of Tourgasm for you. It didn't look like you were enjoying yourself too much in the beginning.

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JAY
Yeah, the low point is when I cried. I can be a bit sensitive, and it was weird having cameras from the beginning. It definitely affected me. And I felt like Robert (Kelly) was playing up for the camera. If I'm entertaining, great, but I'm just gonna be me. But every time the camera would turn on, I'd be badgered and abused. I was holding in a lot of anger and had to let it out. But once that was out, it was a whole different trip, a much better trip.

HBO
Is it hard to be surrounded by other comedians 24/7?

JAY
There are a lot of stereotypes about comedians. You kinda got to be out of your mind to do it, because it's a very difficult thing. Most comics have insecurities and comedy makes them feel great; it lets them be the center of attention. But crazy or not, they're the best. Once I got into comedy, all my best friends became comedians. I never had great friends until I got into it. I worked in nightclubs for years and it looked like I had millions of friends. But comedians, these are my people.

HBO
What about dating comedians?

JAY
To date one is a whole different story. You're in bed together, your girlfriend's trying to outdo you with her jokes. It's like that whole rule you're not supposed to date someone you work with. They're always there. Comedy is like one huge roof.

HBO
What was the highlight of the trip for you?

JAY
Just getting to step foot on the bus and realizing it was really gonna happen. We almost thought it was a joke. Then we saw those buses pulled up and it hit us: we're gonna do stand-up comedy, get paid, and ride on rock star buses with Dane Cook!

HBO
Despite the challenges of having cameras on you all the time, how it changed things, when they were gone...did it feel like a loss?

JAY
That's why as a comedian, you have to find a stage every night. It's a non-stop process. If you stop doing it, you're in trouble. If you become one of the greats you cannot stop. Once you've experienced making thousands of people laugh, you don't want to stop. You feel like you want to do it all the time.

HBO
Do you feel like you've changed since the tour?

JAY
Oh yeah. This past year, I've grown so much - it's amazing. My comedy is so much different already. You don't even realize you're growing, but I think it takes 10 years to become a comedian. It's something you have to do consistently, and it takes so many times on stage. But after 10 years on stage - that's when you graduate. That's when you can say you're a professional comedian.

HBO
Did you always know you were headed for standup?

JAY
My Uncle Jimmy used to have family get-togethers - his wife was pianist and a singer - and holiday my cousins, uncles, great uncles would all play instruments. My dad would say, go up and impersonate me jogging. He was bow-legged, he was really dorky. I was always impersonating family members. I didn't think of myself as a comedian, but at 7 or 8 I was getting up and making people laugh.

HBO
When was the first time you actually got up and performed in front of strangers?

JAY
When I was 15, my parents took me on a cruise and they held a talent show for adults. My dad goes, you should enter the talent show and tell those funny stories you do. So I prepared. I looked about 10 years old, but I got up there, and the next thing I know, it's down to me and a guy with a blues harmonica. And the crowd voted me to win.

HBO
Wow - a star was born!

JAY
Well, I didn't do it again until I was 19 - at the Comedy Store on the Sunset strip. I wasn't old enough to drink, but I went to their open mic night and got up there for three minutes. I thought you had to write something new every time you got up on stage, so I didn't try again for five years.

HBO
What was the big turning point?

JAY
I created a successful comedy night and got myself stage time. It was almost like Field of Dreams: if you build it they will come. I used to manage the Whiskey Bar for Rande Gerber, and on a slow night, it hit me that I came out to California to become an entertainer, but I wasn't entertaining anyone. I thought, if I'm gonna entertain, I better build a stage and entertain. I kept my full-time job, but I was willing to put in another 40 hours a week to do this. I'd been a club promoter in LA, and I'd see those long, open mic lines - people would wait six hours to get up on stage. I thought, I'm gonna create a comedy night somewhere good, and even if I'm not funny, the owners should be laughing.

The next day I ran into Ahmed Ahmed, who knew comedians. And I knew a million people from working in nightclubs. I used to chat up every pretty girl and collect numbers. I knew that if I could get the hot crowd, the comics would come. It would give them a ton of energy, and it's worth more to them than money.

So that's when I started producing Dublin's Comedy Night. I started by bringing in the open mike people. I invited two who were good to come back every month, and it slowly built from there and became the place where all of today's top comics did standup, including Dane, David Alan Grier, Vince Vaughn started coming every week. Bruce Willis, Justin Timberlake, Matthew McConnaughey, Cameron Diaz. People were getting work out of Dublin's. And we eventually upgraded to the famous Laugh Factory.

HBO
You've been a talent scout for comics and a comic yourself - do you have any advice for aspiring young comics?

JAY
Comics have to be very persistent people. They have to be very hard-working and they can't give up. If you decide you're gonna become a comic, you can't put a time limit on it. And you can never take anything personally - even though I did on Tourgasm.

HBO
What are you up to now? Where can people see you?

JAY
I've been working really hard on my comedy every night of the week. I do up to 11 shows a week in L.A., from the Ice House to the Comedy Store to different bars. And I still produce my own show at the Laugh Factor every Tuesday night - it's called "Life of the Party with Jay Davis" at 10pm. I'll also be performing in New York (June 29th - July 2nd) at Caroline's Comedy Club.

For more information on Jay's gigs, check out JayDavisComedy.com.