Overview

• At the June 27 North to Shore Festival show at Newark’s Prudential Center, the 31-year-old comedian disclosed that his maternal grandfather physically abused him throughout his childhood.
• His maternal grandfather is suffering from terminal lung cancer; emphysema has left him struggling to breathe.
• Davidson’s performance included his blunt declaration “die slow motherf--ker”; he said he also hopes his grandfather “f--king rots” after years of resentment.
• He emphasized his desire to support his mother, Amy Waters Davidson—who has been grieving her father—against a backdrop of his own trauma stemming from his firefighter father’s death on 9/11.
• The comic contrasted his strained bond with his maternal grandfather against a close relationship with his paternal grandfather, Stephen Davidson.