Tanyalee Davis
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Tanyalee Davis (born 27 November 1970) is a Canadian-American
comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...
. Davis has a form of
dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition of people and animals marked by unusually small size or short stature. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dwarfism is . '' ...
called diastrophic dysplasia and is tall.


Career

In November 1999, she placed second in the
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
Comedy Competition. She was the first woman in 10 years to make it into the finals. In October 2012, she placed sixth overall in the San Francisco Comedy Festival. In April 2001, she headlined at the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...
. She won the 2003 Norman G. Brooks Standup Comedy Scholarship Competition held at the Hollywood
Improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...
. In August 2003, she was part of the "US Comedy Invasion" show, performing at the world's largest arts festival, the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. She then embarked on a UK tour in the spring of 2004. She featured at the Edinburgh Fringe again in 2013. In the US, she was featured on ''
Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' is an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, and again in 2014 and 2015. Each season a comedian from an initially large group of hopefuls was picked as ...
'' in 2004, on
Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...
's hit show, '' Pit Boss'' (2012) as well as '' Dr Drew'' on CNN. Previous credits include ''
Austin Powers in Goldmember ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' is a 2002 American spy comedy film directed by Jay Roach. It is the third and final installment in the ''Austin Powers'' film series and stars Mike Myers in four different roles: Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Goldme ...
'' film teaser, "For the Love of Money"(Movie 2002),
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
's Bash of Carson Daly (TV 2003) and the
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
network's
reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
'' 30 Seconds to Fame''. In 2005, she performed as part of the ''Abnormally Funny People'' show, with Steve Best, Liz Carr, Steve Day, Chris McCausland and Simon Minty. As part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe the following year she appeared with Carr in ''Bravetarts''. In 2007 she performed her one-woman show ''Little Do They Know''. She then revamped the fringe show and had a six-month contract at the Clarion Hotel and Casino in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
in 2011. In August 2013, Davis went back to the Edinburgh Fringe with her new one-person show "Big Trouble in Little 'Gina" which was based on a terrible medical ordeal starting at the end of 2012. In 2011–2012 Davis was a series regular on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
TV show ''
I'm Spazticus ''I'm Spazticus'' is a British hidden camera prank show by Channel 4, produced by Jamie O'Leary. From the Channel 4 website, I'm Spazticus is where "A cast of disabled talent prank members of the public in a cheeky and irreverent way". Episod ...
''. Davis was featured in a few British-produced programmes such as Sky TV's documentary of the making of ''Abnormally Funny People'' as well as ITV's ''SuperHuman: World's Smallest People'' (which also aired on
TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...
in the US). Her extensive spinal surgery was a focus in this show. On 28 August 2013, she appeared as a special guest on the live comedy Paralympics show ''
The Last Leg ''The Last Leg'' (known during its first series as ''The Last Leg with Adam Hills'' and in Australia as ''Adam Hills: The Last Leg'') is a British late-night television humorous talk/sketch show that originally ran alongside the 2012 Summer Par ...
'', discussing
Jim Davidson James Cameron Davidson (born 13 December 1953) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. He hosted the television shows '' Big Break'' and '' The Generation Game''. In 2014 he was the winner of the 13th series of ''Cel ...
's comments about "midgets". In 2015 she appeared on two major UK television shows, both on BBC: '' The John Bishop Show'' and '' Live at the Apollo''. On 15 July 2018, Davis was "harassed and humiliated" after a train guard for
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...
attempted to force her to move her mobility scooter from a disabled space on the train. The guard made an announcement to the train passengers that she was "causing problems" and threatened to call the
police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
if she did not move and give her space to a woman with a pram. An investigation into the incident was begun by the rail company. On 20 July 2018, Davis was left stranded on a train when staff at
York railway station York railway station is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) serving the cathedral city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is north of and, on the main line, it is situated between to the south and to the north. , the sta ...
failed to arrive with a ramp, and the train departed for
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...
, adding an hour's delay to her journey. On 29 August 2018 it was reported that Davis had to wait two hours for her mobility scooter at
Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's third-busiest airport, Stan ...
; she then found that airline Ryanair lost a vital attachment to the chair.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Tanyalee 1970 births Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American women Actors with dwarfism American actors with disabilities American women comedians Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people with disabilities Comedians from Las Vegas Comedians from Winnipeg