Curiosity isn't a character flaw (it's your lifeline)
Here’s the problem with what you do. Are you your current job title or occupation? I bet the answer is no. That’s why it’s impossible for me to answer this question satisfactorily or succinctly here on my website.
You’ve probably come here looking for “Steve Davis Comedian” or “Steve Davis Speaker” or “Steve Davis Adelaide,” but what you’ve found is my kaleidoscopic “about me” page. And I know I’m breaking all the SEO rules because this isn’t focussed on one particular question you’re trying to answer.
Unless, of course, you’re trying to work out how to define this “Steve Davis” you’ve heard about.
Here’s my point: you’re probably a blend of many interests and passions and hobbies too. So I’m offering a page that sits with this heady mix of things that interest and engage me, in the hope that it might embolden you to be as open about your variety of “personas” as well.
As Oscar Wilde said: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.“
My Mission: Pairing Creativity with Curiosity
From setting my sights on a radio career at age 12 (and starting at 18), to strutting the stage at La Mama Theatre, to public speaking, podcasting, and seizing every opportunity to MC events large and small (I’ve been driven by one challenge: finding ways to bring joy to people).
Or, to put it more precisely: my mission is to pair creativity with curiosity so that our lives might be enriched by surprising, helpful, and amusing discoveries.
Whether I’m dissecting familiar sayings in songs, reviewing audiences instead of being reviewed in comedy, or calling out media hypocrisy in commentary (the thread is always the same). In a world trying to numb you into passive consumption, your curiosity isn’t weird. It’s survival.
The Steve Davis Google Experiment
Despite our great capacity for intellect, it disappoints me that humans still get stuck on first impressions. If I meet you cleaning your barbecue, that’ll stick with me even when I see you later as my bank manager. We make judgements based on these fleeting glimpses, and fear of this stops many of us from trying new things.
So here’s my Google experiment, running for over a decade now: I’ve written cheeky profiles of myself in the style of other famous “Steve Davises” (cricket umpires, snooker champions, theatre reviewers, jazz musicians). Some are rooted in truth, others are pure larrikin fiction with a good photo to match.
It’s my small rebellion against the tyranny of being just one thing. Plus, it’s been fascinating to watch how Google handles someone who refuses to stay in one professional lane.
The Journey From Questions to Performance
My writing started around age 10 (poems trying to make sense of Anzac Day and Easter, then evolving into deeper questions about identity and existence). La Mama Theatre in my twenties exposed me to dynamic, creative people whose work pushed boundaries and whose writers’ groups taught me that intellectual mischief could be an art form.
Journalism honed my skills for absorbing and distilling (seeing the whole, finding the specific detail that matters). This now plays a crucial part in everything I create, whether it’s songs that turn familiar phrases inside-out or comedy that finds the absurd in the everyday.
Working with Rick Price and fellow students in his music school taught me about “the pilot flame” (that creative spark that needs nurturing rather than forcing). It’s why The Virtualosos exist: to keep that flame burning when human collaborators aren’t available for 3am songwriting sessions.
The Adelaide Connection
There’s something about Adelaide that grounds all this curiosity in place. From Adelaide Oval’s cathedral backdrop to the wine country’s temporal rhythms, from the Fringe’s permission to be weird to the way this city rewards people who notice things others miss, it’s the perfect launching pad for intellectual rebellion disguised as entertainment.
I wish I had neighbours who were musically inclined so we could jam and experiment all day (me with lyrics, them with melody and performance). Until that dream materialises, you’ll find me here: writing songs that need to exist, crafting comedy that rewards attention, and championing the radical idea that asking questions isn’t annoying (it’s what keeps us fully alive).
The Point of All This
You’re probably reading this because someone mentioned that Steve Davis bloke who does [insert whatever brought you here]. But here’s what I hope you take away: permission to be your own kaleidoscope. To resist the pressure to be just one thing. To trust that your restless, questioning mind isn’t a character flaw—it’s exactly what this world needs more of.
Because in the end, we’re all racing against time while trying to savour moments, and the best way to do that is together, asking the questions that matter, creating things that surprise us, and refusing to sleepwalk through this one remarkable life we’ve been handed.