While some people might be surprised to see a stand-up comic being a good Samaritan, both types require a sense of knowing where people are at and what they need at that precise moment. For Detroit-based comedian Carlos “HaHa” Davis, he knew someone who needed help when he saw it.
When at a gas station, he and some friends saw a woman who was struggling mightily, trying to come up with a massive amount of pennies in order to pay for a tank of gas. Davis offered the woman the money she needed and then some, bringing everybody to tears.
While Davis’s online posts are usually designed to make people laugh, he also has a weekly series called “I love you,” in which he highlights one act of kindness in the world around him. In October 2018, Davis and his friends found a widow in need at their local gas station.
When they approached the woman with $300 in cash, she was clearly taken aback. As they explained, they weren’t trying a pull a stunt or a scam; they were just there to help her out. Upon receiving the money, the woman got very emotional.
She tearfully explained to Davis and his friends, “My husband just died; a week ago we weren’t like this.” He comforted her and explained that the circumstances didn’t matter; they just wanted to be of assistance. The widow made sure that they understood she wasn’t asking for a handout. “I didn’t ask nobody for nothing. I didn’t … I didn’t even ask you …”
But Davis reassured her, “We got love for you ... we gotta take care of each other.” When she asked how they knew she was having financial difficulty, they told her that they had seen her at the pump getting her small change together. Overwhelmed by their kindness, she said, “God bless you. How do I thank you or repay you?”
Davis and his friends made sure she understood that the money was for her. They simply urged her to “[p]ay it forward” and do something kind for another person in need whenever she got the chance.
The video definitely got the attention of many Instagrammers, with over 2.5 million views to date. Before becoming a comedian, Carlos Davis dreamt of becoming a football player. In 2013, a viral vine catapulted him into online comedy fame, and from there his career took off. He is one of Instagram’s most successful comedians.
In addition to working with other comedians at Comedy Central and BET, Davis has camoed on several hip-hop albums including Chance the Rapper and Snoop Dogg. Davis has used his celebrity and comedy persona to do good in the past, including a line of T-shirts to raise money for the fight against breast cancer.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. The video continued to be shared and commented upon, thanks in part to being featured on “The Real,” the syndicated daytime show featuring Loni Love. Several months later, in January 2019, the widow that Davis had helped at the gas station managed to find him to say thank you.
She sent him a video, which he posted on his Twitter feed. “I’m so appreciative for what you did that day,” she began. The woman explained that she “had so many losses” in her life recently, including the passing of her husband. With the money that Davis had given her, she was able to buy groceries and just as importantly, a jacket for her son. “He needed it. It got cold out.”
“Without your help, I don’t know what I'd have been from there,” she explained. The woman also expressed her belief that a higher power was behind this timely act of charity. “They say [God] looks down us, He does.”
