[2] He was an original cast member on the sketch comedy TV show In Living Color, Mitchell on Between Brothers (1997–1999), Dexter on Malcolm & Eddie (1999–2000), Oscar Proud on The Proud Family (2001–2005) and its 2022 revival, Rushon in Booty Call (1997), Womack in Bamboozled (2000), and Cream Corn in Black Dynamite (2009) and its subsequent television series.

Born Anthony Reed in Rolling Fork, Mississippi,[1][3] Davidson was abandoned in the trash at 18 months old, before being rescued by a white woman who became his adoptive mother.

[7] He had jobs in the kitchen of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, cleaning at Roy Rogers, bussing tables at an IHOP in Wheaton, and working in the stockroom of Hechinger in Hyattsville, Maryland.

[1][4] Davidson started his career as a stand-up comedian in 1984,[8] when a childhood friend convinced him to perform stand-up at The Penthouse strip club in Park View, Washington, D.C.[4][9] He continued performing in various comedy clubs throughout the Washington Metropolitan region, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

[4][12] He performed at the Comedy Store, where Robert Townsend heard of him and asked him to be the warm-up comic for an HBO special.