Gay Jokes for Straight Cruisers

Jim David has made a career of bringing his Southern-born perspective to audiences who might not always know what to make of him. On Gay Jokes for Straight Cruisers, he performs in a captive environment: a trans-Atlantic cruise ship. Working a room of middle-aged tourists, David leans directly into the friction, turning the ship’s vacation energy into roasts of his own audience, vacation complaints, and the culture of cruise lines.

The album was captured live in March 2020 aboard a ship heading to Spain, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began shutting down global travel. After returning home to New York and finding himself suddenly out of work due to the lockdown, David rediscovered the recording and edited it into his fifth comedy album. Released by Stand Up! Records in April 2021, the release went to number one on the iTunes comedy chart.

David targets the trashiness of mega-ships, which he describes as Walmart on the water, as well as passenger complaints and the political dread of the era. The performance highlights his decades of club experience. He displays a crowd-work capability that handles even conservative cruise-goers with the ease of a veteran headliner, especially during segments where he plays off the audience’s discomfort with his gay material.