Tom Rhodes
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Tom Rhodes | |
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Born | Tom Rhodes Radio | January 14, 1967
Website | tomrhodes.net |
Tom Rhodes (born January 14, 1967)
When Comedy Central began in the early 1990s, Rhodes became the first comedian spokesperson they signed. Much of his commercial success came during this time. He was later the star of NBC's Mr. Rhodes, Dutch Yorin Television's Kevin Masters Show starring Tom Rhodes and Yorin Travel. In addition to venues in the United States, Rhodes has also performed in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Jakarta, Bali, London, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Lausanne, Vancouver, Stockholm, Sydney, Melbourne, Basel, Geneva, Copenhagen, and Toronto.
His podcast
Career
Stand-up comedy
Rhodes was introduced to stand-up at age 12 when his father took him to a local D.C. comedy club to see his Uncle Bob perform. Because Rhodes was wearing a
At age 17, Rhodes took a fake ID and auditioned at the only comedy club in Orlando, The Funny Farm. Throughout his junior and senior years, he did shows every weekend in Orlando and branched out to one-nighters all over the state of Florida. After graduating from Oviedo High School in 1985, Tom went on the road.
At 19, Rhodes won "The Funniest Person in Central Florida" contest. The grand prize was the opportunity to perform at the
Rhodes had a chance meeting with Jay Leno at a jazz club called Cheek to Cheek in Winter Park, Florida. He was not old enough to get in the club at the time, so he waited by the backstage door for the opening act to walk out. When they did, he stuck his foot in the door and watched Leno's show through a crack in the curtain behind him. When the show was over, Leno discovered him and, impressed with his curiosity, took him backstage and let him ask questions about comedy and what it takes to be a comedian. Part of the advice Leno gave was that great comedians should be living in New York or Los Angeles to better seize performing opportunities on stage and TV. On his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Rhodes reminded Leno about this meeting, which Leno recalled.[4]
Rhodes took Leno's advice and moved to New York City. He spent, what he describes in interviews, as the worst year of his life living in Washington Heights "like a dog", with no money and very few comedy sets in the city. Instead, he was performing mostly one-nighters in New Jersey and Long Island. Eventually, he got a break when he was booked as a headliner at his first quality venue, The Punchline near Atlanta, Georgia.
At 22, Rhodes moved to San Francisco, which he called "the Jerusalem of stand-up comedy", with the sole purpose of growing and strengthening his craft. At the time, San Francisco was a beacon for creative comics in the early 1990s. He became friends with other up-and-comers there, such as
Rhodes is featured in the 2010 book ¡Satiristas!: Comedians, Contrarians, Raconteurs & Vulgarians[6] written by Paul Provenza, Host of Showtime's The Green Room with Paul Provenza, which features photos by San Francisco photographer Dan Dion. The book also includes interviews with George Carlin, Eddie Izzard, Trey Parker, and Matt Stone.
Comedy Central
After an appearance on Comedy Central's Two Drink Minimum,[7] Rhodes was signed to a one-year development deal, the first stand-up to sign with the young station. He filmed several comedic rant commercials. These were shot in a jail cell and edited like a music video, a format popularized in the early 1990s with Denis Leary's MTV rants. Comic Marc Maron, a personal friend of Rhodes, hosted Short Attention Span Theater during this time. On an episode of his WTF with Marc Maron podcast he confessed that during their Comedy Central days, he was jealous of Rhodes' commercials. He said that after he complained "like a little bitch" to the network, he was able to get an image piece on the station just like him.
Rhodes said that his time on Comedy Central was a positive one. "They were just starting out [as a station]," he said. "They didn't have these signature shows like
In addition to commercials and Viva Vietnam, Rhodes was often interviewed or featured in other Comedy Central shows, such as
Rhodes shot two
Television
Rhodes starred in
Rhodes had a relationship with Dutch actress
In a fourth season episode of
When his talk show ended, Rhodes began hosting a travel show
Rhodes appeared on the premiere episode of Red Light Comedy - Live from Amsterdam hosted by Russell Peters. On the episode, Rhodes does regional material, such as calling the Belgium city Antwerp "Hand Throw City" and about marrying a Dutch woman.[18]
Radio
Tom Rhodes Radio is a once or twice-monthly interview podcast. The show launched in March 2011 as an extension of the various travel projects he does while on the road.[19] Rhodes has gone on record saying he would like to star in a comedy travel television show where he can document his personal travels and highlight comedy scenes around the world. Tom produced pilot episodes himself in 2010, filming in Montana and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[20] Since 2009, Rhodes' projects have all incorporated his love of traveling and filming in exotic locales, including a "Honeymoon World Tour" after he married Dutch photographer Ashna Rodjan in 2011. He and his wife filmed during this time, and documented his travels on his blog.[21]
Most episodes have featured interviews with comics Tom knew in his early stand-up years, such as Doug Stanhope and Brian Regan. Stanhope is known for his comedic cynicism and called Tom a "very positive person" on the first episode of the show.[22] Janeane Garofalo, also a cynical comic, was quoted in a documentary about Tom's career as saying that Rhodes' laid-back persona would normally "rub her the wrong way," but since Rhodes is upbeat both on and off stage, she enjoys him.[23] Matador Network, a travel culture website, listed TRR as one of the top podcasts of 2011 due to its humor and diverse guests.[24] Matador's only complaint was the sporadic release of the show, but cited the eclectic guests—comics, his uncle, promoters, and musicians like Tom Rhodes, an indie musician with the same name in North Carolina—as a strong draw. A special episode featured an interview with Tom's sister Laura shortly before she passed from breast cancer.
Travel blogs and DVDs
Rhodes travels with a toy Elvis doll and takes pictures of the doll in various places around the world. The pictures can be seen on his website. Some of the 80 pictures include Elvis at historical monuments and cities, such as the
He became a travel writer for
Personal life
Rhodes was born in Washington DC to Sara Rhodes (née McCollough), from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and David B. Rhodes III, an insurance salesman from Washington DC. On his podcast with his Uncle Bob, Rhodes explained that since his family is from DC, that they have "a certain amount of blackness to the way they speak" and that he takes a lot of pride in that. His family moved to Oviedo, Florida in January 1980. His parents divorced during his childhood.
Rhodes's father David was a decorated Vietnam war veteran. In 1968, he was selling insurance and driving a cab in D.C. when he enlisted in the army for U.S. Army Flight School. It was the last year he could qualify at age 29. David had three little boys and a wife to support at the time and never expected to serve. His logic was that peace talks had started in Vietnam that year and his flight training would take a year to complete.[26] Instead, he ended up with one of the most dangerous jobs as a Huey helicopter pilot, flying supplies and troops into landing zones during combat. He earned a Purple Heart for his wounds and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroics before he returned home with a 50 percent disability. According to Rhodes, his father was a great influence on his sense of humor and had a way of spinning horrific war stories into something funny.
David B. "Dusty" Rhodes III died at age 70 on November 3, 2009, after suffering injuries sustained in a crash from a drunk driver. David Rhodes was bedridden for three months from his injuries of four broken ribs, a broken arm and leg, and pins placed in his vertebrae. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on November 30, 2009 with a full military funeral, an honor he received from his service in Vietnam and in the Air Force.[27]
He had a younger sister named Laura Beth Rhodes Goldstein, who died from stage four breast cancer on April 20, 2011.
Material
Rhodes paces around the stage and holds his microphone in a loose, wobbly way. It's a relaxed style he once called "a temple dance to honor the spirits of the universe." His pacing grew from a combination of things. First, he likens his moves to that of a boxer (he boxed at age 13 and often does jokes about it). Second, he is a fan of tennis player John McEnroe who advises to "Play the net," which he says he applies to the stage, and third, he received some advice from a comic when he was just starting out: "[He] gave me some advice... He said, 'Sh*t in all four corners of the stage.' Simple, but what it means is that you should cover all areas of your stage, and ever since that I’ve always made sure in every show I...sh*t in all four corners of the stage," said Rhodes. Rhodes recognizes that some people have called this style annoying but that it is not something he can control anymore.[31] He was once instantly recognizable due to his long hair, but cut it off after his television show ended to shed the stigma that was associated with that.[32]
Mitch Hedberg was a personal friend of Rhodes. Their unique styles of speech and delivery are often compared to each other due to the common themes of drug use, positivity, and absurdity of the day-to-day. However, a pronounced difference between them lies in Hedberg's shy demeanor and delivery, which was part of his charm. Hedberg, who suffered from stage fright, wore sunglasses on stage while looking at his feet, whereas Rhodes traverses the stage and performs in a bold manner looking patrons in the eye.
He is involved with Sacred Cow Productions, the Bill Hicks-founded production company, and appeared in the Kevin Booth documentary American Drug War: The Last White Hope speaking about the drug laws in Amsterdam. Rhodes was influenced by Hicks, whom he met when he was an open mike comic and said "He was just a nice guy that loved comedy and comedians." He released two albums with Stand Up! Records: Hot Sweet Ass and Live in Paris. Hot Sweet Ass contains more of his light-hearted observational material, including what Rhodes calls his favorite joke about "mixing the races until we are all the same grayish color;" whereas, Live in Paris references his worldly and political experiences, such as hosting a talk show abroad and traveling internationally. He is a fan of Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks.
Television and film
- Viva Vietnam: A White Trash Adventure Tour (Comedy Central)
- Mr. Rhodes (NBC)
- Comedy Central Presents (Comedy Central)
- Kevin Masters Show starring Tom Rhodes (Yorin Dutch Television)
- Yorin Travel (Yorin Dutch Television)
- 4:20 Hour Stand-Up (Salient Media)
- Stand Up Australia (The Comedy Channel in Australia)
Discography
- Hot Sweet Ass (2005)
- Live in Paris (2006)
- Colossus of Me (2012)
References
- ^ "Bio Page - TomRhodes.net". 27 March 2012.
- Cleveland.com. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
- ^ "Tom Rhodes YouTube Page". YouTube.
- ^ "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno IMDB". IMDb.
- ^ "IMDb Biography". IMDb.
- ^ "¡SATIRISTAS! Book Trailer on YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
- ^ "Tom Rhodes on CCs Two Drink Minimum with Jake Johannsen". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
- ^ "Episode 158 - Tom Rhodes on WTF with Marc Maron".
- ^ "Viva Vietnam on Rhodes' YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28.
- ^ "Tom Rhodes' CCPresents #1". Amazon.
- ^ "Tom Rhodes' CCPresents #2". Amazon.
- ^ "People Magazine - Picks & Pans - September 23, 1996 - Vol. 46 No. 13".
- ^ "Rhodes and Foxworthy: Dumb & Dumber Duo".
- ^ "Entertainment Weekly - Something So Right sitcom review (mentions Mr. Rhodes and the long hair)". October 18, 1996.
- ^ a b c Kooijman, Jaap (2008). Fabricating the Absolute Fake: America in Contemporary Pop Culture. Amsterdam University Press. p. 102.
kevin masters show starring.
- ^ Savage, Todd. "Dutch Interview about Kevin Masters Show". Expatica.
- ^ "Amsterdam Insomniac Episode imdb". IMDb.
- ^ "Showtime's Red Light Comedy - Live from Amsterdam: Episode 101".
- ^ "Tom Rhodes Radio iTunes page and description". iTunes. Archived from the original on 2016-08-06. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ^ "Crackers Comedy Club review of Rhodes". Archived from the original on 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
- ^ "Rhodes' imdb". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2013-10-24. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- ^ "Doug Stanhope on Tom Rhodes Radio". Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
- ^ "Tom Rhodes: There and Back Again Part 1 of 3". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
- ^ "21 Podcasts to check out (2011)". Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2012-06-13.
- ^ "Elvis Around the World - tomrhodes.net". 9 May 2012.
- ^ Leiby, Richard (April 15, 1995). "David Rhodes quoted in "Laughing till You Cry" Post article". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Man Crashed Into by Drunk TBN Host Steve Galiher in April Passes Away Due to Injuries".
- ^ "Obituary for Laura Beth Rhodes Goldstein".
- ^ "Laura Rhodes Interview on TRR Podcast".
- ^ ""Our Last Day Together"".
- ^ ""Rhodes to somewhere: An interview with Tom Rhodes" UK Interview 2010".
- ^ "Shecky Magazine Interview: Tom Rhodes".
External links
- Tom Rhodes' website
- Tom Rhodes on the Comedy Central Stand-Up Comedian List
- Tom Rhodes interview with SHECKYmagazine.com
- Tom Rhodes on Roof Top Comedy's Comedian List.
- Matador Travel Interview with Tom Rhodes 7/21/2011
- Tom Rhodes Interview on the Drew Show Podcast 6/30/2008 (audio)
- Time Out Hong Kong Interviews Tom Rhodes 11/01/2013