Tom Rhodes: International comic sensation you've seen on MTV, Comedy Central, and HBO

You’ve seen him on HBO, Comedy Central, MTV, and more. An international comedy sensation, Tom Rhodes has been around, literally and figuratively. He’s been a comic since his senior year in high school, and today he is approaching 40. He’s lived in Florida, San Francisco, L.A., and in New York on two separate occasions. Now he’s in Amsterdam, living on a street he can’t pronounce. Rhodes has played every American city that has a comedy club, and he’s toured the globe so many times that when Immigration looks at his passport, they ask for CliffsNotes.

His soft southern drawl is just barely detectable in his meandering stage voice, and his arms swing freely around a body that is constantly in motion. Tom Rhodes has improved a lot as a comedian since he began as a teenager. When he speaks, it’s in a mellifluous manner that suggests higher education, but Rhodes is somewhat proud that the last class he attended was in a public high school. He credits his knowledge and passion for learning to a talented group of teachers: “I was poisoned with Kerouac, Muhammad Ali, Gandhi, the Beatles. They did it for me.” His humor thrives on information and intelligence. Never settling for jokes about broken toasters or remote controls, Rhodes would rather brood over race and culture.

He’s now lopped off his mane in favor of a shorter crop, which when accompanied with a suit makes Rhodes resemble a Wall Street nine-to-fiver. Living comfortably in the Netherlands, Rhodes can look back at the things that were the seeds of his comedy career. He’s gone from taking a Greyhound bus to gigs to being flown first class on Virgin. He started off as an opener at hell holes throughout the south and now headlines in Paris and San Francisco. He says that he “never considered doing anything else, ever. And I have no other talent; I’d probably be the dude on highway construction holding the ‘Slow’ sign.”

Bill Dykes is a Houston, Tx. Native who moved to New Orleans in 1991 after graduating from the University of Texas – Austin with a B.S. in Film Production. He has been a professional stand–up comedian for eight years. Bill has performed at such venues as the Improv Olympic West, House of Blues, Birmingham’s Stardome and Houston’s Comedy Showcase. He has worked with names like Lewis Black, David Cross, Will Durst, Steven Lynch, and John Heffron, among others. He recently performed for American troops in Iraq and Kuwait, can currently be seen on the Travel Channel, and will soon be seen in the Jim Carrey movie, “I Love You Philip Morris.”

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