Tom Rhodes Smart Camp

This episode was recorded in Los Angeles. I have only been friends with Duncan Trussell for a few years but he has already skyrocketed to the top of my list of people that I love hanging out with. We never talk about mundane topics like sports or weather, we always go to higher planes of love and consciousness as we do in today's episode that was recorded on a pleasant late Spring evening while we...

This episode was recorded in Minneapolis. In the future if we are lucky every comedian will be more like Ted Alexandro. Not only funny but passionate about knowledge and politically active. I am a fan of Ted Alexandro because whenever I see him perform he is talking about things that matter and putting his unique opinion on world events. He is the kind of comedian I like the most in that he is the...

Jackie Kashian is a powerhouse comedian by any way you measure it. She has a strong sense of humor and slices up topics of mundane living and her own personal rage with ease. Her autobiographical humor has been seen on Comedy Central and countless late night talk shows. She has a popular podcast called 'Dork Forrest' where people talk about their strange obsessions. When I did it we talked about m...

This episode was recorded in Los Angeles. You may know Maz Jobrani as one of the founding members of The Axis Of Evil Comedy Tour. He has been referred to as the Persian Elvis. He has appeared in countless film and television roles but my favorite incarnation of him is as a stand up comedian. I am a fan of his comedy because it contains the original energy of joy. His brand of comedy is not the sl...

This episode was recorded in London. I first met Joseph Wilson when I performed at the Comedy Cafe in London in 2013. We hit if off instantly and unbeknownst to me he became a avid listener of my podcast. I found out he was listening to my podcast 6 months later when he was on vacation in Peru and sent me a video he filmed at the top of Machu Pichu where he recreated and slightly mocked the openin...

This episode was recorded in London. Very often in interviews I have said that getting in with London was the key to me getting in with all of these world wide comedy circuits, specifically me getting in with the Comedy Store. My guest today is Don Ward, the owner of the Comedy Store. Since its opening in 1979 it has single handedly changed the British comedy scene from tired old pub comedians doi...

This episode was recorded in London. Within the first 5 minutes I met Natalia Tena she was cracking me up and I was teaching her the basic steps of the tango. I think she is a feminist icon badass woman. She is an amazing actress whose first role was in the Hugh Grant film 'About A Boy'. Since then she has had a sterling career staring in the Harry Potter films and in Game Of Thrones. Most human b...

This episode was recorded in London. Virginia Gilbert is an award winning author and filmmaker.  She is currently premiering her new film 'A long way from home' which she wrote and directed at film festivals all over the world. This conversation was recorded immediately following her showing of this new film at the Dublin film festival. I met Virginia many years ago when I worked with her husband,...

This episode was recorded in London. There have only been a few of my comedy super star friends who when I asked them to appear on my podcast declined and then there is the opposite example of Stephen K Amos who when I asked him said "Of course, how soon can we record?" I met Stephen about 15 years ago when he was in his early years of being a comedian at the Comedy Store in London. I love everyth...

This episode was recorded in Paris, France.   I first met Eve Jackson in June 2012 when I appeared as a guest on her TV program called 'The Culture Show' which airs on France 24, the English language channel of France. She was a fun and easy interviewer and I liked that she could roll with my answers injecting her wit into the conversation effortlessly.  She is the editor and primary journalist fo...

This episode was recorded in Paris. I met Sebastian Marx the last time I played in Paris. He has the young hot new scene  putting on stand up comedy nights in English and in French.  When I met him I came to see him perform a one hour show in French. He has lived in France for years and speaks French fluently. I didn't understand a word of the show but I was impressed to see an American speaking F...

This episode was recorded in Paris.   I first met Sand Van Roy after my show in Paris in June 2012. Speaking with her I was tickled to find out that she was a huge comedy fan and that he all time favorite comedian is Mitch Hedberg. She was thrilled to hear that I was Mitch Hedberg's friend. She was trying a joke that she had written out on me and I told her that I liked it.    In this conversation...

This episode was recorded in Amsterdam.   I first met Peter Klashorst ten years ago when he appeared as a guest on my Amsterdam late night talk show. At the time I was told that he was famous for painting naked black women. Having a deep appreciation for dark skinned women I liked the man instantly. His journey as an artist has been epic with a world wide reach.  He lived in Senegal where he was a...

This episode was recorded in Rotterdam.   It always tickles me to meet intelligent people who attend my shows and are fans of mine. Last month after my show in Rotterdam I met Zihni Özdil and I was so struck by his intelligence, life's work and personable being that I instantly wanted to record an episode of my podcast with him to squeeze out his knowledge for the enjoyment of my listeners.    He...

This episode was recorded at the American hotel in Amsterdam. Greg Shapiro is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in show business. He is originally from Chicago where he got his earliest improv training and he moved to Amsterdam in 1994 where he became one of the founding members of Boom Chicago, the Mecca of improv comedy in Amsterdam that has launched former members to Saturday Night Li...

This episode was recorded in Amsterdam. It is ass biting cold outside and miserable rain is expected. I am currently on a theater tour performing around Holland and I'm happy to see good friends who live here that I haven't seen in a while. One of which is Bob Maclaren. Bob has been living in Amsterdam for 20 years and speaks fluent Dutch. He is from New Zealand and like me he does all the great w...

This episode was recorded in San Francisco. Jack Boulware has been one of my best friends in life since I lived in San Francisco in the early 1990s. He has been there for me through thick and thin and through the many ups and downs I have had in my life. Aside from being a true solid friend to me he has also been my intellectual guru who I talk with about comedy, books, movies and life. He is a de...

This episode was recorded in San Francisco. Greg Behrendt in my mind is the quintessential San Franciscan. I met Greg when I first moved to San Francisco in 1991 and he is one of the nicest people I have ever met in the entertainment industry.  Like most people in the business he has seen his ups and downs but that fact that his comedy contains the original spirit of joy and that he is not bitter...

I have known and respected Drew Hastings for over 20 years. His jokes have always possessed an intelligent cynicism that hit me right in the heart of what I find funny. This conversation was recorded two years ago. While performing in Cincinnati I heard that Drew was now the mayor of Hillsboro, Ohio and when I finished my shows I stopped off to see him on my way to Chicago. He still performs stand...

This episode was recorded in Brooklyn, New York. Having co-created the Daily Show and co-founded Air America it is a solid fact that Lizz Winstead has left a permanent mark on American entertainment and the American consciousness. Like most innovators and socially forward thinkers the roots of her tree began in stand up comedy.  I worked with Lizz several times in the early years of my career as h...

This episode was recorded in New York City. I was in New York last week to film the new Dave Attell series for Comedy Central. At the moment it is called 'Adults Only'. It's an uncensored stand up show that will air sometime next year. I was there the entire week and got to watch every taping. I was on the last episode and thoroughly loved rocking it and can't wait for people to see it. It had bee...

This episode was recorded several years ago in Atlanta, Georgia. It happens periodically that I will work with a young comedian that I love as a person and performer. When Jerry Rocha featured for me at the Atlanta Punchline I was pleased at how hard he rocked the room, warming the audience up rather than fouling up the bath water for the rest of the bathers. On and off stage Jerry is extremely li...

This episode was recorded in Seattle, Washington. I have known Cathy Sorbo for over 20 years. She is not only a brilliant stand up comedian but she also keeps inventing these supremely hilarious songs. She decided to stay based in Seattle to be with her family and I think she is better off for it. Her real life experiences are the gems of her material that makes me laugh the hardest but it is her...

Recorded in Chicago at Zanies on a Saturday night last September between breaks in 3 shows. Drew Michael was my feature act for the week and I loved what he was doing on stage. He's young, good looking, mildly angst ridden and I believe he will be a dangerously good comedian one day. He is from Chicago but about to move to New York. It was such a busy week for both of us the only time we had to re...

This episode was recorded in Beijing, China. I first met Des Bishop many years ago in London when we both performed on a show together. He has had a very unique life story and an amazing career trajectory.  Des is originally from New York but has deep family roots in Ireland. He started his stand up comedy career in Dublin and has gone on to have a brilliant television career in Ireland. For the p...