Tom Rhodes Smart Camp

Today started out so shitty for me. First I woke up to a text message from a woman in Florida who I was ready to pledge my alliance to telling me that she was dropping the Guillotine on the neck of our beginning relationship which hurt my feelings greatly. And she let me know that I am a self centered narcissist but I knew that already because that is the kind of person that it takes to do stand u...

At any one time there are more people who are suffering than there are who are happy, many more people who are heartbroken than there are who are in love. Apparently the dark sad days I'm living have increased my fans and friendships. This week I learned how because I am hurting and going through troubles that makes it possible for more people to relate to me and get closer to me. Electronic messa...

Shalom Amigos y Amigas! After spending this year mostly by myself in my apartment I have found light in the eyes of the Mexican cops who wanted to squeeze me for money in Tulum and in the dead cat of an Uber driver. Most importantly it was the words from my listeners and people who care that has gotten me through these cold winter days of the nuclear break up. These have not been my best days but...

My life is falling apart and I am a mess! This year has broken me physically and emotionally. My amazing wife Ashna is divorcing me and I am at a low point in my life. What better time to take my very Christian mother to the holy land to visit Jerusalem! What good is a spiritual pilgrimage unless your life is in the toilet! After a very long break of not putting out episodes because I had nothing...

If you come to Ireland you must come to Galway, and if you come to Galway you must take Jonathan Hannon's walkinghistory.ie tour. Jonathan Hannon is my favorite kind of human, a knowledgable historian, passionate storyteller. Overflowing with an abundance of knowledge on a variety of topics, but a special in Irish history and culture, Ashna and I were happy to have taken his tour the last time we...

Rui Xara put on a comedy festival in Porto just to bring me to Portugal for the first time. He bent over backwards to show me everything that is great about Portugal and now I'm in love with the place. In this episode we talk about all of the glorious things about Portugal and why Porto is a better city than Lisbon. He is a beautiful man and he is now my friend for life, that is why it is my pleas...

Joe DeRosa is a beast killer of a comedian. He is obsessed with death and destroying the institutions that hold us back from evolving spiritually. He is against anything that impedes our own personal happiness. I love conversing with him and delighting in his view of the world. We crossed paths in Atlanta and sat down for this gab session to enrich your life with wisdom and laughter. Hooray for hu...

The reason I first found Jared Logan to be a lovable human was when I saw him onstage talking about the Lincoln assassination. In this episode we talk about the hilarious personality shortcomings of John Wilkes Booth, the man who killed president Lincoln. We also discuss the presidents who lost their lives while in office and the Battle Of Little Big Horn. I feel like Jared Logan is a man like mys...

This is a bonus episode where I am forced to make a statement about my story concerning Louie Anderson. As it turns out the hard hitting investigative journalism of Jay Cridlin from the Tampa Bay Times newspaper has uncovered the 32 year old story of a young rube from Florida who went to Hollywood for the first time and got his ass squeezed by one of America's most beloved clean comedians. Is this...

When is enough, enough? How many times can you go to the Great Wall of China or to Wrigley Field in one lifetime? How much dirty filthy shit can a country tolerate from their president? How much time away can the wife of a comedian put up with? These any many other big questions are presented as I ponder the cross roads I am at in my life now. Shall I continue traveling the world at the detriment...

I first came to Mongolia because of Genghis Khan but I returned because of the comedians of Mongolia. There is a very special thing happening at UB Comedy Club and I am proud that I am a part of their history. Not only did I get to sleep in a ger at the 13th century camp site of Genghis Khan but I also go to drink fermented mare's milk and have my teeth whitened for free from the greatest dentist...

Book Roulette is back with the brilliance of Guy de Maupassant! Guy de Maupassant died at the age of 42 stark raving mad in an insane asylum but he left behind the greatest short stories ever written. Maupassant is a writer like no other because he is the ultimate master of the short story form and portrays all facets of human drama, ugliness, glory and comedy that is timeless but each new generat...

Rafinha Bastos is the Lenny Bruce of Brazil and he has the court orders to prove it. He has been sued and had his life threatened over jokes he has made in Brazil. His hard hitting, head cracking jokes earned him the titled of most influential person on twitter in 2011, Barrack Obama was number two. He is a film and television star in Brazil but he loves stand up comedy above all else, which is wh...

Let the soothing words of Malcolm X fuel your summer party. Going on a road trip? Sitting by the fire in the Mongolian country side or just strolling the hot streets of London, let my summer mix put a bounce in your step. Using my vinyl records, CDs and cassette tapes I put together for you this joyful array of head cracking numbers for your peak summer pleasure. Happy summer and joy be upon you!...

Greg Behrendt shot to notoriety when he co-wrote the book 'He's Just Not That Into You' and now he is about to release a book he co-wrote with his wife called 'How To Keep Your Marriage From Sucking.' He is an old friend of mine from back in my San Francisco days and he has advice for you on how not to let poison into your relationships. We could all use a refresher course in how to make love live...

"All of us can take fright, but it requires greatness of soul to laugh at the moment when not merely life, but humanity itself is endangered."   In my ongoing celebration of all things France I am reading a book called 'The Banquet Years' by Roger Shattuck. It is about the origins of the avant-garde in France from 1885 - World War I. From this book I regal you with the story of Henri Rousseau and...

Hannah Gadsby has set the comedy the comedy world on fire. If you have not seen her new Netflix special Nannette you need to do so immediately. It is one of the most powerful comedy specials ever made and I think it will be a game changer in that it will inspire comedians to be more truthful and revealing about themselves. This episode is actually a repeat and it is well worth reposting. Hannah an...

Happy Birthday America! In this episode I talk about my obsession with the World Cup in Russia and all of the human drama and heroic stories that you should be aware of in the world's greatest sports spectacle. I also tell you about the many great experiences I discovered in Philadelphia and how that city is very much like Paris in terms of attitude. This past weekend I got to perform in Philadelp...

In this episode you will learn how the first game of football was originally played by the ancient Mayans and how the Captain of the losing team would be executed. In Europe the first games of football were evolved from bored soldiers kicking around the severed heads of their dead opponents. There are so many fascinating elements to the beautiful game but none more important than how the game of f...

Prepare to have your brains busted out by the powerful words of Charles Bukowski! Bukowski invented a poetic language free of literary pretense by writing about the hard scramble life he grappled with daily. His life and poetry was about the low life bars of Los Angeles, whores, drunks, bums and betting on horses at the race track. Mingled with the hard truths of his existence were also some of th...

Fun with books is back! In this episode I randomly select choice passages from the biographies that line my shelves. The gritty, grappling lives of heroic characters are served up to you now in chunks of read passages from some of my favorite biographies. Including on the list of books I read from for you now are: Steve Jones - Lonely Boy My Lunches With Orson  Furious Cool - Richard Pryor James B...

In this episode I talk about my Mom visiting me, getting my first colonoscopy, the Genghis Khan exhibit at the Reagan library, The controversy of Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee's lack oh humor and the new Star Wars film Solo. I don't think Samantha Bee should lose her job because she used the C word, I think she should lose her job for using the word feckless. Shalom Amigos y Amigas.   * Receive p...

Get to know the first comedian ever to have abdominal muscles! Preacher Lawson sky rocketed to national prominence in 2017 when he crushed it on the television show America's Got Talent. I met him last month in Austin, Texas at the Moon Tower comedy festival. I think he is pure comedy gold and he is a super star waiting to happen. I'm proud to say that he is from Orlando, Florida and that I fully...

I have been friends with Carrot Top since 1986 when he first starting coming around to open mic nights in Orlando, Florida. One of my happiest memories with my Dad was watching Carrot Top's show at the MGM with him and I'll never forget how hard my Dad laughed at him. Carrot Top's Dad worked at Nasa and grew up in Cocoa Beach which might be where he got his inventive mind for comedy and the gadget...

On October 2, 1866 Mark Twain invented stand up comedy, or as he called it "platform speaking." He did not enjoy "mounting the platform" but by 1895 the famous author of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn was in debt from bas investments and publicly disgraced due to his bankruptcy. So to pay off his mountain of debts and restore his good name he embarked on a world wide lecture tour. I just finished readin...