Standup comedy is full of second acts, and few have been as glorious as Tom Rhodes'. The formerly long-haired comic crashed and burned in the 1990s alongside his NBC sitcom but has reinvented himself as a trail-blazing traveling comic. He is coming to Guangzhou after a triumphant year that includes prestigious performances at London’s Soho Theatre and an appearance on IFC’s Comedy Bang! Bang!. Despite having a book and a Netflix comedy hour special on the way, Rhodes is taking time for a three-city jaunt across China.
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So what have you been up to since your last show in China?
This past year has been one of the best years of my life. I played the prestigious Soho Theatre in London twice, I did the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I did the Galway International comedy festival in Ireland, I did the Comedy Central show @midnight three times, I just had an acting role on the IFC show Comedy Bang! Bang! And I am in the process of finishing a book I have been writing for the past three years about my life as a comedian and all my best stories traveling the world.
How will this show differ from the one last year?
At least 50 percent is new material. I am working hard on making the whole show new so that I can capture it again for what will be my next Netflix special/DVD/CD.
Now that you've been in China a few times, has it left any comedic impressions?
I’m ashamed to admit it. I’m an experienced traveller and I can’t believe this happened to me the last time I was here. I was walking down a shopping street close to the Bund and these people came up to me. They were nice, they were from Shenzhen, they were on vacation, their English was excellent and they asked if I wanted to go to some cultural tea exhibition. I had this thought in my head - I’m always too protective and guarded when I travel and I thought the reason why I travel is to meet people so I said I’m going to trust these people. And I went, and it was cute and then they dropped the bill.
What was the damage?
RMB700! Oh my god, they did me a favor because now I know that USD5 for a cup of coffee at a Starbucks is a really good deal.
No VPN? Watch Tom Rhodes video clips on Comedy Central.
It’s exciting. It’s the true mark of civilization if you have a stand-up scene. I did the tour last year and there’s a great, fresh and young comedy scene in Beijing. I watched a couple Mandarin open mics which were really cool. I didn’t understand half of it, but the thing I like about open mic nights is that you’re reminded that just getting on stage is a victory.
How often are you on the road?
I am outside the United States six months of the year and touring relentlessly across the United States. I’ve had everything in storage for years and it’s exciting to go to places like Rome and Bali when I have time. I work about 45 weeks of the year so I don’t have much off. People think it’s difficult to live in hotels but it’s not really. Every day, you get your garbage taken out and get fresh lemons, so...
Any awkward moments on stage in new markets?
Only in the United States. England people can get a bit lippy when they’ve been drinking but that happens everywhere else around the world. I had an incident at a show in Scotsdale, Arizona, with a drunk guy who wouldn’t shut up. I ripped him apart with comeback lines and he stood and I thought he was going to charge the stage and pummel me.
You had a glorious head of hair in the 1990s. Was it hard to cut off?
Nope. I was kind of known as the long-haried guy. It kind of rocketed me to notoriety back then. I had a sitcom and it was frustrating because all these hair jokes were directed at me. The reason I grew my hair out was because I loved Native Americans and Crazy Horse was one of my heroes. But all these hair jokes were referencing Fabio and Kenny G, so by the time that show finished, I thought I didn’t want my identity to be my hair - I want my identity to be funny and it was no big deal.
How good was that 1990s sitcom money?
It was ridiculous. I moved to New York City and lived like a dog when I was 20 and I always swore that I would move back there and live in style when I could. So after the show ended, I had a trunk load of money and I got a rock star apartment in the Wall Street area.
No VPN? Watch Tom Rhodes video clips on Comedy Central.
Are you from San Francisco?
I wish. I grew up in a small town in Florida and started on the Southern circuits. One of the reasons I grew out of my hair was that all these comedians were trying to be clean like Jerry Seinfeld and trying to get on television. I didn’t want a TV show, I just wanted to be a great comedian so I grew my hair out, which is ironic since I was the one who ended up with a TV show, but I always thought it was a higher form of intelligence of comedy came out of San Francisco. I always look at it as the Jerusalem of standup comedy - it’s where it was invented by Mark Twain, who gave funny live performances, and that’s my favorite city in America. It’s my spiritual home.
What was that scene like in the 1990s?
It was a great scene there with so many fantastic standup comedians like Greg Proops, Marc Maron, Patton Oswald, Margaret Cho - a lot of the comedians that are considered American stalwarts right now.
At the time, were you all thinking about making it?
No, we were all pretty happy. Someone asked me awhile ago if we knew we were part of history at that time and the answer is of course, no. We were just young comedians who were friends, hang out on regular nights and play softball once a week. Everybody was very encouraging and you’re watching people do very inventive material that inspired you to do your best. It’s hard to do some hacky bullshit after you watch pure brilliance in front of you.
Any advice to new comics?
The same advice for anybody - just stick with it. Get on stage as much as you can. There are no shortcuts in comedy - everybody sucks when they start and it takes a lot time to get confidence and where you start writing jokes that matter and are indicative of your personality. It’s trial and error. Everybody’s going to bomb and that’s why most people don’t stick with it.
Any last words?
Please keep me away from cultural tea exhibitions that charge RMB700!
// May 15, 9-11.30pm, RMB100 in advance, RMB200 at the door. The Paddy Field.
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