Take me to your highest leader
Comedian Tom Rhodes has a blast in Amsterdam
Uptown Magazine, September 21, 2004
Tom Rhodes has performed stand-up around the world, lived in more cities than most of us could even hope to visit and ridden the wave of fame and obscurity on both sides of the Atlantic.
His passion for comedy has taken him far, and now it brings him to Winnipeg for a five-night stint at Rumor’s.
The beginnings of Rhodes' comedy career read like those of many comics: open mics, road work, and finally climbing his way up to headliner status. In the mid-‘90s sea of Seinfeld clones, Tom's liberal philosophies and long-haired Eddie Vedder look made him stand out. He impressed the right people, and in 1996 he was handed what every comedian is supposed to want -- his own sitcom on NBC.
Mr. Rhodes should have been his big break, but he quickly lost creative control of the project. What aired was watered-down and family-friendly, completely stripped of the personality the network wanted to showcase in the first place. It was put out of its misery after 13 episodes and Rhodes left Hollywood with the money NBC threw at him. He splurged on a swanky apartment in New York’s financial district and spent his nights at the city’s comedy clubs.
“I looked at the money I got as sort of an artists’ grant, and I wanted to get back to being the best stand-up comedian I could be,” he says.
But he was labeled a failed TV star in a business that doesn’t hand out second chances. Getting back on his feet was easier said than done.
“I really felt burned after that shitty sitcom I had. And I went into the toilet. I was a different person. I’ve always been like Tigger. I’ve always been really confident and happy and bouncy. And it was the most frightening thing about after that sitcom. I lost my bounce. I had no confidence. I was the worst comedian in the world for like two years,” he says. “It really broke my heart because I really love being a comedian. To suck, and love it so much, it hurt so bad.”
But success was waiting for him in Europe. He headed to England in 2001 and started working the club circuit. From there, he got to perform in cities like Paris, Dublin, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, Abu-Dhabi, Dubai, and Amsterdam – where he was discovered by Dutch TV producers who wanted to try an American-style late night talk show done entirely in English. Rhodes was chosen to host, and not knowing the language or culture of Holland turned out to make for great TV.
“This girl in a bikini would come out with a Dutch word on a card and the audience would explain to me how to say it and what it meant,” he says.
“And of course it was gratuitous T & A, but it was adorable that these people were teaching me Dutch one word at a time.”
Each show featured a taped piece of Rhodes experiencing Dutch culture, everything from the Amsterdam gay scene to farm life to the federal elections.
“I got to interview their Prime Minister and all the other five candidates who were running against him. In America, I couldn’t get close to my state’s governor, much less my president. But here I am in Holland and I’m talking to their highest leaders,” he says.
After the talk show came his own travel show on the same network. With all that face time, Rhodes became a big star in Holland.
“If I go to the little villages around Holland, It’s like I’m Elvis Presley, man. People flip the fuck out. It’s great. I love talking to people and I love being the dude that makes people happy.”
Although Rhodes moved back to Los Angeles this summer and will spend more time touring North America, his return to American showbiz doesn’t mean he’s embracing the Hollywood machine that burned him eight years ago.
“The only reason I came back to America is because you can make a lot of money here. I’ve only come back to rob the bank so I can have a canal house in Amsterdam,” he says. “I will one day live there forever.”