People around here trust the shepherd. Jamie and the other Jamie. They always say the sheep trust him to gather around and I'll throw another log on the fire. Turn it up just a touch on another episode of the podcast is starting now. Brand new podcast. The podcast starts now. Jamie bendele Jamie Hernan Adda coming back. gonna hit you one time. Hey, people got a good one. All right, I hope that you have used the time between New Episodes wisely but it is time to come within the sound of the shepherds voices. We have a great guest for you this episode. Comedian Tom Rhodes, world traveler. reluctant to use the word Renaissance because I feel like it's cliche to say, but I have a real affinity for Tom. appreciate his friendship. There are a handful of guys who challenge me to be better than I am. Get me outside my comfort zone. Live life in a way that is aspirational to me. Not not possession based, but approach to life based. He's one of them. And I'm happy the episode paid off. I mean, I felt like that came across in the episode. In our interview, Adam has not heard anything you've said. He's just wondering if you're gonna be sure the number of times that you love each other in the episode one time. Hmm, well, I just acknowledge that he was a sheep. You know how to count. People count you all the time. But you're not account. We're gonna see how this works out. I actually think that first of all, I'm going to I'm going to challenge the sheep. Find a person in your life to say I love you too. That's outside your normal. I love you group. I think Boy George said it best when he said do you really want to hurt me? Because that's what you're doing right now. I have no bra. slinging this time man crush outside of my realm. It hurts. Okay, so if it hurts, if that that comes across as man crush, no, no interpretation. Actually, the fact is beyond man crush, which is even more irritating. It feels like it's a bigger deal. But the interview with DOM is incredible. Really great guy. I admire him for his ability to travel the world doing what he loves. And it's to your point. I think he does have some interesting inputs on life in general. We talked about loss footage recovered footage hearing voices that you thought maybe had been lost and finally getting to hear them again, little bit of conversation about some baseball cards and the impact of it. The Chinese comedy scene, we got deep. We had we covered a lot of ground so you got to really enjoy this episode. Don't wander too far. When we return it will begin this is the vodcast Jamie Jamie Adam. Pocket talk. unrelated to the subject matter at hand. Yep. You know, I have good luck. Best. best dog, man, you know, I have bad dog. Worst dog in America. I'm gonna steal that though. Okay. But I'm also going to have next dog. Yeah, cuz next dog. Well, both of these two dogs are gonna die. Oh, we don't have a new dog can actually have a family. But I do want a subsequent dog. Yeah, you know, you can't put in an order for next dog. No, no, you have to wait for one of the jobs to come open. Unless you get a third dog. In which case kind of a weird. Third three dogs. It's an orphan. I think it's okay. But yeah, it's a lot if you get a third dog Bad dog. really nervous. Oh, can you imagine you just keep two beds for bad dog. He's really there's another dog now in front of me in the bag. So, so I'm sticking with two dogs. Okay, so next dog. Okay. My dog growing up. Reading. I've always wanted a great day. Yeah. While I was on a research trip home. I found the aka c paperwork from my childhood dog. No, sir. I have decided I'm going to track down kin dog childhood. What a great dane kin dog turns out to be a bad dog. So you can actually and if you follow the aka see like I can go back? Yeah, I think you can go all the way down and if not, we can flip that go up the other way. Because they do those 23 and me's for dogs now. I'm not testing every dog in America. So that progeny solid point it's harder the other way. Yeah, you're right. It's harder the other way. Yeah. I mean, it's just confirm. The best part about this story is when you get next dog, bad dogs and still be there, and then they're gonna find out that they were actually brothers separated. Wouldn't it be interesting if Bad dog was related to childhood dog? possible? puzzle? It's not even gonna. It's not it's just not even possible. All right sheep. This is an interview that I have been looking forward to. And truth be told I got thinking about tonight's episode and our guest who is Tom Rhodes will be introducing here in just a moment. There are few men who are my adult peers that over the years, I think I have genuinely said I love him in and had them say something similar in our guests this evening is one of those guys. I have a very close friendship with my friend, Mr. Tom rod. So I want to introduce the segment in the traditional way before you do, as he ever told you, Adam, that he loves it. I don't know. I was just thinking that exact thing. I was like, I mean, he told me that I love you. But yeah, but I'm says I I certainly love Jamie Bendel. Oh, we were we were over we were talking over you sit. Go back. You guys are gonna have to work on Did you say you loved us? I do. I love you both. Oh, look at that. Doesn't mean by the way. He just he doesn't mean when I want to tell you that when Tom Rhodes tells you that he loves you. Yeah, he means it. Can you give it to us again, but maybe you'd like to say that what he just told me in I've honestly never met. But what about like, Barry White kind of what the hell happened? I mean, you don't undermine that you don't demean it. I don't know it. Well, at first I at first I said I didn't love you guys. And I said I but I do love Jamie Bendel. But you were talking over me. So I just decided to say I love you so we could move on. Just to shut you down. You want to drag it out a little more. So I think I'll go back to the original stamp. You know if i remember times, I said I love you just to show somebody. It's a true it's a good goat. All right. So this is the podcast Jamie battle Jamie hurt and Adam. Our guest this evening is Tom Rhodes comedian, well regarded has a terrifically interesting story that I can't wait to delve into for those of you that may be less familiar with it. Have you been my friend? Yeah, up and down. But I'm on an upswing. So that's good. Where are you calling home these days? Los Angeles. I've been living in Los Angeles for six years in August. If you follow Tom on social media, you have I think one of the most epic bookcases that that regularly featured in people's social media. Yeah, I mean, I'm a lifelong reader. And I didn't live anywhere for 10 years, and I kept everything in storage. So I was able to preserve my my book collection and my massive vinyl record collection, you know, relentlessly traveling. For years, whenever I would finish a book no matter where I was in the world, I would I would mill the book to either my mother's house or my dad's house, so that I would never lose books that I read, do you feel like in you know, you're, you have really spent a good part of your professional career entertaining audiences around the world. Your your resume in terms of countries performed in is probably as extensive as anyone's Do you feel like this experience that we've all lived through the pandemic has has, will leave the world smaller and more closed off. When we come out of the pandemic, I think comedy is going to be hotter than it's ever been even bigger than the 80s boom, the, you know, early 2000s boom, I think people are just so starving for entertainment, and to be among other people. You know, I watched a lot of animals documentaries during the pandemic. And, you know, it's always when somebody gets, you know, the world of beats, it's fine as long as he's with the group. But once he gets off by himself, you know, that's when there's trouble and I think human beings we, you know, we thrive in groups, and I think people have been so stressed out, and so much chaos that I think somebody is going to be massive The downside on the international stuff. As you know, in 2019, I put out this album called around the world, and I recorded it in 24 cities around the world. A lot of those gigs don't even exist anymore. The pandemic wiped it all out? Well, first of all, though, it was gigs in China that I did I have done for like 20 years. Beijing. I mean, the rooms have changed over the time, but Beijing, Shanghai, those the English language shows were all shut down by the Chinese government, like in 2019. And then the pandemic kept people inside away from establishment. So a lot of those places went out of business. That's a bummer. I mean, that's you, when you when you think about that, and as you talk about that resurgence of comedy coming out of the pandemic, and the ability to kind of I think you're right, that the world needs a little bit of relief and a little bit and people coming out of that, you know, honestly just want to laugh, give me something to be sad, funny at, and a lot of venues that they went that, you know, throughout the world that people went to, won't be there. And that's, you know, interesting, what that means for comedy. Well, yeah, a lot of places that had international touring headliners, I mean, a lot of clubs in the states also aren't going to be able to be flying headliners around the country for for a while, but those international gigs, a lot of them. It's a lot of them, I don't think are coming back. Like the Atlanta punch line survived the first bubble, but it was the best club in Atlanta. Yeah, like, he's got that all that podcast revenue to fall back on, though. So it's like, yeah, they're, well, you know, so it's interesting time, and we're gonna transition now this segment here in just a second. But the, it is interesting how comedy does help transition you from, and I'm going to use the bigger terms tragedy into triumph, right? The ability to bring humor back, it is what finds Common Ground among people. And when we can't be together, we can't laugh together. And when we can't laugh together, we I think we find ourselves more naturally divided. I think you're absolutely right. And you know, I think the, you know, the whole original concept of laughter when we were kids, people, you know, were the dinosaurs were hunting us were frightened in the caves. And then once the danger passed, everybody was relieved and they could laugh. So like I thought, you know, people haven't been getting that relief from whatever their fear and worry. Alright, we're gonna pick it up back after this break here with Tom Rhodes. This is the podcast, Jamie, Jamie and Adam groundsheet. All right, so we are back. Our guest this evening, sheep is Tom Rhodes, talking a little bit about the importance of comedy how it's been impacted a little bit internationally. Alright, so Tom talked to me about what you've been doing on social media, what was the what was the thought process behind it? Because for anybody who's been following it, you've been posting terrific clips, that really give insight to people who maybe haven't seen it in a while. Kind of what your story is, and kind of you in context, I've loved it. But tell me what was the genesis of that? In 1995. I, you know, I had been on Comedy Central for a few years. And then I had got my, my NBC deal to make a sitcom. So I mean, that was a pretty sweet period in my life, and I was generating a lot of money. So I set out to make a documentary about myself. And, and how I've evolved as a stand up comedian, I originally set out to make a film with this guy from San Francisco, who in anyway, he but he had been a film student that I was in a small project that he had been. And a lot of things happened in the course of making this movie. I had the sitcom for a year and then it went away. And then I moved to New York City to get back into stand up. And then I started doing the European circuits. And I moved to Amsterdam for a love story. And the love story didn't work out. But I was discovered by a Dutch television network who gave me they let me be the host of a late night talk show on Dutch television guy did I made this film with was a complete headache through the whole process, and he could never get the film done. It was always another, another $2,000 I can finish it another $3,000 I could finish it. And it was an endless money pit. And I actually the one frivolous purchase I made when I had my sitcom. I bought a 1966 convertible Eldorado Cadillac This guy was kind of a loser. He didn't have a car. And I gave him this car when I moved to Amsterdam. But, you know, in the hopes that it would finish the project. Exactly. So I ended up when Amsterdam, but when I finished, after the late I talked to the same network, let me be the presenter on a travel show. And so that's where the film was supposed to end with, how will this this Dutch television career that I had over there, I moved back to Los Angeles and the dude, you know, he would yell at me is this guy was such an ungrateful turd. And I asked for everything back. And, and he gave me all these tapes. I said, Listen, I can't do this anymore. You're not a pleasant human being to work with. And you're, you're incapable of finishing the film. So I just want everything back. And he gave me these boxes of tapes. And then I didn't live anywhere for 10 years. Travel the world as a comedian. And then I got this place in Los Angeles five years ago. And three years ago, Ron glass died and running. And when we made the film, we interviewed Dave Chappelle, Ginni Graf, hello, my father, my sister, who are now deceased. And sorry, this is a long story. But this is a big story that that goes with the footage that you're seeing now. So when I got everything out of storage, when I moved to LA, I paid a few$1,000 to have the tapes digitized. Guess what? He gave me garbage? Oh, didn't even have sound. And there were none of the edits. So Tom, if you've only given him like 3000 more dollars, you probably I should have told him I loved him more. Hey, got a second. So anyway, so when Ron glass died three years ago, Ron glass was on Barney Miller. And he was also on my sitcom. And we had done a beautiful interview with him. So I had not been in touch with this guy in years. The guy who was making the movie with so I reached out to him and I said, Ron glass died. We did a great interview with him. He writes me back and he said, Hey, if anyone ever wants to start the Tom Rhodes Museum, I have all your tapes. So I would be and I couldn't have been friendlier to the guy right now. And I said, Listen, I don't care about the movie, all I care about. I'd love to get the tapes back because I'd love to see my deceased father and sister speak words again. Shortly thereafter, he starts telling me I owe him for storage space. Yep. So I wouldn't I couldn't have done this. For the 10 years, I didn't live anywhere. I had a filing cabinet. And I made a contract with this guy in 1995. And as lawyers, I think you'll appreciate this story. I looked through every piece of paper in this file cabinet. And I found a 1995 fax, paper copy of the contract. And you know, the lettering was faded. I think a couple more years from now wouldn't even have been able to read it. So I contact the lawyer on the letterhead, Lauren throws, and I said I don't know if you remember me. Tom Rhodes, I tell them my story. The guy writing back is Tom Rhodes. You're one of the nicest people I've ever dealt with in entertainment. You sent me your first two albums, I have no memory of that. And he says, Let me send one of our moles into the archives. And I'll get back to you in a couple days. Oh, and then 1995 I spent $500 to do this contract. And I remember at the time, almost not doing it because I thought that was a lot of money. The guy gets visit Two days later, he emails me the contract and it's got both of our sign signatures on it. So Laura throws is now a very big entertainment lawyer. I couldn't afford him. But I got a friend of mine, who's a lawyer to act as my lawyer. And this kid is moved back to his mother's house in Sonoma, and my wonderful ex wife aashna. Doing some investigation found the address. We serve the dude the lawyers contact. You know, we want everything back and here's the contract. So here's the part you can appreciate. I feel like this is gonna go kind of oj direction. No, it isn't. We're right at the spot. Don't want him. Orange rose. The lawyer worded this contract so beautifully. And it said that it is understood that Mr. Rhodes pays for everything therefore Mr. Rhodes owns everything. It is also understood that the director Gary Smithson oops, you might want to bleep His names and put them in the title of the episode. Did he has to store the tapes at his own expense. And if they're damaged, lost or stolen, he's responsible for the cost. And if Mr. Rhodes is unhappy with the project at any time, he can ask for his product, his property back, and terminate the working arrangement is so. So I got, it was like 15 mini DV tapes, I got them about two years ago. And it took me I had to, you know, build up a couple had to have a couple of extra 1000 to get those digitized. And then a few months ago, I watched all the footage, and I made notes for a friend of mine to chop them up into 123 minute clips. So all of those vintage clips that you're seeing now that I'm posting was out of my possession for 15 years. So I'm thinking about how good of a movie you could have had if you'd given him a BMW, instead of No, I think I think the movie might actually be about the tapes and the getting. Enjoy if you preset that in Georgia, because everything's filmed in Atlanta now. So if we set that in Georgia, I see the scene where it's a white tuxedo big guy and sat in like out of Macon and he says, Your Honor, Your Honor, I said, we do have a contract, my client has found the contract and they pull it out. And it's like Perry Mason boom, and the whole, the whole room erupts with an Ooh, and ah, and the poor guy slinks back into the corner, back to Sonoma, where he's hiding his mom's basement. Alright, so let me ask you this, then to tie that back. Do you feel like the social media where we are as it relates to social media, the footage that you have is, in some respects, more suited to this environment because of the ability to cut it into clips, rather than having to make it into a movie? I think so. Because there's so much of this that would never have been seen, like all the jokes I filmed. I filmed so many live performances. And you know, Jamie, hindsight is 2020. Looking at the footage now and I thought I shouldn't have done a documentary I should have put out a special that was shot in a club because I had all these beautiful shows films, but nobody did special from clubs back then. Special was always in a theater. So by but yes, is the answer to your question. Because I can chop up all the great jokes that are left over and like I can, I can chop up everything Dave Chappelle said instead of just using a one or two clips, and I'm gonna go what I'm showing, and it's, it's such a joy, to finally get it back and to be able to do something with it. Oh, and then, you know, when we made the film when we started making the film, you know, Seinfeld had never been the movie comedian. Right? That that is that I started working on the film like 10 years before that came out. Yeah. So I was really I was really swinging for the fences on trying to do a great film about what it's like to be a comedian. Well, and I'm still not entirely certain that the actual comic experience really has been captured on film. People get close, but I'm not sure anybody ever gets all the way there. Particularly the way you don't think Sally Field and punch line. Nailed it. Alright. I'm gonna be bad one more time roads right after this. This is the box. Don't wander. Alright, pop quiz. hotshot Broadway, boy. I've got continents. You have Broadway shows. All right. I'm in South America. avita easiest one North America. Hamilton, Europe, Phantom of the Opera, Africa, Lion King, Asia, Miss Saigon. Some people don't feel like it's common, but I'm going to name it anyhow. This one will stump you. Antarctica. Happy Feet and not proud to jobra my boy. All right. We are back. This is the podcast. Tom Rhodes is our guest this show Jamie Bendel Jamie. Hernan, Adam to the second there's a couple sheep. We just got to get back in here. Come on, back to the feedback. Let's go, Adam. Hey, Tom, I want to be I want to change our focus just a little bit. One of the things that we do on this show is the concept of the meat and three, cafeteria style. You pick a meat you get three sides in your life. What is the meat? What's the organizing principle around which everything else revolves new jokes, new jokes is my core business. Okay? Everything great that's ever happened to me in comedy. And everything great that ever happened to me was because somebody told me crushing it as a comedian. My high school baseball coach gave me some of the greatest advice in life, he said, You should never be trying to hit a homerun. a homerun should be the accident of a line drive. Yeah. All right. So so his new joke is the organizing principle, then what's the three? What are the three attributes that you would like people to most closely associate with you? intelligence, compassion, and survival. Oh, I like those. Let me ask you this. And I didn't want to in the other in the context of the story about the footage, was it a challenging experience? What was it like to see that footage of that conversation with your dad or with your sister? Oh, my God, you know, and it was like to thanks, Jamie. That's a great question that because I mean, that that's really what it's all about was the reason I wanted to get the tapes back in the first place. You know, you know, and I advise everyone listening to this to film the people you love in your life, because you never know when someone could be snatched from you. It was worth all the money, all the headaches, everything that I went through with the low life turd that kept my footage for 15 years, it was worth everything and all the money and heartbreak that went with it. Just to see my my father and sister speak words again. And you know, it was a film about me. So like, there, they were, they were talking about me. I wish I just filmed them, you know, telling stories, or they're given their opinion about anything, you know? Yeah, I've often kind of thought about that exact scenario that says, you know, so my dad was a history professor, right. And his students taped his lectures, and I've, they've given me the tapes of his lectures, but this is before, you know, he died a long time ago, before the internet was even around. But now, like, even with the podcast, and even with YouTube videos, like, my grandkids will be able to hear my voice and our personalities forever with the internet in a way that, you know, you've never had before. So whereas you and I kind of were desperate for something to hold on to. Future generations are actually gonna have us in spades, which will maybe be good, maybe be bad. Yeah, I was just thinking I might need to adjust. listening to this. What was your father's name? historical obsession? Yeah. So he Latin American history, and the rise and fall of our hires. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. throughout Latin America. Cool. We've never discussed this on the podcast, but my favorite musical of all musicals is avita. Oh, four. Exactly. That love that part of learning about Argentine history? Oh, yeah. My mother's from Buenos Aires. Oh, that's the first thing I thought when you said that. Because Paraguay used to be part of Argentina. I think Uruguay too, in the history of how they split up and the bulevar liberated continent fascinating history that we're never taught. Right, which is actually most people don't have a very good background on and yet it is incredibly interesting. I learned this weekend that my grandfather sailed through the Panama Canal as the captain of a ship at least 50 times. Okay. Are we playing ancestor poker now? Well, but I'm trying to raise me No, I'm not concurrent. Oh, you're your dad. Your father. Yeah. Was the history professor and I was getting Okay. Well, my grandfather, I drove back and forth. Now. I think. I think my grandfather had a Panama hat was look good in it. I still listen. I'm strong grandfather was Noriega. I'm struggling right now. My mother hates having her picture taken. Pablo Noriega. Oh. Right. And I and I struggle with respecting her wishes not to take her picture and hiring a private investigator just to track her and be like, if she smiles by any chance. Could you please give us you know, I don't think she's doing anything wrong. I just need pictures of her because she won't actually sit still to let us take a picture of her. Yeah, and I know that at some point she'll be gone. And I'll lament not having pictures of her when she noticed if you're wearing a body cam. I know what we're doing next time you go to Florida. I'm just gonna go down with you. Yeah. Wherever you guys go to dinner, whatever. I'm at the table next to you. And suddenly just taking shots after shots a mom look casually over here. Yeah, we're doing a documentary about Bendel. Yeah, we're doing a documentary about Jamie and we just need some stills mum to apropos of what Tom was talking About we we are of a hybrid generation. Right? All of us were the home videos that we probably first appeared in and children were most likely those old eight millimeter. Yeah, if at all right at all, most people didn't, didn't have video cameras or the ability to film their family. They were without sound. Right? Right. Yeah. Did you see that? Did you see? I'm sorry to cut you off to me. Hold that thought. Did you see the footage of me boxing? And then me being a cowboy? Yeah. So that's depth from those down eight millimeter. So like, my dad had those cameras. And then he had a video camera after after that. Yeah, but you met you, I would love to hear. You're always imagining you're missing. You're missing such a key part of it, you know? Yeah, yeah, we had a thing, Tom, where my mom had a stroke a couple of months ago. And when we were talking about some of the challenges that she had, and one of the biggest things that she described as a loss was the loss of her handwriting. And, and you realize how much your identity is in what it looks like, when you write, you know, so. So we have the we, I think the things that we carry of our past are the words that are written to us, in the in the, in the, the handwriting that we recognize the words that were spoken to us, and then the pictures and then at some point that kind of becomes, you know, really the underpinnings of our identities, right? This is horribly insensitive. But my handwriting definitely looks poststroke Oh, it is I think it is, but I but I think kind of to bring this all back like that, what the value of those recordings and that time, you know, you had to fight for and that, you know, went through hell and high water to get back in the movie maybe didn't work out. But the social media stuff is incredible. and the value though, to you, and to your family, and to the next generations of your family, and like, you know, it will be immeasurable. Can you imagine, like, I couldn't imagine having that about my grandfather, right? And be able to say, like, go back and ancestry.com and say, not only here is a picture of your grandfather, here's the little you know, census node, but here he is curate comedians of his time talking about his talent. Like, that's gotta be awesome. Yeah, and I more I think, you know, more people will see this footage now in this way. You know, kind of you and what Jamie said before, I think, you know, it was it was, it was long and stressful. But I think now's the best time to release this stuff a little bit at a time. And then, you know, my sister died of breast cancer at 3710 years ago. And she's greatly missed. And I know, my mom and everybody really loved seeing her talking on video again. So. So yeah, I mean, it's priceless. Definitely. Yeah, I want to make a mock documentary of the captains of the Panama Canal of the time talking about Bendel's grandfather, we could we could shoot that. They've been going through the battle. So let me just let me just caution you. Be careful there. He's very sensitive about grandfather and they come out that you know, my grandfather ran away from home when he was very young, leaving behind a large family of brothers and sisters, parents who cared about him to make his life on the high seas. And I thought this making a comment after the story about Tom sister was in was bad enough and that's where I was gonna get the couch. That's where I was gonna get a lot more out. No, no, no, the slapping 19 Yes, yeah, please hold. Yeah, no, but no, keep going. So this man was a son of the sea. I am the son of a son of a sailor. Yeah. So put that in your pipe and smoke it before you start bad mouth in the manner yourself a Jimmy Buffett song If you do not wear sandals? Oh, yeah, he has a he has a weird flip flop thing. But we'll get back to that in the next guy. We're gonna be back in just a moment. This is the podcast, Jamie Jamie and our guest Tom Rhodes will return. Have you ever thought about a movie that accurately portrays the comedian life? I have thought about the fact that capturing the real experience of comedians or other performers is extremely challenging, and most don't do it. Well. Do you think it would be a comedy? Or do you think it would be kind of on the darker side? Or do you think it would be? Yeah. How What do you think the film would really look like? think that if well done, it would be a psychological thriller. Hmm. Interesting. So if we accept the fact that most thrillers are often disconnected from reality, right, so like the Bourne Ultimatum is those as an example those don't actually exist? When you think of when you hear about a bad event, Hampshire in another country, so think about any scene, car chase, multiple car crashes, gunfire and the piano, 60 seconds, right, whatever that is, those would make the news. Yep. And if you saw that on the news, you wouldn't think Well, clearly, they're chasing the spy who doesn't know what his identity is. This is all this stuff. Don't you have a dream though, to go to a foreign country and find the US embassy and go running full speed towards the gates saying, oh, we're the gates open the gates, open the gates. Okay, do you think that there would be any circumstance in which you would even attempt it? If I really had to use the restroom? And I was having trouble finding a place because of language barriers. That might be where I had to go. You've raised an interesting question. Something I've never considered that you have toilet rights as a tourist in the Embassy of your home country. You I think you definitely do. So you said I'm an American citizen. I'm an American citizen. Not allowed to use the toilet. Yeah, this is a legal fiction to because you're actually on US soil. As soon as you step into the embassy. I think you are allowed to use bathrooms, other bathrooms when you're on foreign soil. I do think of course other countries. Yeah. I think URL as an American citizen, I mean, but I think there are people who are bathroom shy don't do it directly on foreign soil that's frowned upon. So I've heard that the toilet water in the southern hemisphere goes the other way. Not in the US Embassy. Could you possibly redirect it in the US Embassy in the US Embassy? We you need Yeah, Jen you're in the US you think you're in the US Embassy? But then you notice that the toilet water is going the wrong way? And you know you're trapped? Hell you're know you're traveling and captured. Yeah. Wow. It's It's It's a wrap is a ruse. I just want Liam Neeson to play me Well, in fairness to really good because like, Liam Neeson you Jamie, very unique set of skills. Tom Rhodes, our guest on the podcast, Jamie, Jamie and Adam, we are turning the corner into a little bit of a discussion. I actually will go lightning round this round. Alright, so Tom, we're gonna do lightning round lightning round is deep questions with brief answers. Okay, all right. So now we give the, the our guests the choice of whether they prefer to go clockwise or counter clockwise. As it relates to how the order in which the questions will be asked. So let's stick with clockwise. Okay. All right. No doubt already. With me. We are starting clockwise. Which animal would you feel comfortable picking up if they were hitchhiking? I have a thing with lions but the way the question is worded and how lawyers are sticklers for wording I will stick is the definitive meaning of your question and go with a slot. The slot? Okay, excellent. I and lightning round continues as I go to if you had an unlimited budget and one hour to shop, where would you go and what would you buy? Right now it will be either baseball cards or food on Rue de mon to goy in Paris. And specifically, the patisserie called store, nail, this oldest patisserie in Paris, there are sponsors for you know, protect her design. It is literally lightning round. And I would love to talk to you more about that baseball card thing. And I'm hoping we can visit in the next segment because I really want to talk about that. But let's Jamie, who is your least favorite character in a book that you know, I just finished reading this book called The Master and Margarita. And it was written in the 1930s. It's about Satan goes to Moscow and starts putting on performances in the theater. Supposed to be a classic. I actually heard about it on a BBC program a year ago. The book wasn't as entertaining as you thought as I thought it was going to be. It's regarded as a classic. There wasn't enough performance there was more too much about the after effect of of the chaos created and all the people have seats, but so I thought it was a pretty well You know, I mean the devil. Yeah. Do we need to revisit the concept of lightning round to you, Tom? Yes. Yeah. It's just a quick answer. It's just, you know, who's the bad guy? You are. I know that was a little bit. I grant you, I grant you a little bit. Definitely not talking. cards and I've got Yeah, that was a long time. Okay. If you were to hypothetically pick up a lion as a hitchhiker, would you allow them to sit in the front seat? Or would you make them sit in the back? I hate these animals. Let them drive. Let them drive. That's good. Tom, this is the jerk to cut off your last one. So you can go ahead and lay into me. What's your favorite gift you've ever gotten? I the evil Knievel windup motorcycle and that was the greatest toy I read as a child and I got it for Christmas when I was like 10. And I bought one on eBay about six, seven years ago. And it as an adult, it's still great to play with and I actually took it to Montana with me and I set up a little ramp and I had the double jump. Evil Knievel's grave. I filmed it. It's on YouTube somewhere that okay, amazing. cut them off in lightning round because they might get an awesome story like evil Knievel's grave. That's That was a good one. Just with the last one. produced. I can't imagine. If you could choose to remain an age forever. What age would you choose? Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty happy with myself right now. So 54 Okay, well, yeah, okay, maybe? Maybe? Yeah. Okay. I think I like the 50. All right. All right. That's my wording here. Correct. Be careful with the drop down list or is not which animal? Do you think? Which animal do you think would be the best at creating a secret handshake with? I wouldn't answer that either. Because I ended the sentence with a preposition I get it. I understand. Well, I am picturing the hands and paws of renewals. I think the Siberian no monkeys, huh? Very nice. I don't even know what that is. But I'm gonna look it up. favorite place to sit in the house at my big table where I write will create things. Nice. What's the most embarrassing fashion trend that you participated in? Oh my god. parachute pants is number one. I had a variety of colors. 82 to 84. But I think I and my sister used to tease me about this. In the 15 minute window. These were fashionable. I think probably the worst fashion choice I ever made was the caviar Ricci pants. The cavalry cheese sounds fancy. Do you remember those? Oh, yeah. The 80s he had to wear with like a long belt. Yeah, I'd Yeah. Bonus Question which animal would be the best jazz musician? Hmm. I think a hippo or an elephant is for lung power. All right. Well, we're you're going to end on the sad note of which, which animal would make the best musician? That was your question, right? I kind of tuned out it was a pretty bad one. Yeah, it was a great, great answer. The elephant is a perfect jazz musician. Okay, I can't you and elephants incredible jazz musician. But your questions me? Yeah. All right. We're gonna be back with a final take me here with Tom Rhodes. This is the vodcast we shall return. Alright, everybody. We have maybe a segment or two left here with Tom Rhodes to finish up some, you know, topics that were raised in earlier portions of our conversation. Can we just get right to it? Because I'm so excited about this topic. I mean, I'm really excited about this topic. Tom was taught cards let's talk sports cards and basically your your baseball card collector football card collector basketball. Yeah, just baseball. Okay. Baseball and in your collection. How does it sit? Are you more of a modern? Are you in that horrible stick steroid era that most of my cards are? Or are you before that? My collection started when I was a kid and the you know, I think late, you know, late 70s I think I first started getting about 70 so Also the first half of most of the 80s. That's the bulk of my collection and my father, preserve my baseball card collection for me. You always hear about someone's mother throwing out their collection. My father did the opposite my father like, secured mind. And then when I was in my 30s, he pulled it out and said, Look what I've been keeping. That's so cool. So when you look at your collection, what is your What is your, what is the card that you would want a card or two that you stand out is like your favorites. You know, and I bought these in the 90s I you know, I love biographies. I love I love. I love hero stories. And I got three Roberto Clemente cards. So I'd say those are probably among my favorites. I got got I got Mark McGwire rookie card, I got Barry Bonds rookie card, I've got Bo Jackson, rookie card. Awesome. I got a I got a lot of good stuff, but I'm not in it for the money. And I don't I don't do it for you know, you know, value increasing and anything like that. I would never get rid of any of it. You see that now, but I'm telling you, if you look at the COVID how much cards have increased? It's been nuts. I am going to disagree with you. Because I don't think you know your guests well. Oh, okay. I maybe I don't I don't think that I don't Tom long enough to know that. He, it's more sentimental. It's not sentimental. I think that there that the metric of value is not always aligned person to person to person. I concur. So I would, I will admit, it's, it's the joy I get from it. And it's, you know, what I love about baseball is that it has this ability to bring me back to my childhood innocence. And that's what my cards do for me also. And, and I it's the aesthetic beauty of it. I mean, there's certain, you know, just action photos of guys on cards, and I'm not a big sports guy at all. You know, I don't follow statistics and stuff like that. But I always loved baseball, I could stop and watch little kids play Little League, you know, just love him. Adam, Adam, told me maybe on a previous episode, or afterwards or some some at some point, Adam mentioned that there was a particular value to a 1980. Rickey Henderson baseball card. Yeah. And I collected cards around the same time as you, Tom. And so I went home that evening, pulled out my old cards, which there were a ridiculous number of cards all just loosely kept in boxes, made my kids go card through card to find what ended up being 119 80. Rickey Henderson card. Yeah. Oh, and then my kids said, Now what? And I said, I have no idea. I just want to make sure I got it by the way. It's worth upwards of 10 to $15,000 probably not in the case that it was from being just sitting in an open box. And I also learned that I for whatever reason had an unhealthy obsession with bread saber Hagen didn't really is that card really worth $10,000? Yeah, let's see. Oh, maybe I know you love that one. Go ahead, go look at because I have I have a movie to finish. No, those ones are going for a ridiculous amount, right? Yeah. Cadillac convertible to buy back. Yeah, give you a given Gary a Rickey Henderson card. Yeah. Interestingly enough, though, PSA, the people who rank those cards or grade them. They're so backed up now they've actually stopped taking submissions. they've they've closed down the door because they're so backlogged. So hold on to it, make sure you're preserving it. But know that you have a ton of value in there and you may want to get an insurance writer. Alright, so Tom, one other thing that we do with our guests. Okay, can I say one last thing real quick? Yeah, we'd have time. But yeah, go ahead. My album that I came out with last year. It's called the hunky motherland. I recorded it in England. I was opening for this friend of mine. He's famous in England. But he's not well known in America. His name is Reginald D Hunter. And he asked me to open for his UK tour. All over England, Ireland, Scotland. He's from Columbus, Georgia. And he's the hugest Braves fan. So every night at after the we did gigs in Liverpool, Manchester everywhere. After. Every night, we would go back to the hotel or his house. And the Braves have become an order like one in the morning. And it was so cool to be in Europe. Watching Braves games every day. Wow. That's so good. That's so good. That's what the joy of baseball is kind of just hanging out and talking with your buddy and it's you know, well and he came with you the last time you were at the punch line. Yes he did was with us was is terrifically funny. Oh, great. Yeah. And you could go see the you know, see the Atlanta Braves and live a lot of times it shows her in conflict with the games. Okay. Oh, and Can I say one more thing about the cards? Yes, yeah. One of my favorite things in Los Angeles, Fairfax High School. Every Sunday, they have a flea market. And I go there every Sunday, and there's a guy who sells sports cards and postcards, and he sells his sports cards for $1 each. And they're just boxes of 1000s of them. And I go there, and I'll look through the cards. I found in 1963. Pete Rose, for $1. I found in 1968, Ernie bank for$1. Oh, my my friend, Reginald D Hunter. His father died three or four months ago, and I know he's poor up about it. So I picked out all the Atlanta Braves I could find and I mailed it to him, I sent him about 50 Braves cards over like a 30 year period of Braves. And my girlfriend is from Toronto, and I've been sending her Blue Jays card. So I look at that as a bouquet of brave, or a bouquet of Blue Jays. So instead of flowers, I like to send people that it would touch their heart. That's a baseball card. That's fine. That's the collector right there. That's a good like the kids that strum through the albums, the kids that strung through the boxes of cards, just flipping you know, and it's just the collectors, the guy that likes doing that for an hour and a half? And just flipping through the cards. And just yeah, hoping to find that one treasure. Yeah, that was important, because it was a very good one. I thank you. Alright, so Tom, I want to talk to you about something that we typically do with our comic guests. And it's the concept of the broken bit. So you talked about your organizing principle being new jokes. Is there an example of a joke that you really like? It's a joke that you love. But for whatever reason, you can't quite get it to connect with an audience in the way that you want it to? Yeah. And maybe maybe you can help me fix it. There's a massive homeless crisis in Los Angeles. And I have an idea to solve the homeless crisis, we need to build a big waterslide Park, in the middle of Los Angeles, when you go to homeless people run it and operate it and they'd have a job, they feel good about themselves, they'd be making money, and then they'd also be cleaned from going down the flight. And that doesn't connect time. That's the first time that you've ever got employment and we pay them. Are they allowed to bathe at the beginning of the shift? Or is it at the end of the shift? I don't know. Let's, let's work it out. All right. So I encourage for those who I don't know who this would be applicable to but in the event that you're unfamiliar with Tom Rhodes, I encourage you to go and and follow him on social media as he continues to put additional clips out there of this. I don't want to call it lost footage because he always knew where it was. But this repurposed footage, let's say. And I think it provides a great insight to why so many people have such great affection for who you are as a person and a performer. Yeah, I completely agree. And I would also say, Tom, what animal do you think would most likely drive in 1966 Cadillac Eldorado? The car was black paint black leather seats with black carpet, I would say a black South American Cancer would be the coolest car to see up down rolling down anyway. Yeah. Is that a panther? I think the Black Panther? Yeah. All right. Well, I appreciate it, my friend. And hopefully you'll see before too long here in Atlanta. Tom, where can people find you on social media? Calm road net. And it's ra Jo def, like the southern furniture store or the Greek islands or the dollar. And on Instagram, I'm at underscore Tom Rhodes. And tell us that album that was just released in 2019. I put out around the world. And it's 24 different cities around the world that starts in Paris and in Jerusalem. So I'll mostly joke with stories about each place. And in 2020, I put out the hunky Motherland which I recorded in England, Ireland and Scotland, and the same concept. Alright, I appreciate it. My friend. Thank you so much. Thank you guys. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Tom. be looking for those Braves cards. I'm gonna send you. I appreciate it. Um, do you love a bouquet? Tom, do you love us yet? Yeah, I don't think so. Now, my love is genuine for you. Oh, thank you. That's does feel good. So hold on a second. I love you both. Dale Murphy rookie cards were Yeah. Oh, I don't. I don't want to. I don't want to oversell it and make it weird, because it's getting there. Okay. But no, I mean, it I think that there is there is a an embracing of life in the possibility of life that in my experience, Tom has that differentiates him from a lot of people that I have regular interaction with. And I would tell you that as a as a friend, and as a legitimate sentiment, you have encouraged me to get outside my comfort zone on a lot of things. And so I'm very grateful for that. Oh, well, thanks, Jamie. I think that's the best. The best compliment I could ever get that Jackie Robinson quote, that life is only important in the influence that it has on others or the impact it has on others. So that's that's really beautiful. Thank you. All right, my friend, Susan. It's been our pleasure. Thanks, everybody. All right, sheep. That was Tom Rhodes great interview great friend. And I hate the cliche about these friends are closer than other friends but i but i really do mean that if you take the time to kind of get to know who Tom is appreciate his material and the way in which he does his life it may get you outside your comfort zone to which I think is a good place to be. So she as we sign off just try and get a little more Tom Rhodes in your life try and get a little more Jamie I don't know if you're trying to make me jealous, but it's really working because I don't know what's going on with this relationship and what's happening. If you're gonna do another podcast with him just All right, we'll catch you next time sheep taka taka next week. Fire is getting low. This episode of the podcast is over. The gold now, gold back to where you came from. We'll call you back. It's time for another buck. AKA duck