Tom Rhodes Smart Camp

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Ophira Eisenberg Feb 25, 2015

Show notes

Ophira Eisenberg is one of the most lovable human beings and powerful performers I have ever met in all my years in entertainment.

She is the darling of NPR, being heavily involved in their successful story telling series The Moth and she also hosts the weekly NPR game show Ask Me Anything.

Because of these sterling credits I had expected her to be more of a story based performer, but even though her personal stories do pop up in her live performances I was blown away by her stand up comedy skills and how hard she throws down her comedy thunderbolts.

I first met Ophira briefly last summer in Amsterdam when I finished my week at Toomler and she was just arriving to do hers. Even slightly jet lagged her ebullient personality shined brightly and I liked her instantly. This past weekend we were both doing the Aspen Laff Festival in Aspen, Colorado. There were brilliant comedians galore and the camaraderie was tight with all of us watching each other's sets and enjoying our time together performing at the Wheeler Opera House. I was happy to get to know Ophira and to laugh at her battle tested tales of a life fully lived.

She is originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada but now makes her home in New York City. She is someone I would love to do anything with, be it touring together, working together on a project or just hanging out playing Scrabble. She has a quick wit that is always ready to stab you with a punchline and an easy infectious laugh that is as pleasing as it is calming.

If you are unaware of her presence on this earth, after listening to this conversation you will like her as much as I do and that is why it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Ophira Eisenberg!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip 1 & 2: Bangs – Ophira Eisenberg

Stand-up clip 3: As is – Ophira Eisenberg

End song: Leaving on a Jetplane – Peter, Paul and Mary

Recorded in Aspen, Colorado. February 2015.

Rich Leiby Feb 18, 2015

Show notes

Richard Leiby is one of the most respected journalists in the United States. He was one of the first reporters to write about Scientology in the 1980s and he has covered the Iraq & Afghanistan wars. For several years he was the bureau chief in Pakistan for the Washington Post. He is now senior writer and editor Style Section of the Washington Post where he has worked for nearly 25 years.

I have been friends with him for exactly 20 years now, we met at the first HBO Aspen comedy festival in February 1995 and he also wrote about me and my Dad in April 1995 when I made Viva Vietnam! for Comedy Central and that special premiered in Washington D.C. He is one of the wise Buddhas in my life who I can go to to decipher the chaos of world events or if I need a source of higher world knowledge.

We have gotten together every year when I come to D.C. with the exception of those few years he was based in Pakistan. With all of the heart wrenching world events happening lately it was a perfect time to sit down with him and talk about events and the workings of modern journalism.

This conversation was recorded at the Washington Post on a brutally cold February afternoon but it contains the warm glow of two decades of friendship. He is his own library of Congress possessing oceans of valuable information and he is one of my oldest dearest friends whose opinion on important matters I greatly cherish and that is why it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Richard Leiby!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Ask Me Tell Me Anything: Roger from Norway

End song: Bustin’Loose – Chuck Brown & The Soul Searches (1978)

Recorded in Washington, DC. February 2015.

Paul Provenza Feb 09, 2015

Show notes

Paul Provenza is a true Renaissance man of comedy.

Having gain worldwide critical success for his film the Aristocrats, the history of the world's dirtiest joke, he went on to create and star as the host of the comedy cult classic series the Green Room. Then if that wasn't enough to solidify a career he thereafter co-produced the show Set List, where comedians go onstage with nothing prepared and are given their set list on the spot to see what they can invent.

Paul is a philosophical good hearted dreamer who has lived in Venice Beach, CA for 30 years. This past year when I have come to LA I have been staying in Venice Beach. We recorded this on a Saturday afternoon in February in Paul's living room, as much as I always enjoy talking with him this recording has the added bonus that I could see the waves of the Pacific ocean crashing over Paul's shoulder.

He is currently directing Kelly Carlin in her one woman show about her life and being George Carlin's daughter. I had seen the show 2 nights earlier and asked Paul if we could record this conversation. We talk about how doing comedy and seeing comedy is a defiant act now since world news attacks on humor, we talk about how people are seeking authenticity now because they are fed up with the bullshit they have been spoon fed for so long. We talk about the slaughter at Charlie Hebdo and the geopolitical corporate powers won't let us hear alternative Muslim voices because they need to convey a clear enemy in their propaganda.

I love Paul because whenever I talk to him it's never not lofty and seeking world turmoil solutions. He is a comedy legend, a brilliant human being and I am proud to present to you now the one and only Paul Provenza!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

End song: Wanted: Lover (No Experience Necessary) – James Govan

Recorded in Venice Beach, CA. February 2015

Brent Weinbach Feb 07, 2015

Show notes

Brent Weinbach is one of the most inventive and absurdly hilarious young comedians I can recommend to people at the moment.

I first met Brent many years ago when he was starting out in San Francisco. He is always exciting to watch because you never know where his premises for jokes will come from.

He was also at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2014 and I got to see him destroy the intelligent European audiences. He is soft spoken and never arrogant and looks like he may never have smiled one day in his life. I love him as a human being and a comedian.

His jokes are outlandish and inventive in their absurdity and he never fails to impress me with his joke writing skills. We sat down a few months ago at the Hollywood Improv to record this conversation and it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Brent Weinbach!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip from YouTube: Brent Weinbach at Lopez Tonight

End song: Finley Quaye – Sunday Shining

Recorded in Los Angeles, 2014

Steve Wozniak Jan 29, 2015

Show notes

Not since Gutenberg's printing press has one human being's inventions improved the quality of life for people as much as Apple co-founder and principle creator Steve Wozniak.

I met Steve last month when he came to my show in Lake Tahoe. Fortunately for me the Woz loves jokes, humor and comedy in general so after sending him several heart felt e-mails requesting to chat with him he agreed, so last week while I was performing in San Francisco I drove down to Cupertino to record this conversation while him. This conversation was recorded at the Mandarin Oriental restaurant where Steve asked me to meet him. There is pleasant violin based classic music playing in the background because the owner politely delinked my request to turn off the music.

Steve Wozniak is not only a creative genius who has improved human life more than any other human being in the last 300 years, he also loves and cherishes humor and the story tellers who create the jokes.

He is exciting to talk to because he thinks so fast and can convey complicated information in a very simple way to be understood universally.

His genius is not exclusively bound to his inventions that will lead the world to higher plains of consciousness and communications but it is the basic fact that he is a good person who genuinely cares about helping dreamer people like me wherever he can. It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Steve Wozniak!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Movie clip from YouTube: Her TRAILER 1 (2013) - Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson Movie HD

Movie clip from YouTube: Klaatu's warning

Song from YouTube: Everybody's Free (inspirational speech of Baz Luhrmann)

Recorded in Cupertino, CA. January 2014.

John Cooper Clarke Jan 20, 2015

Show notes

John Cooper Clarke is quite possibly the coolest human being walking the earth and performing on it's stages today. He is the English language's premier punk rock poet who started out in his verbal vocation in the late 1970s performing in clubs with the Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, Elvis Costello and Joy Division. For a brief period he lived with Nico from Velvet Underground. He invented the street where street credibility is earned and received.

I first met John in Edinburgh during the Fringe festival in 1999. I went to see his show with Greg Proops and Greg's wife Jennifer. They knew John Cooper Clarke and we all got to hang out together drinking and laughing all night. I have been quoting for years some of the whip crack smart lines I heard John perform that night.

Cut to October 2014 and I am doing the Galway International comedy festival with John Cooper Clarke and we got to rekindle our friendship and get back to our main business of laughing and joking all night.

Born in 1949 he is getting up there in age which makes it even more powerful that he is playing to sold out rooms full of young people hanging on his every word and screaming their heads off with laughter.

He is the personification of cool and his poems always pack a punch that make you howl with laughter.

He is the man that I want to be when I am older, he's got style, a love of life and and an impeccable style of dress.

In November 2014 he came to Los Angeles to film a music video for MacArthur Park and I got to hang out with him for a few days while he was in town staying at the London hotel for his first paid work visit to Hollywood.

I'm proud to call him a friend and you will be happy to know him too if you are unaware of his existence. He is historically important to performance art, comedy and spoken word performance and it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only John Cooper Clarke.

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

1 Clip from YouTube: The First Televised Oscars Opening in 1953

2 Movie clip from YouTube: James Cagney in White Heat - Top of the World - COLORIZED

3 Song from YouTube: Shombalor - Sheriff and the Ravels - HQ

4 Poem from documentary’ BBC - Evidently... John Cooper Clarke’: Kung Fu International – John Cooper Clark

5 Poem from documentary’ BBC - Evidently... John Cooper Clarke’: The Pest – John Cooper Clarke

6 Song from YouTube: The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray (MONO, Best Sound)

7 Poem from documentary’ BBC - Evidently... John Cooper Clarke’: Things Are Gonna Get Worse – John Cooper Clark

8 Poem: Beasley Street - John Cooper Clarke

9 Song from YouTube: RIO BRAVO My Rifle, My Pony, and Me/Cindy - Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan (legendado)

10 Movie clip from YouTube: Evidently Chickentown - The Best Sopranos Ending Ever

11 End Song: I Wanna Be Yours - Arctic Monkeys

12 Clip from YouTube: Bob Hope Christmas Special (1967)

Recorded in West Hollywood, CA. December 2014.

Louis Katz Jan 16, 2015

Show notes

This episode was recorded in Venice Beach, CA

I met Louis Katz in December 2013 when we were both filming Dave Attell's Comedy Underground for Comedy Central in New York City.

I was impressed with his punching power and how offbeat his topics were.

Like a freight train out of nowhere this peaceful looking guy was coming out with dark twisted melodramatic heroic tales in his joke premises and I found it as refreshing as some people do with watching sunsets with cold Pacific winds.

Louis was raised in Los Angeles, started doing comedy in San Francisco and now lives in New York. I have bumped into him several times in the past year and fate kept pushing us together to sit down and record this conversation.

I think it is perfect to release this now during the harshest point of dark winter because this was one of my most sunny happy moments of last summer.

I was staying at a friend of mine's beach house just one block away from the ocean. It was a brilliantly sunny day sitting on lawn chairs underneath a large umbrella canopy. I had been there all week amazed at the silence and how you could hear the roar of the Pacific ocean's waves crashing in the distance.

Of course while we recorded this chat LA police helicopter circled overhead several times and at one point a neighbor dog starts barking mad.

It is an audio taste of real life Los Angeles in the background of a conversation loaded with life's greatest wisdom... Where to get the best pastrami on rye sandwich in LA, Langers. How San Francisco is the Jerusalem of stand up comedy and how your act should be a dialogue and not a monologue.

And how the answer to it all is big brown bulbous ass!

He is one of the most refreshingly dark and twisted comedians I have met in many years and if I am anywhere near when this man is introduced I while be in the back of the room hotly anticipating what will come out of his mouth next.

It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Louis Katz!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

YouTube clip 1: All in the family England is a fag country!

Stand-up clip from YouTube 2: Louis Katz stand up on HBO's "Down n' Dirty with Jim Norton"

End song: Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand –Primitive Radio GodsRecorded in Venice Beach, California. March 2014

Paul Ogata Jan 06, 2015

Show notes

If comedy were boxing I would rank Paul Ogata in the top ten of the all around, pound for pound, heavy hitters.

I first bonded Paul when we did Beerfest in Singapore together years ago. Beerfest is one of the funnest experiences you can plan for yourself on a visit to Singapore, with it's outdoor music and beer tents but as a comedian with loud music blasting through canvas it is one of the toughest gigs that only real pros could muster. Paul and I bonded over the toughness of those circumstances in Singapore, respected each other for not capitulating and have been close friends ever since.

I first met Paul many years ago when we performed together in Honolulu. Paul grew up in Honolulu and has a Hawaiian laid back chill that makes you think he is mild mannered until he gets on stage and rips the heads off of people with his superior jokes.

Paul is huge in Hong Kong, Sydney and some places in the US but he is one guy I believe in and know it is a matter of time before the rest of the world finds out about him.

His humor is accessible on so many levels from his punchlines always pack a kick. He is one of my favorite human beings and he has been around paying his dues getting banged up and proving himself in battle that when his star does one day soon pop you can know for a fact that this man earned his place in the world.

This conversation was recorded at the Safari Inn in Burbank, CA were they filmed scenes for the film 'True Romance'. He is a true Samurai master of stand up comedy and it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Paul Ogata.

Audio Cameo: Matt Corsey

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Tell Me Anything, Ask Me Anything: Billy from St. Louis

Stand-up clip from YouTube 1: Paul Ogata Stand-up

Movie clip from YouTube: True Romance – Best Scene

Stand-up clip from YouTube 2: Paul Ogata - The Problem With Po' Folks Food

End song: Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac

Movie clip from YouTube: True Romance final scene

Recorded in Burbank, CA at the Safari Inn. February 2014

Robert Hawkins Dec 20, 2014

Show notes

Robert Hawkins is not only one of the funniest human beings alive he is also one of my dearest best friends. Robert is of those rarest creatures in that he is almost as funny off stage as he is onstage. I first meet Robert in the early 1990s when we were both playing at the River Center comedy club together in San Antonio, Texas. Robert was the MC, I was the middle act and Nick DiPalo was the headliner, what a show!

Robert is originally from Hollywood, Florida. I always love to say to him "You are so Hollywood... Florida." Because we both grew up in Florida we can always laugh about the unique and disturbing ridiculousness of our home state.

He didn't start doing stand until he got out of the army in Texas so Texas is also a major factor in his life as is San Francisco as he and I both lived there at the same time.

Career highlights aside from Conan appearances include being a writer for Christopher Titus' sitcom and for many years now he has been the opening act for Ron White. For me Robert will always be significant because he never fails to make me laugh and he has been a friend to me through thick and thin never once leaving me hanging if I were having troubles.

Robert and Dan Gabriel were the ones who introduced me to Bikram Yoga in 2004 and we compare notes on that practice and talk about it at great length in this episode. "The best thing about Bikram Yoga is quieting your mind." In this conversation Robert and I talk about the Ice Cream Truck business we thought of starting, why should should pick your favorite team in the playoffs, the gold fish project of Amsterdam, family discounts in Thailand, why you should never have sex with a comedy club waitress on the first night of the week, why you should write and try out two jokes a day minimum and the most brilliant invention of all 'The Smoothie Phone.'

He is one of my favorite living human beings walking the earth today and it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Robert Hawkins!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip 1: Compilation of ‘Quitting Smoking’, ‘In The Army’ and YouTube clip ‘Gay Pride Parades - Robert Hawkins’.

Stand-up clip from YouTube 2: Ron White's Comedy Salute to the Troops Robert Hawkins

Audio Cameo: Standing Bow Posture (Bikram Yoga)

Stand-up clip 3: ‘Write Home’

End song: Wanted: Lover (No Experience Necessary) – James Govan

Recorded in Dallas, Texas. March 2014

Todd Barry Dec 12, 2014

Show notes

The day we recorded this, it was brutally cold rain with heavy winds outside.

Todd Barry is a perennial force of continuous head busting comedy for many decades now. The fact that Todd grew up in Florida and that he is one of the most respected comedians to have ever have started out there makes him feel like he is a part of my extended family. As long as I have been around, Todd has been around. From the earliest Comedy Central and MTV comedy shows to all of the best comedy festivals world wide.

He has appeared multiple times on Letterman and Conan, as well as delivering highly acclaimed comedy specials. He is one of the most respected comedians in the business and Louis CK is one of his most ardent supporters, having highlighted Todd as himself as a reoccurring character on the smash hit FX show 'Louie'.

Louis Ck even produced Todd's most recent live audio recording called 'Crowd Work'. Todd's unique brand of comedy as well as his signature delivery has made him a staple on several animated series voicing characters on Dr. Katz and Squidbillies. Todd started doing stand up comedy in South Florida and moved to New York City where he still lives today. This conversation was recorded at the Salt Hill Hotel in Galway, Ireland. Todd and I were both doing the Galway Comedy Festival together and this was the tail end of a European and Scandinavian tour he was on.

It is a special honor to know the quiet thunder of his personality and to have seen him kick so much comedy ass through all of these years and it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Todd Barry!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Tell Me Anything, Ask Me Anything: Liam from Cambridge & at the moment rocking with his band ‘Tape Runs Out’. Send him a message if you like his music! http://www.soundcloud.com/tape-runs-out

Stand-up clip from YouTube 1: Todd Barry Stand-Up 03/24/14

Stand-up clip from YouTube 2: Todd Barry Stand-Up 09/04/12 - CONAN on TBS

End song 1: MacDougal Blues – Kevin Kinney

End song 2: Friends – Tape Runs Out

Recorded at the Salthill Hotel in Galway, Ireland on a horrible cold and windy day. October 2014

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