Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 96 - Tom Rhodes

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

The great and soulful  comedian Tom Rhodes joins me at the table for Ukrainian sweets and some mighty bread. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Insurance isn't one-size-fits-all, and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed progressives' name-your-price tool for years. With the name-your-price tool, you tell them what you want to pay, and they show you options that fit your budget. Enough hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates, and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy. Or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises.

Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? Visit progressive.com and give the name your price tool a try. Take the stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. It's time for breaking bread with Papa. Hey! Don't you know?

Hey, it's our goal. Hey, it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know? Hey, it's also a show. Hey! Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. I'm Tom Papa. Thank you for joining us at the table.

Once again, we have a great one today with my good friend Tom Rhodes coming in and meeting me here at the table. I give him some bread. I give him some Ukrainian pastries. in honor of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters. And man, it is not enough time to get into it all with Tom Rhodes. He is so filled with life and so filled with stories and so filled with comedy. I just love him to death. And it's a great interview.

I'd like to thank the good people at Helix Sleep for coming on board today's episode. A big shout out to Helix Sleep. I sleep on a Helic Sleep mattress. I took their two-minute sleep quiz, which you can take, and they match you to a mattress. They will give you the best sleep of your life. I know some of you are sleeping on saggy old mattresses. They're all lumpy. You have little back problems and things.

You don't even attach it to the mattress. You don't even think maybe I can change my mattress. You can, and you deserve better than that. Give yourself an upgrade. Find your perfect mattress at Helic. Helix sleep.com slash Papa. That's Helix sleep. Dot com slash Papa.

And they'll give you up to $200 off all mattress orders and two free pillows. Just for us, just for our listeners. I also like to thank the good people at ritual multivitamins. Ritual multivitamins are delivered to your door every month, specially formulated to help fill gaps in your diet, get key nutrients without all the extra BS. Ritual is offering my listeners 10% off during your first three months. That's a pretty good deal. Ritual, visit ritual.com slash papa papa to start your ritual today and start putting some healthy stuff in your body. All right, we have a good,

healthy interview with Tom Rhodes. You know Tom Rhodes from all over everything. He had TV shows. He's been in films. He's a great comedian. And he traveled all around the world. He didn't even have a home address for, I think almost a decade. And he just kept going all around the world, soaking in experiences and doing stand-up all along the way. And today we get to go into the origin of all of that, his perspective on the world. He's got a great outlook on life. And he's really going through this creative resurgence here in L.A. You can see him at the Comedy Store. Most nights, he has a great album called Around the World, where he did sets all around the world, put them all together. Check him out on YouTube, check them out everywhere. But more importantly, listen to this interview. So great. I'll

explain if you're watching this. It looks like a party already happened on the table. It all makes sense once I start talking with Tom and present them with all of the stuff we've got. And it's a great conversation to someone that knows the world, knows people, and knows comedy. So enjoy Tom Rhodes. All right. Thanks for being here, Tommy.

You're welcome. I haven't seen you in a while. Are we starting now? Yeah, this is us. Oh, so there's no visual? There is. We just can't see it. You just turn off the screen.

Yeah, we wouldn't make us look at ourselves the whole time. Okay. That would be uncomfortable. Okay, so I brought you some things. This is the bread I baked for you. I love you. My favorite kind of bread, I love sourdough-type breads. I love a cracky crust.

How would you do the hard little pieces? How do you describe that? It's got a nice crust. Oh, listen to that. Wow. Yeah, so that's yours. That's a nice sounding bread. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, that's beautiful. I flew in from Austin this morning. Wow. And you made me bread? And made you bread. Wow. I love you. Yeah, I love you too.

Thank you very much. Then. I would, I will never give up bread. I, you know, any kind of diet, I, you know, I'll give up sugar or whatever, but never given up bread. There's no way. Greatest thing in the world. And there's no reason to, honestly. Like if you have real bread, you can eat it.

You're not going to explode with fat. There's no sugars in this. It's all the processed bread that we were eating. Yeah. Really causing people a lot of pain. I live in the Fairfax District, and you have the bagel broker, which I think is greatest bagels in Los Angeles. Uh-huh.

And then there's Michelina, is this French bakery in the farmer's market. Uh-huh. They're a little overpriced, but they're French baguettes, I think, are as close to the Parisian baguettes as you can get. And so I feel pretty proud to live in. such a great bread area. Yeah, that market is really great. And then, yeah, you can go up and cruise down to Moza,

down Melrose, and you get some great bread there. Yeah, that was her, Nancy Silverman. That bread was her thing, right? Exactly. And she started the La Brea bakery. Yes, exactly. I've gone there, and their French baguettes aren't good at all. Oh, really?

And I found, I was like, what? I thought that was her thing. So she sold the La Brea bakery, I found out. Yes. And they've kind of white breaded it up. Yeah, and you'll see it in the supermarkets. You'll see it in Gelsons and stuff. It's a label now.

So they're cranking out a lot of it. It's not the authentic baguette. She was rocking. But she is still involved with Moza, and you can go there and get all their fresh baked bread, and you'll be impressed by that for sure. Oh, okay. Yeah. That's my hood.

Yeah. Yeah, it's so good. Okay, and then on my way over, in support of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, I found a Ukrainian... Glory to the Heroes. I found a Ukrainian spot called Grandma's Deli in Valley Village. It's a lot of prepared foods. Yeah. It's a lot of like chicken and borsh and all this kind of stuff.

And then they had these baked goods. And it was so funny, Tom, because I'm like... Oh, that's look nice. She goes, I said, so what is this? And she goes, this is honey cake. I said, okay, great. Honey cake? Honey cake?

Nice. I said, okay, good. Let's have some for my friend and I. And what is this? And she's like, oh, these are rhombos. And I was like, okay. And then she's packing it all up. I'm like, what's the name of that one again?

And she's a rhombus. And I'm like, I know a little Russian language. I know a little of it. And the guy, and she's, we're confused going back and forth. And the kid who's stocking the shelves comes over and says, what's the problem? He's like the translator. He goes, they're rum balls.

They didn't trust me enough to give me any Russian translation. That's hilarious. About 10 years ago, I was on a flight from Shanghai to Beijing on China Eastern Airlines. And the flight attendant was coming around with the food. and um rudo or ramble reg rudo or ramble reg and if she said it so many times

I was going what what yeah noodles or scrambled eggs was the choice and she couldn't it's the worst or ramble reg and you're trying you're trying your best and if you ask more than three or four times

it's starting to get offensive so this is the honeycake and this is ukrainian yeah this is ukrainian and look at the sign they had in the place. Yeah. A fuck Putin sign. They had that up on the thing. Yeah.

Did you see the restaurants in France or that sell the Putin from Quebec? Uh-huh. Angry citizens in France have demanded they take it off the, because Putin sounds like Putin in the French. Right. Poor Quebec Cuis people. They're known for one thing. I know. It sounds too close to Putin.

It's like if you're named Karen at this point, he's like, oh, really? That's my whole life. Why my name? I've thought that before because I'm friends with a woman named Karen. And she's very liberal. And she's a Karen. It's so unfair. Yeah, I also saw a thing against,

they're making a stand against Russian dressing. Oh, wow. Yeah. I'm going in on the honey cake. Yeah, go in on the honeycake. Hmm. It should be good. Hey.

That's worth fighting for. That is worth fighting for. Man, oh, man. I hope Zelensky's eating some of this right now. Oh, man. Yeah, how about that? So have you been to Ukraine? I never have.

You never have. No, but that guy is like such a hero. I mean, that's your rep. Yeah. The person who's traveled the most, lived everywhere the most. No mailbox for a decade. Yeah, and you know, I put out an album in 2019 called Around the World. and I recorded it in 24 cities around the world.

It starts in Paris and it ends in Jerusalem. And it's all mostly jokes and stories about each place. Because I've been doing the international circuits for over 20 years, or I was. The pandemic changed everything. I'm not traveling at all. I'm not doing the road. I watched you during the pandemic. And I want to come back to what you were saying, but I watch you on the pandemic.

And it looked like, because I know, you know, you have this wanderlust and you also love to perform. But, you know, we were all kind of. knocked off. It seemed to me that you were going towards nature. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I spent a lot of time. I was dating a woman that lived in Portland. So August 2020, well, like, my mom was with me for the first four months of the pandemic. She was with me when it hit. Right. 81 year old, um, um, super Jesus freak, really close with my mom. Right. And, um, the first month of the pandemic, like everybody else, you know, she didn't leave the apartment. I would go out once a week for groceries.

But then like the second, third, and fourth month of the pandemic, we would go for walks every day in my neighborhood. And there's an app called Picture This. And you can take a picture of any tree or flower. And it tells you the name and the origin and the whole history and everything you didn't know about the plant. So my mom and I were walking around my neighborhood,

taking pictures. We're learning about the trees and the plants. That's amazing. I've wanted that. And then, And then I took her to Sequoia National Park towards the end of her stay. And then when she went back to Florida, I spent a lot of time I was up in Portland and this girl that I was dating and I took all these epic trips around Oregon. I had never fully explored the interior of Oregon, just the coast and then gone to the cities for shows. Oh my God, Oregon is one of our greatest.

States. Gorgeous. Crater Lake, Ashland, Lamad Valley. The John Day Fossil Beds. Oh, yeah. So much. What was that like? Beautiful, incredible. Incredible. Were there like incredible fossil bed? Like, did you see? Yeah, and there's... Cave men. There's one part of it that looks like the painted desert in Arizona, where the, there's all these different, you know, like kind of rainbow. Yeah, those rocks. Phosphorescent. Yeah.

and everything. Jeez. So yeah, that was great. And then last... Were you camping? Were you going out? No, I don't camp. You don't camp?

No. And then, yeah, and then last summer, I took an epic trip up to Montana. Well, that's the best. I love Montana. Me too. My good friend Rich Hall owns a house in Livingston. So I've been up there like five times.

Right. I didn't stay with him, but... Be Rich Hall? Yeah, he lives in London. Right. Most of the year, but then he'll go to Livingston for... Yeah. the summer and Livingston is 51 miles north of Yellowstone.

Right. So it's just easy, quick. It's great. Went down to Yellowstone, saw the bison. It's the best. And yeah, and then went up to the northwestern corner of Montana to Calispell and went to glacier, never seen that. Came in the top of Idaho at the Canadian border and drove the length of Idaho. So it really dove heavily into nature. Yeah, I got that vibe. You were posting all this great stuff.

And you looked very happy, too. You looked very, like, content. And I think a lot of people were saying this, but I was craving nature because we were kind of, like, stuck in the city. I think nature was the answer. Yeah. For sanity. I literally was, like, dreaming about it.

I was going on my iPad and looking at nature, cabins. and then for some reason Copenhagen and all of those clean like cities over in that area Scandinavia. Yeah I was like for some reason I was craving all of that the orderliness of the cleanliness

of it the nature of it. Copenhagen is amazing city. Norway um Oslo's and Bergen is amazing and there's so much more of Norway I'd like to explore fjords Yeah.

Copenhagen has a lot of good bake goods. That's what first got me looking over there. Copenhagen, there's a club there called the Comedy Zoo that I played a couple times. Nice. I was there in winter. And all along the main avenue in Copenhagen, they had like these open flames. And I just felt like so Viking, you know, just this avenue.

And there's just these like, you know, kind of poles with open flames on it. Like, you'd never see that in America, because some moron would put his face over it and sue the city. You know, but, oh, and they were selling the mulled wine. But with, during the holidays, the Christmas season, they have little raisins and nuts in it. So you get your warm little red wine and it's got, you're giving it with a little wooden spoon. So, you know, you're walking down this boulevard with open flame and sipping your warm red wine. And, oh, there's nuts and raisins. Oh, that's amazing.

That's exactly what I picture. Yeah, those places seem so nice. Honeycake is amazing. This honey cake is great, right? Would you like a rumble? Would you like to try a rumbo? No, I'd like some noodles and scrambled eggs. The rum ball.

Rumball. Wow, all right. So now are you getting back and doing some sets? Oh, my, wait a minute. Holy cow. Rumbleball. Wait a minute. Wow, and I don't drink anymore.

Right. You can kind of feel the... Of the rum. The rum. I mean, like, it's like almost you can taste like that alcohol sting a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's delicious. That's so good.

Is this a violation eating the rum ball? No, not at all. Okay. Not at all. How long have you been sober? I did... Eight years. Eight years?

When I went to Mongolia twice, there's a great club in Ulaan Batar. That's the capital of Mongolia. And the people who live there for short, they call it UB.City. U.B. City. So it's U.B. City Comedy Club. And the comedians took me out three hours outside of the city to Genghis Khan's 13th century campsite. No. And I got to sleep in a little gur.

What? They don't call them yurts. They call them gurrs. Right. And I took a sip of, for me. Permanent Mare's Milk because that was Ganga's Khan's favorite drink. Permanentad Mare's milk. Yeah.

And so like in eight years, and I just like, because I just wanted to taste it. So I didn't even like take a proper drink. Right. It's on the lips. Just because, you know, just because I wanted to know what it tastes like. Yeah, of course. It tastes like if you had a glass of milk and put a shot of scotch in it. All right.

It's as disgusting as you think. that is. I actually thought it sounded pretty good. And that was the last thing you drank? Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't even count that. Yeah. That was like, what, five, six years ago. Right, right. But I haven't drank in eight years. Wow, that's good. Did it change your life? Best decision I've ever made.

Really? Yeah. But, you know, it was a heavy drinker my whole life. My father was killed by a drunk driver in 2009. in Anaheim. Oh, man. And then my little sister, who I was very close with, died of breast cancer in 2011. Oh, my God. Sorry about both of those.

It was tough. So 2012 and 2013, I had stopped drinking for pleasure. I really was numbing myself. And then, like, on Facebook, like, when Facebook memories pop up from, like, that period, I look, oh, God. I, like, I looked terrible. Right. Big bloated, white guy, alcoholic face. Yeah. And January 1st, 2014, I was in Philadelphia, and I had 10 pints of Sierra Nevada. And I blacked out and fell off of a barstool like a tree. And I busted my little scar I have right there. Right. Yeah, yeah.

Busted my head open. And I haven't had to drink since. Really? That was it. I think I think Jesus pushed me. Mm-hmm. But I think it's the best thing, I wish it had happened years earlier. Yeah. I mean, what a waste. What a waste. I mean, well, yeah, but I mean, you've had a great career and you're very prolific and you've done, you've really lived and done all this stuff. That period, you know, you can't fault anybody for drinking or doing whatever to get through those times.

Yeah. You just have to not stay in those times. Yeah, no, I mean, I was heartbroken. Yeah. I was down. And then I, the next day I saw so much ugliness in the mirror. I had a black eye and I had these Frankenstein stitches. Oh, God.

Because I had to go to the emergency room. And I thought, I was not put on this earth to be a drunk. Yeah. And I was put on the earth to do great things. Amen. And the best way I could honor my deceased father and sister. Yeah. It was just stop drinking and do great things.

And was it pretty easy? Yeah, it was he? I didn't go to one AA meeting or anything. I just made the decision. Loud and clear. Yeah. I mean, and it was tricky.

I mean, I was never, I never, you know, I'd have like maybe a drink or half beer before I went on, but it was never a thing to go on. Right.

But just being in the clubs, not drinking, and then after shows, that was the thing to make the adjustment for. Yeah. How'd you handle it? Just get out of there at first? No.

Just hang. I'm not going to stop. hanging out with my friends. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So I just drink sparkling water. Right.

And then the bubbles on the tongue reminds me of beer. I think more people don't drink than drink comics. Now. There's so many. Well, like when we started, like, you know, everybody was boozing it up. Right. It's part of it, I guess. Yeah.

But like in New York, it's like everybody I would hang with at the cellar. Everybody was in recovery. You know, everybody was addicted at some point and cleaned up. And it was kind of unusual to be sitting. there with a drink. It was kind of interesting. You're right. Those like those road warriors. Yeah. Those like John Foxes of the world. You know, those guys that were just, fuck me before I'm famous. He would, I worked with them a bunch of times when I was young. Yeah, me too. And he'd walk by the, the waitress station in the back of the club. Yeah.

And he just announced casually, fuck me before I'm famous. What a terrible. What a terrible. What a fuck? What an asshole thing to say? Let me get some of that. Wow. He told me I worked with him. He had a horrible end to his life, you know. Yeah, got ugly at the end.

Well, I mean, you know, I don't know what kind of cancer. He didn't have a great diet. And he never turned it around on the booze and drugs. No, exactly. And I don't think he had a long-lasting love story in his life, which I think is our most important purpose. Yeah. Yeah, no, I agree.

I was working with him in Atlantic City, and I was pretty young. None of the waitresses felt for the page. And he said, and I was up there, like, I was in the opening for him, and he came back at one point, he said, yeah, you were, you're up there with all those uh you're from new york right i was like yeah he's like yeah you can always tell the new york guys up there with their they're clever jokes in the world he goes i come from an old school of bangers he get up there and bang it out you up there with your clever jokes i know it's so funny he would crush sometimes he had that thing he had that thing

He had that club thing, like you could see. Well, he used to open with this really old joke. But it destroyed. Right. Because, I mean, like, I think he had a little bit of fame early. He had done one of those young comedians things. And he looked blonde. He looked kind of like a California surfer guy.

Oh, really? Yeah. The drugs and alcohol, the guy that we knew is this kind of haggard-looking road guy. Yeah. So he would come up there all weathered and beat up. And you don't remember the joke he used to open with? Was it not my dick? Two firemen are butt fucking in a smoke-filled room.

That's right. Fire chief comes in and says, Hey, what the hell's going on here? Guy in the back says he had a smoke inhalation. And the fire chief goes, did you try mouth to mouth? He said, yeah, how do you think this got started? And, you know,

the place explodes. You know, Middle America. Uh-huh. mini mall comedy club right um the place went on glued you used to do that thing you can bend it you can bend it something about his penis and he was like you can bend it something like as a as a kid he was saying that or something you know i got to give the guy credit because i worked with him in jacksonville florida when i was 19 and he got me in with zanies in chicago and i got to mc and and uh and i have been in with Zanis in Chicago ever since then.

Yeah. And I emceed there for years, and then I featured there for years, and then Zanis was one of the first clubs to headline me. And I've headlined there for years. Yeah. And the guy got me. So, like, you know, as much as people want to talk shit about the guy. Yeah.

You know, he helped me out when I was a young guy. They were just comics. You know, those guys... And I've had a long relationship with Chicago Zanis, and I'm grateful I had it. Yeah. I mean, those guys were just, they were like the first road guy. I mean, before their generation came up, there wasn't that circuit of clubs, you know, and that was like when it was popular on cable.

And those guys just went out, like you said, like we're partying hard. Yeah, I guess it was like those waitresses, things were probably working, like saying those things for the waitress. And they just never stopped the party. And you look at historically, like, there was tons of cocaine in America then in the 80s from, right. You know, you look at Narcos and Pablo Escobar. and history of all that stuff.

So like the American comedy boom is happening in the 80s and, you know, there's comedy gigs all over. Yeah. It was, I guess that was. They were the Kings. I remember I was a teen. Yeah. And I was always really afraid of cocaine and drugs, seeing other comedians doing it.

Yeah. I was like so, oh, no. No, thank you. None for me. Thank God. I started when I was 17. You did? Yeah.

In Florida? Yeah, I was still in high school. So, like, I was still playing high school baseball. Really? You know, so I don't want to take a game. I'm batting sixth tomorrow. Coach will kill me. How did you find your way to the clubs that young?

Well, it's a beautiful story, really. My father is the reason I'm a comedian. My father loved stand-up comedy. My dad loved Richard Pryor. Right. My family is originally from Washington, D.C. And my dad also loved Bob Newhart. So I remember my dad had prior records and Bob Newhart records that I grew up listening to.

Yeah. And then other, like, he had Ray Charles, notice Redding and, like, you know, I think, you know, pretty cool records to have in the house. Yeah. But I remember driving around with my dad as a kid, and there was no seatbelt laws back. then. So I could, my dad, driving on my dad. He's listening to a Richard Pryor tape. And I'm standing next to my dad and I got my arm on him and he's driving. And just feeling his shoulders shake as he laughed to Pryor. And I was a kid. I didn't understand the adult themes. But when Pryor would animate animals and things like that, I thought it was genius. And I still get a tingle when I hear the prior

animal bits. You know, like the dog or going to Africa. And, you know, the, you know, that kind of stuff. So in 1978, my uncle did open mic night comedy in Washington, D.C. for one year at a club called L. Brookmans. And this was like the first club to do stand-up in D.C. Right. And my dad took me to see him. Oh, wow.

I was 11 years old, and the entrance was next to the stage. It was a thin shotgun shack style room. And I was wearing a Washington Redskins jacket. and the comedian on stage grabbed me, pulled me up on stage, and then he interviewed me like I was the coach of the Redskins.

No way. Hey, look, everybody, the coach of the Redskins is here and he pulls me up. And I'm like 11. I'm just giving bashful, dopey, one word, you know, little kid answers,

no. Yes. But I'll never forget that moment. Yeah. Standing on that stage. Yeah. And seeing all those happy people with their heads thrown back in laughter

and all the teeth in their mouth. And then Washington D.C. is a pretty diverse city. And I know I've romanticized the memory in my mind, but in my mind there were, you know, black people, Latin people, Asian people. It was when you were a comedian, you were on stage talking to the world. Right. Was my perception of it. And from that moment onward, I never wanted to do anything else ever again. Right.

So I became a student of comedy. Nice. My family moved to Orlando when I was 12. Mm-hmm. What'd your dad do? He was an insurance salesman. Okay. So he could talk. He had game. Yeah, and a lot of my best comedy advice, he gave me that were sales-related things.

Like when I was young, trying to be edgy, I'd do something, a hard line up front. And my dad came in, my dad drove me to my first two open mic nights, you know. Nice. So he told me, he said, the oldest thing in sales, they'll buy from a friend before they will a stranger. You can do the the hard bit about whatever. Right. But after you've made friends with them, if you move that later into the set after they already like you and you've made friends with them, you can say whatever you want. Right. In invaluable. That's amazing. That's so cool because it really is, that advice is combination of someone that knows sales but also knows comedy. That is

Like he knows the structure. He sees it in his head. Yeah. That is pretty great. Okay. So you're sleeping or trying to sleep and you're not getting a great night's sleep. Maybe you're a little cranky. Maybe you're a little achy.

Maybe you're thinking it's all these other problems. It's probably your mattress. It's probably your mattress. I'm guilty of it too. I didn't change. How often do you change your mattress? Not that often. And it just seems like it's going to be a big hassle.

It seems like it's going to be a big pain in the ass and how are you going to know? know if it's right and do you have to go to a creepy store and lay all on the mattresses and stuff? No, that's the old way. There's a new way. Our good friends at Helix sleep, they have a quiz, it takes two minutes, you complete it, it matches your body type to your sleep preference on a mattress that's perfect for you. And if you sleep with someone else, they put in their information as well. And in that one mattress, you will both, even if you have varying needs and desires,

you will get one mattress that satisfies both of you. Everyone is unique. You have several different mattress models to choose from. They have soft, medium, firm mattresses. Mattress is great for cooling you down if you sleep hot. And even a Helix Plus mattress for plus size folks. Mattresses come right to your door shipped for free. It's pretty amazing.

Comes in this big giant package and poof. You've got a giant mattress in your spot. You don't ever need to go to a mattress. store again. It was voted the number one best overall mattress pick of 2020 by GQ and Wired Magazine. So please go to helixleep.com and check it out. Helixleep.com put in Papa, P-A-P-A, take their two-minute sleep quiz, and see what they come up with. You will be impressed. You will know just from doing it this is the new way someone finally figured out a great way to shop for a mattress and deliver you quality that's going to change your life. They also have a 10-year

warranty and you get to try it out for 100 nights risk-free. They'll even pick it up for you if you don't love it, but you will. Helix is offering up to $200 off all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners at helix sleep.com slash papa. Helix sleep, H-E-L-I-X, sleep.com slash papa up to $200 off all your mattress orders and two free pillows. You can put your head on them, put them between your legs. I'm not going to tell you how to sleep. I also like to thank the good people at Ritual Multivitamins. Look, we all want to live a better life. We want to feel better. You want to get through your days knowing that you have a good balance. Try and eat right. Try and exercise. try and sleep right, try and do all these things. It's nice when you can have a multivitamin

that is designed with you in mind. A multivitamin should contain key nutrients in the forms your body can actually use to help fill the gaps in your diet. No shady extras. Rituals, delayed release capsule design delivers high quality nutrients, including vitamin D3 and just two daily pills. You'll always know what nutrients you're taking and where they come from thanks to rituals one-of-a-kind visible supply chain. Now available for women, men, and teens. Every stage of life. Ritual multivitamins are scientifically developed to help support different life stages. It makes healthy habits easy. And if you don't love ritual, within the first month, they'll refund your first order. Why not live a better life?

Get key nutrients without all the BS. Ritual is offering my listeners 10% off during your first three months. So go to ritual.com slash Papa and start your ritual today. Vegan certified, non-GMO, gluten and allergy-free, no fillers, no colorants, no shady additives. Nine nutrients to help fill the gaps in your diet. Ritual.com. So I grew up, you know, I mean, S&L was, like one or two seasons in. Right.

I would watch that on Saturdays. Yeah. I'd watch Carson every night, loved Carson like a God. Yeah. I miss him like a dead relative. Yeah. Letterman, whenever there was a comedian on any talk show, I'd be in front of the TV watching. Yeah.

And then my dad and I would watch HBO specials. All the young comedian specials. All this, any comedy special. on stand-up on HBO and we'd watch it and then we'd talk about you know the jokes we liked right oh this was kind of weak oh i didn't like that thing he did or like oh my god that wow the structure was incredible was there one guy at that time because well when i say that woke you up 15 i'd say 14 to 16 years old rodney dangerfield was my god i had memorized that every Dangerfield album.

Yeah. His specials were great. The movies were coming out. Yep. And I had every Dangerfield joke memorize. Right. You know? It's so great.

And I got to see him when I was 15. You did? Yeah. And he was at the Tupperware Theater in Orlando. Mm-hmm. And he was drunk. Uh-huh. And I wasn't even, I couldn't even, didn't even have a driver's license yet.

The 16-year-old friend of mine drove. Right. Then after the show, we snuck backstage because we wanted the meet him. There was no security. Right. And then he's sitting in his underwear. He had his pants on a chair. I learned years later that was an old Catskill comedian thing.

They would take their pants off immediately when they got off stage to preserve the dry cleaning crease. Right. I've told the story to so many comedians through the years. Some of them went, oh, that's, yeah, Catskill guys would do that. But for years, I was like, you guys sitting in his underwear? Why? Who takes their pants off right when they get all stage? You know?

I know. So, you know, we go, Rodney, Rodney, we love you. And then the stage manager came and said, hey, kids got to stand outside. He'll be coming out here in about 30 minutes. And there was like a waiting Lincoln Town car and this big steel backstage exit door. And there's three cement steps from the backstage door to the waiting Lincoln Town car. And finally, the door opens, and Rodney seems even a little hammered than he was before. He goes, hey, you guys, you kids give me a.

He put one arm around me and one arm around my buddy. He goes, help me get to the car. And I'll never forget. No way. Carrying this old man's torso down these three steps. And then we gently placed him in the back of the Lincoln town car as if he were the Christ child. And then he drove off and like it was one of the greatest moments for my life. That's amazing.

Oh my God. That's so crazy. God, if I could be an old dude who like a 15 year old kids love. Right. Exactly. Oh my God. That's amazing that you got to do that. That's crazy.

Yeah. How was he during the set? He was just drunk. He wasn't. You could tell he was drunk during the set? Yeah, because I had memorized every joke. Ah. So he's doing the jokes from the album.

Right. And just he, you know, he. And he's slurring him. Slurring him. You know, forgetting, forgetting words, things like that. Yeah. And then I started doing some stuff in my high school. I'm from Oviedo, Florida.

It was a little town when I grew up there. Yeah. Everybody knew I wanted to be a comedian. So I got to host all the talent shows and the pep rallies. Nice. And then my speech and drama teacher, Mr. Martin. Uh-huh. had a little stage in his class.

And drama speech was my favorite class. The guy would give me the first five minutes of every class to do my, I could write new jokes every day. Right. So I'd get to go up and do my, the jokes I had written. Wow. And it was great. So I'd be spending like a, what a gift.

From like a 24-hour period. Yeah. You know, making notes and like, okay, I'm going to do this for the. You got your set list. Yeah. Then there was like kids from other classes that would like come in to see what I was going to do. It's so cool.

It was really, really magic. It is magic. That's why you remember that teacher's name, but there's a lot of teachers you don't know. Well, and he had such an impact on me because, um,

he's also speech. So they, so they, he's taught like, and a lot of young comedians now would do well by taking this guy's class. Uh-huh. A story needs a definitive end.

Mm-hmm. A story should lead up to something. an end, have a definitive end. Yeah. And then he taught me how to build an argument in a speech. And so many invaluable things. Yeah. Yeah.

He's definitely the best teacher I've ever had. This is really like, as a young kid, you've got between your dad and that teacher. Yeah, I would really, really love it. And everybody that you're watching just in the media, like just watch, digesting cars and all that. But, I mean, those have two people close to you that are really cultivating that? Yeah. That's pretty unusual. Yeah, so then I took a fake ID to the local comedy club when I was 17.

Yeah. And that's when I started. Wow. That's amazing. And did you, you must have known, like if you're coming out at 17, you've had all that practice already. You must have known that you had something that you could do it. I thought I was getting started kind of late, actually. You know?

Right. That's crazy. But yeah, I, you know, a lot of my jokes were the just, you know, know about the life of a teenager. Sure. And the club was nice. They kind of turned to blind eye. Everybody knew I was underage.

They did. Yeah. Yeah. And were you doing well? Yeah, I was doing great. That's why they let me stay. Yeah, became one of the, you know, one of the locals, one of the local regulars. So did you catch?

And it was, they had Friday and Saturday. They didn't have touring comedians. So I stopped going to the high school dance. and football games. And I was at the comedy club every weekend. Amazing. And then I graduated high school. My senior year, I started to do one nighters around Florida.

And then after I graduated high school, when I was 18, I think like 19, that's when I went out on the road. At 19. Wow. That's so great. And I've been on the road since I was 19 and I've never had more than two weeks off. Never. Before the pandemic. I know.

It's crazy. crazy, isn't it? Yeah. And so... So what did that do to your head? Did you come out of it? Did you come out of it different? Like, there's no way you're stopping unless something like that happens. Yeah, well, I didn't realize how bad I needed a year off. And the pandemic taught me how much I love sleeping in my own bed. And for the first time in my life, I don't... I used to have to be on the road to pay the rent. And I got enough of a cushion to pay my rent. Right.

So for the first time of my life, I don't have to be on the road. Right. But did you, sorry to interrupt, but did you, I had the idea that that's not what was driving you all around the world and performing all over the place. No, I just wanted to perform. And I always thought to be the greatest, the best thing for a comedian is to have life experiences so that you can talk about it. So I've always had this adventurous spirit.

I wanted to see the world. And then I always thought, by traveling the world and going to different countries, I would get different knowledge. I would get different experiences, which I did. Yeah, yeah. But I'm saying, like, when you said that paying the rent was the thing. Oh, yeah, well, that's not true. I mean, I didn't live anywhere for 10 years.

I put everything into storage. Yeah. Which was really, like, any time anybody. So you're right, you're right, actually. It wasn't always that. But that I had a really charmed existence. I, you know, I lived in Amsterdam for five years. Yeah.

Came back to L.A. I'd put everything into storage when I, and I didn't have much, but it got it out when I was in, when I went to Amsterdam, then I moved back to L.A. for two years, still on the road half the time, doing gigs all over the world. Yeah. And then I thought, why I live anywhere? So I put everything into storage. And I would do like three or four months a year in Europe, a month in Asia, a month in Australia. And then like, you know, three or four months all over the States. Right. And my now ex-wife traveled with me for eight of those 10 years when I didn't live anywhere. Wow.

And then we were living in L.A. And then she kept telling me, you know, forget the road. You need to focus on L.A. And we got divorced. We're still really great friends. She's like my best friend. Yeah. But it's kind of bittersweet for her that now, and it never would have happened without the

pandemic. Yeah, that you're home. Now I'm living the life that she kept saying, you know, just focus on L.A. Forget everything else. So now I just want to focus on L.A. And I just want to go places that I want to go. In the last two years, I've gone to see my mom twice in Florida because I'm close with my mom. I get a comedy festival in Austin. Just went to Toronto a couple weeks ago. I think the next flight I'm going to take, I'm going to go, I love Paris and Amsterdam. So, and I, I'll do some gigs there, but right, but it's mostly just about, you know. Yeah. I have to say, I saw a picture of you on Instagram, I guess, and a view at the store. You must have been at the store recently. Yeah. And there was something very, it made me happy.

Oh, good. It made me happy to see that you were there. I was like, oh, it'd be so great if I could roll into the comedy store and you would be there. Because you were this great example for everybody that you could go and move around and stuff. You were very inspiring. Anyone that was bitching about being on the road, it was like, you would just, they'd just say, Rhodes hasn't had a home for five years, six years, whatever it was. And so it was really inspiring.

But we didn't get to see you all that often. You were kind of, you were, you were globe trekking. we didn't get to see you. And it's like, you were always so good. I'd both be in New York once in a while. Yeah, we'd see, yeah, once in a while. But, I mean, like on the regular,

like to know that there's a really good chance I'll see you working shit out at the store. Now you see me at the store. It'll be great. The store is my favorite. Yeah. And the OR, I mean, the main room's awesome. I just, it's such a holy temple of laughter, you know?

It really is. No, but that makes me happy that, And, uh, just, you ever do you watch you? Yeah, yeah, all the time. But I've been just, I've been on the road like crazy, making up all the dates from the pandemic and stuff. I've been flying like crazy. I think I've had like 16 flights in the last eight days or something. It's like, that's, I'm, I just, I want to stay off airplanes. Yeah. I just want to do, right now, road gigs, I just do things I can drive to like San Francisco, Vegas, San Diego. Yeah.

And then primarily, I just, I just want to stay in L.A. Yeah. I want to make meaningful things. Right. You know. Right. Working on a little film project. Oh, yeah?

I'm not going to tell you about. Okay. Something I've been working on for the last year. Oh, cool. And then just, and it's the, I feel like I'm starting over in that, like a rebirth of, just the enthusiasm of, I've always loved stand-up like you. Yeah. You know, but just back to what it was meant to be originally.

Just the love of it, the love of writing jokes, the love of trying them out. Yeah. And I'm really happy in my life. It's so great. I'm happy just going to the store working on new material. It's the greatest. And I'm just trying to build up for, you know, You know, the way things are in stand up with, you know,

they're not given too many middle-aged white guys specials. Uh-huh. And I'm totally cool with that, you know, older white guys. Don't have to be given nowadays. So I love making albums. Yeah. And I can own them outright and I can, you know, put them out as often as I want. So I'm really just loving.

It's the best. You know, I put out like a couple of clean record. I made six records. Two of them were clean. Four of them were. anything goes. Yeah. I just,

it's the best. You know, I think, I think the 17-year-old me would be very proud of the 55-year-old me. Well, that's the greatest thing. I mean, you're still far from needing help to the car down the three cement steps.

So you got like, you know what I mean? Seriously, like, you have so much more to say at this point than you did with, when you were passionate younger. Absolutely. Like,

it's great. And I've, had so many people even come through my radio show that they just, so the streamer said no, so they put it on YouTube, two million people watch it. They go out and promote it and all these people see it. You don't really need people to tell us you're allowed to do this anymore. It's a beautiful time to be a comedian. Yeah, it's pretty great.

All you can do with your phone, you can make a film with it, you can make a podcast with it, you can make your little videos to pump out, It's just incredible. I know. It really is. So when you said earlier that you think that our purpose is to have a great love story in our life, do you feel like you had one and now you're working on a new one? Hmm.

This rum ball is really good. A rumble. Rumble. No, Mr. Tom. It is a rumble. I think friendships are the greatest treasures in life. Okay. My ex-wife and I are still.

like best friends. I just had an incredible relationship with this woman. She's from Toronto, but she was going to law school in Portland when I met her. And excuse me, I just went to Toronto to visit her. Oh, yeah.

And we were together for three years. Last year was all long distance. And we decided to call it quits, which did it in a very loving way. There's only one ex-girlfriend. I've ever had in my life that I'm still not friends with. All of my exes. Yeah.

You know, I think it depends the kind of person you are. Yeah. You know, and they were wonderful people. Yeah. You loved them for a reason. Right. That's why you were there. Why do people have to go nuclear and, you know.

Destroy anything. That's Putin with Ukraine. It's like, she broke up with you years ago, dude. Let it go, asshole. That's exactly. You will see me. Yeah. Driving by the house.

house. Yeah. Stalking. So I just had a wonderful, you know, relationship with this woman, but we decided to just be friends now. Right. You know. Tell me about the other love in your life, Curtis Mayfield.

Oh, my God. I've always loved Curtis. I was turned on to him years ago. You know, in his story, you talk about like overcoming adversity. I think it was in the 80s. or 90s. Because I got turned on him, I think, in the early 90s. Right.

And I think he was already paralyzed then. He was. He was a great, you know, he was a singer. He was Curtis Mayfield in The Impressions. Needed people get ready for the train. There's like three or four Curtis Mayfield in the Impression songs. There's all-time classics that you know, but you don't know that it's.

the impressions. No. I only knew him as like pusher man and oh yeah. Superfly. Yeah, that's the more commercial stuff. Right. He's um his album roots. His album Curtis. Uh, America's a, a great place to be. Um, the albums he did like 70 to 75. Uh-huh. God, incredible. Really? I'm the one who loves you. You know, that's the impressions. Uh-huh. He's Mr. Love. But, oh, so what I was saying was, he was doing a sound check for a concert he was going to give,

I think, in Houston, if I'm correct. Mm-hmm. And the lighting rig fell. And he was paralyzed for life. I didn't know that story at all. And he never stopped being Mr. Love. No. Yeah.

He was paralyzed. I think he's dead now, right? I'm not sure. I believe so. Yeah. But he was paralyzed for the last 20 years of his life, and it didn't change his attitude. I think, like, 91, 92 is when I first discovered him.

Wow. There was an album called New World Order, he put out. Did he make more music after that? Yeah, tons. And it was all still, you know, it was never like, angry and, I can't walk anymore, bastards. Right, you know. Right.

Yeah. Man. Who else do you like? Big Van Morrison guy. Did you see Belfast? No, I haven't. No. The greatest part of it is it's all Van Morrison music.

Great, because he's from Belfast. God. God. Really? Okay, I have it. Because the SAG Awards, I got all those movies. Yeah, right. It's a little...

I watched King Richard last night. Oh, yeah? Great film. Really? Oh, my God. Yeah. What a great film. Their father...

Yeah. It was incredible what he did. did and then he's you know uh they were they were playing trying to play on these these local city courts in compton starting and you know he got beat up by some gangs and just it was really difficult circumstances where they where they started but he like believed in making them champions amazing yeah did you see um licorice pizza yes i loved that film i loved it too i've talked to a lot of people and like they didn't like it they thought it was inappropriate the uh the age difference between the I and the girl. You know what they, people miss that it jumps in time at like three quarters through.

It goes up three years. So he's 18. So like people miss that little bum. She didn't have sex with him. She showed him her breasts. I think they did later on. Okay. Remember when they was reading the paper? Yeah, after he's 18. Right. Exactly. So who cares? They were in love. I thought it was a great. She was so good too. Phenomenal actress. God. And then I loved it. You know she's from Hime, right? She's like, she's a musician. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, she's one of the sisters.

And the other two sisters were in it also. They played her sisters in it. They're such a great band and so creative. And she was so, I mean, she's not, it's not her gig. That's funny because I thought she was normally an actress. Yeah. Yeah, she was so good. So good.

I loved it. I had the same feeling with that as I did with Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I've seen that movie like, I live close to his, theater that he owns, the new Beverly Cinema. So I saw it there when it was out. And then in my neighborhood Fairfax Avenue

when they were filming that I was walking up Fairfax one day and it had been shut down to traffic and they had all these classic cars from you know the late 60s were parked all along the thing and they were shooting

and in the film it's just like a it's a two second shot and it probably cost them a million bucks just to get this two seconds but yeah I know I really love that theater I could just hang I could just hang with both of those movies because it's just L.A., they both captured

that time it was just like yeah I was and I ran to a lot of people too were like oh I loved that film who cares? I could buy all the Tarantino's movies I could watch over and over Oh my God

what's your favorite Tarantino movie? Um, uh, Pope Fiction probably. I don't know. Okay. I'm gonna go with hateful eight. Hateful eight. It's like a stage play. It's all one scene.

Yeah. It's all, it's all set in one room. Other than the beginning when they're coming in on the stage coach. Right. And then the, I think the end, there's a shot outside. But it's all just, it could be like done on a Broadway thing stage. Right.

Right. It's incredible. Yeah. I've only seen that one once. Oh, you should watch it again. What's the one where they burn up the Nazis in the... In glorious bastards. Yeah.

Yeah. In the theater. Christoph was so good as the making, putting the cream in the... Oh, my God. All those are great. Yeah, licorice pizza was great. Belfast is really good. It's a little glossy.

It's a little like... Kenneth Brana made it, right? Yeah. It's a little... Spielberg-y, you know what I mean? Like, it's kind of, it's not, you don't see too many of the dirty parts of the real thing, but they tell the story in a real distinct way. And you have Van Morrison. If you play Van Morrison's warm love to Ireland, I mean, yeah. I played in Belfast, I think, six times. Oh, yeah. So it's an interesting city. Is it? It's not the nicest place in the world, but my mother's family lineage comes from there.

But there's the Empire Theater on Queens Street by Queens University. That's their normal gig there. That's phenomenal. Just great audiences. And they would crucify the English comedians. Uh-huh. It didn't stand and scans. So like in the early 2000s,

when I was playing around Europe and I'd get grief a lot of times for being an American and because of the Iraq war and stuff. And then to go there and see, like I would get heckled by Europeans. Right. You know, just for being American. So just to see English guys getting heckled just because they were English. Oh, I'm not the bad guy tonight.

That's pretty cool. Did you... Oh, and then I played Ulster Hall. Oster Hall? Yeah, in Belfast. It was the first place, Led Zeppelin ever played Stairway to Heaven live. Really? Wow.

When you do Paris, do you do it for English-speaking? Yeah, well, most places are... Like Paris, you know, you'll be mostly expats and then there'll be a contingent of English-speaking French people. Right. You know? Right. Who love English language comedy.

Right. And then a lot of French comedians come out. Yeah. And watch. Yeah. You know. Gad? Gad?

He doesn't come out, but he set up, on my Around the World album, the Paris tracks were done at Theater La Ova. Ova. He set up, they don't. did it for like a year, but Gadd had set it up where it was once a month they would bring over an English comedian from the States. Oh, really? And it's just beautiful 350-seat theater. And it's famous for like in the 1898, there was a big scandal. This guy had put on, what's it? I can't think of Ubu Foy, something like that. It was comparisons. He was like this megalomaniac king and sent people to war and it was a really controversial play that um was first

premiered there and there was a riot on the night of the premiere oh okay like 1898 alfred joffey wrote to play i can't uh per ubu i think is the name of it anyway yeah 350 seat theater uh one of the i would love to film a special there oh yeah it was so beautiful and and uh just just great other than that gig in that theater of played little clubs okay in Paris right I've never been to Paris oh my favorite city um storeer storeer st-o-h-h-r-er uh-huh I follow them on Instagram uh-huh it's Paris's oldest potisserie oh really I am a fruit tart fanatic are you really? Really? Yeah. And they do these friends. All my friends, and I told Bill Burr this, and he thanked me.

Uh-huh. It's Paris's oldest patisserie. They do like fruit tarts and amazing, do you have it? S-T-A-H-H-T-O-O-H-R-E-R-E-R. H-R-R-R. All right, store. In the daytime, and they also sell baguettes, but they're primarily like a patisserie with sweets and those kind of things. But in the daytime, they sell sandwiches for lunch. Oh, boy. With, like, on baguettes. Uh-huh. You know, like avocado chicken or tuna or any... Salmon.

These sandwiches, trust me. When you go to Paris and you go to storeer, buy two sandwiches. Okay. So later in the day, when you're walking around and you say to yourself, Jesus, Christ, I wish I'd have bought two of those sandwiches. Then you already got it. And it's on this street. It's on one of the best food streets in Paris, I think.

Oh, my God. It's called Rue Montaguay. But just, you can go to store and you can find it. It's a pedestrian walking street that's got cheese shops, fruit stands, wine shops. The thing I like to do, and I've been there a few times, because I'm, Paris is my favorite place. I dated a woman from Paris years ago. Oh, my God. I try to go, before the pandemic, I would try to go to Paris every year.

Yeah. And so the last few times I've been there, I've given friends my walking tour. One of my historic obsessions is the French Revolution. Oh, yeah. And then also like writers. Yeah. And things. Like there's the hotel where Oscar Wilde died.

Oh, wow. His last words were either this wallpaper goes or I do. Really? That's his last word. Yeah. There's so much great literary history there. So I've given some friends walking to us. But then the other thing I like to do... Oh, that's great.

With a group of friends is take them to Rue Montaguay and tell them, look, okay, everybody take an hour, get whatever food you want. Yeah. I'm going into store to get some fruit tarts. Get whatever you want and some wine or whatever. And then we meet back. There's the globe. cafe is right across from store.

Their drinks are a little pricier than others, but such a great outdoor seating, it's worth it. Yeah. So then when the group meets back up, then you walk to get the train and go to the Eiffel Tower. Uh-huh. You go to the Eiffel Tower like an hour before sunset and all this is the huge lawns all around it and have a picnic.

And then watch the sunset. And then after the sunsets, the lights come on the Eiffel Tower. Oh, boy, oh boy. I got it nailed. I think that's one of the best things in life. Oh, my God. You've got it nailed. If you're with the right people.

So I've perfected a lot of nice things. Let me ask you this. Are you surprised or are you surprised that what's going on now with Russia and Ukraine? Do you feel like surprised that this is something like from the past, this kind of war seems like. It does feel like something from the past. yeah i think everybody's surprised but i mean if you know history i think i think it's great that um a certain individual and a certain political party in this country that has been so deep in the ass of putin and the russians for the past um recent years yeah um as frightening as

that outcome was looking? Because I thought the Russians are going to take over our country because of this corruption. Right. And that political party didn't seem to be able to police itself or its leader. So I thought we were heading over the cliff. Wow. In that way.

In that regard. So I think that's like the, I mean, if there's any bright spot from it, but like we were talking before rolling, I think. I do, I'm afraid of nuclear war happening. But what I'm trying to get to is, you ever heard of the great courses? No. They're these great university courses.

And I've listened to them for years. I'm sure a lot of your viewers know it. Because they're always advertised in like smarty pants magazines. And libraries, you can get them. And Audible has all of them. Also, you're welcome Audible. for that commercial. There are actual university courses and about everything.

And it used to be you'd get it on either CD or DVD or direct download. They were pretty expensive. Yeah. But there was, I really like history and I like philosophy and those kind of things. But there was one history guy, he's dead now. And he's my Justin Bieber. Uh-huh. I really loved this guy.

Who is he? He was the history professor at the University of Oklahoma, and his name was Rufus Fears. Okay. And like, you can tell this guy's, like, passionate about history the way we're passionate about comedy. Yeah. And his courses were my favorite. He did one on Churchill, events that changed the world. He did like four or five of these courses, but my favorite one is called the Wisdom of History.

Uh-huh. And the Wisdom of History, I've listened to this like three, times. Yeah. I love this guy so much. Yeah. Um, the wisdom of history, the lesson of history is we don't learn from history. And then that, um, democracies are very fragile. And they don't last long. And that in the history of the world, the world prefers asshole, strong men, dictators. Right. And, uh, the other thing from history is that deaths of great empires, don't happen from a lot of different, I mean, there's different factors and events. Yeah.

But usually it's the decision of one person. Right. The asshole dictator will drive an empire off a cliff. Wow. And that's what I think is happening with Putin and Russia. Right. And I don't think, we don't need, we just need to sit back and watch him. Because he's, he looks, he's, he's been such a brilliant chess player.

Yeah. All these years. And he's always had that. Uh-huh. That asshole look at his face. He's like, you don't know half the shit I'm getting away with. Right. His weird little smile that he always had.

It's a great impression of him. He, like the jilted boyfriend. Right. He wants to restore the Russia's past glory. And like those. It's fantasy. Moldova and Romania and Ukraine. They don't want to go back to there.

40 million people in Ukraine. And even Russia. Yeah. They're like us, man. They've all got phones. They're all spoiled. They don't want to fight. No.

You know. No, exactly. I hope that he's, I guess the only thing he can hope for is that he starts to fail and people around him do something. Yeah. I mean, like, you know, somebody trying to take out Hitler. Right. Right. Exactly.

I don't know. This is Hitler with nuclear weapons. I don't know if that would happen. But, you know, he's reduced all the, the. Even before the war, you know, he's gotten rid of any dissenting journalism. He's poisoned, you know, political adversaries. And he's done like the nastiest shit. Yeah.

That's why, like, I couldn't believe when that past leader of ours was... Up his ass. Yeah. It was crazy. And even... Standing in Helsinki saying, I'm going to take his Putin. Britain's word over our American intelligence services over whether or not the Russians interfered with the 2000.

Yeah. So our entire. How about sitting at that banquet? History of government with our CIA and all our foreign. Right. Everybody, all these great thinkers, all these great people. And sitting at that banquet, right as this is all starting and still praising him. And praising him for going in as a genius.

That might. That might, I mean, I hate to say it out loud because this never. holds true with this guy. Yeah. But this should be one of the big things that stops the love affair that a lot of people have. Yeah. And, you know, also that first impeachment was he was blackmailing Zelensky. Right.

To, to, to, Congress had already approved $400 million for, for military defense money for Ukraine. Right. I mean, look, obviously, they needed military defense money, but he wanted them to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and he held the money back. And, you know, so dirty. So dirty.

Yeah. All right. And Zelensky, a comedian? He was a stand comedian. I know, I know. He won dancing with the stars. He was the voice of Paddington. He played the president in a TV show.

How can you not love that guy? I know. It's amazing. I hope he makes it. I love Zelensky like I love a sunflower. Both of these are amazing. A little honey cake. I know.

All right. So before we go. You're my little honey cake, Tom. Thanks, Tommy. Give me your hopes because you're coming from, you're coming out of a big change in your life in the, in the mid, early mid-2000s. That changes you as a person, that changes you as an artist. It snapped you out of, into and out of drinking and stuff. And now you're, you obviously are energized and, and, and it's going to pour into into your

work, of course. What are you hopeful about? You're not allowed to say honey cake. I'm hopeful about the bread you made me. I mean, as bleak as times look,

you know, I believe my best days are ahead. And being a creative person and the jokes I'm going to write, and I do feel incredibly happy right now. It took me a long time to get there. Yeah. You know, especially after my dad and my sister died.

Yeah. It was a really bleak years of just absolute heartbreak. Heartbreaking. And, and I, I feel on top of the world compared to those years. Yeah. And, you know, it, like, comedy's the drug again. That's great. And that's the greatest feeling in the world.

That is the greatest. And I just feel that enthusiasm I had as a teenager of writing the jokes to do in Mr. Martin's speech. I'm a class, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I want to, I want to, I want to, I'd love to act in movies and TV shows. Yeah.

I mean, stand-up's my main thing. I think all we have to leave behind after we're dead is the art that we make in life. That's right. You know? Exactly. Be it comedy albums or paintings or movies or. And then some kid from Paris one day is going through. through L.A. on a walking tour.

And they're like, this is where Rhodes used to hang out. These are his favorite bagels, apparently. Weird fact, he loved fruit tarts. That's so great. Well, this is great, Tom. A million thanks. I have a box for you to take the rest of that Ukrainian cake home. The Tom and Tom show.

Yeah. You know, in Korea town, and they're in Seoul. They're all over Korea. Starbucks of Korea is called Tom and Tom's. Oh, really? And there's a few of them in Korea Town. Oh, that's cool. Any good?

Yeah, it's good coffee. Yeah? Yeah, your voice went up. Yeah, I mean, Tom's, you know, always bring in quality. All right, great seeing you, Tom. I love you, buddy. All right, I love you, too. Got it, Aaron.

I think I'm drunk from the rum balls. All right, everybody, that was the interview with the great Tom Rhodes. I told you it was going to be a good one. It was a good one. Not just because I'm the host, but I feel like they just keep getting better. Go to a Ukrainian bakery near you. That's my advice to you. This stuff was really good.

This is no joke. This honey cake, amazing. The rumballs, amazing. And, you know, support these people as they're all worried about the loved ones back there that are having to deal with this insanity and send them some love and hopefully we'll get through it all. so much for joining us at the table. Again, you guys are the best. Keep your comments and your correspondence coming. It's nice to see you all out on the road and know that we're all building this

community together. That's it. Have a great time. Thank you to the good people at Ritual and Helix, and we'll see you next week.