Tom Rhodes Smart Camp

My mom is visiting me this week and I took her to Yosemite National Park to recreate one of the best mother and son memories we have together.

This episode was recorded in Los Angeles.

Eddie Pepitone is the darling of the underground comedy scene of Los Angeles. For an older man without a full head of hair to kick so much ass in the city where youth and beauty reigns eternal he must be respected for what he has accomplished.

His comedy style is the man yelling to the people who are in the house that is one fire but they cannot see that the house is on fire. He is the angry heckler in the crowd in the crowd who makes perfect sense. He comes from an emotional place as a comedian, he attacks the stage with how he feels. What fuels him now is what is happening in the United States with corporations destroying people.

Anyone who thinks American comedians never talk about anything substantial have never seen Eddie perform. In this conversation Eddie and I talk about how you stay aware of what is happening in the world while remaining sane. Like George Carlin, Eddie Pepitone is an example of how an older man can do his best work in comedy and continue as he ages because he has experienced more in life.

The documentary 'Bitter Buddha' that was about Eddie's life was a huge success. Acting roles continue to role in because he is such a unique funny character who brings his soul and experience to every project he takes part in. A veteran of two Edinburgh Fringe festivals, who I caught up with in Los Angeles just a few weeks after this year's festival. The show he performed this year was entitled 'Rest In Peace America' in which he celebrates the downfall of America and gives him a vent to steam about life in America today.

He loves the modern comfort's of today's technology but thinks it is an exercise in futility with us amusing ourselves to death. He believes entertainers live for fame and affirmation but says if you are not centered at your core the entertainment business will crush you like a bug.

We talk about Hollywood conspiracies, Obama's ineffectual presidency, the lack of gun control in the United States, best New York City film achievements, the collapse of the world economy and the best sources of information. He tells me his best ideas come to him when his brain calms down and he has personal break throughs.

In this chat we talk about digesting information and ideas in order to spit out everlasting gobstobbers of thoughts. He is a man that I adore, respect and he makes me laugh out loud very hard.

It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Eddie Pepitone!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip from YouTube: Dealing With Hard Times - Eddie Pepitone

Stand-up clip from YouTube: Eddie Pepitone "Let's Order In"

Audio cameo: Eddie's dog Charlotte

End song: Randy Newman – Let’s Drop The Big One Now

Recorded at Eddie’s apartment in Los Angeles, September 2014

This episode was recorded in Galway, Ireland

I met Reginald D. Hunter many years ago in Manchester while hanging out with a group of comedians. It was before he became the comedy superstar that he is today. I liked him when we met so I have been cheering him on through the ensuing years when I saw him on countless British panel chat shows. Because he is from Georgia I felt Southern comedic pride watching him rise and it made me think that I knew him better than I actually did.

Last month we were both in Galway, Ireland to do the Galway Comedy Carnival and it was the first time we got to sit down and talk one on one.

He left his home in Georgia and headed to England many years ago to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic acting. After graduating he started his comedy career in England and as a result he is a much bigger star in the far reaching signals of the BBC than he is on American television.

Reg is an American original subversive thinker and he is a true master of stand up comedy. In his own words "I want to represent the people who want to have intelligent discourse." Or "I decided a long time ago that I wasn't going to coon on television." I was happy that I got to see Reginald perform several times in Galway.

It was harsh cold wind and rain while while we were in Ireland and it was a perfect comedy festival to stay inside and talk with your friends. His spiritual wisdom and Southern charm will light up any grey day and his advice to comedians is among the best yet given on this program.

"Seriousness is like arthritis for a comedian." Or "You are there to be laughed at. So check your ego at the door (via Tony Woods)." Also "Words are powerful. Enjoy saying them. Lean into them." He is a man that I'm honored to get to know better in this conversation and it is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Reginald D. Hunter!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Tell Me Anything Ask Me Anything: Mike from Tulsa, Ben from Chicago & Sariel from Sydney

Stand-up clip from YouTube: Reginald D Hunter live at Róisín Dubh

End song: Me'Shell Ndegeocello – The Way

Recorded at The Salthill Hotel in Galway, Ireland, October 2014

★★★★★ Tom Rhodes Radio Review for Zoe Lyons in ‘Mustard Cutter’

Zoe Lyons is one of the best performers that I saw at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I love her style, her energy, her pacing and her material. Often when you are seeing multiple shows in a day at the Fringe festival you will look at your watch during a performance and I'm happy to report I did not look at my watch once while Zoe was performing her show Mustard Cutter. I simply got lost in my enjoyment of her show.

Her and I have in common that she also has a Dutch wife and her insights on being married to a Dutch person made me howl with laughter. Her facial expressions as well as her way of expressing how she feels about the life that she is living is of the essence of what comedy is about.

I will now bestow the greatest compliment I could give any performer by saying that Zoe Lyons contains the original energy of joy.

Like all comedians, I'm sure she has experienced a bumpy road but her attitude towards life and performing comedy is what attracted me to her soul as I sat among the audience watching her perform and why I wanted to highlight her on my podcast.

She lives in the artistic hub of Brighton and is a respected veteran of the UK comedy scene, she is one of the people I enjoyed hanging out with the most at the festival after parties and it must be said that I think she has the most glorious gap between her two front teeth. As a gap toothed person myself, I find that an irresistible trait in a fellow human.

It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Zoe Lyons!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Stand-up clip from YouTube 1: Comedienne Zoe Lyons

Stand-up clip from YouTube 2: Joan Rivers: Stand-Up Pioneer Dead at 81 - Fifty Years of Funny | The New York Times

End song: Waiting In Vain – Annie Lennox Recorded at our big wooden kitchen table of our lovely Edinburgh Festival apartment – Edinburgh August 2014

This episode was recorded in Edinburgh, Scotland

Andrew Maxwell is the kind of guy who you would want on your side in a debating hall, on the football pitch or in a barroom fistfight. Andrew is one of the few human beings that tickles the living shit out of me just to hang out with him. He is a street fighting man originally from Dublin, Ireland who has lived in London for the past 20 years.

I first met him 15 years ago at the Comedy Store in London and he has since gone on to be one of the greatest friends I have ever known. He is one of my favorite people to stay up all night with laughing and talking about everything that comes to mind. His brain is packed with vital information concerning life, history and the general Ninja secret of high level comedy performance.

Regarding the Edinburgh Fringe festival, he has been one of my main sources for advice and guidance that I have sought out over the years leading up to me finally participating in it this year.

He is an exciting performer to watch because he never backs down from the challenging remarks he offers on any topic and his television specials are made with great intelligence equally his great humor.

He is not only one of my favorite people to hang out with but a performer who inspires me every time I see him. Never lazy, never without great thought put into each performance. We recorded this at my kitchen table in my rented Edinburgh apartment just a few hours after I saw him perform this year's hour show at the Assembly Rooms on George street.

In the conversation we talk about the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence, his great moments at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, near death experiences and as he puts it "The proper way to rinse a cunt."

It is my pleasure to present to you now, the one and only Andrew Maxwell!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners

Audience: Ashna & Suraya

End song: Lightning’ Hopkins - Mojo Hand

Recorded at our big wooden kitchen table of our lovely Edinburgh Festival apartment, August 2014