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Tom Rhodes Smart Camp


Tom Rhodes Smart Camp is a festival of ideas, knowledge, stories, books & adventures. 

I have been a comedian for more than 39 years. I travel the world doing comedy. 
Whenever I can I will share my adventures with you on this Tom Rhodes Smart Camp podcast.

My amazing creative partner and ex-wife Ashna is my best friend. We are a mom & pop business and with her help I will putting out these episodes with all the wisdom I have gained in my life and telling you all of my greatest adventures while traveling the world. 

Thank you for your generosity and for joining the Rhodesies club. You are in my heart forever!

Sep 17, 2014

This episode was recorded in Los Angeles.

Aisha Tyler is an iconic woman who has conquered the stages of stand up comedy, the world of network television and the New York Times bestsellers list of book authors.

I met Aisha Tyler in the 1990s in the golden age San Francisco comedy. I remember Aisha when she was starting out as a comedian there and I remember that she always had a pure heart in her pursuit of becoming a master stand up comedian.

I remember her hustling around the Bay area comedy scene trying to get as much stage time as she could and always trying to get better as a comedian. I felt like she was Luke Skywalker and I was Obi-wan Kenobi when she would seek out my Jedi warrior wisdom. 

She has always shown me respect and been grateful for my influence on her development.

In this conversation we talk about how she felt like an outsider growing up in San Francisco, Finding your voice as a comedian, taking giants leaps in developing your material, the influence of the abundant about of humor her dad that affected the person she is today. The story she tells me in this chat about how before she would leave the house her dad would tell her to go grab the world by the balls hit me in my hilarity button. 

On her podcast Girl On Guy she has a segment called Self Inflicted Wounds. When I did her podcast I showed up with an entire bag of self inflicted wound stories. 

Everyone has stories about how they were self destructive and if you rose again or not is the only answer to that story. Pain is intrinsic in the human experience and self inflicted wounds is such a great idea Aisha wrote a book on that topic called Self Inflicted Wounds which had a strong run on the New York Times best seller list and is currently in the talks to become a television show.

In this talk we talk about the best laughs our fathers gave us and their most funny expressions.

In this episode you will learn why you should eat the spotted owl, never leave anyone stranded on the side of the road and never leave anyone in jail. 

Aisha went to Dartmouth University to study Environmentalism policy. Clean coal is a lie! Then she studied the economies of developing nations and lived in Kenya for a while. She is more than qualified to speak against rich white people.

Aisha has so much to tell the world and her intelligence makes it easy break down major issues to find the rational thoughts on our capitalistic society. There is blood on all of our hands!

We talk about the tangle mess America is in now and how corporations own our every move and how our system tramples people. Aisha is real and honest no matter if we talk politics or our personal lives. She believes in the transformative power of personal freedom and she is not afraid to squash modern topics by pushing it further. 

She is one of the stars of the daily network show The Talk speaking to millions of American homes everyday. As you will see in the conversation she is real and truthful about everything. She is so monumentally intelligent and magnificently charming and funny I wish she would love even more every entertainment outlet from TV, film, books, internet, etc.

She is a deep thinker with a sharp perspective and the truest laugh. I’m proud of her for all of her success because she always had a good heart but also she inspires me because she is real in everything she does. She possesses the pearl of great knowledge and wisdom and it was a joy to record this rambling talk about everything. It is my pleasure to present to you now the one and only Aisha Tyler!

Intro song: Cutting Room (Hot Pants) – Oceanliners
End song: Jennifer Lopez - I'm Real (Remix) ft. Ja Rule
Recorded at Aisha's – Los Angeles, May 2014