i don't know if tom rhodes is anyone, but after tonite he should be known as one of the worst american comedians i've ever seen. i'm watching him right now on a show called Stand Up Australia, which features two comedians every nite for around 15mins each.
not only did he steal one of the jokes mencia was called on (the mexicans building the wall that will keep them out, delivered in the same way that was pointed out above to mencia), he stole others i can't source exactly. his shitty material would be bad enough, and if he hadn't been billed as "legendary" by the idiotic host cos he was making his second appearnace, i might've lowered my expectations.. then he did his whole act as mitch hedberg - voice, mannerisms and everything. at one point he was heckled, some dude in the crowd said "next!" or something like that, which i'd never seen before on the show. but he was alone, cos he was told to leave and everyone else continued to love the douche. during this part he stopped talking like hedberg and responded to the heckler in his normal american accent.
this guy's act was fucking insulting, he had nothing to say about australia so he just did a lot of jokes about England, including but not limited to british food (instead of bombing them the Germans should've dropped cookbooks - ancient right??), and the royal family. and remember, WHILE APING MITCH HEDBERG and thinking no one would notice.
sam simmons on the other hand was fucking brilliant. he had a pre-recorded musical soundtrack that was brilliantly timed with his act and used sparingly. more like a crazy poet with jokes that aren't really funny, he's over-excited and apparently unaware of anyone else in the room.. but the atmosphere is sincere and this transforms his otherwise random monologue about monkeys being great lovers into something special. the sharp contrast to the shameless hack that went on before must've confused the audience cos they didn't find him that hilarious.
the problem with this show (on what used to be called the comedy channel, now just "Comedy", on australian cable), is that it's hosted by the biggest douche in australian comedy. his name is Cameron Knight and he has a catchphrase where he says "touch it" instead of saying goodbye.. that's all you need to know about him.
stand up is dead.
