Tom Dreesen is an everyman in the best sense of the phrase. He has that singularly midwestern talent of touching a comedic nerve lightly, in a nostalgic way that cuts straight down the middle of the human experience into the realm of the gloriously mundane. It's that quality that has made Dreesen one of the most respected family comedians of our time.Be among the first to receive your copy of Tim & Tom this fall!
Click here to pre-order through Amazon.com today.
Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White, by Tom Dreesen and Tim Reid, with Ron Rapoport.
Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen polished their act in the nightclubs of Chicago, then took it on the road, not only in the North, but in the still-simmering South as well, developing routines about race that even today remain surprisingly fresh - and remarkably funny. Most nights, the shock of seeing an integrated comedy team quickly dissipated in uproarious laughter, but on some occasions the audience's confusion and discomfort led to racist heckling, threats, and even physical violence.
Though Tim and Tom perpetually seemed on the verge of making it big throughout their five years together, they grudgingly came to realize that they were ahead of their time: America was not yet ready to laugh at what they had to offer.
Eventually their failure to achieve the success they craved took its toll, and bitter arguments led to an acrimonious breakup. But the underlying bond of friendship Reid and Dreesen had forged has endured for decades, years in which their solo careers delivered the success that had eluded them as a team.
By turns revealing, shocking, and riotously funny, Tim and Tom unearths a largely forgotten chapter in the history of comedy and of race relations in America.
Reviews for Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White
"I have known Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen as comedians and friends since 1975, but I never knew Tim and Tom, the comedy team. This book is four compelling stories in one compilation: One story about Tim Reid, sad, fascinating and uplifting. One story about Tom Dreesen, a man consumed by a goal and a great witness to a bygone era of show business that one can't help but long for. A third story about seeking recognition in the world of entertainment. And finally, a story about race and culture in a country that should have been farther down the road to tolerance, understanding, and human kindness than it was in the 1970s. Tim and Tom is a great story, the best kind of story, well told, about two men struggling to prove themselves." - David Letterman
"Part showbiz survival 101, part civil rights testimony, the story of Tim and Tomis a moving chronicle of the courage, conviction and commitment it took to wade through floods of bigotry and bias with bell-bottoms. Although racism is no laughing matter, Tim and Tom proved that a little humanity and humor can go a long way to reminding us that people are more alike than they are different."- Tavis Smiley
"Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen are my close friends for whom I've always had the greatest respect, and after reading the book I realize why. A white boy who was one of eight children raised on the south side of Chicago and a 'Brotha' who is an only child raised in Norfolk, Virginia, somehow get together and become America's first black and white comedy team? The year 2008? No, sir - 1969. Adversity, Disagreements, Pain, Love, Friendship, Brotherhood. It's all there. I couldn't put the book down." - Smokey Robinson
Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black & White is available Fall 2008 through Amazon, Chicago University Press and other book stores across the US.
