Tom Dreesen, half of the historic Tim and Tom comedy duo, died Wednesday, June 17, in Los Angeles at age 86. A stand-up for more than 50 years, he helped change how comedy clubs treated performers, opened for Frank Sinatra for 14 years, and mentored younger co
Tom Dreesen died in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 17, his representative confirmed. He was 86.
The family asked for the message to be carried forward: “He wanted you all to know how much joy you brought him through the years,” they wrote on his Facebook page. “He said to tell you that he loved you all. May he rest in peace.” No cause of death was shared.
For decades. Dreesen built a career that bridged eras of American comedy—and forced audiences to see race and opportunity differently. A Chicago native who worked as a stand-up comic for more than 50 years. he became a familiar television presence. making hundreds of appearances. including on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “The Late Show with David Letterman.”.
In the background of that long visibility was a quieter fight for fairness in the industry. Dreesen is credited with helping comedians at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood, California, get paid. He convinced owner Mitzi Shore to do so.
That sense of insisting on who should benefit from the work appears in Dreesen’s own recollection. In the 2008 book “Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-Up in the 1970s Changed America. ” Dreesen recalled telling Shore: “You pay the waiters. you pay the waitresses. you pay the guy who cleans the toilets. Why don’t you at least pay the comedians?”.
What Dreesen did onstage also reshaped the country’s comedy landscape. In 1969, he and Tim Reid, a Black marketing executive from Virginia, debuted as Tim and Tom, the first biracial stand-up comedy duo in the United States. Their act often mocked and challenged racial stereotypes.
When Dreesen later described those early nights, the details stood out. “The first time I went on stage with Tim Reid, I had never been on stage before. Nor had Tim. There were no comedy clubs. so Tim and I worked what they affectionately called the Chitlin Circuit – black-owned. black-operated nightclubs where I’d be the only white guy within two or three miles. ” he told the Palm Desert Sun in 2014. “Then we’d work all white nightclubs in the north and the south.”.
Around the mid-’70s. Dreesen moved into a solo career and shared stages with major Hollywood figures. including Liza Minnelli. Smokey Robinson. Sammy Davis. Jr. and Sinatra. He toured with Frank Sinatra for more than a decade, and Dreesen later described Sinatra as a stabilizing presence. “First of all, there was no middle with Frank Sinatra,” he told the Desert Sun. “In a lot of ways, he was like a father to me. I didn’t have a father that really cared that much where I was and what I did. But Frank would give me advice and counsel and then he was a buddy in a lot of ways. I thought the world of him.”.
His screen career was just as broad. Dreesen made his TV debut on a 1976 episode of “Good Heavens,” later appearing on shows including “Murder, She Wrote,” “Touched by an Angel” and “The Facts of Life,” and in films such as 1987’s “Spaceballs” and 1999’s “Man on the Moon.”
He continued to be on television late into his life. A week before his death, Dreesen made one last TV appearance on CBS’ “Comics Unleashed With Bryon Allen” on June 9. He had previously appeared three times since the show started in 2006.
Dreesen also mentored Allen. Variety reported that Dreesen has mentored Allen since 1975.
After his death, fellow performers highlighted the personal side of that mentorship and the work he did beyond jokes. “Forrest Gump” actor Gary Sinise paid tribute on X on Wednesday, honoring his friend for serving as an ambassador for his charity foundation for the past 14 years.
Sinise wrote, “He loved our country and the men and women who serve and he loved supporting them through our foundation. Tom was hilarious, always could make us laugh, and such a good friend. I will miss him terribly. What a great long career he had in show business,” Sinise wrote.
Tom Dreesen Tim and Tom Tim Reid stand-up comedy Frank Sinatra The Comedy Store Mitzi Shore CBS Comics Unleashed Gary Sinise Los Angeles
Rip Tom Dreesen, I loved seeing him on Carson.
Wait he was in a duo with Tim Reid? I thought that was like a totally different era, but man 86 is still wild. Also no cause of death? that’s gonna freak people out.
I read somewhere he was mad about comedians not getting paid, like he convinced the club to pay everyone. But honestly I don’t know if that’s even true or just a story they tell after someone dies. Either way, sad news. Who’s running the Comedy Store now?
Tom Dreesen changing comedy clubs to pay comics is cool but why did the article cut off the Tim and Tim Reid part like that? “In 1969, he and Tim Reid… debuted as Tim and…” and then nothing lol. Also opening for Frank Sinatra for 14 years sounds made up, unless it was like once a year or something. Still, rest easy I guess, comedy needs more people like him.