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| Paul F. Tompkins | |
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| Born | September 12, 1968 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Paul F. Tompkins (born September 12, 1968) is an American actor and comedian.
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Biography
Tompkins was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a receptionist mother and railway worker father.[1] He started out in stand-up comedy in 1986 at The Comedy Works, Philadelphia, PA, where he was half of a duo with the late Rick Roman. He moved to Los Angeles in 1994.
Tompkins appeared on and wrote for The Daily Show in 1998, before Jon Stewart took over as anchor. In 1998, he created Driven to Drink, a one-man show that aired on HBO. He recorded two half-hour specials for the Comedy Central Presents TV series, one in 2003 and another in 2007.
Tompkins appeared as a featured player on Mr. Show with Bob and David, and served as a staff writer for the show's second and third seasons. He also appeared in several episodes of the short-lived Tenacious D TV series, and appeared in the 2006 Tenacious D film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. In the first season of Real Time with Bill Maher, Tompkins had his own segment.
He is currently the host of VH1's Best Week Ever and is a frequent guest on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. He can often be heard as a regular guest of Tom Scharpling's The Best Show on WFMU radio show. He also periodically appears on Never Not Funny, Jimmy Pardo's weekly Podcast. Paul is a frequent guest on Comedy & Everything Else hosted by Jimmy Dore and Stef Zamorano, he has referred to the show as his "favorite Podcast". He also appears on Lewis Black's series Lewis Black's Root of All Evil (2008) seen arguing how Oprah and Marijuana are the root of all evil.
Tompkins also made a cameo in P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood (2007) as a character named Prescott, and in Steven Soderbergh's "The Informant!" (2009) as FBI Agent Anthony D’Angelo. Tompkins also had a small role in Anderson's Magnolia (1999) that was cut from the final film. He also performs with Aimee Mann (also a frequent Anderson collaborator) in her annual Holiday Show.
His first stand-up comedy album, Impersonal, was released in 2007 on AST Records. In the liner notes, Tompkins explains that the jokes on the CD are his older, less personal material. He says he will record another album in the coming year that features his more recent work. On December 1, 2009 he released his second CD, Freak Wharf.
Tompkins frequently performs live in Los Angeles at Largo, Comedy Death-Ray and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. In 2009 he was brought to Toronto after a Facebook group found 300 Torontonians who vowed to attend if he did. [2]
Discography
- 2007 Impersonal (Released on AST Records)
- 2007 Comedy Death-Ray (album) (Compilation released on Comedy Central Records)
- 2009 Freak Wharf (Released on AST Records)
References
External links
- "Paul F. Tompkins, The Famous Comedian" Official Website
- Paul F. Tompkins Official Myspace
- Paul F. Tompkins on Twitter
- Paul F. Tompkins interviewed on TV show "Drinking with Ian"
- Paul F. Tompkins at the Internet Movie Database
- 2007 Interview with WickedInfo.com
- Interview with Paul F. Tompkins on Public Radio International's "The Sound of Young America"
- IMPOSE Magazine Interview July 2007
- Toronto Star article on Tompkins
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