If you go
› What: Comedian Rod Man.› When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15-16.› Where: The Comedy Catch, 1400 Market St.› Admission: $25.› Phone: 423-629-2233.› Website: thecomedycatch.com.
Where you’ve seen him
› YouTube: He hosts the shows “Time Out With Rod Man” and “That Good Funny.”› TV, radio, video: He’s appeared on “The Bad Boys of Comedy” for HBO, Martin Lawrence’s “First Amendment” for Starz, Nick Cannon’s “Wild ‘N Out” for MTV, “One Mic Stand” for BET, “The Funny Spot” for TV One and “The World Stands Up” for BBC America. He also co-hosted a morning drive-time show in Los Angeles on Stevie Wonder-owned KJLH-FM 102.3 and was featured in “The Big Black Comedy Show, Vol. 2” and “The Chocolate Sundaes Comedy Show.”› Big screen: He was in “Funny People” (2009) with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen and the 2008 short “Smokeless.”
Last Saturday, Rod Man, Season 8 winner of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” in 2014, got to do something he never imagined as a young man growing up in a small Georgia town.
He was the grand marshal at the Villa Rica (Ga.) Gold Rush Festival in his hometown, which granted him a special proclamation and the key to city. Talking by phone last month, Rod Man says he never imagined he’d receive such an honor, but he believes by pursuing his dream and making it work, he might have inspired others to do the same.
“I guess I’ve inspired a few people back home to do what they were called to do,” he says. That’s pretty cool.”
As a young man in Villa Rica, Rod Thompson did what most of the friends and classmates did. He went to class, played sports and took the occasional band or drama class but never gave much thought to a career in the arts or being onstage.
He says he was likely headed toward becoming a coach. He did, however, carry a tape recorder around with him to document the funny little songs he would compose. He thought they were songs, anyway.
Then he stumbled across “Def Comedy Jam” on HBO and everything changed.
“I saw these cats that looked and sounded like me, and I thought, ‘Where are they doing that?’ That’s what I want to do.”
People had always told him he was funny, or crazy, and that he needed to be onstage. He realized his songs were more comedy bits and pretty soon he was going to open-mike nights at comedy clubs, and a star was born.
Rod Man’s show is filled with stories and observations about everyday things. He’s not a fan of self-service checkout lines, for example.
“I’m a shopper. I came here to shop. If I wanted to be a clerk, I would have filled out an application,” he says in one bit.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.