Rialto Theater

With more than 20 years as a stand-up comedian, Tom Papa is one of the top comedic voices in
the country, finding success as an actor, host, and author, in film, TV, radio and podcasts as well
as on the live stage.

The comedian has had 5 highly rated stand-up specials on Netflix including his most recent
Netflix special, What A Day!. The special was taped at the iconic Wilbur Theatre in Boston. His
other critically acclaimed specials include Human Mule, Freaked Out and Tom Papa Live in New
York City, two of which were directed by Rob Zombie.

In 2023, Tom released his highly anticipated third book, We’re All In This Together…So Make
Some Room. The book compiles comedic essays that aim to unite us through our
stupidity. Every mistake has already been made, and this should bring us great comfort as we
join together in our fight for survival, or at least in our attempt to get through the day. Whether
we like it or not, we're all in this together.

In 2020, he released his second book, You’re Doing Great! - And Other Reasons To Stay Alive,
which was the follow-up to Your Dad Stole My Rake: And Other Family Dilemmas both released
by St Martin’s Press, making “Summer Must Read” lists from Parade Magazine to The New York
Post. Tom is also a contributing writer to the New Yorker Magazine.

Tom is the host of the weekly podcast, Breaking Bread with Tom Papa, which features Tom and
his guest eating, drinking, and celebrating the true meaning of breaking bread with insightful,
revealing and always funny conversations. He also hosts the popular daily Netflix radio
show, What A Joke With Papa And Fortune on Sirius XM Channel 93 and the monthly show,
Come To Papa Live on Channel 94.

On the film and TV front, Tom has starred in many fan-favorites including Paper
Spiders opposite Lily Taylor, The Informant opposite Matt Damon, Analyze That opposite Robert
DeNiro, and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto opposite Paul Giamatti where Tom played
the voice of El Superbeasto. He can also be seen alongside Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in
the HBO film, Behind the Candelabra, which was directed by Steven Soderbergh and won 11
Emmys. He hosted the NBC series, The Marriage Ref, which ran for two seasons and had a
recurring role opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the CBS series, The New Adventures of Old
Christine.

Tom is currently on his Tom Papa: Good Stuff Tour tour and when he’s not on the road,
Tom lives in Los Angeles with his wife, two daughters, a cat and dog where he spends most of
his time writing and baking bread. For more info on Tom go to: www.tompapa.com

40 years.  It seemed to go by in a blur, pounding the road, seeing the world, raising babies and sending them to college, mowing lawns, romances, marriages, high school drama, endless airports, the nights at the Hollywood Bowl, the night at the Red Barn in Louisville dodging various barroom projectiles, frozen diesel lines, blast furnace desert heat, hours of practice, late nights and early mornings, and lots and lots and lots of laughter.

40 years ago.  No laptops, no cellular phones, no Google, no downloads, no Skype, no Tweets, no Apple, no Microsoft, no texting, no electric cars, no Uber.  A different world.  But there were three young men with drive and wit who wanted to keep a special music alive.  They believed in preserving the heritage of Western Music and presenting it to a new generation.  They believed in entertaining, and they did so… entertaining themselves as well as the audience!  And they believed in creating original Western Music to continue the tradition, not just seal it in amber as a museum piece.  What they did not realize at the time was that they would be doing the same thing 40 years later.

40 years ago, Ranger Doug, Too Slim and the late Windy Bill Collins played that first date on the bitter cold evening of November 11th, 1977 at Herr Harry’s Frank N’ Stein Rathskeller in Nashville, and small listening room dates followed.  By August of the following year demand was building, and while Windy Bill left, Woody Paul joined, and the true professional beginnings of the band began at the Kentucky State Fair, where the trio played 10 days for $2500- and bought their own rooms and meals out of that!

A first wave followed, including appearances on Austin City Limits; recording contracts with Rounder, then MCA, then Columbia; guest appearances on the Grand Ole Opry leading to membership in 1982; and a three-year run on The Nashville Network with a TV show called “Tumbleweed Theater,” which yet in turn led to a seven-year run on public radio with “Riders Radio Theater.  People Magazine, interested in the Riders phenomenon, ran a story which happy caught the eye of a Hollywood producer.

And so the second wave broke, sending the boys to Hollywood to star in “Riders In The Sky” on CBS for a year on Saturday mornings, introducing them to yet another generation.  More recordings, endless show dates, and television appearances followed for a decade before the fine folks at Pixar called and asked the quartet – by this time they had been joined by Joey the Cowpolka King – to sing a tune called “Woody’s Roundup” in the movie “Toy Story 2.”  Thus, the third wave began, highlighted by a number of projects for Disney, including two albums, both of which won GRAMMY Awards!

Join us for a night of laughter as we explore everything from motherhood, midlife crisis, marriage, divorce, online dating, and other things that irritate us. Men are welcome to the show, too.
Performing: Merit Kahn, Catherine Shea, Colleen Brennan, and headliner Stephanie McHugh.