For Immediate Release: Oct. 1, 2000

“Bicycling Comedian” Pedals from Arctic Circle
to Florida Keys

With more than 13 years, 110,000 miles and 49 states under his wheels, bicycle-touring comedian Tom Snyders recently arrived in Key West after having pedaled his bike from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. He will be performing his one-man stand-up comedy show on Fridays and Saturdays at 9 p.m. for the rest of the season at the Top of La Concha, on the seventh floor of the Crowne Plaza La Concha, 430 Duval St.

The 6,100-mile bike trek from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Key West would have been a lifetime adventure for anyone else. But for Snyders, a comedian who takes the term “road work” quite literally, it was simply a couple months within an incredible, ongoing 13-year bicycle tour. Snyders began his cross-country bicycling trek on June 20, 1987, in Las Vegas, Nev.

“The tour got off to a bit of a rough start,” says Snyders. After pedaling his first 1,400 miles in 14 days (across the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico), Snyders found his first scheduled appearance, in Des Moines, Iowa, cancelled due to the club burning down! This initial discouragement was short lived, however, as Snyders continues his journey throughout the country with appearances in more than 200 comedy clubs including: Catch A Rising Star, Caroline’s and Dangerfield’s in New York City; the Improv, Laugh Factory and Comedy And Magic Club in Los Angeles; and many in between.

Snyders has made nine national television appearances, including three on “Live With Regis And Kathie Lee.” He has also appeared on Comedy Central and ESPN. Tom was a featured performer at the “Just For Laughs” International Comedy Festival in Montreal, Canada.

Why is he doing it? “For the challenge, the adventure, and the chance to go where no comedian has gone before,” he explains. “It’s been a long haul – I’ve endured 110-degree desert heat, hail storms, tornadoes, muggers, rattlesnakes, skunks…and comedy club owners. But it’s been interesting.”

On this journey Snyders has also: been attacked by a police dog; looked a grizzly bear in the eye from 15 feet away; pedaled up a mountain in the midst of a raging snow storm; auditioned for the Tonight Show three times; had his bike in David Letterman’s offices; been run out of town by local police in Georgia; and tried to figure out how to possibly have a steady relationship while on the road for 13 years.

In 1995, Snyders spent four days in a coma and on a respirator at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after being hit by an elderly driver and dragged 30 feet. “Apparently he didn’t think I’d had enough yet, so he then backed over me,” Snyders says.

Over the years, Snyders has figured out it’s best to be south in the winter and north in the summer. “It only took me a couple years to figure that out.” Hence his performances in Key West at the Top Of The La Concha for the rest of the season.

In his live performances, Tom features his trademark slides of hilarious, weird road signs from around the country. “Since I’m off the interstate and not going by at 60 miles an hour I see a lot of strange stuff,” he says. “Some of it is incredibly funny, and I always keep my camera loaded with color slide film. After 13 years I have the ultimate collection of pictures of funny road signs.” Snyders is so confident of this that he offers a money back guarantee to all of his shows.

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