For Immediate Release: June 15, 2002

"Bicycling Comedian" Performs at Caroline's

June 20, 2002, marks exactly 15 years that bicycle-touring comedian Tom Snyders has been pedaling the back roads of this country on his "Smile America Bicycle Comedy Tour." With more than 116,000 miles, 49 states and 11 countries under his tires, Snyders arrived in New York City after pedaling up the entire East Coast on his bicycle.

Snyders will perform at Caroline's Comedy Club in the heart of Times Square at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 2 and Tuesday, July 2.

Snyders began his cross-country bicycling adventure on June 20, 1987, in Las Vegas. "The tour got off to a bit of a rough start," says Snyders. After pedaling 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 because the club had burned down! This initial discouragement was short-lived, however, as Snyders continued his bicycle journey with appearances in more than 200 comedy clubs including: 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 & 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.

In August 2000, Snyders left Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on his bike and pedaled the 6,100 miles to Key West, Fla. That would have been a lifetime adventure for anyone else, but for Snyders, a comedian/adventurer who takes the term "road work" literally, it was simply an interesting two months within an incredible, ongoing, 15-year bike trip.

On this journey Snyders has also: been attacked by a police dog; pedaled up a mountain in the middle of a raging snow storm; looked a grizzly bear in the eye from 15 feet away; been run out of town by local police in Georgia and tried to figure out how to have a steady relationship while on the road for 15 years.

Snyders also spent four days in a coma and on a respirator at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after having been hit by an elderly driver and dragged 30 feet. "Apparently he didn't think I'd had enough yet, so he then backed up over me," Snyders says.

Snyders' specialty has become taking color slides of weird road signs from the backroads of America. He now has a collection of over 6,000 -- the best of these are featured in his live performances using a slide projector and a large screen. Snyders explains, "I'm off the interstate and not going by things at 60 miles an hour, so I see a lot of strange stuff. Some of it's incredibly funny, and I always keep my camera loaded with color slide film. After 15 years, I have the ultimate collection of pictures of funny road signs."

Snyders has also written a screenplay -- coincidentally, it's about a comedian who travels around the country to all his stand-up comedy performances by bicycle trying to get on the Tonight Show or Letterman. "I don't know how I come up with this stuff," Snyders jokes.

As Snyders likes to say, "It's not just a comedy show -- it's an adventure!"

# # #