It’s snowing, Nashville! HOLY CRAP! Someone call off school and rush out to Kroger! While we await our inevitable, icy deaths.. let’s look back at a couple videos produced the last time it snowed in town.

First, Tom Green got into a snowball fight outside of Zanies (we can’t embed that one).

Jesse Perry brings us Le Pup: A tale of existential puppitude:

Chad Riden presents.. Nashville’s Blizzard Of 2010 or “Attack Of The Fluffy White Death Crystals”:

Does this face look familiar? Maybe you’ve seen Jon Reep on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”, Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” or the half-hour special “Comedy Central Presents: Jon Reep”. Maybe you’ve seen him on TBS’s “Pit Stop Comedy”, NBC’s “Late Friday”, or the ABC Sitcom “Rodney” as Officer Gerald Bob the dim-witted cop. If not then you probably know him from Dodge’s popular ad campaign as the “Hemi guy” – the redheaded hillbilly in the Dodge Ram commercials who leans out of a beat-up car and utters the now famous line: “That thing gotta Hemi?”

But before that Reep was already one of the hardest working comics in America, selling out clubs and getting standing ovations at college after college across the country. The show is supersonic energy filled with non-stop characters, super clever writing, and, of course, the one talent that separates him from all other comedians in the world: he’s the best redneck dancer since Elvis.

Here’s a video Jon shot last time he was in Nashville. Warning! It’s funny and safe for work and stuff, but you should know that at some point Reno Collier appears dressed in drag, with a midget dressed as a baby suckling his teet. (OK, if you just read that and you still don’t watch this video, we can’t be friends):

If you’re still with us, here’s some video of Jon’s stand-up as aired on Last Comic Standing:

Jon Reep is at Zanies Thursday thru Saturday (They’re closed Sunday. Something about a football game or whatever? Who knows.). Get your tickets now!

You might have seen Tom Green roaming around Nashville this week with a little video camera in his hand and a lot of wackiness in his head.

There aren’t many things Tom hasn’t done. He toured with his own rap group in high school, painted his parent’s house plaid, put a cow head in his parents’ bed while they slept, humped a dead moose, survived testicular cancer, turned his living room into a television studio and created the number one rated and longest running talk show on the internet, “Tom Green’s House Tonight.” One thing he has never done is a world stand-up comedy tour.

Scratch that off the list, too, because the TomGreen.com World Stand-up Comedy Tour kicked off Jan 7th in Edmonton, Canada – went through Atlanta, Marco Island Florida and Louisville. Tom and comedian pal Shawn Halpin have been posting videos from the road to “The Channel” at TomGreen.com.

The shows have been very fun, with Tom doing jokes about his life and career – including the pranks he pulled on his parents, his marriage and divorce with Drew Barrimore; stories about the movies he has made; his appearances on tv as part of Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice; plus pop culture jokes and plenty of random sillyness.

The crowds have been surprisingly awesome, considering the big snow that hit Nashville this weekend. Tom’s fans came out in droves, completely undeterred by the cold. It seems like the only people who weren’t there were those that just kind of randomly show up at the club not knowing who is performing.. which has been kind of nice. With audiences full of fans, it seems like Tom has been able to take them to very weird places without losing them at all. The responses have been absolutely amazing.

If you haven’t made it out to the show yet, tonight is your last chance! Tom’s last show starts at 7:30, but to get a good seat, you should definitely get there early. Get your tickets now! The roads aren’t bad, but give yourself an extra few minutes to get there safely.

TONIGHT! Brad Edwards headlines the “I HAVE NO FRIENDS” Stand-Up Comedy Contest. Come see 30 minutes from one of the funniest guys to come out of Nashville in the last five years. (Here’s a video of Brad performing at an ULTIMATE COMEDY show that we recently uploaded to Funny Or Die.)

If you think you’re funny, come sign up for the open mic portion of the show. We’re giving away $50 to the winner (as decided by the audience and/or host Chad Riden, America’s Favorite Comedian Of All Time) and the LOSERS each get a can of consolation Fresca. Everybody gets 5 minutes. Go over your time and you are disqualified. Limited number of spots available! Don’t be late.

Be there at 8:30 to sign up, show starts at 9.

Music City Bar & Grill
2416 Music Valley Drive
Nashville, TN 37214
615.883.2367

no cover! 2-for-1 pints! 21+

(facebook event)

Sometimes when you’re watching a comedian, you can kind of tell who their influences were.. or at least be able to name another comic as a reference point when describing their act. Occasionally you’ll see a young open mic’er “channeling” somebody famous so closely that you really can’t think of anything else the entire time they’re on stage.

“Rock and Roll ventriloquist” Carla Rhodes, on the other hand, is an act so unique that she’s really in a class all by herself. Here’s the best comparison I can think up: imagine if the lovechild of Shari Lewis and Mick Jagger was raised by David Bowie. Can you even wrap your head around that? Imagine that girl running around Nashville at night jumping onto stages in between bands.. bringing suitcases of puppets and a guitar up on stage at the stand-up open mics.. then driving back to Murfreesboro just in time to get enough sleep to make it thru her classes at MTSU.

If you were a regular at the local Nashville comedy shows from 2000-2004, you can probably remember Carla doing just that.. but since then she has called New York City home. We hear from and about her from time to time – doing shows at alternative performance establishments and rock clubs all over New York City (such as Joe’s Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, Arlene’s Grocery, Highline Ballroom and Issue Project Room to name a few), making videos, getting shout-outs in magazines & on Late Show with David Letterman, plus making appearances on FUSE, The Learning Channel and Canal+..

Even in a city full of very unique people doing extraordinary things, Rhodes stands out as a true original. Trav S.D. from The Villager made note of this when he recently plugged her new show, “The Continuing Story of Carla Rhodes,” which blasts off this Thursday, January 14th at Arlene’s Grocery in NYC:

“I would be remiss in my duty to humanity if I did not send you in the direction of Arlene’s Grocery on January 14, for that is the date one of my favorite neo-vaudevillians, ventriloquist Carla Rhodes is debuting her new full-length show, aptly named “The Continuing Story of Carla Rhodes.” In my view, Rhodes is the Savion Glover of vents, almost single-handedly injecting a notoriously uncool and backward-looking performance branch with a badly-needed kick in the ass. Don’t get me wrong; Carla is PLENTY old school — but she also has at least one of her dainty feet planted firmly in the current century, or at least the tail end of the last one (which is more than you can say about just about any other vent). Carla is, in short, a rock and roll ventriloquist.

The current piece purports to tell her life story, but we won’t be stinted on bits with her favorite “partners”, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and another dirty old Englishman, Cecil Sinclaire. She also promises to unveil her new rock band The Extravaganzas and a new character with the enticing name Herschel Ragbottoms. Unless I have pneumonia or a pulmonary embolism, I will be there.”

The show follows the thread of Carla’s intricate and dysfunctional (emphasis on fun!) life story. How did a lil’ ol’ ventriloquist from Kentucky befriend stuffed effigies of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards? How on earth did she tread through the corn fields to make it to New York City? Why is her hair so fabulous? And why does she hang with a cantankerous 1920’s gentleman named Cecil Sinclaire? Will she go against all odds, throw the naysayers aside and achieve ventriloquial superstardom?

Find out for yourself! If you’re anywhere near NYC, you should go. Maybe you’ll even get some of the FREE PRIZES – “Cecil’s Special Saltwater Taffy” and a limited edition “Enjoy Carla” button!

“The Continuing Story of Carla Rhodes”
January 14th, 2010, 9.00pm
Arlene’s Grocery
95 Stanton Street
New York, NY
Price: $8.00
(here’s the Facebook event)

If you can’t make it, at least you can enjoy the promo video for the event, which features 9-year-old Carla Rhodes singing “I’ll Be Loving You Forever”: