Tommy Pope

Thomas Joseph Papa^[1] (born November 21, 1979), best known by his stage name, Tommy Pope, is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor.^[2] He is known for his work in Funny or Die and National Lampoon.^[3] Pope is also known for co-creating the comedy group, Deer Prom, which was previously known as BirdText.^[4] He also provided some voiceover work for the 2013 Disney film, Planes.^[5][6][7] Pope is also starring in the Comedy Central web series, Delco Proper.^[8][9][10]

Biography

Tommy Pope was born on November 21, 1979 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Drexel University in 2006.^[11] He first started doing stand-up at a bar in Delaware,^[12] and later at Philly's Helium Comedy Club during open mic nights in early 2011.^[13] However, being that he was new to the comedy field during that time, he found it difficult to book shows to perform his act, so he had a part-time job as a cashier at Home Depot during his struggles.^[14] Eventually, after he became able to finally book some comedy shows, he quit working at retail and was able to live off the money that he made from his stand-up acts.^[15] Pope made his television debut on AXS TV Gotham Comedy Live in 2012.^[16][17]

On August 31, 2011, Pope won the name of "Philly's Phunniest Comic" at Helium Comedy Club.^[18][19] In 2013, Pope had appeared in a comedy skit alongside Steve Martin on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.^[20] During the eighth season of Last Comic Standing, Pope was a contestant on the show and made it to the "Top 100 Comics" list of that particular season.^[21][22][23]

In November 2014, Pope's comedy group, Deer Prom, performed at the New York Comedy Festival.^{[24][25][26][27]}

References