Paul F. Tompkins
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In a world where the terrain for comedians is all too familiar (from Elian to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"), Tompkins regularly maps uncharted territory. Instead of the usual round of Clinton jokes, he might direct his barbs at jazz musicians, whose jokes, he feels, are too esoteric; or puzzle over why the famine-plagued Irish never opted to eat corn rather than potatoes.
"A typical line for standup comics in the 1980s was asking the audience, 'Hey, doesn't it suck when X happens?' Today, standups still seem to be analyzing why X sucks," complains Tompkins, and his disappointment spills over into his act.
The comic's willful eccentricity has gained the praise of peers. Fellow comedian Patton Oswalt says of Tompkins: "He's an amazing actor with an excellent range of characters; whose league I always strive to be in."
Tompkins began stand up in Philadelphia in 1986 and moved out to L.A. in 1994. Two years later, he and collaborator Jay Johnston gained notoriety with their stage show "The Skates," catching the attention of Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, two comic minds who share Tompkins' propensity for the absurd.
It didn't take long for Odenkirk and Cross to recruit Tompkins as a writer-performer on their evolutionary "Mr. Show," a program that reinvented the sketch by throwing away the usual kitsch of catch phrases and celebrity parodies.
As word of mouth builds, Tompkins weighs offers for his acting: from network sitcoms to supporting roles in features. In the meantime, he continues to collaborate with Johnston, working on such projects as their digital short film, "Playground of the ID," a send up of '50s and '60s sci fi.
