LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Tom Dreesen, who along with partner Tim Reid formed one of America’s first interracial stand-up comedy duos and later spent years as Frank Sinatra’s opening act, died Wednesday. He was 86.<\/p>\n
Dreesen died at his home in Los Angeles, according to publicist Lori De Waal. A cause of death was not provided.<\/p>\n
After meeting in Chicago, Dreesen and Reid, who was Black, formed \u201cTim and Tom\u201d in 1969. Against a backdrop of simmering racial tension, they used humor to address social issues and promote understanding between audiences of different backgrounds. They worked together until the mid-1970s. Reid went on to solo success playing DJ Venus Flytrap on the popular TV sitcom \u201cWKRP in Cincinnati,\u201d where Dreesen was a guest star.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid I found an album he and his comedy partner did called Tim and Tom and took it home and played it and it was one of the albums that changed the course of my life. So great,\u201d comedian and filmmaker Mike Binder wrote on X.<\/p>\n
After splitting with Reid, Dreesen honed a solo comedy act, making over 500 national TV appearances, including 60 visits to \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” He also was a frequent guest and sometime guest host on \u201cThe Late Show with David Letterman.” Their friendship dated to the early 1970s when both worked at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood, California.<\/p>\n
Dreesen’s final TV appearance came last week on \u201cComics Unleashed with Byron Allen,\u201d which replaced Stephen Colbert’s canceled CBS late-night show.<\/p>\n
Dreesen was Sinatra’s opening act for 14 years and became close with the entertainer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he loved you, he worshipped the ground you walked on,\u201d Dreesen told The Desert Sun newspaper in 2014. \u201dIn a lot of ways, he was like a father to me. I didn\u2019t have a father that really cared that much where I was and what I did. But Frank would give me advice and counsel, and then he was a buddy in a lot of ways. I thought the world of him.”<\/p>\n
Dressen also toured with Sinatra’s fellow Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr., as well as Liza Minnelli, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight and Tony Orlando.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was one of the most brilliant comedians of all time. Tonight, he’ll once again be opening for Dean, Frank and Sammy,\u201d Deana Martin, a daughter of Dean Martin, posted on X.<\/p>\n
In 2008, he co-wrote the book \u201cTim and Tom: An American Comedy Act in Black and White\u201d and in 2020 he authored his memoir.<\/p>\n
Dreesen acted in such TV shows as \u201cColumbo,\u201d \u201cMurder, She Wrote,” and \u201cTouched by an Angel.\u201d His film roles included \u201cSpaceballs,\u201d \u201cMan on the Moon\u201d and \u201cTrouble With the Curve,\u201d as well as the HBO movies \u201cThe Rat Pack\u201d and \u201cLansky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dreesen was active in charitable work, motivational speaking and veterans\u2019 causes, including serving as ambassador for the Gary Sinise Foundation.<\/p>\n
“America lost one of our great comedians and patriots, and I lost a dear friend,\u201d Sinise posted on X.<\/p>\n
He was born on Sept. 11, 1939, in Chicago and raised as one of eight children in suburban Harvey. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17 and after getting out in 1960 he returned home to work a series of jobs, including selling insurance.<\/p>\n
Dreesen is survived by daughters Amy and Jennifer from his marriage to Maryellen Subock, which ended in divorce in 1984, as well as seven grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son Tommy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yakimaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Tom Dreesen, who along with partner Tim Reid formed one of America’s first interracial stand-up comedy duos and later spent years as Frank Sinatra’s opening act, died Wednesday. He was 86. Dreesen died at his home in Los Angeles, according to publicist Lori De Waal. A cause of death was not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2464707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[413499],"class_list":["post-2464887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ap-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Comedy-trailblazer-Tom-Dreesen-Sinatras-longtime-opening-act-dies-at.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2464887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2464888,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464887\/revisions\/2464888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2464707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2464887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2464887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2464887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}