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Tom Dreesen<\/a>, the veteran stand-up comedian who toured with Frank Sinatra, combated civil rights-era racial tension with comedy, and championed pay for fellow Comedy Store<\/a> acts, has died. He was 86.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is with deep sadness that the family and representatives of legendary comedian, actor, author, and speaker Tom Dreesen announce his passing,\u201d a statement from the family reads. \u201cFor more than five decades, Tom Dreesen brought laughter, heart, and humanity to audiences across America.\u201d<\/p>\n Dreesen died at his home in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n \u201cTom was the first comedian I met at Comedy Store in 1975,\u201d David Letterman wrote on social media<\/a> on Tuesday. \u201cWe became friends immediately. He had wisdom and endless stories. Everyone admired him, looked up to him and wondered if he ever stopped talking. He never did, he never will. We love him for that. We\u2019ll miss the stories. God bless you Tom.\u201d<\/p>\n Dreesen, a regular on \u201cThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cThe Late Show with David Letterman,<\/a>\u201d made more than 500 national television appearances throughout his career. He opened for musical greats Liza Minnelli, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Sammy Davis Jr., and most notably, Sinatra, with whom he linked up in 1983 for a few gigs that lasted 14 years. <\/p>\n Dreesen and Sinatra traveled 45 to 50 cities a year together, and the comedian said the crooner became like a father to him. He told the Desert Sun<\/a> in 2014 that he landed the spot while in Vegas, rushing to Harrah\u2019s to catch Ol\u2019 Blue Eyes\u2019 show.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m running through the lobby and the vice president of Harrah\u2019s, Holmes Hendrickson, was talking to a heavyset guy with a cigar. Holmes said to me, \u2018Tommy, come here.\u2019 So, reluctantly, I went over, and he said, \u2018This is Mickey Rudin.\u2019 I recognized the name as Frank\u2019s lawyer, and he said, \u2018Mickey, this is Tom Dreesen. I think Tom would make a great opening act for Frank Sinatra,\u2019\u201d he recounted to the outlet. <\/p>\n \u201cThe lawyer got a pained expression on his face because he had heard that a million times. He winked at the vice president and I caught the wink. He said, \u2018Hey, kid, if I gave you a week with Frank would you want more than $50,000?\u2019 I said, \u2018Mr. Rudin, put it this way. If you gave me a week with Frank, would you<\/i> want more than $50,000?\u2019 He said, \u2018I like this kid.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas Dreesen was born Sept. 11, 1939, and raised in Harvey, Ill., a suburb on the south side of Chicago. The child of alcoholics, Dreesen often referenced his rough-and-tumble upbringing in his comedy sets, telling tales of little Tommy shining shoes in the taverns of the South Side to feed his siblings.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a little boy shining shoes at all the bars. I had eight brothers and sisters from the beginning. We were raggedy poor. We lived in a rat-infested, roach-infested shack,\u201d he said during a 2021 podcast appearance. \u201cThere was a mantra in the neighborhood I grew up in that you only deserve in life what you work for.\u201d<\/p>\n His Uncle Frank telling jokes from behind the bar in one of these taverns first piqued Dreesen\u2019s interest in comedy. <\/p>\n \u201cHis vocabulary, his vernacular, his inflection on certain words, he could cause this sound to come out of everybody that filled the room like electricity. . . they would all become one in their laughter,\u201d he said. \u201cI used to emulate him. I would tell some of his jokes \u2014 many that should not be told on a Catholic school playground.\u201d <\/p>\n When he was 17, Dreesen enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He said it was the first time in his life he ate three meals a day and felt equal to his peers. After four years of service, Dreesen had various jobs and worked for a time as an insurance salesman before he was recruited into the Jaycees, a men\u2019s civic group that sought to solve problems in the community. Also recruited into the group was Tim Reid, a Black marketing representative. <\/p>\n Plaguing the South Side at the time was drug use among the youth. Dreesen and Reid spoke with school kids about drug education. One day an eighth-grade student told the pair that they were funny and suggested they become a comedy duo. Dreesen and Reid took the student\u2019s advice, partnered up and became the first interracial comedy duo \u2014 Tim & Tom. <\/p>\n In 2008, Reid joked<\/a> during \u201cThe Late Show with David Letterman<\/a>\u201d that Dreesen was his first white friend. The two were promoting their book, \u201cTim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn 1968 when we met, we had just lost two of our great leaders, Dr. King, Robert Kennedy. We\u2019d just gone through the \u201968 convention, which was a ride,\u201d Reid said. \u201cThere were demonstrations in the streets, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, drug revolutions, sex revolutions, riots, race riots. So we thought, what a good time to go out and do Black and white comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n After five years, the two decided to go their separate ways and pursue solo careers. Reid pivoted to acting on television and landed a career-defining role in 1978 as Venus Fly Trap in \u201cWKRP in Cincinnati.\u201d But for Dreesen, this meant sleeping in a Nash Rambler, a broken-down car that was up on blocks, and hitchhiking up and down Sunset Boulevard hoping to get a five-minute set at the Comedy Store. <\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t give up,\u201d Dreesen told \u201cUnited Podcast<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believed in my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Reid shared a tribute<\/a> to Dreesen on social media, writing, \u201cMy friend and partner has left the stage.\u201d <\/p>\n The longtime actor and director continued: \u201cHe was the kindest human being I\u2019ve ever known. I would not have the success I enjoy if we had not started the journey together in the trenches.\u201d<\/p>\n By the mid 1970s, Dreesen had convinced Comedy Store head honcho Mitzi Shore<\/a> that he was worth his weight in jokes. \u201cI was working every night with all these unknown comedians, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Robin Williams, Gallagher, Michael Keaton, the girl waiting tables was Debra Winger, Elayne Boosler, this was the show every night,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what ever happened to those people.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1979, stand-ups working at the Comedy Store started getting antsy. The tickets were selling out, and Shore was charging $5 at the door, but none of the comics were getting paid. Dreesen helped organize his fellow stand-ups and led the landmark six-week strike that ended with Shore agreeing to pay $25 per set to performers. <\/p>\n Steve Lubetkin was one of the comedians who picketed alongside Letterman, Dreesen and Leno, and when the strike ended, he panicked after he couldn\u2019t get stage time in the following weeks. Dreesen told him not to worry and promised that he wouldn\u2019t go back to the club until Lubetkin was invited back too, but it was no use, and the comedian leaped to his death<\/a> from the Hyatt Hotel next door. <\/p>\n Dreesen didn\u2019t return to the Comedy Store for more than 40 years. <\/p>\n Dreesen carried the weight of Lubetkin\u2019s death with him for years. He drew on his early days with Jaycees, channeling his grief into action and giving motivational speeches to comedians in cities across the country.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve known five great stand-up comedians who committed suicide. I know another 20 comedians who destroyed themselves with drugs and alcohol,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re an insecure, neurotic, sometimes psychotic, love-starved wreck, when you\u2019re poor and unknown, when you\u2019re rich and famous, it doesn\u2019t get better, you know? It gets worse because you thought rich and famous was going to take away all that angst. So that\u2019s what I talk to them about. I help them develop these perceptions and how to visualize and self-talk, what to say when you talk to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n