How a famous comic became happily homeless for nine years

Tom Rhodes lives the life you want to emulate — if you dream of ditching your house, car and bills, so you can travel the world, and sleep on fine linens in four-star hotels with your wife.

Rhodes is a homeless-by-choice comedian who is so funny and respected, he will headline Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club in the MGM from Monday through Jan. 4.

To our knowledge, no comedian on the planet can say this: He hasn’t had a home in nine years.

“People always say, ‘God, it must suck staying at hotels all the time.’ I go, ‘Yeah, it’s terrible. They take out the trash every day, and they bring you fresh linens, it’s terrible,’” Rhodes said.

Rhodes wasn’t rich or privileged when he started this life.

Rhodes, 47, grew up in Florida as the son of a decorated Vietnam vet/”nefarious criminal person” who owned comedy records Rhodes memorized.

At 17, Rhodes used a fake ID to score stand-up jobs. He drove from Orlando to Oklahoma for a $150 gig.

“I’ll never forget pulling into Tulsa and thinking, ‘Man, I’m in show business!’”

Rhodes’ career took him to New York and (due to his love of Jack Kerouac) San Francisco, landing a Comedy Central special, a development deal on NBC-TV, world tours from London to Asia, and a late-night talk show on TV in Amsterdam.

Eventually, it occurred to him: Why not give away his possessions to friends, and live on the road?

This decision altered his wife’s life forever, too. She is the Dutch photographer Ashna Rodjan.

“I told her when we first started dating, ‘If you want to be with me, you need to reduce your life to one checked back and two carry-ons.’ For a woman, that’s pretty remarkable to have only three pairs of shoes.”

I asked him if they sleep on people’s couches.

“Oh God, no. I’m over Airbnb, as well,” he said of the app/site that lets you crash strangers’ homes. “It’s not like the sleeping-in-your-car kind of homeless. It’s more the room-service, let’s-go-to-Rome-for-a-couple-of-weeks homeless. It’s great.”

Comedy clubs fly him to their cities and put him and his wife up in hotels. The couple save money being homeless, living like luxury travelers at times in Bali, Redwood National Forest, New Zealand, and beyond.

“The last four years in a row, we’ve gone to Rome and rented an apartment for a week or two,” through sleepinitaly.com, he said.

“The first couple of times we went to Rome,” he said, “my wife and I are art fanatics, so we went on some private (tours). The last two times we went, we just pretended like we lived there, and loitered in a restaurant for seven hours eating plates of prosciutto.”

The married couple have put a few things in storage in Los Angeles. His favorite books, for instance. But he also keeps some clothes in a storage unit so he can pick up winter wear when touring cold climates, and summer things for hot spots.

“You never know when you’re going to be able to do laundry. So I travel with 20 pairs of underwear, and 30 pairs of socks.”

Rhodes wrote travel pieces for Huffington Post. He’s penning a book. (He digs travel guru Rick Steves, by the way.) And he hopes a TV network will pick up his travelogue video idea. He has good stories.

“I was Maced in Paris. I almost drowned in Thailand.”

But for now, he posts videos on YouTube, and he has a fun podcast called “Tom Rhodes Radio.”

I asked him what steps you’d have to take to live like him.

“Step number one is the first 10 years you have to suck being a stand-up,” Rhodes said.

During his early comedy life, he really did sleep on couches and ride Greyhound buses.

“That first 10 years is really, really difficult. That’s why most people don’t get past it,” he said.

After he headlined “every city in America like 16 times,” he began touring London and the world.

Step two of becoming a famous homeless comedian was taking the leap of faith to do it.

“I talk to a lot of comedian friends, and they say, ‘I could never do that,’” he said. “Some people need an underwear drawer.”

Not Rhodes. He may have favorite cities (New Orleans, Amsterdam, San Francisco).

But all Rhodes wants is the wife he adores, a few expensive suits in a suitcase, and two adventurous feet.

“There’s nothing I love more than walking in Europe with an umbrella and a scarf,” he said.

“You’ve only got one life. Why not enjoy the (expletive) out of it?”

Doug Elfman’s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.