Q: Is Tommy Blaze your real name?
A: No, my real name is Johnny Flame, I just thought that sounded faggy.

Q: Is Johnny Flame your real name?
A: No. I suppose if you wanted to find out my birth name it wouldn't be too hard. I just don't want to make it any easier for people to hurt me or my family. I have had enough of that already.

Q: Which episode of Friends were you on?
A: The season finale of the first season. The episode's title is "The One Where Rachel Finds Out". I played Carl, a guy Rachel has a date with just before she decides to commit herself to Ross. Click this link for more information about the episode.

Q: What was it like being on Friends?
A: I had just come off a series called The Newz where we taped one episode a day and two episodes on Friday and Saturday. I was used to a very fast-paced schedule and the show was pretty much taped as live. I had a whole week to prepare for my tiny little bit on Friends, so needless to say, I walked around very bored with nothing to do except bug the hell out of people. For some reason we never rehearsed or even read my scene prior to taping. The first time I did it was in front of the live audience with the cameras rolling. It took two takes because in the first take I called someone a "Milky Licker." One of the producers (Kane, I think) walked over to me and asked, "Milky Licker?". It's not dirty, I said. "It sounds dirty," was his reply. So we did it again and I think I said something like "Hammer Head" on the second take, which is just as stupid as "Milky Licker", but not as funny.

Q: Were the girls on Friends pretty hot?
A: No. Sorry. The worst part about being in show business is finding out that celebrities don't look nearly as good in real life as they do on TV or in magazines. It really sucks. There are some things in life a man is better off not knowing.

Q: Where can I buy one of your CD's?
A: Very soon you will be to get my CD's right here on my website. Once again, I am the last of my peers to jump on the self-promotion bandwagon. Any comic with an MP3 recorder has a CD out now. During July of 2004 while performing at a comedy club in Tulsa, I let a sound tech tape four of my shows. I did four completely different sets and went from having no CDs to having three CDs overnight. That was the easy part though. I still had to have them mastered, edited, packaged and reproduced. For me, this is the hardest part because I really want them to sound like the kind of recordings I grew up with - or else I just wont do it. Anyway, as soon as they are done I will offer them for sale here. I'm even going to combine all of them in some cool and snappy package and be the first comic (that I know of) to offer a boxed set. UPDATE: Tommy's CD's and T-shirts are now available right here on his web site. Click here to visit his online store.

Q: What happened to The Newz?
A: The Newz was probably one of the most aggressive and courageous projects I have ever been part of. We set out to do sketch comedy five nights a week. No one in the business thought it could be done. David Steinberg told me in a meeting, "It won't work. Do you think Saturday Night Live wants to suck in its last half hour?" Producer Michael Wilson assembled a great cast of unknowns who were willing to work on a shoe string budget. Columbia TriStar picked up the show, and the cast was flown to Universal Studios in Orlando for production. We won every time slot we were in, we knocked the hell out of our competition - by all counts the show was a great success. Until....

Q: Until what?
A: Until we found out the show had mysteriously and inexplicably run out of money. Somehow, the Executive Producer - not Michael Wilson - had misplaced about 1.5 million dollars. Columbia TriStar put us on hold until they could find out what the hell was going on down there in Florida. In the meantime, some of the more disgruntled cast members went to the press and aired our dirty laundry. The stations got wind of our financial problems and starting bailing. The show was finally canceled sometime in early 1995. It was a shame because every time The Newz aired it made television history. It also paved the way for a slew of other sketch shows, most notably, Mad TV.

Q: Why don't you have an HBO special?
A: Because HBO has never asked me to do one for them and I have never asked HBO to let me. It's a little known fact, but in order to get an HBO stand up special you have to subscribe to their pay channel. I have only basic cable.

Q: Who were your comic influences?
A: Why do people always ask that? I will answer this question here and hopefully for the last time. Richard Pryor is the greatest stand up of all time and I was deeply influenced by him. I had to stop listening to him because I started to sound too much like him and I risked becoming a clone of his and ultimately setting myself on fire. I first met Eddie Murphy while I was still in college and I still believe he is the most naturally funny person I have ever spent time with. While Pryor motivated me to become a stand up, it was Eddie's influence that motivated me to want to become a star. Eddie changed the way we look at stand up comics. Eddie Murphy is to stand up comedy what Elvis Presley was to pop music. I consider it a privilege to have called him my friend. Finally, I think Jerry Lewis is a comic genius. The art of making someone laugh and the artists who attempt to do it, owe so much to Jerry Lewis. I don't think he will get the credit he deserves until he dies.

Q: Why do you hate lesbians?
A: I don't hate lesbians. I just don't want to have sex with any of them. So now we're even.

Q: When are you going to be on television again?
A: Probably never. I mean to say, the odds are stacked against anyone getting a television show. It's unbelievably hard especially now with all the reality shows clogging up the airwaves. I really think its easier to become a brain surgeon then to get a sitcom. However, I have recently - for the first time in ten years - been talking to some Hollywood types about a new show for me where I am featured as a single dad. If anything happens, the people who read my site will be the first to know. That is of course, unless you're in jail for stalking me.

Q: Do you really have a daughter?
A: Yes. But I have to be careful not to say too much in order to protect her privacy and keep her safe from sick whack sacks that don't think I'm funny.

Q: Whack Sacks? That sounds dirty.
A: It's not dirty.