Medium Stand-up, television | Nationality American | |
Subject(s) Race, ethnicity, America, race relations | ||
Tim and Tom were an American comedy duo. DuPont marketing manager Tim Reid and insurance salesman Tom Dreesen met at a Junior Chamber of Commerce meeting near Chicago in 1968. They were "put together to promote an anti-drug program in the local schools" and, prompted by a comment from a child, decided to form a comedy team. The team, later billed as "Tim & Tom", was the first interracial comedy duo (Reid is African-American and Dreesen is white). Years later, Reid and Dreesen co-wrote a book about those years called Tim & Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White (ISBN 978-0-226-70900-0, co-written with sports writer Ron Rapoport).
A 1970 Jet article stated that the comedy duo were good examples of racial cooperation and had received national attention "in persuading young people against the use of drugs".