I see that Tom Dreesen just died. His obit said he was "a Vegas staple" who was Frank Sinatra's longtime opening act and friend. What kind of act did he do and if he was such a "staple," how come I've never heard of him?
Tom Dreesen was one of those entertainers who seemed woven into the fabric of Las Vegas, even though he was never really a "Vegas comic" in the lounge-comic sense. He died on June 17 at age 86. No cause of death has been publicly announced.
Dreesen was unusual in that he had three distinct careers. He was a pioneer of interracial comedy, a major national stand-up comic, and as you say in the question, Frank Sinatra's longtime opening act and friend.
Dreesen was born in Chicago in 1939 and grew up in nearby Harvey, Illinois, in a working-class family with eight children. Before comedy he worked a variety of jobs and served in the U.S. Navy.
His first big break came in 1969 when he teamed with actor-comedian Tim Reid to form "Tim and Tom," generally regarded as one of America's first interracial stand-up comedy teams. At a time when racial tensions were still very high, they built routines around race and social issues and performed for mixed audiences throughout the country. The act was groundbreaking, but not especially lucrative, and they split up in the mid-1970s. Reid eventually became famous as Venus Flytrap on the TV show "WKRP" in Cincinnati.
Dreesen stuck with stand-up. As such, he became one of the most reliable guests in late-night television history. He made more than 500 national TV appearances, including upwards of 60 appearances on "The Tonight Show' as a guest of Johnny Carson. He was also a longtime and dear friend of David Letterman from their days in the 1970s at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood, and Letterman often had him on his show; he actually guest-hosted the show on several occasions.
Unlike many comics of his era, his style was conversational and story-driven. He wasn't an insult comic like Don Rickles or a one-liner machine like Henny Youngman. He told stories about family, growing up poor, and the absurdities of everyday life.
After warming up audiences for the likes of Liza Minnelli, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, and Sammy Davis Jr., in 1983, Dreesen began opening for Frank Sinatra and stayed with him for the next 14 years, playing 45 to 50 cities a year, until Sinatra stopped performing. This was a difficult job, to put it mildly.
Sinatra audiences often weren't there to see a comedian. Many of Sinatra's opening acts got chewed up by those crowds. Dreesen learned how to work fast, avoid stepping on Sinatra's image, and warm up an audience without trying to steal the show. Over time, he became much more than an opener. He traveled around the world with Sinatra and managed to stay on the good side of Sinatra's notoriously prickly personality. When Frank died in 1998, Dreesen served as a pallbearer and spoke at the funeral.
He never denied Sinatra's temper or flaws, but he consistently described a generous loyal man who quietly helped people and performed countless acts of kindness away from the cameras. Those stories became the basis of Dreesen's later memoir and his one-man show about life with Sinatra.
Dreesen also had an acting career, appearing in TV shows such as "Columbo" and "Murder, She Wrote" and films including Spaceballs and Man on the Moon.
In his later years, he continued touring, speaking, supporting veterans' causes, and performing his Sinatra-themed stage show. Remarkably, he was still appearing publicly and doing television shortly before his death. We noted that he performed at the Italian-American Club in Las Vegas only a couple of years ago and he appeared just a week before his death on CBS’ "Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen."
In terms of Las Vegas, Dreesen was one of the last people who could tell firsthand stories about the Rat Pack era—not as a journalist or fan, but as someone who was actually on the plane, in the limo, backstage, and at the dinner table with Sinatra and friends. When people wanted to know what Frank was really like, Dreesen was often the person they called.
And unlike some of Sinatra's associates, he was widely regarded as a genuinely nice guy, which is probably why so many tributes have emphasized not just his comedy, but his kindness.
You can read all about Tom Dreesen in his autobiography, Still Standing: My Journey From Streets and Saloons to the Stage and Sinatra, the Foreword from Letterman, published in 2020.
