Comedian Tom Dreesen speaks at Bryn Mawr Country Club in Lincolnwood during an event in 2017. Dreesen will return to the area in May for two programs where he’ll share stories from his early days growing up in the south suburbs as well as his lengthy career in comedy. Tom Dreesen wasn’t long into his career as a comedian when he had the opportunity to meet one of his professional heroes.
The site of his childhood home is marked now only by a grassy lot, but 155th Street in Harvey was renamed Dreesen Street in 1992, decades after he ranged it regularly as “a raggedy kid with holes in his shoes.” “I thought being a tavern owner or bartender was the epitome of success,” he said. “You don’t think outside your environment. In Harvey, there were steel mills and 36 taverns.”
Six years later, the Tim and Tom team had achieved marked success, doing shows in prestigious rooms all over the country, and breaking down racial barriers along the way. Though there was no official segregation, the nightclub circuit was still divided by race. “There were still Black clubs, and there were white clubs,” he said. Tim and Tom played both.
“But it wasn’t prevalent. There were people who really embraced us — many really enjoyed what we did. But there was always that one element.”
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