From Ottawa to L.A. to Egypt to Chile: Ottawa’s Cycling Comedian made his mark

Most people would have taken their car breaking down outside Davenport, Iowa as a sign maybe they won’t make their next gig in Omaha, Neb.

Tom Snyders wasn’t most people.

Instead of paying to have his beater car fixed, he bought a cheap bicycle and rode the 300 miles between the two cities. It became his “thing,” the schtick that carried him to prominence in the comedy world.

He died May 2 at the age of 60 after a five-year fight with Alzheimer’s.

Snyders rode more than 200,000 miles from gig to gig across all 50 states and six continents. This included appearances on “Good Morning America,” “Regis and Kathy Lee,” “The Tom Snyder Show,” ESPN and Comedy Central.

Michael Snyders, Tom’s brother, said he pedaled more than 100 miles per day to make it to Omaha. The kicker?

The comedy club he was supposed to be performing at burnt down the day before.

“That’s how he started,” Michael said. “He booked shows in Denver and Los Angeles from there with no way to get there. He just kept biking and ended up making a career out of it.”

Tom graduated from Ottawa High School in 1979 and followed it by graduating from Illinois State University in 1984. Michael said exercise was an important part of his life, and it’s no surprise he worked it into his comedy career.

He was a wrestler for both the Pirates and the Redbirds, and Michael said Tom would have been state-level at Ottawa had it not been for untimely appendicitis.

“He wrestled his entire life and he was always in outstanding shape,” Michael said. “He rode across Egypt in the desert with very little water and he rode all the way down South America from tip-to-tip. His longest trip was from Key West all the way to Alaska and back. It’s all quite a journey and nobody can truly appreciate the work that he put in over his lifetime.”

The Snyders family moved to Ottawa from Iowa after Michael and Tom’s father, Richard Snyders, started work at Wallace Grade School, then their father’s career moved to Ottawa High School.

“We’re so proud of him,” Michael said. “He really wanted to be famous and he worked so hard and his act was so different. He’d ride his bike on-stage with a radar detector and stuffed animals and all of his camping gear and he would tell the funny stories that happened to him along the way.”

Michael said Tom was proud every act he did was one the whole family could enjoy, and he never fell into the vulgar side of comedy that’s pervasive.

Tom met several famous people along the way, and Michael said Rodney Dangerfield was one of the more memorable people he met.

“Tom came back to find Rodney looking at his bike and he told him about how he rides across the country,” Michael said. “Rodney told him he hopes he makes all the lights. Tom was proud of that.”

One of Tom’s favorite stories to tell was on his trip through Central America and South America: He’d brought two big bunches of bananas with him for food but when he got to the Colombian border, their checkpoint wouldn’t let him bring fruit across the border. Instead of letting the Colombian police take his bananas, he stopped and ate 10 bananas in a row so as to not waste them.

Michael said 20 years ago, Tom had a serious bicycle crash while riding his bike from Ottawa to Los Angeles for a comedy show.

“Right when he arrived in Los Angeles, a lady opened her car door and his right saddlebag caught the door,” Michael said. “He flipped off his bike and a Rolls Royce ran him over, and he had serious head, chest and ankle injuries. He spent several weeks in the hospital and even though they thought he’d never ride a bike again, he recovered and continued his journey.”

Tom would go on to add his story about how he survived getting run over by a Rolls Royce to his comedy act.

Tom is survived by his parents, Richard and Irene Snyders of Ottawa, his brothers Pete (Jill) Snyders, Mike Snyders (Kim), Jeff Snyders, sisters Kathy Geiger, Karen (Dennis) Hughes, and his nieces and nephews Dustin, Nick, Jack, Mason, Jacob, Amanda, Garett, Kendra, Macee, and Gannon.

The family will host an End of Life Celebration for Tom to be announced in June, and they ask that anyone wishing to honor Tom’s memory make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association or to Pleasant View Lutheran Home.