For the first dozen years of his career, Jimmy Rhoades was a professional, touring comedian, scoring appearances on Star Search, The MTV Half-Hour Comedy Hour, and Comedy Central. As a broadcaster, Jimmy has won five Michigan Emmy Awards for writing, producing, and on-camera hosting. For seven years Jimmy was the main on-air host for Fox Movie Channel, moderating live panel discussions, reporting from events, covering junkets, premieres and star-studded afterparties and happenings, and eating routinely fantastic free food. He did sports play-by-play for the Emmy-winning FIRST in Michigan Robitics Championship Powered by Chevrolet, was the main host of WXYZ’s (ABC-Detroit) special programs, including It’s Michigan Made, Henry Ford Healthy Living, and A Whole New You. Currently Jimmy’s the Senior Correspondent for the nationally syndicated Scripps series The List. Along the way, his critically recommended stand-up play, Bark Like a Comic, enjoyed an extended run at Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater. In its review of the play, The Chicago Tribune raved that Jimmy was “a cracklingly funny speedball on and off stage.”
Jimmy’s passion is his non-profit pursuit, the Legacies Project, which trains high school and college students to videotape—over multiple visits—the oral histories of senior citizens in their communities.