top of page

GALLERY

When I was a teenager in Dundas, Ontario Canada and I watched the Bob Hope Specials, the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson where his guests would be comedians like Jonathan Winters, Peter Sellars, Bill Cosby, John Cleese or Richard Pryor, I would often fantasize about being on the Tonight Show with Johnny, plugging my own special.  Of course, I couldn’t tell any of my friends that.  They would’ve thought I was insane.  At that time, Hollywood was about the same distance from Dundas as Earth was from Mars.  But I fantasized anyway, secretly and privately.  When I was in high school, I never auditioned for student plays.  I didn’t want to be in a high school play.  I wanted to be on TV, in Hollywood.  So I remained in the audience until a few years later when I attended McMaster University met some like-minded people there – Marty Short and Eugene Levy.  They were like me.  They wanted to be in real show business.  Of course, we did some plays at McMaster.  But we never really took them seriously.  We were biding our time, waiting for the opportunity to find a way in.

 

Amazingly, my fantasies ultimately came true.

 

Years later I was a guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson plugging my own CBS series, The Dave Thomas Show.  (video of appearance on videos page).  I was very proud of myself that night because I made Johnny laugh, I mean really laugh.  Later I was invited to have lunch with Johnny and a couple of his writers.  Dream come true.  I also worked with Jonathan Winters on one of his specials, Jonathan Winters Salute to Baseball.  And I did a couple of Bob Hope specials – including his 90th Birthday Special on NBC where I was one of a handful of guests performing to celebrate his career.  I co-starred in the Warner Brothers feature film, Moving, with Richard Pryor. I was a guest star in the Cosby Show and was invited to a special lunch with Bill.  And no, he did not drug and rape me.  I even got to work with my favorite Python, John Cleese in the movie Rat Race. And when I made Cleese laugh, well, that was about as good as it gets!

 

It totally amazes me that I got to work with so many of my idols, so many incredibly talented people, and have so much fun.  If I could just send a message back in time to that kid in Dundas that all the incredible things he hoped for were actually going to come true, I’m sure that kid would have thought it was a mean-spirited syfy joke.  

 

And it hasn’t stopped.  I’m still meeting more incredibly talented people every day. Still working, still doing what I love.  

Screen Shot 2018-06-03 at 5.55.32 AM
dave and ian laughing
Screen Shot 2021-03-24 at 8.42.36 AM
with Dan Aykroyd 2016
Dave and brother Ian
With Paul Shaffer
Gene, Dave and Paul at BH Hotel
Marty Jimmy Dave
Screen Shot 2019-12-25 at 7.35.59 AM
Dave and Kim Thomas
Honorary Doctorate at McMaster Universit
With Dan Knauf
With Weird Al
Dave and Jane Seymour
With Bob Shortly
Screen Shot 2021-09-04 at 8.39.33 PM
Dave and Conan
Dave and Rick 1980
Backstage at Second City
Dave as Hope in Cleveland
Dave and Bob
Screen Shot 2021-05-06 at 11.16.49 PM
Dave and Mimi Kuzyk
Dave, brother Ian and Marty
With Charlize Theron
California Dreamin' in my 57 Caddy
Screen Shot 2023-01-09 at 9.58.36 AM
With Eugene 1978
Dave & Tiger Williams 2
Dave & Tiger Williams
Joe Dave Rick
with Andrea and Eugene late 80s
With Wil Wheaton Hart Hanson and Marty
with Lisa Kudrow
Screen Shot 2022-12-24 at 12.16.42 AM
With Dave Coulier
Eugene Levy, JJ Abrams, Dave, Martin Short
Screen Shot 2018-07-25 at 11.43.14 PM
With Hart Hanson and Alex Trebek
Screen Shot 2023-01-09 at 10.22.45 AM
Screen Shot 2022-01-29 at 4.58.30 PM
With Paul Shaffer in Vegas
That 70s Show Joe, Tommy Chong, Dave
with Eugene, Marty and Paul NYC 2018
Headless_03
sctv-reunion
At Steve Martin-Martin Short with Hart Hanson
Dave and Rick 1980
with Cyndi Lauper
Behind the wheel of my '58 Caddy
Dave & Manon Rheaume 2
with Ryan O'Neal
Andrea, Catherine and Dave
with David Boreanaz and Nora Dunn
Speilberg&Dave Thomas 1978
Dave and Marty copy
with Dave Foley and Ron Mosley
Dr. Ken set with Dave Foley and Ken Jeong
Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Getting a good laugh from Johnny
Tonight Show - making Johnny laugh
Screen Shot 2021-09-04 at 9.13.59 PM
Fox Commissary with Stephen Nathan, Paul and Hart Hanson
with Bones writers Dean Lopata, Michael Peterson and Keith Fogelsong
Joaquim de Almeida guest starring on my Bones episode
Screen Shot 2018-03-01 at 4.08.03 PM
Catherine & Dave
rs-181386-140777302 (1)
New Show Writers
Dave, Steve Martin, Lorne Michael, Valru Bromfield, Jeff Goldblum, Buck Henry
Joe, Dave, John, Eugene writing SCTV 1978
Marlene Smith w Dave& Andrea
Marty & Paul oin Vegas
mcdstbr_ec014_h-3366e8c8-1735-4fa4-a01c-4c08dca0f017
with Michael Peterson
Larraine Newman & Dave copy
Eugene, Marty, Dave, & Paul
Dave & Gene Godspell 1973
With Eddie Murphy on SNL
David Steinberg Show Thomas and Steinberg  1976 copy
Dave&Bob Hope 1
Bob Hope writer, Bob Mills, at Paramount
Dave Thomas&Bonnie Hunt
Dave and Jane Seymour
Dave and Marty at McMaster Univ
Dave and Paul
Dave by Mort Drucker
Dave Danny Emmys 1981
Dave in 1978
Dave the Mountie
Dave and Bob Hope 6
Dave and Bob Hope 5
Screen Shot 2018-07-25 at 11.41.32 PM
Screen Shot 2018-06-24 at 9.12.46 PM
Dave as Bob Hope
d4f3f0f5f16d673a302c6b1099a22723
Coneheads
Dan Aykroyd
Dave and Andrea 1978
Dave & Paul in Vegas
Belushi (far left) & McKenzies
Between Hacket and Carson
Chevy, Dave
Catherine, Chevy, Eugene
Candy, Flaherty, Guest
Bones  Writers Uniform
Boris
Belushi & McKenzies
On Strange Brew set
Strange Brew set with Paul Dooley and Max Von Sydow
Dave and Lars Kenseth
With Heritage Minister Sheila Copps
bottom of page