COURTESY OF ELISSA JOSEPHSON PUBLIC RELATIONS Tom Rhodes is an American comic who's found success abroad.

Comedy in travel

There's a standout moment in Tom Rhodes' Comedy Central special "Viva Vietnam: A White Trash Adventure Tour" in which Rhodes, shadowed by a camera crew in Vietnam, bravely attempts a personalized rendition of a Vietnamese standard in a local karaoke restaurant. Unfamiliar with the language, much less the song at hand, Rhodes phonates the lyrics scrolling across the screen as best he can. His bumbling performance elicits creeping smiles on the faces of his befuddled neighbors, some of whom try mightily to suppress their laughter.

Comedian Tom Rhodes Where: Neal Blaisdell Center Pikake Room When: 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow Tickets: $30 reserved seating, $25 general Call: 591-2211

Such a priceless scene is testament to Rhodes' cross-cultural appeal. An accomplished performer on the standup circuit, the Washington, D.C.-bred funnyman enjoyed stints on the comedy cable channel and briefly starred in his own NBC sitcom, "Mr. Rhodes," in 1996, before finding celebrity in Europe.

Upon being discovered at an Amsterdam comedy club by Dutch television agents, Rhodes was tabbed to host a late-night talk show and a travel program, which sent him around the world in search of oddball stories. "I went to Russia, France and the Dutch Caribbean," he recounts by phone from his new home in Los Angeles. "I got to go to Peru. I climbed the Andes, which was a boyhood dream. It was really great."

It was also a tremendous learning experience for the 37-year-old comic, one which endowed him with additional fodder for his routine, which Hawaii audiences will see tonight and tomorrow night at the Blaisdell Center's Pikake Room. "Most of my European friends think that all Americans own guns and that we're easily prone to violence," he states. Pause. "I just want to shoot people in the face when I hear that."

Inspired by the comedy of the early '80s, Rhodes says he knew he wanted to be a comedian at age 12. At 17, he procured a counterfeit ID and took up the microphone one fateful night at a comedy club in Orlando, Fla. "To be honest with you, I was scared to death for the first five years," he admits. "But I just worked through it because it was my dream to become a comedian. It's my oxygen."

Rhodes has relished the standup lifestyle now for 20 years and says he cannot imagine doing anything else. "The best thing about being a comedian is it doesn't matter if you're black, or if you're gay or if you're a woman," he expresses. "It only matters if you're funny. Comedians are all uniquely damaged people."