FUNNY OR TRY

Colorado-raised comedian gets a foot in the door on new Apple TV+ series ‘Platonic’

BY GREGORY WAKEMAN

Vinny Thomas was only 15 years old when he first decided to give comedy a try. He was a high schooler at the Denver School of the Arts, where his studies as a visual arts major drove most of his interests in oil painting and animals — but that was all about to change.

“I hadn’t done any kind of performing before I joined the improv team there,” Thomas says. “But it was fun to just jump into something new.”

Thomas’ decision to jump has certainly paid off. Over the last few years, the 27-year-old has amassed a devoted following on Twitter and TikTok, delighting his more than 280,000 combined followers with his sharp and surreal brand of humor. He’s also been recognized by the likes of Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vulture as one of the most promising comedians in the country.

But Thomas’ talents are bigger than a smartphone screen; this summer marks the Colorado-raised comedian’s first foray into television acting. He’s starting off at the top, too — starring opposite Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in the critically lauded Apple TV+ comedy series Platonic

The 10-episode first season revolves around two former best friends, Will (Rogen) and Sylvia (Byrne), who decide to reunite after years apart. But the recently divorced Will and still-married Sylvia, who also has three kids, soon start to cause chaos for each other, which leads his friends and her husband to wonder if they should actually be hanging out as much as they do. Thomas plays the bizarre bartender Omar, who works alongside Will as he navigates this new dynamic in his life.

“It was an incredible experience,” Thomas says of his time on the set of Platonic. “There was something so great about working with people at the top of the industry. These are people

I’ve seen growing up. Just standing in a room with them was weird and surreal.”

Thomas says the esteemed ensemble for Platonic — which also includes Luke Macfarlane, Carla Gallo, Tre Hale and Andrew Lopez — were so “grounded and down to Earth” that he never actually felt nervous about meeting or even working with them. Thomas was helped by the fact that he’d set himself one goal during production, which he not only met, but then went on to repeatedly achieve.

“My goal was to make Seth break a little when improvising. That was the spirit of the show,” he says. “Our director, Nicholas Stoller, would come up with so much funny stuff and we’d keep on adding moments. It was such great, fun, collaborative work.”

‘YES, AND… ’

Thomas reaching such impressive heights in the world of comedy is all the more remarkable considering he almost quit after his first appearance with the Denver School of Arts’ improv team. In fact, it was only some “goading” from a math teacher that convinced Thomas to persevere.

“He saw me do improv for the first time. He came over and said, ‘You were ferocious!’ That’s a term that’s never been used to describe me since then. But I carried that with me,” he says. “There was just an instant gratification to improv that I loved. I knew I could do it.”

Thomas soon became so obsessed with comedy that he put his initial dream profession of becoming a curator of ornithology at a zoo to the side, and focused on perfecting his comedic skills.

“I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to write or act,” he says. “I just wanted to use this creative muscle and build a career out of it.”

In addition to his work with his high school improv team, Thomas also trained and performed at the Bovine Metropolis Theater and Rise Comedy in Denver. But once he finished college, Thomas decided to leave the Front Range for the comedy mecca of Chicago.

“There was such a romanticism about Chicago and Chicago comedy,” Thomas says. “It just felt like the logical next step for me if I wanted to make a career out of comedy.”

That romanticism was especially at The Second City — a famed improv comedy enterprise whose alumni include Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley and John Candy, to name a few — where Thomas continued his training.

Now based in Los Angeles, Thomas has been a regular guest writer on the NPR radio panel show Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, while working on his own comedy in the meantime. He has also been busy auditioning, which is what landed him a part in Bros, the 2022 romantic comedy starring Billy Eichner and Macfarlane, which was directed by Stoller.

Thomas’ scene was ultimately cut out of Bros, a common heartache for many emerging actors. But Stoller remembered just how impressed he was by the young comedian, which is what ultimately helped Thomas secure his recurring role in Platonic. Now the former Denverite is hopeful that this is the first step on what will ultimately become a long and fruitful Hollywood career.

“I learned a lot on this [show],” he says. “But I’m still learning things and I just want to keep on making good, funny and interesting stuff. That’s the goal.”