Tom Smith

Biography

For over two decades, Tom Smith, The World's Fastest Filker, has been breaking hearts, crippling minds, and dropping jaws across the country and around the world.

One of the most manic people in the history of fandom, Tom can warm or chill your heart at whim and seemingly pull new songs out of the air. He blends comedy, tragedy, dark romance, popular culture, politics, religion, gaming, movie trivia, current events, and the occasional recipe with virtually every genre of music you can imagine.

His songs range from the slow and sensual ("Starlight & Saxophone", "Storm Dancing", "Pluto") to the dark and dramatic ("Hellraiser", "PQR", "Dervish") to the sweet and innocent ("A Dragon's Lullaby", "Take Your Hands Off The Bear", "500 Hats") to the flat-out rockin' ("Bermuda Triangle", "Rocket Ride", "And They Say I've Got Talent"). He has written in dozens of musical styles, from Klezmer to opera to Zappa pastiche to gospel choir to hip-hop.

But mostly... it's about the puns. The grade-A, hi-test, godawful stinkbombs that make you choke on your own laughter. And the horrifically bad jokes that you can't help but giggle at. And the ludicrous yet somehow plausible situations that you have no idea where that came from. And the audacity with which he throws 'em around. "Smurfin' Safari", "Five Years", "I Want To Be Peter Lorre", "Domino Death", "Sheep Marketing Ploy (The Ballad of Fenton)", "Divine Irregularity", "Telly Taley Heart", "Honey-Glazed Ham", "House At Cthulhu Corner", "Psychic Voicemail Hotline", "Dead Potters", "Badger Pajama", "The Illuminati Polka", "Talk Like A Pirate Day", "Spoiler Alert", "Undead Happy Trees", "Lars Needs Women", "Tech Support For Dad", "Zombie Blues"....

And then there's the speed with which he does it. He can make up a ditty about virtually any subject on the spot. He has improvised entire concerts, and can't seem to let ten minutes on stage go by without making up something no one's ever heard before, including him.

On top of all that, he's carving out a bit of a niche market -- songs for web sites, especially online comic strips. He's written songs for Accidental Centaurs, Something Positive, Girl Genius, Anthrozine, and a couple of others we can't even talk about yet.

So far, Tom's got sixteen albums, fourrteen Pegasus Awards for Excellence in Filk, an animated music video ("Enterprising Man" from the second Babylon Park video) and a spot in the Filk Hall of Fame. He's all over the internet -- you can find him at:

Discography