Tommy Edison
Personal information
Born (1963-07-17) July 17, 1963 (age 60)
Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Websitehttps://tommyedison.com/
YouTube information
Channel
Genre(s)Comedy, Review, Life Stories
Subscribers678,000[1]
(January 2024)
Total views98.5 Million[1]
(January 2024)
100,000 subscribers2013
Alma materUniversity of Bridgeport
Last updated: January 2024

Tommy Edison (born July 17, 1963) is an American YouTuber, radio presenter and film critic known for his blindness and self-deprecating sense of humor in his internet presence.[2] From 1994 until 2013 he worked as a traffic reporter for the station Star 99.9 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[3]

Although he had never driven a car or seen a traffic jam, as a traffic reporter he used what he heard about traffic on police scanners and in calls with listeners on the road.[4]

Motivated to review films by his frustration with their visual language,[2] he started a YouTube channel called Blind Film Critic with his friend Ben Churchill in 2011. His reviews focus on script, music and sound effects.[5] The first film he reviewed was Scream 4;[6] his favorites include Hugo, Goodfellas, Clerks and American Hustle.[2] In 2013, audio description allowed him to watch his first silent film, which he joked was "eye-opening"—however, he does not use it when preparing his reviews.[2] He was endorsed by Roger Ebert in 2011, and has been featured on The Howard Stern Show and CNN.[2] He also made videos answering viewers' questions about blindness on another channel entitled The Tommy Edison Experience, and has covered topics such as dreams,[4] colors,[7] Braille[8] and assistive technology.[9]

Early life and career

Edison was born completely blind due to an underdeveloped optic nerve.[2] He was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Canterbury School and the University of Bridgeport, where he studied music.[3] He has credited his parents for treating him the same as his sighted sisters during his upbringing.[10] His mother went to great lengths to make sure Tommy was put into a normal class rather than the school recommended special education class, stating "Tommy has a normal Cognitive Function, He is normal just like the other students, he just so happens to be blind."[11] After developing an interest in local and New York radio stations, he was hired as a disc jockey for the station WJAZ in Stamford, Connecticut in 1987, becoming its traffic reporter two years later.[3]

In 2016 he and his producer Ben Churchill moved to the Los Angeles area and began the next phase in his career as a public figure.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b "About TommyEdisonXP". YouTube.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Buckmaster, Luke (December 3, 2014). "No spoilers: meet the film critic who's never watched a single film". The Guardian. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Weizel, Richard (September 28, 1997). "Connecticut Q&A: Tommy Edison; On the Air About Traffic, and Blind". The New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Painter, Kim (May 23, 2012). "Blind movie critic Tommy Edison educates the masses". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  5. ^ Bunbury, Stephanie (December 3, 2014). "Meet Tommy Edison, the blind film critic". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  6. ^ Gibson, Megan (May 19, 2011). "Q&A: Tommy Edison, The Blind Film Critic With a Big YouTube Following". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Dahl, Melissa (July 2, 2014). "Could You Describe 'Red' to a Blind Person?". New York Magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  8. ^ von Baldegg, Kasia Cieplak-Mayr (May 7, 2012). "How Tommy Edison, the 'Blind Film Critic,' Became a YouTube Sensation". The Atlantic. Atlantic Media. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  9. ^ Ellcessor, Elizabeth (2016). Restricted Access: Media, Disability, and the Politics of Participation. New York University Press. p. 157. ISBN 9781479867431.
  10. ^ McCurley, Mark (August 20, 2011). "Don't miss it: Milford blind film critic's website a must-see hit (video)". New Haven Register. Digital First Media. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  11. ^ The Tommy Edison Experience (2017-09-13), Going To School As A Blind Person, retrieved 2018-01-27

External links

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