Written by Lesley Logan
‘Nephew Tommy’ has found a perfect niche as one of today’s top pranksters. As co-host of the Steve Harvey Morning Show, Nephew Tommy, aka Thomas Miles, is always up for pulling someone’s leg or playing a good joke in good fun.
But he shows the world a different side of Nephew Tommy as the host of OWN’s “Ready to Love.” For this new show, he tones down the wisecracks and focuses on helping couples establish romantic connections. Yes, it’s an unscripted dating show, but really nothing like you’ve seen before.
“I am known as a prankster, but as the host, I feel I have a lot of responsibility,” he said. “People are here to find love, so another side of me kicks in – that said, we still come back for a little comedy when we can.”
“Ready to Love” is just starting its third season. It’s set in Houston and features a cast of Houston singles. It’s also Nephew Tommy’s hometown, which makes it even more fun.
He recently shared details of the show and his advocacy work, including a powerful video, “An America Without Black People” that showed how most of our country’s progress, from the telegram to the traffic light, is due to the contributions of Blacks.
What makes “Ready To Love” different?
I’m not knocking on the other dating shows, but most of them have people in their 20s, who are just starting out in life. For ours, we have people in their 30s, 40s, even 50s. Some have been married and divorced, some are career-driven and haven’t had time for serious relationships, or they’ve struck out a few times. They’ve been around the block. The women especially are successful, have their own businesses, some are lawyers. So they don’t care about the players anymore. If a man wants to step up to the plate, they better bring their A-game.
What do you bring as a host?
I’ve been married for 20 years, so I have a lot of experience with relationships. I’m not a professor or anything but I can give advice on what I’ve experienced. Some of this comes from my parents who were together until my dad passed away.
Why did you create the video “ America without Black People”?
Lately, we’ve been seeing racism at the highest levels. I’m at home with the pandemic, and I’m watching George Floyd and how people are responding to it including the response from White America. You want us here and you don’t want us here. You like everything we bring when it comes to sports and entertainment. But when we decide we want equal rights like everyone else, they’re saying shut up and grin. It goes back to 'we can’t have it all as you have it all?' Why not? We just want to be accounted for like you all are accounted for. That’s why I came up with the idea of doing something showing what it would be like if America didn’t have any Black people at all. The majority of this country was built on our shoulders.
We are looking forward to watching Ready to Love, every Friday at 9 PM on OWNs. Also, keep up with Tommy on social media @thenewphewtommyexp
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