Tommy Edison

Last updated
Tommy Edison
Tommy Edison (cropped).jpg
Personal information
Born (1963-07-17) July 17, 1963 (age 62)
Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Website tommyedison.com
YouTube information
Channel
Genres
  • Comedy
  • Review
  • Life stories
Subscribers678 thousand [1]
Views131.3 million [1]
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg100,000 subscribers2013
Alma mater University of Bridgeport
Last updated: July 2025

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]

Contents

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]

References

  1. 1 2 "About TommyEdisonXP". YouTube.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 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
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