Tone Bell

Last updated
Tone Bell
Tone Bell.png
Bell in August 2018
Birth nameMichael Anthony Bell II
Born Decatur, Georgia, U.S.
MediumStand-up, film, television
Years active2004–present
Website tonebell.com

Michael Anthony Bell II, known professionally as Tone Bell, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Bell was born in Decatur, Georgia. [1] [3] He attended Savannah State University where he studied communications with a concentration in radio and television and became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. [4] After graduating in 2004 he taught first grade before working on the production of HBO's Warm Springs and doing other various promo work.

Bell took a job in San Francisco as a brand manager with Swivel Media for a year, before moving back to Atlanta. There he started doing promotion work for a beer company that eventually transferred him to Dallas where he started doing open-mics at various comedy clubs.

Career

Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Bell won the NBC Stand Up For Diversity Talent Search in 2012 and was awarded a development deal from the network. He was cast as "RJ" the bartender in the NBC sitcom Whitney and later as "Tedward" in NBC's Bad Judge. Bell also appeared in other TV shows, including VH1's Single Ladies , E!'s Love You, Mean It with Whitney Cummings , Comedy Central's Key & Peele and Game Show Network's Mind of a Man and hosted the first season of hidden camera show Jerks with Cameras on MTV.

Bell also has a web series on Russell Simmons' YouTube channel All Def Digital called The Green Room.

In March 2018, Bell was cast in a lead role for the CBS comedy pilot Fam after having starred in the Netflix multi-camera comedy Disjointed . [5]

Bell is the host of the new Netflix reality show Drink Masters , which premiered October 28, 2022. He stars as Khalil in the Netflix comedy series, Survival of the Thickest written by Michelle Buteau.

Filmography

Films

YearTitleRoleNotes
2013SolsticeBartender #1Short film
2013ImplantedPhilip
2013To My Future AssistantDavisTelevision film
2016My Time Your TimeParkerTelevision film
2017Woman ChildMichael AbbyShort film
2018 Dog Days Jimmy
2018 The Weekend Bradford Collins
2018It’s A PartyCool Breeze
2019 Little Preston
2020 Sylvie's Love Dickie Brewster
2021 The United States vs. Billie Holiday John Levy
2021 Horror Noire Marcus
2024 Trigger Warning Spider
2026 Coyote vs. Acme TBA

[6]

Television series

YearTitleRoleNotes
2012 Single Ladies Parker2 episodes
2012–13 Whitney RJMain role, 13 episodes
2013Creepy CaressTom1 episode
2013 Key & Peele Friend #11 episode
2014–15 Bad Judge Tedward MulrayMain role, 13 episodes
2015 Truth Be Told RussellMain role, 10 episodes
2016 The Flash Scott Evans2 episodes
2017 9JKL Luke2 episodes
2017–18 Disjointed CarterMain role, 20 episodes
2019 Fam NickMain role, 13 episodes
2020 BoJack Horseman Voice1 episode
2020 American Soul Richard Pryor Recurring role
2022 Nailed It! Himself (Guest judge)1 episode
2022 Drink Masters Himself (Host)10 episodes
2023– present Survival of the Thickest KhalilMain Cast

References

  1. 1 2 "Tone Bell". cbs.com. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  2. "Tone Bell Interview". clichemag.com. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  3. Ho, Rodney. "Decatur native Tone Bell stars in CBS sitcom 'FAM' with Nina Dobrev". Radio & TV Talk Blog (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  4. https://www.watchtheyard.com/alphas/alpha-phi-alpha-tone-bell/
  5. Otterson, Joe (2018-03-13). "'Disjointed' Alum Tone Bell to Star in CBS Comedy Pilot 'Fam'". Variety. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  6. Kurpanek, Carsten [@Kurpanek] (February 11, 2024). "Some great BTS stuff here! Love the shot of @lanacondor with a real Wile E. impact-crater. @MarthaKelly3 and @toneBell are hilarious! I have stories about every frame and if the movie gets released, I'll hopefully get to tell them. #ReleaseCoyoteVsAcme" (Tweet). Retrieved June 4, 2024 via Twitter.