Focused on knowing even the depths of New York, Tom Delgado has become an internet personality thanks to the different virtual tours he has taken during the pandemic.
Delgado, of Nicaraguan parents and a student lawyer, explains how he became a comedian by profession: “My money started to run out and I had to find another job. And I started being a tour guide at the same time as acting and comedy. With the pandemic, it gave me more incentive and motivation to focus more on that business because I couldn’t dedicate myself to comedy. “
Due to the competition in making these videos, he decided to focus some of his work on neighborhood tours, with hyper local tours: “People don’t live in Times Square, people don’t live in the Statue of Liberty; people live in these neighborhoods “.
And to show just one button. Tom teaches this Red Hook legend, Sunn’s Bar: “It’s been there since the late 1800s and used to be a bar for sailors.”
Then it arrives at Pier 41 in Brooklyn, where there is a cargo ship that today is the Waterfront Museum, unknown to many. This is where even poets come to make art. And he introduces his friend David Sharp, the manager of the place.
“It’s wonderful that people like Tom bring people to Red Hook because a lot of people didn’t know him,” says Sharp, president of the Hudson Waterfront Museum.
Tom uses his comedy skills to spice up his videos: “I like to make people laugh and all that, so I put the tour together in a way that is a little more entertaining I think than an ordinary tour guide.”
Delgado has more than 20,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. Now he is supporting himself on the earnings from virtual tours, although he is still waiting for the day when the comedy venues reopen.
“I have been able to grow a community around my videos, people who follow my work and who support me through things like Patron. When people come to New York they look for me to give them a tour,” explains Delgado.
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