Tone Bell

{{Infobox comedian

| name = Tone Bell

| image = Tone Bell.png

| alt =

| caption = Bell in August 2018

| birth_name = Michael Anthony Bell II

| birth_date =

| birth_place = Decatur, Georgia, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality =

| other_names =

| medium = Stand-up, film, television

| years_active = 2004–present

| alma_mater =

| website = {{URL|tonebell.com}}

}}

Michael Anthony Bell II, known professionally as Tone Bell, is an American stand-up comedian and actor.{{Cite web |title=Tone Bell |url=https://www.cbs.com/shows/fam/cast/215996/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002052541/https://www.cbs.com/shows/fam/cast/215996/ |archive-date=2019-10-02 |access-date=2019-10-01 |website=cbs.com}}{{Cite web |date=12 November 2014 |title=Tone Bell Interview |url=https://www.clichemag.com/entertainment-interview/tone-bell-interview/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250603155958/https://clichemag.com/entertainment-interview/tone-bell-interview/ |archive-date=2025-06-03 |access-date=2019-10-01 |website=clichemag.com}}

Early life

Bell was born in Decatur, Georgia.{{Cite web |last=Ho |first=Rodney |title=Decatur native Tone Bell stars in CBS sitcom 'FAM' with Nina Dobrev |url=https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtalk/decatur-native-tone-bell-stars-cbs-sitcom-fam-with-nina-dobrev/TRDA3nnF5LrjYkIWBFJ2TP/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250603155058/https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtalk/decatur-native-tone-bell-stars-cbs-sitcom-fam-with-nina-dobrev/TRDA3nnF5LrjYkIWBFJ2TP/ |archive-date=2025-06-03 |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=Radio & TV Talk Blog (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) |language=English}} 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. https://www.watchtheyard.com/alphas/alpha-phi-alpha-tone-bell/ 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.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdpLeLApno |title=Tone Bell bringing comedy to Winnipeg |date=2025-03-13 |last=CTV News |access-date=2025-06-03 |via=YouTube}}

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.{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/tone-bell-cbs-comedy-pilot-fam-1202725626/|title='Disjointed' Alum Tone Bell to Star in CBS Comedy Pilot 'Fam'|last=Otterson|first=Joe|date=2018-03-13|work=Variety|access-date=2018-05-17|language=en-US}}

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=

class="wikitable"

style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

2013

| Solstice

| Bartender #1

| Short film

2013

| Implanted

| Philip

2013

| To My Future Assistant

| Davis

| Television film

2016

| My Time Your Time

| Parker

| Television film

2017

| Woman Child

| Michael Abby

| Short film

2018

| Dog Days

| Jimmy

2018

| The Weekend

| Bradford Collins

2018

| It’s A Party

| Cool 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

{{Cite tweet |number=1756717454599110731 |user=Kurpanek |title=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 |first=Carsten |last=Kurpanek |date=February 11, 2024 |access-date=June 4, 2024}}

=Television series=

class="wikitable"

style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

2012

| Single Ladies

| Parker

| 2 episodes

2012–13

| Whitney

| RJ

| Main role, 13 episodes

2013

| Creepy Caress

| Tom

| 1 episode

2013

| Key & Peele

| Friend #1

| 1 episode

2014–15

| Bad Judge

| Tedward Mulray

| Main role, 13 episodes

2015

| Truth Be Told

| Russell

| Main role, 10 episodes

2016

| The Flash

| Scott Evans{{Cite web |last=Prudom |first=Laura |date=2015-12-09 |title=‘The Flash’ Taps Comedian Tone Bell as Iris’ New Boss |url=https://variety.com/2015/tv/news/the-flash-tone-bell-scott-evans-iris-editor-1201657834/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}

| 2 episodes

2017

| 9JKL

| Luke

| 2 episodes

2017–18

| Disjointed

| Carter

| Main role, 20 episodes

2019

| Fam

| Nick