Robert Lazarik Hines (born January 17, 1970) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Toby Jones in a series of viral spoof commercials that include "Jones' Good-Ass BBQ and Foot Massage".

Early life

Hines was born in Chicago, Illinois to Vera Mae () and Bobby Frank Hines. He attended

Chicago Vocational High School Chicago Vocational High School (commonly known as CVCA, Chicago Vocational Career Academy or CVS) is a public 4–year vocational high school located in the Avalon Park neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened i ...

on Chicago's South Side. In August 1988, Hines enlisted in the

U.S. Army Reserves The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 2020, ...

and was a reservist for six years, serving as a Cannon Crewman,

Field Artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

Career

Working at Cook County Jail

To support himself while honing his skills as a comedian, Hines began working as a

Correctional Officer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...

at Chicago's

Cook County Jail The Cook County Jail, located on in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, is operated by the Sheriff of Cook County. A city jail has existed on this site since after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but major County prisoners were not generally coll ...

in 1994, at the age of 24. He quit the job in 2003 when he was cast to star in the independent comedy movie, ''Chasing Robert'', which featured performances by

Andy Dick Andrew Roane Dick (born Andrew Thomlinson; December 21, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, musician, and television and film producer. Known professionally as a comic, his first regular television role was on the short-lived but influential ...

, Larry Miller,

Paul Provenza Paul Provenza (born July 31, 1957) is a television presenter, actor, radio panelist, stand-up comedian, filmmaker, and skeptic based in Los Angeles. He has appeared on several podcasts and in recent years has interviewed other stand-up comedians. ...

Rick Overton Richard Overton (born August 10, 1954) is an American screenwriter, actor and comedian. His writing credits include ''Dennis Miller Live'', and his acting credits include ''Beverly Hills Cop'', ''Groundhog Day'' and ''Mrs. Doubtfire''. Life and ...

and

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

.Steven Johnson (March 12, 2010
"Comedian Robert Hines is Chicago, and funny"
''Chicago Tribune''.Robert''
The Internet Movie Database.

Stand-up comedy

Hines started doing stand-up comedy at the age of 21. His first performance was in June 1991 at the ''Funny Firm'', a Chicago

comedy club A comedy club is a venue—typically a nightclub, bar, hotel, casino, or restaurant—where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, impressionists, magicians, ventriloquists, ...

owned by Len Austrevitch, who would later cast Hines in his first film roles. After his set, Hines met local comedians

Bernie Mac Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American comedian and actor. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined fell ...

, Evan Lionel, Daran Howard and Shay Shay (Phillip White). Mac and Lionel booked Hines on the spot for their Monday night show at Chicago's Cotton Club, where Hines continued to appear for nearly a year. All four comedians became mentors and friends of Hines. From 1991 to 1996, Daran Howard tapped Hines to perform in his ''Laugh Fest College Comedy Tour'' with shows targeted to historically Black colleges. Hines credits Shay Shay with helping him learn to make his comedy more personal, telling Steven Johnson of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', "Shay told me I've got to show them my pain." In addition to touring and club performances (primarily in the Midwest), Hines has made a number of national TV appearances, including

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

's ''

Comic View ''ComicView'' is an American stand-up comedy show that aired on BET on Tuesdays and Fridays from September 1992 to December 2008. In May 2014, BET announced the return of ''ComicView''. The show has been the launching pad for such comedians as D.L ...

'', Comedy Central's ''Comic Justice'' and Fox's ''Uptown Comedy Club''. In 1995, Hines was nominated for the Sammy Davis, Jr. Musical Comedy Award by

's ''Comic View Comedy Awards'' TV show.L. Hines''
The Internet Movie Database.

Toby Jones

In 2008, Hines was cast to portray the character Toby Jones in an internet commercial

spoof Spoof, spoofs, spoofer, or spoofing may refer to: * Forgery of goods or documents * Semen, in Australian slang * Spoof (game), a guessing game * Spoofing (finance), a disruptive algorithmic-trading tactic designed to manipulate markets __NOTOC__ ...

titled ''Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage'' produced by ''Big Dog Eat Child''— a Chicago sketch comedy group. The character is created by Big Dog Eat Child and based on the sketch they wrote in 2005 of the same name. The ad featured a real web address and Hines' actual cellphone number and was inspired by the local hard-sell TV commercials the creators, BDEC, saw growing up in Chicago. Members of the group had spotted Hines during a stand-up comedy performance at Chicago's Lakeshore Theater in January 2008. The ''Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage'' video was released in November 2008, and became a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

sensation, garnering over 700,000 views in its first two weeks of release. Hines received hundreds of calls to his cellphone from all over the world, with many people believing the spot was advertising a real business.Emily Hiser Lobdell (December 28, 2008
"Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage"
''

NBC Chicago WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo outlet WSNS-TV (chan ...

'' In April 2009, ''Big Dog Eat Child'' released ''Jones' Good ASS BBQ and Foot Massage'', and followed with ''Jones' Cheap ASS Prepaid Legal and Daycare Academy'' in November 2009. Subsequent releases have included recordings of actual phone messages left on 'Toby's' voice mail, a series of "Ask Toby" advice videos, and spoofs of 'Legal Retraction & Clarification' videos from the 'urban entrepreneur'.Website fo
"Jones' Big ASS Website and Merchandise Center"
Retrieved July 18, 2012. Recognition for the videos (often in competition with real commercials) has often been as wacky as the spots themselves: *''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

.com's'' Daniel Murphy included ''Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage'' among "The Five Most Terrifying Local TV Christmas Commercials".Daniel Murphy (December 12, 2009
"The Five Most Terrifying Local TV Christmas Commercials"
''Esquire.com'' *Jimmy Traina at ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

.com'' named it "Commercial of the Day".Jimmy Traina (January 9, 2009
"Hot Clicks"
''SportsIllustrated.com'' *In the UK,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''

Rude Tube ''Rude Tube'' is a British television programme broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister channel E4. Most of the programme's episodes have been presented by British comedian Alex Zane, who launched the show's pilot episode in February 2008. Comedi ...

'' TV show listed ''Jones' Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage'' at #13 on its list of the top 50 viral videos.''Rude Tube'
"Top 50 Viral Ads"
Channel 4, e4.com. Retrieved July 18, 2012. *Duncan Riley of ''The Inquisitor'' urged his readers to "Check out the funniest home made commercial of the year."Duncan Riley (December 6, 2008
"Jones Big Ass Truck Rental And Storage"
''The Inquisitor'' *''

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering ...

'', the famed food and restaurant guide, named ''Jones' Good ASS BBQ and Foot Massage'' one of "The 8 Wackiest BBQ Commercials".Tamara Palmer (June 1, 2012
"The 8 Wackiest BBQ Commercials"
''Zagat.com'' During the NBA Playoffs in 2016,

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, ...

, the all-star guard for the Golden State Warriors, stayed loose before games by dancing and singing with arena employees to the ''Jones' Barbecue and Foot Massage'' jingle.James Dator (May 31, 2016
"Stephen Curry prepared for his must-win Game 7 by singing and dancing to an old viral video"
''SB Nation.com'' The pre-game ritual is apparently linked to Curry's assertion that big players who switch onto him are "barbecue chicken".Jovan Buha(May 12, 2016
"Steph Curry says big men who switch onto him are 'barbecue chicken'"
"FoxSports.com" During a segment that year on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'', Hines was asked what he thought of all the media attention he was getting from Curry's pre-game routine, to which he replied, "You're welcome Steph!" ''

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

'' (June 8, 2016
"Stephen Curry Pre-Game Ritual Dance: BBQ and Foot Massage"
Retrieved February 28, 2020.

Jail material

In 2012, Hines began devoting an increasing amount of his stand-up performances to material from his days as a Correctional Officer. Hines had largely avoided the topic earlier in his career due to training he received that urged officers to pursue outside interests and to compartmentalize their work at the jail as a way to avoid

burnout Burnout or burn-out may refer to: Entertainment * ''Burnout'' (film), a 2017 Moroccan film * ''Burn Out'' (film), a 2017 French film * Burnout (ride), a Funfields amusement ride in Australia * ''Burnout'' (series), a racing game series created by ...

.Sarah Terez-Rosenblum (July 26, 2012
"Former Correctional Officer Strikes Comedy Gold"
''Chicago Sun-Times''.

Filmography

References

External links

Robert L. Hines
Official site *
Robert L Hines YouTube Channel

Website for ''Jones' Big ASS Website & Merchandise Center''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hines, Robert L. Living people 1970 births American stand-up comedians 21st-century American comedians African-American male actors African-American male comedians American male comedians 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people Internet memes American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American male video game actors