Erica Rhodes

Erica Rhodes (born April 5, 1983) is an American actress and comedian. She has been performing on A Prairie Home Companion since the age of 13 and has appeared in several movies and TV shows, including Plague Town, 1000 Ways to Die, and The Consultants. She has guest-starred on New Girl, @midnight with Chris Hardwick, and Modern Family, and competed in the reality television comedy competition series Bring the Funny.

Rhodes was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts, the daughter of Kristina Nilsson and Dean Rhodes. Her mother, a native of Minnesota, is a former violinist who performed with the Boston Pops, and her maternal uncle by marriage is writer and radio personality Garrison Keillor. Her father was a professional clarinetist before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, after which he worked as a Certified Public Accountant. She attended Boston University College of Fine Arts and graduated from the Atlantic Theater Conservatory. Before establishing her career, Rhodes worked at a medical marijuana clinic in Los Angeles.

She has been a frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion since her first appearance in 1996, where she initiated her recurring role as "The Conscience" of host Garrison Keillor, and she appears on Keillor's 1997 Grammy-nominated album Garrison Keillor's Comedy Theatre. In 2008, Rhodes had a leading role in the independent horror film Plague Town. She released her first comedy album, Sad Lemon, on June 29, 2019, the same year she competed on the NBC series Bring the Funny. In 2021 she released the comedy special La Vie en Rhodes, filmed outside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and voiced Dotty on the Netflix series A Tale Dark & Grimm. She released her second comedy album, Ladybug, in 2023, and competed on America's Got Talent in 2024.