'Tom Green' (born 'Michael Thomas Green' on
July 30,
1971) is a
Canadian comedian,
actor,
rapper and
television host who is currently hosting ''
Tom Green Live''. Born in
Pembroke,
Ontario, Green grew up in suburban
Ottawa. He pioneered a type of "shock humor" that begat ''
Jackass'', ''
Fear Factor'' and other reality shows.
Career
In the early 1990s, Green had a short-lived career as a rapper in a group called
Organized Rhyme. He came back in 2005 with his rap group, the Keeping it Real Crew, featuring DJ EZ Mike of the
Dust Brothers. In late 2005, Tom released his first solo rap album, titled ''
Prepare For Impact''. He has received offers from such rap artists as
Spice 1 and
Bushwick Bill of the
Geto Boys to appear on his raps. He has performed with
Grand Buffet,
Mickey Avalon, and
People Under the Stairs and other popular rap artists on his ''Tom Green Live'' show, as well as
Jurassic 5 on his show and at the
House of Blues in
West Hollywood.
Early career
While attending
Algonquin College, Green hosted an over-night call-in show on the
University of Ottawa's campus radio station,
CHUO. The show, originally a rap music show, was followed by an electronic music show hosted by
Glenn Humplik. Through the proximity of their shows, Tom and Glenn met and became friends, based on a common love of zany antics. Tom's radio show soon shifted formats to a call-in show (upon the discovery of how to operate the studio's call-in lines) and the two joined forces to host ''The Midnight Caller Show''. The basic format of The Midnight Caller was to have listeners call-in with Tom and Glenn making fun of them (or "razzing" them) and soon after hanging-up on them. The show's novelty and originality made it an underground hit in the Ottawa area.
The first incarnation of ''
The Tom Green Show'' began in
September 1994 as a cable access program on
Rogers Television 22 in the
Ottawa region until
1996. The show would later be picked up by Canada's
Comedy Network in
1997 and then
MTV in
January 1999, where he gained popularity in America. ''The Tom Green Show'' was a
variety show format, where he would have guests visit the studio and bands play before a live audience. He also had taped segments that typically consisted of stunts played by Green on unsuspecting people. A number of them involved Green's parents, Mary Jane and Richard Green, who consistently appeared as unamused and occasionally angered by Tom's antics.
As an example of his audacity, in a
March 2000 episode, Tom brought
Monica Lewinsky to his parents' home in Canada to search for fabric for her new business venture in designing handbags. In a similar vein to his later faux attempt at an on-air marriage to
Drew Barrymore on ''
Saturday Night Live'', Tom and Monica fooled local reporters with an "important announcement" which turned out to be nothing more than a request for more fabric for Monica's business.
Some of Green's most notable skits include pretending to "hump" a dead
moose,
[1] having an
X-rated lesbian scene painted on his father's car (labeled the "Slut Mobile"), drinking milk by sucking on a cow's teat, and putting a cow head in his parents' bed while they slept because his father was a fan of ''
The Godfather'' films. Green also hung his own unauthorized piece of art in the
National Gallery of Canada (which remained untouched for days), similar to the subsequent exploits of British graffiti artist
Banksy, with the added twist of later coming back and vandalizing it to the horror of onlooking patrons. In one segment, Tom went to the press conference of ''
Grey Owl'' where he serenaded and kissed
Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan, thinking Green was a
journalist, advised him not to give up his day job. Green also did many segments humiliating his co-host and longtime friend
Glenn Humplik; even after the pair had become well-known, Humplik continued working at his phone company job, fearing that his entertainment career might not last. Green teased him about this often and once gave out Humplik's office phone number on the air.
In
2003, he also had a nightly talk show ''
The New Tom Green Show'', in the style of
Jay Leno, at midnight on MTV. The show lasted several months, and was much more mainstream, and mimicked his ''
Tom Green Live'' format.
Beyond television
After the show moved to MTV, Green gained fame in the
United States. This fame soon netted Green roles in several Hollywood movies, including ''
Road Trip'', ''
Charlie's Angels'', ''
Freddy Got Fingered'' (which he also directed), and ''
Stealing Harvard.'' ''Freddy Got Fingered'' "won" in five categories at the
2001 Golden Raspberry Awards, given to the worst movies of the year. Green appeared at the ceremony to accept his awards, making him the second recipient to do so in the award's twenty-year history, following
Paul Verhoeven for ''
Showgirls'' in
1995.
He also wrote a song called "
Lonely Swedish (The Bum Bum Song)", which he composed during MTV's Spring Break while doing a show on a cruise ship. After airing the music video on his show and appealing to his audience to request it, the song became an instant number one hit on ''
Total Request Live''. He quickly called for the video to be retired because "it's not fair to
98 Degrees." Later, in his autobiography, he revealed that MTV had pressured him to do so in order to maintain the image that ''Total Request Live'' was, in fact, a live request show (the next week's episodes had been pre-taped on location, and the producers of the show were completely unaware of "The Bum Bum Song" at the time).
Green's increasing fame made it harder for him to ambush people on the streets, leading him to target mostly
senior citizens and non-
English speakers. After he was diagnosed with
testicular cancer in
March 2000, he stopped production on his TV show, but he continued to appear on the channel via reruns and other promotional materials. He made a one-hour special on his ordeal with cancer, including graphic footage of his own surgery. The episode received wide critical acclaim for revealing a vulnerable, human side of an otherwise juvenile television personality. In
March 2002 he also starred in and directed a one-hour special called ''
The Tom Green Subway Monkey Hour'', where he tormented strangers in
Japan.
More mainstream
In recent years, Green has tried to put some of his more controversial material behind him and become a more mainstream entertainer. Currently, Green is a recurring contributor to ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''; he has done many segments where he travels across America looking for "interesting people", typically bringing the most colorful person with him back to the studio. In these segments, the focus is more on the odd behavior of the interviewees, with Green generally playing the straight man. Green has also attempted to build his teen and child audience with more wholesome material. In
2005, Green starred in a children's TV movie, ''
Bob the Butler'', and he has made guest appearances on various kid shows. Green had one film scheduled for release in 2006. Furthermore, Green is editing a new film which he also directed and starred in tentatively titled ''
Prankstar''. No further details about the film have yet been released.
In
2003, Green visited troops in
Kosovo on a
USO tour. He visited troops in the
Persian Gulf on a 2004 tour.
[2]
Tom Green's
autobiography[3] was released on
October 12,
2004. He also maintains a
blog on his official website.
Green has acted as host for a variety of special events, including the 2005
Canada's Walk of Fame induction ceremony, the
Canadian Live 8 concert, and the 2005
CASBY Awards. Also, in early 2006, Green appeared in several commercials for the Canadian
Cable Public Affairs Channel promoting both the channel and for voters to vote in the forthcoming federal elections which took place on
January 23, 2006.
On
December 6,
2005 Green released his second solo album ''
Prepare For Impact'', his first being ''
Not The Green Tom Show'' released in
1998, as his alter-ego
MC Face.
On
August 3,
2006, Tom appeared on ''
America's Got Talent''. He rode a skateboard through a flaming hoop and appeared to be on fire for a few seconds and put out with extinguishers. It was confirmed on the
August 3 episode of ''
Tom Green Live'' that it was a stunt man, not Green, that did the stunt. The show contained a behind the scenes look on how the stunt was done. On the first season finale of ''America's Got Talent'', there was an unaired segment that was scheduled to appear after singers
Aly and AJ. The segment featured Tom Green dressing in a
parrot costume, and squawking with a live parrot, to communicate "telepathically." Green then proceeded to fly up above the audience, and shot confetti streamers out of his costume onto the crowd below.
''Tom Green Live''
On
June 5,
2006,
ManiaTV.com announced they had formed a partnership with Green to host a live call-in show for their internet broadcast. The show is called ''
Tom Green Live''.
[4] The show takes place in his own living room in the
Hollywood Hills overlooking the
San Fernando Valley. The show started on
June 15,
2006 at 11 p.m. EST. The show airs every Monday–Friday night (and also whenever Tom feels like going on the air, such as Monday Funday and Freestyle Fridays), with re-runs playing throughout the week, including original ''
Tom Green Show'' footage.
Guests on the show have included stars such as
Val Kilmer,
Andrew Dice Clay, hip-hop artists
Blackalicious and
Xzibit, skateboarder
Tony Hawk, stunt man
Steve-O, former ''
TRL'' host and talk show host
Carson Daly, guitarist
Dave Navarro, actor
Crispin Glover,
Digg.com founder
Kevin Rose, comedic musician
"Weird Al" Yankovic, as well as comedians
Joe Rogan and
Andy Dick. Due to lack of an established term, Tom often refers to his live streaming broadcast as "web-o-vision." He also jokingly says he is broadcasting to "the national Internet."
The site had featured a segment called '''Girl Talk'''. In which viewers could "call in and talk to a real live girl." Girl Talk was cancelled after getting nothing but prank calls from viewers.
Tom Green:
::—Tom Green's Blog,
November 17, 2006
Marriage to Drew Barrymore
In
July 2000, Tom Green became engaged to actress
Drew Barrymore. Green and Barrymore met after Barrymore, who was a fan of Green's show, asked Green to appear in ''
Charlie's Angels'' which Barrymore starred in and produced.
During the build up to their wedding Green and Barrymore frequently joked with the media about when and where they were going to wed. The most notable incident came on
November 18,
2000 when Green hosted ''
Saturday Night Live''. During the
monologue, Green brought Barrymore on stage and teased the audience about the couple marrying at the end of the episode. Ultimately, the stage was set for a wedding before Barrymore in the end, got "cold feet." The ''SNL'' incident initially left viewers and the media confused about whether the couple had actually planned to marry on live TV, or were simply staging a publicity stunt. Eventually, Green also went on ''
The Tonight Show'' to toy with the public once again, this time claiming that his bride might be
pregnant.
On
February 18,
2001, there was a housefire at the residence of Green and Barrymore. Their dog Flossie woke them around 3:30 a.m. when she barked and "literally banged on their bedroom door." Firefighters estimated damage at
$700,000 in the two-story, 3,500 square foot (325 m²) home located north of
Beverly Hills. The incident was soon on the American television show ''
Saturday Night Live'' with guest host
Katie Holmes playing Drew Barrymore and
Jimmy Fallon playing Tom Green.
[5]
Green and Barrymore married on
July 7,
2001, but filed for
divorce on
December 17,
2001, citing
irreconcilable differences. Their divorce became official on
October 15,
2002. According to his autobiography, Barrymore (a recovering drug addict) offered Green
pot shortly after they were married.
According to some
tabloid reports Green grew annoyed by Barrymore's increasingly neurotic behavior in private. On
October 13,
2001, Drew Barrymore hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' and Tom Green appeared in the audience wearing a
gas mask. The episode came just a month after the
September 11th terrorist attacks in
New York City, where ''SNL'' is produced. Reportedly, Barrymore was already anxious about flying to New York. When news broke that
NBC's
Rockefeller Center studios where they were rehearsing had received a package containing
anthrax, Barrymore fled the set in tears, vowing not to return.
Green would later claim that, at their wedding, most of Barrymore's show business friends (among them,
Cameron Diaz,
Lucy Liu,
Courtney Love, and
Molly Shannon) paid no attention to Green's own friends and family since they "weren't famous." The notable exception was
Adam Sandler, who (according to Green's autobiography) stayed until the end and even danced with Green's mother. Drew Barrymore appeared in her then-husband's infamous
2001 film ''
Freddy Got Fingered''.
Filmography
★ ''
The Chicken Tree'' (1998)
★ ''
Clutch'' (1998)
★ ''
Pirates of Silicon Valley'' (1999)
★ ''
Superstar'' (1999)
★ ''
Road Trip'' (2000)
★ ''
Charlie's Angels'' (2000)
★ ''
The Tom Green Show - Something Smells Funny (DVD)'' (2001)
★ ''
Freddy Got Fingered'' (2001)
★ ''
The Tom Green Show - Tonsil Hockey (DVD)'' (2001)
★ ''
Stealing Harvard'' (2002)
★ ''
The True Meaning of Christmas Specials'' (2002)
★ ''
The Tom Green Show - Road Kill (DVD)'' (2003)
★ ''
Grind'' (2003)
★ ''
Bob the Butler'' (2005)
★ ''
Prankstar'' (2008) - tentatively titled ''Infamous'' until December 20
''Upcoming:''
★ ''
Shred'' (2007)
★ ''
Shred 2'' (2008)
★ ''
The 1 Second Film'' (2009)
Discography
Albums
★ ''
Huh? Stiffenin' Against The Wall'' (1992) As member of rap trio
Organized Rhyme
★ ''
Not The Green Tom Show'' (1998) Performed as
MC Face
★ ''
Prepare For Impact'' (2005)
Singles
★ "
Lonely Swedish (The Bum Bum Song)" (1999)
★ "Teachers Suck" (from ''Prepare For Impact'', 2005)
Additional music videos
★ Organized Rhyme
★
★ "Check The O.R." (''Huh? Stiffenin' Against the Wall'', 1992)
★ MC Face
★
★ "Slaughter Ya Oughta" (''Not The Green Tom Show'', 1998)
Notes
1. Referenced by rapper Eminem in ''The Real Slim Shady''
2. http://www.tomgreen.com/uso.php?PHPSESSID=6daecc391d8aae99b8486fab7510b27f
3. ''Hollywood Causes Cancer'' (ISBN 1400052777), co-written with Allen Rucker
4. ''Tom Green Live''
5. http://snltranscripts.jt.org/00/00mfire.phtml
External links
★
Tom Green's official site and channel
★
Tom Green's Official Online Merchandise Store, T-Shirts, Stickers, Hoodies, DVD's
★
Tom Green Interview - Summer 2007
★ Tom Green 2009 campaign
★
★
Official petition to bring back ''The Tom Green Show''
★
★
Digg article and discussion of the campaign
★
★
At MySpace
★
★
ManiaTV, Tom Green's online television sponsor
Related video
★
Tom Green chats with George Stroumboulopoulos, '', December 7, 2005. Retrieved December 28, 2005.
★
Video for "The Bum Bum Song"
★
Excerpts from ''The Tom Green Show'', when the show was on Rogers 22 in Ottawa
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