Growing Green

Shock comic a lot less confrontational

Comedian Tom Green returned to standup after years spent as a talk show host and actor. Following a televised comedy special, Green is returning to the road for several stops, including four shows at the UARK Bowl in Fayetteville.
Comedian Tom Green returned to standup after years spent as a talk show host and actor. Following a televised comedy special, Green is returning to the road for several stops, including four shows at the UARK Bowl in Fayetteville.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about shock comedian Tom Green is how absolutely normal he usually is.

Yes, the talk show host and provocateur once placed one of his paintings on the walls of a national art gallery in Canada, only to return later and deface it in front of horrified onlookers. And, sure, he also once simulated a sex act on a dead moose, among other bizarre activities.

All of it, says Green by phone from his Los Angeles-area home, was part of the act.

“I would commit to this character. I think it confused a lot of people.

… It’s a performance. I’m not really (that person),” Green says.

People were shocked when they met him offscreen during the height of his televised wackiness, Green says. There were no strange costumes or the ever-present camera crew that made his man-onthe-street interviews and “The Tom Green Show” a big hit.

That kind of personal, nonconfrontational approach - or, in other words, the real Tom Green - continues in Green’s current endeavor, a standup comedy tour that will take him across the country. The tour includes four shows in Fayetteville, with two on Thursday and another pair on Oct. 5.

Green’s career as a standup comedian technically began about 25 years ago as a teenager growing up in Canada. Green says he would perform at amateur nights three or four times a week. He ended his burgeoning standup career abruptly when he signed a record deal as part of a rap group. Yes, Green was nominated for a Juno Award (a Canadian equivalent to a Grammy) as a rapper.

He would later start a public access television show in Canada that eventually landed on MTV. He parlayed that success into otherappearances, among them the movies “Road Trip” and “Freddy Got Fingered,” which he also wrote and directed.

The transition back to standup was easy, Green says, even though he hadn’t performed a true standup routine for about two decades.

Green’s standup show is a bit more personal than his onscreen personality, too. He discusses topics such as his television show and his bout with testicular cancer in 2000.

But he also speaks in general terms, including a segment about his lovehate relationship with the Internet.

He was an early web adopter - www.tomgreen.com went live in 1996 - but he finds Facebook dangerous. People just share so much, and “it became clear that maybe not everyone is prepared for what comes with that,” Green says.

Some of the jokes Green will present in his Fayetteville shows can also be found on the new Showtime network comedy special starring the comedian. But his ideas - a word he likes to substitute for the more common “material” - are also often fresh. Green promises to improvise at least some of the shows here.

“It’s a lot of fun and a high-energy night,” Green says. “I really do like to connect with the audiences. It’s not confrontational.”

Perhaps, again, that will shock some fans. That oafishness has been replaced.

“You spend a lot more time with me,” he says.

Whats Up, Pages 16 on 09/28/2012

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