Long gone are the days of boneheaded hilarity of The Tom Green Show on MTV. But lately, a new and improved version of the off-beat Canadian comic has emerged. If you have AXS TV you can get in on the fun by checking out his hysterical interactive show “Tom Green Live” Thursday's at 6p.m. But if you don't have the channel, don't fret. You can check him out live and in person at the Brea Improv May 29th through June 1st. Before his weekend in OC kicks off, we chatted it up with him on everything we've been missing when it comes to his hit show and to see what kind of fun we're in store for when he heads into our hood!
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OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): Congrats on getting renewed on AXS TV. How did the show come to be on that channel and did you have to pitch it Marc Cuban “Shark Tank” style?
Tom Green: Thank you! No it was not nearly as dramatic and as stressful as Shark Tank [Laughs]. But basically, I went and did stand-up on the AXS TV show called “Gotham Live” and then I started talking to some of the people at the network. Some of them were former people from MTV and it all just sort of worked out. It's all been really exciting and we're having a great time doing the show. The longer we're on the air, the better traction we get, the better the reviews are, and we're getting even more great guests. The shows just really solidified.
I feel like you are just rubbing it in now because I don't have that channel so I can't see it.
Well you know the simple solution is to get a new cable provider. It's really not that hard to do! DIRECTV is the way to get it. [Laughs.]
Well you just shut me down! Point taken! I read you recently interviewed your parents and of course, I remember them from your MTV days. How are they?
Yeah, they're doing great. They were in LA so we had them on the show which was fun. We did a little recap on things going on with them. A lot my fans really grew up knowing my parents so it was a lot of fun.
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They're such good sports! I know you had the chance to talk to Dan Rather recently too. I hear he's a pretty cool guy off camera.
Yeah he is super cool! He's got such a legendary career in journalism so it was a real privilege to be able to talk to him and pick his brain about the history of this country and the world. It was really very interesting.
That's awesome! I also read that you show is uncensored so I'm wondering, exactly how uncensored are you allowed to go?
We're completely uncensored. There are no limitations on what we can say, it's really more of a matter of what we choose to do. I'm not going on there and thinking, oh let's see how many times I can drop an “F-bomb” on the show. It's really more of an intimate and casual conversation between two people. It's not like we swear throughout the interview anyway but if people choose to, they can. It's not the intent to be some really edgy or outrageous show though. It's more of a really interesting interview with some really interesting people. It's sort of modeled off some of those cool talk shows from the 60's and 70's like the Tom Snyder show, which I grew up loving.
How cool. Are you also working on a new special at this point?
I am writing a new stand-up comedy special now but as of yet, I don't know who it will be for. I'm in the writing stage for it now and just touring it around while putting together new ideas. That's part of what I'll be doing in Brea. I also sell t-shirts and stuff after the show so if people want to say hi and take pictures, I'll be doing that too. I'm excited to be doing some shows at the Brea Improv so you'll have to come check them out!
Check out Tom Green at the Brea Improv May 29th through June 1st, 120 South Brea Blvd. Brea, CA 92821. (714) 482-0700. For tickets go to www.Improv.com. For more info, check out www.TomGreen.com, subscribe to his YouTube.com/TomGreen, and follow him on Twitter @TomGreenLive.
See also:
Steve-O Found a Way to Work Manginas Into His Stand-Up Comedy
10 Douchiest Guitarists of All Time
10 Douchiest Drummers of All Time
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Ali Lerman knows much about comedy, basketball, and celebrating Wu-Tang Wednesday. She’s been writing for sixteen years and still calls her mom with grammatical questions.