WEBVTT - #492 - Tom Green on How He Got a Show on MTV, Pushing the Envelope When He Hosted Saturday Night Live and His Documentary About His Life 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.159 And I just for whatever reason, decided, after I do that, 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:11.200 I'm going to lie down on the boardroom table in 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:14.239 front everyone ray shaving cream all over my face and 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:15.800 scream that I want to be on MTV. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.239 So I did that, and everyone's going, what the hell's 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:18.599 this kid in? 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:19.920 And that I took the shaving cream and I walked 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:21.520 up to the guy who looked like he was in charge, 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:22.920 and I put some on his face. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:24.680 They called the next day and they picked up the 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:25.520 show next day. 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:31.800 Yeah, episode four with Tom Green. I have a list 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:36.640 of most influential people that I would eventually like to interview. Okay, 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.000 now we've marked off the second one, so maybe three now. 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.200 So on my list, I have David Letterman, Mark Grace, 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:49.680 the baseball player, Sting the wrestler, Conan O'Brien, Tom Green, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:54.720 Steve Martin, Adam Durretz, and Garth Brooks. We've had Adam 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.080 on this show before. Yeah, so he's off the list. Garth, 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:00.640 does that count that I've interview him any times? Just 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:03.720 not for this, I think that counts. Okay, So Guard's 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.280 off the list, and now Tom Green is off the list, 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.120 which was pretty cool because he came over to the 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.120 house on a Saturday. He actually DMed me weeks ago 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.680 out of nowhere, and I was like, wow, Tom Green 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.600 just followed me on Instagram. So he's like, hey man, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:20.119 I'm gonna be in Nashville, and I was like, cool, 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.039 I want to come over. That's not really how it happened, 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:25.720 but we did hook it up and it was super 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.240 cool that he drove over his own car. He was 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.120 playing a show that night, and we hung out in 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.000 the backyard for like twenty minutes after. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:32.000 What were your thoughts on it? 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.080 I thought it was awesome, Like I was like right 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.800 behind when he was like super famous. I really got 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.280 to know him through reruns in his movies. But it 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:41.960 was so cool to kind of finally meet him and 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:43.759 learn his story after watching the documentary. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.840 Documentary is great, I think too. He thought it was 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:48.560 cool we had watched it because it had just come 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:50.760 out the night before and he hasn't been able to 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.080 talk about it with anyone because nobody's really been able 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:53.400 to see it. 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:54.520 Yeah, it was so fresh. 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:54.919 Yeah. 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.080 So Tom Green has a documentary out, He's got a 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.360 comedy special out, He's got a war part docuseriies headed 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.320 to Amazon Prime Video. Is that out now, yeah, series, 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.560 you can check it all out. I watched every episode 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:09.960 of Tom Green Show. I forgot some of the stuff, 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:13.519 like the cancer stuff. I forgot how real that was 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.000 until watching it on the documentary. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:16.320 That's kind of when I got to know him first. 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:18.639 When that story came out, I was like, Oh, that's crazy. 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.720 Well, you wonder too, because Andy Kaufman, you know, he 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.320 died of cancer. And Tom Green was very much a 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:28.280 performance artist, not in every way, and I think at 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.120 times I think he resents people only see him as that, 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.520 but that's what made him famous. And so Andy Coffin 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:36.880 died of cancer, and so when he said I had cancer, 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:38.520 I think a lot of people wondered, is this even real? 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.120 It's the bit, but it was. Yeah, it was very real. 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.040 Check out the documentary. This is one of my favorite interviews. Again, 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.000 so much of a favorite that it made my list. 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.120 And also everybody came up on Saturday to work follow him. 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.240 Get tickets at Tom Green Tomgreen dot com. Here he 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.600 is the great Tom Green. There's the legend of the 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.000 Bumbum song having to be retired from trol It's true? 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:02.920 Is it okay? I was gonna ask is it true? 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:04.799 And if so, would you please tell the story? 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:06.160 Yeah, it's uh. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.560 I think it's the Statute of limitations has passed on 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:11.680 me not being supposed to tell this story. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:14.400 Because I was not. 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:16.600 Really it was supposed to be kind of a secret 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:18.520 back in the time because it was kind of a 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:24.080 little bit a weird thing happened. So, you know, TRL, 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.519 everybody my generation remembers. 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.400 To We watched Carson Day Jesse all the yea, everybody. 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:31.960 Hold a request live right. People call in and they 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.440 request their favorite song and then it goes on the 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:35.360 countdown every day. 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:37.080 So that's all. 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.880 That is how it works, right, It was everyone would 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:41.480 call in and that was really how it worked. They 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:47.960 really did do that. But we went and shot this 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.440 bumbum song and put it on the Tom Green Show, 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.320 and I went and said call TRL and vote for it, 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.400 and and we didn't really inform the producers of TRL 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:00.480 that we were doing that. You know, MTV knew about 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.600 it because they knew what was happening, but it sort 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:04.840 of fell through the cracks, or maybe they weren't expecting 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:06.080 it would go to number one. 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:08.160 I'm sure that was it. It didn't go to number one. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.160 It did go to number one, like the next day, 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:12.200 so like the show aired and then it was a 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.160 you know, I forget what day it aired, but it 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.039 was the beginning of the week. The show was number 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:22.080 one on the Monday of that week and got a 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:25.120 call from MTV. Howard, my manager at the time, got 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:26.840 a call from MTV. He said, you know, we need 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.839 Tom to go on TRL on Friday and retire the 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:30.599 Bumbump song. 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:35.440 And what do you mean it might why? You know? 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.680 They was number number one again on Wednesday, and the 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:40.919 call comes again, more frantic, No, he has to go retire. No, 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:42.720 Tom doesn't want to retire. He's got the number one 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.640 song until a request live in America. This is why 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:46.279 would you want. 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:46.599 To retire it? 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:49.080 He has to retire it, and they weren't telling us why. 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.159 And then they call again Thursday, he has to retire. 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:55.360 Here's why. And so the following week I probably wasn't 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:57.120 supposed to say, but it's been twenty five years. I'm 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:01.040 sure everyone can get over it. You know, Carson del 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.840 he's done. Fine, he's on the Today's Shown hour. But 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.239 you know they had pre taped the next week because 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:13.200 you know, uh, scheduling of whatever it was, so they 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.320 just basically sort of replicated the Countdown from the week before. 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.440 They had just replicated it. I don't know how often 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:23.200 they pre taped the TRL, but it was obviously real 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:25.839 normally because the bum Bum Song went to number one 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.599 just just by accident, you know, but because it was 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.840 pre taped the next week, and they really couldn't just 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.920 throw that out, they weren't able to tape that week 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.920 for some reason. I had to retire the Bumbum Song 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:40.359 on Friday because it was not going to be on 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.719 the Countdown the following Monday. It would have made no sense. 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.320 So I played ball, you know, I went on, I 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:45.960 retired the. 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:47.120 Retired the song. 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.440 I was on the Countdown for one week, and they 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.679 gave me a retirement home plaque, which I have hanging 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:55.520 in my recording studio at home. But yeah, I'm still 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:57.159 kind of a little annoyed at that though, because I 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:59.000 think it would have it would have had a good run. 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.880 You know, sometimes things would stay number one for weeks 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:03.600 and weeks and weeks on end, and then you could 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.480 really you know, it would have been a really cool thing. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.280 But they took this song and turned it into oh, 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.000 it's just a joke. It's not a real song, it's 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.279 not with a real record company, so you know, let's 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.719 just retire it. But there was that reason for it, 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:22.479 and they were of course my boss, and I was 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:26.000 happy to be there, so I did that. But but 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:30.560 the song, because the song was never released officially released, 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.239 it wasn't on a record or anything. It was also 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.240 the number one most downloaded song on Napster that year 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.320 in nineteen ninety nine because partially probably because it was 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.760 you couldn't get it anywhere else. So in some ways 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.279 that kind of was where people maybe started using Napster 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.000 for the first time. You know, it was really kind 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:57.159 of it was an interesting moment in music history. 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:58.279 The bum bum song. 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:00.800 They were obviously speculating what they thought would be the 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.000 number one song when they were taping those episodes ahead 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.120 of time. What took over as number one that they 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:06.920 thought would have been number one? It was like an 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:08.360 n Sync or a olymp Biscuit. 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.920 Or I can't remember exactly what it was. I know, 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.400 I think Britney Spears was on the countdown. I think 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.080 I think it was ninety eight degrees was on there. 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:19.560 I really don't have the I don't remember the exact 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.360 countdown but it was it was for sure some of 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.520 those I think lymp Biscuit was for sure was on 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.760 the countdown then deservedly shout out Fred Durst, a friend 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.720 of mine. I love Fred, lovelymp Biscuit, but no they 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.360 you know, I've got to become friends with Fred when 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.440 I lived in LA and he's those guys are still 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:42.080 killing it. And from that's from my year on MTV 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.040 the Olympiscuit that was there. That was their big big 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.440 hits that year and they're still killing it out there 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:48.000 around the world. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:52.360 So what does twelve year old Tom listen to music wise? 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.080 Music wise, like twelve years old, Yeah, that's when you're twelve. 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.320 That's an age for me when it kind of all 0:07:58.360 --> 0:07:59.160 started to come together. 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.240 Yeah, well, sugar Hill Gang Rappers Delight I discovered at 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:07.800 around twelve, and that was that was a big one. 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.160 But I might have been might have been thirteen when 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:12.239 I discovered that though. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:20.560 So twelve would have been Michael Jackson Thriller. See what 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.480 year was was? I? 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.280 Yeah? Was was Michael Jackson Thriller out? Yet in eighty 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:27.960 eighty three? 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:34.240 I see the Beg's was the first cassette that I had. 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.880 My parents gave me a tape deck and the Beg's 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.200 Staying Alive. I wish they'd given me a different tape, 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.760 but anyways, no, but so I would listen to that 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:51.760 a lot. Twelve years old, I had a few things 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:56.360 that I you know, I it was Michael Jackson. 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.559 I like TV shows we waited to watch that kind 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.199 of shaped you and that preteen. 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.040 The reason I'm hesitating, I'm trying to think it was 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.319 like eleven or twelve, you know, because I know, I know, well, 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.560 shortly after twelve, I got a lot more into music. 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.560 But it was always sort of just what was playing 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:16.360 on the radio when I was twelve, What was on 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.760 the top ten that night? You know, would be sort 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.920 of what was you know, whether it was you know, 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:27.640 the I don't know, you know, survivor or something like that. 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:29.520 You know, Like there's lots of different songs that were 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:31.000 playing on the radio when I was twelve. But I 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.240 got to be about fourteen, That's when I really kind 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.960 of found myself really liking rap music and things like that. 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.080 So so BC Boys one of my favorites of all time, 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.600 like top five albums for sure. It is licensed ill 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.559 because it was the first one. Yeah, absolutely, like It's 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.040 what introduced me. I'm just a goofy white kid from 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.920 Arkansas and they're Jewish rappers from kind of Brooklyn, so 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:54.360 not exactly the same, but they were just different. So 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.880 it was kind of like my infatuation with David Letterman. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.240 He was a Midwest guy that looked odd compared to 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.280 everybody else. Yeah, and I was odd compared to everybody else. 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.160 Kind of gave me a bit of hope. Yeah, But 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:08.920 those guys Letterman with the so loved the Beamsie Boys. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:10.400 I wonder if that was what it was like for you. 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:16.720 Beastie Boys, David Letterman, Tony Hawk, skateboarding. These were my my, 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:21.840 my things that I loved. I mean, I you know, 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.880 I actually we did a cover band of the Beastie 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:26.640 Boys in high school and went up and did I 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.319 did Fight for Your Right to Party and No Sleep 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.280 for Bill Brooklyn and run dmc raising. 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:31.600 Hell. 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.480 You know this was me rapping on stage and the 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.480 first year of high school, I guess, and then uh, 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.160 and then David Letterman. I mean, I talk about this 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:41.640 a lot in the documentary. 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.760 Because it's it's sort of the precursor to what. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:45.800 I was doing on my show, where I was trying 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:47.800 to emulate David Letterman. I was going out with the 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.480 video camera and doing stuff on the street, kind of 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:52.240 like what David Letterman did when he went out in 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.520 the street. But it's hard to kind of put it 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.839 in perspective for people who don't remember what the world 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.520 was like back then. You know, it was no so 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:05.160 going to watch television at twelve thirty in the morning 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.760 where there was normally a color bars test pattern on 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:13.920 and and you'd because it was on so late at 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.360 the time, that was crazy that there was even a 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.599 show on after midnight during the week. It kind of 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.079 felt like you were discovering something and seeing something that 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.440 nobody else knew about. So it felt like going down 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.520 this rabbit hole. Like that you can go down on 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.520 the internet now and find your own thing. Back then, 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:31.959 you'd find your own thing and in sort of obscure 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.800 places like Thrasher Magazine was a skateboard magazine that I'd 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:41.000 you know, go have to find in one little skateboard shop, 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:42.560 and that was the internet. 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:44.079 To me. That was my glimpse. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:48.840 Into the outside world outside of the mainstream television. And 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:50.960 then rap music was also like that, you know, listening 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:55.720 to Boogie Down Productions or run DMC and these groups 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:57.800 coming out of New York City and you're just up 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.200 in Ottawa going up and wow, what is this? 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.000 What is this world? This is exciting? You know? 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:08.040 How close were you guys with organized rhymes actually pursuing that, 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:09.960 like for a decade. 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.360 I mean, we were really really into it for sure 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.080 when we were when I was we went down to 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.359 New York City when I was, you know, a teenager, 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.839 and we recorded a demo and then then we ended 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:23.800 up getting a record deal in Canada on A and 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.400 M Records, and we sort of did it for a 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.000 couple of years after that, but then you know, the 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.240 sort of it stopped it kind of it never was 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.680 released in the United States. It was a sort of 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.520 a successful in Canada thing. It would play on the radio. 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:41.560 I mean I was just out of high school. And Greg, 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:43.640 who was the other rapper in the group, he was 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:45.319 still in high school. So you know, he's in high 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.360 school and we had a song on the number one 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.000 on the dance charts in Canada and we. 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.319 Got cool at school. Were you guys cool because you 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:53.120 were on the radio? 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:54.160 He was cool? 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:54.720 For sure. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.839 I might not have been cool. He was definitely cool. 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.160 There was a comedic element to the band, so you know, 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.040 we you know, I would always say, well, let's put 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.479 laundry baskets on our heads between songs and play industrial 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.679 music and do sort of a synchronized dance routine. So 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.400 we would do this weird stuff. No, he was very 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:09.800 funny and we'd do this fine stuff. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:10.920 But it was cool though. 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.400 It was cool, but he was definitely cooler than I was. 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.280 I was kind of more the goofball, but I made 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.120 all the beats and stuff and and it was it 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.480 was exciting, and it kind of We would go down 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.319 to Toronto to go on much music and we'd host 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.520 the Rap City Show it was called, and different perform 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:33.560 on different shows live. And that's when I really realized 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.839 start seeing television studios and lights and cameras, and I 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:38.040 thought that I want to do this. I want to 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.680 I want to do television. And that's that's kind of 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.200 when the record sort of fizzled out. After that, I 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.240 went back to school and startied broadcasting and started the 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:47.960 Tom Green Show. 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.000 So how accessible was the public access station where you were? 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:56.720 So it's it's a little different in Canada. So you know, 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.720 because sometimes you think of public access and it's a 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.720 real kind of you know, gritty, little crappy little station. 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:08.200 But in Canada, so they have the cable delivery company 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.560 sort of like the it was called Roger's Cable, so 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.160 the company that you buy your cable from. They were 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.160 sort of required to create a little community channel and 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:22.760 every every city. So because of that, there was good 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:29.560 equipment there, professional kind of studios, and because I had 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.120 already had the rap album and stuff, they kind of. 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:35.560 Took took us in. 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.560 I was I was at school broadcasting school, so I 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.960 had a bunch of kids that knew how to operate 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:41.960 cameras and stuff, and we came in and we pitched 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:43.920 the show and they they kind of let us go 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.080 do do four episodes. And then after those four episodes 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.120 that it was sort of had a little bit of 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.360 a you know, it was weird enough that they let 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:54.360 us keep keep going. 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:58.160 So did people watch that channel in your town just 0:14:58.200 --> 0:14:58.680 in general? 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.920 Like no, not really, no, not really, they had that 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.320 was it sort of quickly became the show that was 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.040 sort of did. 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:07.320 There was shows like. 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.280 Mayor's The Mayor had a show Mayor's Hotline. They had 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.200 a sports show where they talked about what the Ottawa 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.240 Senators were doing. Uh, And they were all sort of 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.560 very not very watched shows. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:20.840 But but we sort. 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:22.960 Of built this little following and we'd had a little 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.480 studio audience and kids came down and sixty kids in 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.120 the audience, and it just sort of started kind of 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.520 just kind of slowly catching on, and it then got 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:37.080 picked up by the Community Rogers Community Network, so then 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:38.760 they started running across Canada. 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:40.400 You were shooting in the same place, they were just 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:41.880 distributing it to the. 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.520 Other, to the whole country. And then did you. 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:46.240 Feel a change there when that happened? 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.200 Could you feel it like you start to be bigger 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:50.040 in Canada? 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:51.600 Yeah? 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.400 Oh yeah, that was early on because then then then 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.760 we did a did a pilot for the CBC, which 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:02.840 is the national network Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then that 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:04.600 didn't get picked up. But then we went and did 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.560 two seasons on this small network called the Comedy Network, 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.280 which is owned by CTV, the other big network, and 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.280 then we were sort of doing a show that had 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.080 a had real a real kind of uh. But it 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.000 was happening fast at that point. By that point, it 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:21.800 was maybe over the course of a year and a half, 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.800 you know, we were on TV and people were excited 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:26.840 about the show, and then all of a sudden, MTV 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.040 picked it up and we were we were kind of 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:31.120 set off in that direction. 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:33.400 So being that young doing a show weekly, did that 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.160 feel like you were in the meat grinder at all, 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:36.640 even before you were getting paid. 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:38.760 Really, I I was. 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:40.280 Really excited to be doing it. 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.760 I just couldn't believe that I even had the ability 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:44.720 to do it. So it was my friend Glenn Humplick 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:47.440 and my friend Phil Jeru, and they were, you know, 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:52.000 buddies of mine. And I met Glenn Humplick at college 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.320 radio because I've been doing a college radio show at 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.200 Ottawa University. I didn't go to Ottawa University, but I 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.840 did the radio show there at midnight until two am 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:06.680 I Fridays, And so we were just really I mean, 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:08.520 I wasn't getting paid. I didn't get paid to do 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.080 the show for four or five years. It was just 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:13.240 a labor of love. I would go down to the 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.560 studio and get in the edit bay and edit all 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.960 this stuff. But it was just sort of really kind 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.880 of driven by this sort of excitement, by the fact 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.720 that we were actually able to do this TV show 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:29.080 and and and you know, I was sort of driven 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:30.440 by the idea that I was going to try to 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:32.480 see if we could actually turn it into a job. 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.639 And eventually it did actually happen, unbelievably, but there was 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:39.679 a I was pretty motivated. I do sometimes think that 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.320 it's kind of I mean, when watching the documentary, even 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.159 while I'm editing it, you know, putting all together. I 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:47.840 sometimes when I watch the final documentary, I still go geez, 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.040 I was kind of can't believe I stuck. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:51.399 With it so so long because it was. 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.080 A lot of work when I think about it, But 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.120 at the time, when you're young, you're kind of just 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.879 so excited just to be doing something. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:00.959 Who do you hear from? 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.560 Is it somebody an executive at MTV? Do they call 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.560 whomever's now managing your representing you? How quick does all 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.159 of that happen? And and what's like the board? I 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:10.960 don't know, you walk into a business room, like the 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:12.960 cliche thing. There's all these chairs and they offer you 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.639 the big deal you've been waiting for, Like what really happened? 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.120 I've got a pretty hilarious story about that. I don't 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.960 I don't know if I'll see if I can paint 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:24.719 the picture properly. So well, First of all, what happened was, 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.280 I was the show was now kind of popular in 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.080 Canada enough that I got invited on the one talk 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.520