Michael Thomas (Tom) Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian shock comic.
Born in Pembroke, Ontario, Green grew up in Ottawa and had a radio show on the University of Ottawa's campus radio station, CHUO, before getting his first series on local cable TV.
In the early 1990s, Green had a short-lived career as a rapper in a band called Organized Rhyme.
His show, The Tom Green Show, typically consisted of stunts played by Tom on unsuspecting people. A number of them involved Green's parents, who consistently appeared to be unamused and occasionally angered by Tom's antics. Some of Green's most notable skits include humping a dead moose (referenced by rapper Eminem), having an X-rated lesbian scene (named the "Slut Mobile") painted on his father's car, drinking milk by sucking a cow's udder, and putting a cow head in his parents' bed while they slept.
After the show moved to MTV, Tom became famous in the United States. This fame soon netted Tom roles in several Hollywood movies, including Road Trip, Freddy Got Fingered (which he also directed), and Stealing Harvard . He also wrote a song called "Lonely Swedish (The Bum Bum Song)", which he came up with 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 a instant #1 hit on Total Request Live. He quickly called for the video to be retired because "it's not fair to 98 Degrees." Later he revealed (or possibly joked) that MTV had pressured him to do so.
Tom's increasing fame made it harder for him to surprise people on the streets, leading him to target mostly seniors and non-English speakers. MTV cancelled his TV show in 2000, but he continued to appear on the channel via reruns and other promotional materials. After he was diagnosed with testicular cancer he made a one-hour special of his ordeal, including graphic footage of his own surgery. He also starred in and directed a one-hour special called The Tom Green Subway Monkey Hour , where he tormented strangers in Japan.
Green married actress Drew Barrymore on July 7, 2001, but filed for divorce on December 17, 2001, citing irreconcilable differences. They were divorced on October 15, 2002. Their Hollywood house also burned down.
In 2003, Green returned with a nightly talk show on MTV called, appropriately, "The New Tom Green Show". Marking a change from his earlier work, he was compared in print to a young Johnny Carson or David Letterman. Nevertheless, it was cancelled by MTV a few months after it premiered.
Tom Green's autobiography, titled Hollywood Causes Cancer (co-written with Allen Rucker), was released on October 12, 2004. In the meantime, he is still acting and is a recurring contributor to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
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