At the turn of the millennium, just as he was reaching the peak of his fame, Tom Green hit one of the lowest points of his life.
The ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø shock comic had become a pop culture phenomenon, with his MTV series “The Tom Green Show†drawing huge audiences and leading to roles in big screen features “Charlie’s Angels†and “Road Trip.â€Â
But his directorial film debut, 2001’s absurdist black comedy, “Freddy Got Fingered,†was eviscerated by critics — all while he was dealing with intense pain from surgery for testicular cancer a year prior.
“I was feeling a lot of the physical and emotional impact of having gone through this very complex medical reality and confronting death. It was a very depressing, scary, shocking time in my life,†Green says from his farm in Central Frontenac, Ont.Â
“And then to have the world turn against you, it was tough. You don’t get movie offers after that happens.â€
Looking back, Green says those struggles had a deeper impact on him than he let on at the time. Still, he believes they paved the way for his current chapter: happily engaged, living in Canada after two decades in L.A. and returning to the spotlight with three self-directed Prime Video projects and a country album.
“I'm kind of in a better place than I've ever been in my life,†says the 53-year-old.
“In some ways, this probably may not have happened if there hadn't been that dip.â€
“I Got a Mule!,†his hour-long standup special, premieres Tuesday, while “Tom Green Country,†a four-episode unscripted series about his life on the Ontario farm he swapped for his Hollywood home during the pandemic, drops Friday.Â
“This Is the Tom Green Documentary,†now streaming, chronicles the comedian’s journey — from getting his zany cable access show picked up by MTV to marrying Drew Barrymore to dealing with cancer while achieving movie stardom.
Green says the doc is the first time he’s opened up publicly about the lasting effects of his cancer surgery in 2000, which removed his right testicle and lymph nodes. He recalls feeling “unbearable†pain months later while hosting “Saturday Night Live."
"I've always had this feeling that I didn't want to complain about my problems publicly, so I kept it to myself," he says.
The comedian says the surgery left “lots of nerve damage†on his spine. He minimized the extent of the pain in the doc because he didn’t want to look like “a crybaby.â€
“The truth is, I'm still not 100 per cent from it. I'm 90 per cent from it. I never was the same after that. It changed everything. For the first five years after that surgery, I was in extreme pain all the time. It was like a burning sort of pain in my spine,†he says.
"When I would go on a show or even just interact with people during that period, I was really in a tough place. It made it hard sometimes to even just get out of bed in the morning.â€
Green says the experience shifted his perspective on life and is part of the reason he moved back to Canada. He wanted to live near his parents, who he’s remained close with despite pranking them for years on his show – he once tossed a severed cow head on their bed, another time he interrogated them about their sex life.
“When you've had cancer, you realize life can change on a dime.… You’ve got to live the life you want to live,†he says.
Green connected with Prime Video after appearing on the streamer’s 2022 competition series “LOL: Last One Laughing Canada.†He says Amazon immediately showed interest when he told them he was launching a production company, Tom Green Productions Canada, with new projects in the works.
“Tom Green Country†follows his efforts to set up a 40-hectare farm with help from his parents and friends. He’s shown planting trees, tending a chicken coop and riding his mule. It’s a radical departure from his early days as a provocateur.
“I sometimes pinch myself just to realize this is actually my life. I can’t believe how different it is and how much I love being home,†he says.Â
“It’s very cathartic to be able to go out in the woods on my mule and breathe in the fresh ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø air.â€
The episodes feature heartfelt songs from his upcoming country album, recorded at The Tragically Hip’s studio in Bath, Ont.
It’s hard to believe this is the same Tom Green who once released a hit single called “The Bum Bum Song,†about placing his posterior on random objects.
Then again, living a peaceful pastoral life might be his strangest move yet.
“When I started ‘The Tom Green Show,’ it was really, really weird in a sea of things that weren't as weird as that," he says.Â
But nowadays, he says, we're inundated with bizarre and graphic videos every day on social media.
“When you see all of the negative, shocking and crazy information that gets rammed into our minds every day, what's weird compared to that? Well, maybe moving to a farm and riding a mule when you're me. Maybe the weirdest thing that I could possibly do is to do something normal.â€
This report by ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø was first published Jan. 25, 2025.
