Episode 1640 - Tom Green

Summary

WTF with Marc Maron: Episode 1640 - Tom Green
Release Date: May 5, 2025

In Episode 1640 of WTF with Marc Maron, host Marc Maron engages in a deeply personal and reflective conversation with comedian and media pioneer Tom Green. Recorded in Toronto, Canada, the episode delves into Tom's recent endeavors, his life on a Canadian farm, mental health struggles, and the evolution of comedy in the digital age.

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1. Current Projects and Return to Canada

Tom Green's Return to Roots
Tom Green shares his latest projects, including the mini docu-series "Tom Green Country", his new comedy special "I Got a Mule", and a documentary about his life and career. Having recently moved back to Canada, Tom discusses the sense of settling down after decades in the entertainment industry.

[07:15] Tom Green: "Tom is back and he's kind of settled. He's a little bit of a settled man now, in a way."

Life on the Farm
Tom has purchased a farm in Canada, embracing a simpler, more grounded lifestyle. He describes the daily routines of farm life, including caring for his mule, Fanny, and the challenges of living in a remote area.

[32:20] Tom Green: "I have to feed my animals every day. I've got this mule, Fanny and Kia. A donkey."

Engagement and Personal Life
Tom reveals his recent engagement to a Canadian woman he met through shared interests and a common background. Their connection blossomed over mutual respect and a love for the Canadian landscape.

[44:05] Tom Green: "I'm engaged now, though. Are you recently engaged?"

2. Mental Health and Coping Mechanisms

Battling Anxiety
Both Marc and Tom open up about their struggles with anxiety. Tom discusses how farm life and interacting with animals, particularly riding his mule, have become therapeutic outlets for him.

[34:45] Tom Green: "Riding a mule has been the best thing for my anxiety because it's a combination of a lot of things. Just being in nature, being alone, being around animals, and getting exercise."

Overcoming Self-Doubt
Tom reflects on the internal battles he faces, especially when preparing for performances or new projects. He emphasizes the importance of controlling his thoughts to prevent self-sabotage.

[16:50] Tom Green: "Any struggle between the voices of who I've become versus the obstacles I've overcome in my life and in my mind."

3. The Evolution of Comedy and Media Influence

Influence on Modern Comedy
Tom Green discusses his role as a trailblazer in the comedy and media landscape, highlighting how his early work paved the way for contemporary figures like Eric Andre and the rise of the video podcast.

[12:30] Tom Green: "I think he kind of invented Eric Andre and sort of invented the modern video podcast."

Early Adoption of Digital Media
Tom recounts his experiences with early video podcasts and the challenges of building an online presence before platforms like YouTube became mainstream. He humorously notes missed opportunities and the rapid evolution of digital content.

[69:00] Tom Green: "I actually believe this happened. I remember once checking my email and I had all these like, you know, we're uploading our footage every day to the website before YouTube existed."

Comparing Past and Present Comedy Scenes
The conversation touches on the stark differences between the chaotic, adrenaline-fueled comedy of Tom's early career and his current, more introspective approach. Marc and Tom discuss how the comedy landscape has shifted with social media and digital broadcasting.

[74:45] Tom Green: "I did something completely uncontrolled. Now it's like you get inundated with crazy shit on your phone every day."

4. Personal Stories and Reflections

Interactions with William Shatner
Tom reminisces about his early days in Los Angeles, including renting a house from actor William Shatner and the unique experiences that came with it.

[50:40] Tom Green: "I was living alone in a house that I was renting from William Shatner. He was my first landlord, which was ridiculous."

Impact of Cancer Survival
Tom candidly discusses his battle with cancer at the age of 28 and how it reshaped his perspective on life. Surviving cancer instilled in him a sense of urgency and appreciation for life that influences his current endeavors.

[79:14] Tom Green: "I got cancer at 28, and now that I've survived it, it makes me realize how much pressure was off."

Dealing with Pets and Wildlife
The conversation takes a lighter turn as Tom talks about his experiences with his dog Charlie and the challenges of living on a farm, including dealing with wild animals like coyotes that pose threats to his pets.

[30:08] Tom Green: "It's a horrible feeling, you know, I was pretty upset about it when the coyotes got my chickens."

5. Final Thoughts and Community Engagement

Building Community on the Farm
Despite the isolation of farm life, Tom emphasizes the importance of community and mutual support among his neighbors. The shared responsibilities and friendships provide a sense of belonging and assistance in daily tasks.

[57:31] Tom Green: "Everyone was really welcoming... we go out and cut the hay together."

Legacy and Timing in Media
Tom reflects on the importance of timing in the media industry, expressing regret over not capitalizing on opportunities like YouTube in its infancy. He muses about being early adopters and the impact of timing on one's legacy.

[67:24] Tom Green: "You could have been on the ground floor. But it was like we were the pioneers and left with the arrows in their back."

Connecting Past and Present
Tom and Marc share anecdotes about their early careers, mutual respect for past influences like David Letterman, and how these relationships have evolved over time. They celebrate the enduring impact of their work and the connections they've maintained.

[66:10] Tom Green: "It's neat to see that he's out doing so much stuff, like going on podcasts and stuff."

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Notable Quotes

• Tom Green on Anxiety and Riding Mules:
  *"[34:45] Tom Green: 'Riding a mule has been the best thing for my anxiety because it's a combination of a lot of things.'"

• Tom Green on Early Digital Media Challenges:
  *"[69:00] Tom Green: 'I actually believe this happened. I remember once checking my email and I had all these like, you know, we're uploading our footage every day to the website before YouTube existed.'"

• Tom Green on Surviving Cancer:
  *"[79:14] Tom Green: 'I got cancer at 28, and now that I've survived it, it makes me realize how much pressure was off.'"

• Marc Maron on Cultural Differences Between Canada and the USA:
  *"[52:38] Marc Maron: 'I try to assess my own feelings about it that I think just even the fact of, like living out in the woods or having the farm and being alone up there, that there's just no denying on a cultural and in every way that Canada is a safer place than here.'"

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Conclusion

Episode 1640 offers an intimate glimpse into Tom Green's life beyond the camera, highlighting his transition from the high-energy chaos of early career antics to a more serene and introspective existence on a Canadian farm. Through candid discussions on mental health, the evolution of comedy, and personal growth, both Marc Maron and Tom Green provide listeners with profound insights into navigating change, embracing community, and finding peace amidst life's uncertainties.

For those interested in exploring Tom Green's latest work, his projects "Tom Green Country", "I Got a Mule", and his documentary are available on Prime Video.

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Note: Quotes are attributed with approximate timestamps from the episode transcript to provide context and authenticity to the summary.

Transcript

[Marc Maron]

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Just like we do at wtfpod.com check out squarespace.com WTF for a free trial and then use offer code WTF to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com WTF offer code WTF foreign. Let's do this. How are you? What the. What the Buddies? What the Nicks? What's happening? I'm Mark Marin. This is my podcast, wtf. Welcome to it. What is happening? What is going on? I am newly awake. I am on the road. I am in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I have just woken up and, and I'm looking out at these massive towers, massive towers of, from what I understand, may or may not be occupied apartment buildings. But I did two shows last night. Today is Sunday. You'll be listening to this Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or maybe years from now. But I just wanted to tell you that what you're listening to is a man in Toronto in a hotel room having his second night nespresso coffee that he made with that machine. I don't want to say it twice, I'm not promoting it, but I'll. I guess what I am saying sort of, you know, in a coded way is not a bad hotel room when you got the real Nespresso pods. Because sometimes you get those, those. What do you got? Knockoff pods. You don't want the knockoff pods. Not as good. They don't even look as pretty. Why is it that they can't make. What would it take to make them look as pretty as the real ones? The knockoff ones. They just got to look a little shittier. So you're like, I guess these are okay. But then when you see the real ones, you're like, these are like gold. This isn't even a plug. But maybe, maybe. No, it's not. I don't need an espresso machine anyway. How are you guys? Pow. I just shit my pants. Just Coffee co op. That's a classic. Thought I'd throw that in there. Anyway, speaking of Canada, Tom Green is on the show again today. And you know, I like Tom. And I don't always put Tom into perspective, into context in terms of sort of what an important fellow he was in the history of the media world that we live in. And, you know, I missed the whole Tom Green thing because I don't think I was the right age. I think him and I are around the same age. And when he was doing his crazy shit, well, he's, you know, he's actually five years younger than me. It wasn't my thing. I knew of him, but I wasn't watching mtv. As I get older, I gotta be honest with you, it seems that I missed just about everything. I don't know, I don't know exactly how, but I can kind of figure it out. Like, you know, I didn't watch Seinfeld. I didn't watch the Simpsons. I didn't watch. I just missed everything musically. I missed most things. I missed everything that was going on in New York in the early aughts and I was there for part of it. I didn't. I just missed. I just missed everything. And the reason is. The reason that I don't know if I'm late for the party or not, but the reason that I have to pick up on things later is because all I was doing is stand up comedy. That's all I did. I wandered around during the day writing things down and then at night I would sit and comedy clubs. And most of the time I wasn't living in a situation where I had a DVR or a video cassette player. So I just wasn't watching for years. When many things happened, I didn't. I don't. I didn't even have a TV set in New York City when I lived there in the late 80s. Not. I didn't even have a TV. I don't know how the hell, whatever, but I missed it all. But now, thank God, because it's all available all the time on your hand. You can just pull up on your phone or wherever and you can catch up. You can reintegrate. You can fill in those blank spaces of years in your Head. So, except for Covid, that kind of. That one fucked us all. I seriously am still not correct time wise. And I think I said this before because of COVID I think I should be 58 years old and not 61. But that's my opinion. But I just missed it all. And I missed Tom, but, you know, I had him on the show. And generally when I have somebody on the show, you know, I get into it, I look into it, I experience whatever they did as much as I can. And I was looking back at Tom's stuff, you know, the documentary about him and just how fucking punk rock and nuts he was, and the fact that I think he, you know, kind of invented Eric Andre and sort of invented the modern video podcast, which was, you know, hijacked by, you know, you know, the rest of them. It's very funny. There's this funny doc out there, kind of one of those underground docs about comedy and where it's at now. And some of it is about, you know, the collapse of comedy and then the rise of the podcast and how Joe Rogan kind of took Tom Green's idea and it's actually in the doc, but he's able to isolate the moment on Tom Green's podcast where Joe was a guest and sort of had the idea to do it. And then this guy who made it, no one knows who does it. No one knows who makes these things. He's made a couple of them. They're kind of smart. They're kind of like Adam Curtis, who I like, but more specific and more structured. But there's a point in the doc. It's called How Comedy Became a Dystopian Imperial Hell world. It's on YouTube. Comedy Czar, how Comedy Became a Dystopian Imperial Hell World. Don't know who the guy is. I believe he's Canadian, the guy who made the doc. But he sort of cites Tom Green as the originator. And then he speculates or he fantasizes about a world where Tom Green would be the biggest podcaster in the world and. And not Joe, and what an amazing world that would be. But anyway, Tom is back and he's kind of settled. He's a little. He's a bit of a settled man now, in a way. He just did like four episodes of this mini kind of series of him moving to the farm. He's moved back here to Canada to. And he bought a farm again. He was on the show years ago on episode 360 in 2013, and now he's got this this thing. Tom Green Country. It's four episodes, a docu series, and it's about him just buying this farm and living on it. And it's kind of sweet. He's got a comedy special out. Cut. He's got a comedy special out. Tom Green, I got a mule. And he's got another thing. This is Tom Green, the documentary, which he directed. He's kind of an important guy, and it was good to see him again. And now he goes everywhere with his dog Charlie, who was in. In. In studio. And it was a. It was a great conversation. So that's happening. That's happening soon. If you're listening to this now, it's the last week of my tour, and, man, am I shredding my brain. Am I just trying to. Oh, my God. I'm in Burlington, Vermont, tonight at the. At the Vermont Comedy Club. Two shows tonight and then one show tomorrow. I'm in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at the Music hall on Wednesday, this Wednesday, May 7th. And then Brooklyn, New York, at the BAM Harvey Theater for my HBO special taping this Saturday, May 10th. Two shows there. I don't know what's available. I don't think there's tickets for that Vermont run available. There might be a few for New York. Don't know, maybe not. I know there's a few for Portsmouth. So if you're anywhere within a couple hours of Portsmouth and you need to see me, you might. That one you could probably get into there. It's. It's. There's a lot of tickets sold. Listen to me, the insecurity speaking up. No, don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. There. There's definitely, you know, a lot of tickets sold. But. Yeah, so I've been up here in Canada and traveling up here was pretty easy. And again, you get that tremendous sort of load of. You get the maga load off your back. Everything just. Your body relaxes, your brain relaxes, the pace changes. This theater is crazy. The small theater at the Elgin, it seats about 8 or 900, and there's fake leaves everywhere, apparently. I don't know. When they found this theater, they knocked out a wall or something years ago, and they didn't realize there was a theater in there. And it had all this shrubbery growing, these vines growing around the whole building. I'm sure there's a documented history of this. I don't know. I'm just kind of going off something I have listened to somebody telling me, and it was so unique that they just kind of redid it with Fake leaves. Very interesting theater, but it's probably the best one I've played up here. But I told the audience, I said, you know, I definitely am kind of happy for y'all for going politically the way you did. And I got to be honest, I'm kind of leaning a little bit towards that 51st state thing. I mean, I think that it might be a good thing that just selfishly, we could use the votes down south there, down where we are, we could use the, the electoral votes of the state of Canada to help us in these upcoming elections. They laughed. I don't think I was serious, but, you know, take it for what it is. This show is sponsored by Better Help. This is Mental Health Awareness month, and we're definitely getting better in dealing with mental health issues out in the open. It's one of the things I've been open about since the start of this show and I hope it helps, but there's still work to be done. 26% of Americans who participated in a recent survey say they've avoided seeking mental health support due to fear of judgment. One of the ways we can all fix that is continuing to encourage people to take care of their mental well being and break the stigma. There are lots of ways you can try therapy. Better Help is one of them. In fact, it might be the right one for you because it's fully online, meaning you can go to therapy wherever you are. It's more affordable than traditional therapy and you can switch therapists at any time without any extra charges. Better Help has more than 10 years of experience matching people with the right therapist, helping out more than 5 million people worldwide. We're all better with help. Visit betterhelp.com WTF to get 10% off your first month? That's betterhelp h-e l p.com WTF speaking of mental health, it's kind of amazing that at least I know at this point that when I'm converging on a big thing, especially something like a comedy special or something that requires all of me and I am the one doing it, my brain really does everything it can to kind of make it much more difficult for me. I just start spinning and figuring out things to obsess on beating the shit out of myself, you know, thinking I'm, I'm horrible for. So, you know, any, a number of ways, you know, wondering about my appearance, wondering about the clothes I've chosen, wondering about the material, wondering if I want to be alive anymore. I mean, wondering if I'm going to get sick, wondering If I'm losing my memory, wondering if I'm going to. I mean, it's like the way my fear and panic manifest because I feel pretty confident about the work. You know, I feel ready. I'm almost too ready. Last night I did one set that was just tight and quick and, you know, focused, no beats. And I realized on the last special that I kind of did that too, that there wasn't a lot of kind of slowing down or casual nuance to the thing and. But I just get my brain into this mode where I just want it to be tight as fuck after being loose as fuck for a year and a half, two years of this material that's been building, but just what I'm doing to myself, laying in bed, just like, not wanting to fucking get out. And I guess it's all some sort of. That's the battle of me where, you know, I've got to correct my brain and not let that voice. It's really a struggle between the voices of, like, you know, who I've become and, like, what I am in term professionally, and the obstacles I've overcome in my life and in my mind versus that, that guy who's been with me since I was in high school that just says, you suck, you awkward fuck. What? I mean, you just, like, you're just going to make everyone uncomfortable. You're going to start crying. I mean, you know, it's just the list is kind of insane and I just have to keep the dominant present, me, you know, focused and functioning. So that's my process. What's your process, huh? So, look, Tom Green. It was great to see him. It's a nice little ending to this conversation. All three of his new projects are on Prime Video. This is the Tom Green documentary, the comedy special I Got a Mule, and the docu series Tom Green Country. And this is me reconnecting with Tom. When I travel, there's a lot of worry that comes along with it. Sometimes I get worried that my flight will have a problem and I won't get to my destination. Like I was. I. I was on a Southwest flight to outside of Chicago. Where the hell was I going? But there was two medical emergencies on the flight and five doctors. What a coincidence. What a fortuitous bit of business. Five doctors on a plane, Everyone was okay. And of course, I worry about my home while I'm away. But what if someone else took care of your place while guests pay to stay there? What about that? That's what can happen now with an Airbnb co host An Airbnb co host will create the property listing, manage your reservations, and even send messages to your guests. Then the co host will be on hand for any support your guests might need, which keeps your guest happy. And you're worried to a minimum. So someone else takes care of everything and you still make some cash. More money, less worry. Sounds good. Find a co [e-mail] host.

[Tom Green]

My dog's here. She'll calm down in a second. I'm just gonna take her. My dog Charlie, who's with me everywhere. I'm gonna take her.

[Marc Maron]

You bring her on stage now?

[Tom Green]

I bring her on stage. Literally take her everywhere with me. But it's. It's fun traveling with a dog, you know? Is it when. Yeah. When you do stand up and you're always on the road and you.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

Have a. Have a little friend with you. I enjoy it a lot.

[Marc Maron]

It seems like I can't do it with cats.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

How long have you had the dog?

[Tom Green]

She's turning five, so. She's turning five. I got her during. During the pandemic, and that's kind of led to a lot of changes in my life. I got Charlie and, like, I took it real seriously, the pandemic. Like, I stayed inside.

[Marc Maron]

Well, where were you?

[Tom Green]

Here. I was here. I was still. I was in la.

[Marc Maron]

You were up in the hills.

[Tom Green]

Yep. Yep.

[Marc Maron]

You were pretty freaked out. Well, you had dealt with major health issues before, so I imagine your sensitivity to the possibilities.

[Tom Green]

Exactly.

[Marc Maron]

And also the unknown. It's like, you know, I got. I don't know what. At one point, I just said, you know, it. I'm going to the store.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And, you know, I would double mask. I would be the guy in, like, a spacesuit at the Whole Foods because I just couldn't stand.

[Tom Green]

Yep.

[Marc Maron]

Being in house.

[Tom Green]

I was ordering all my groceries on the instacart.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, sure.

[Tom Green]

I literally was doing these, like, washing them with bleach.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, sure. The grocery. Sure. Wiping them down. Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And then. And then I. And then I would actually film that and put it on. On. On Instagram.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And then that's when I realized we had some division in our society.

[Marc Maron]

People yelling at you for believing the bullshit.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go back to Canada. Okay. And I did. I went back to Canada.

[Marc Maron]

What was that based on?

[Tom Green]

The. The decision to go back to Canada or.

[Marc Maron]

No, but I mean, like, what were you getting flack about? Was it.

[Tom Green]

Oh, just. Just because of. Cause I was pro vaccine.

[Marc Maron]

Reasonable stuff.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. I mean, this was sort of before the vaccine was Out. But I was. I was, you know, talking about the vaccine, and. And then eventually I stopped talking about it because I. I just didn't feel like dealing. Listening to all that crap. But. Yeah, but, like. And I. If people don't want to take a vaccine, that's cool. If people don't want to. Don't want to spray their groceries down with Clorox bleach, that makes sense, too.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Tom Green]

And also, I probably was overreacting a little bit with that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, But. But we didn't know. Why not overreact. You know what I constantly think about that I really can't understand is when it's just this idea, like, when. When other people wear masks. People still wear masks. And people wore masks before COVID Mostly Asian people who are ahead of the curve on that.

[Tom Green]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

But when they travel. But the people that get upset of, like, you know, why the. Are you wearing a mask? It's like, what difference does it make to you?

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Just shut up. It was amazing that it became political.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I just don't understand, like, because usually when you resent something about somebody else, it has something to do with you. So, like, in their dumb minds, it implies that you're mocking them.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's like, I don't even. I mean, I understand it, but how do you surrender? That doesn't matter. I just. I fester on it. All right, so. But before you went to Canada, Back to Canada, which, you know, I'm. I'm waiting on a PR visa, and I hope I get it. Could you talk to somebody, a permanent residency?

[Tom Green]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Put a good word in for me. Sure.

[Tom Green]

Absolutely. Yeah. You're thinking about coming up to Canada?

[Marc Maron]

Well, I want. I want to have the option.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I love it up there.

[Tom Green]

Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like, I have found they love you up there, too. Do they?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, absolutely. You do shows up there, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do.

[Marc Maron]

I do all right. Up there. I shot. I shot a show up there, but I always go up there to. To work, but I find it very relieving.

[Tom Green]

What city would you go to? Vancouver, I think. Feels like a west coast vibe. You're used to it.

[Marc Maron]

It does, but, like, I haven't spent. I spent some time in Toronto, but I've not been up in the country, like, where you are, I don't think.

[Tom Green]

No, no. I'm out in the middle of the wilderness, sort of outside of Toronto and Ottawa and Montreal. I mean, if you were to drive outside of those cities, I'm sort of between all three of them. So. Yeah. And.

[Marc Maron]

But am I wrong in remembering. Were you in Costa Rica?

[Tom Green]

I have gone down there quite a bit. Yeah. But I never lived there permanently because.

[Marc Maron]

I think when you resurfaced, at least in my life, it was like Tom's in Costa Rica and I'd see clips from you in Costa Rica.

[Tom Green]

I go there on vacation a lot. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Okay. So it wasn't like you moved there.

[Tom Green]

Never moved there? No, no.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, you like it down there?

[Tom Green]

I love it down there. I have a little spot down there.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah?

[Tom Green]

Yeah. So it's a.

[Marc Maron]

You do the winter?

[Tom Green]

Well, this winter I didn't go because I.

[Marc Maron]

You got a farm now?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, I got a farm, but I was touring in the US this winter in my camper van, which has been a whole other adventure.

[Marc Maron]

What do you got, one of those silver ones, Airliners?

[Tom Green]

It's a ram promaster. It's a small conversion van.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Tom Green]

And that's what happened. That's kind of what got me moving back to Canada. Was in the pandemic. I got Charlie and I got my dog Charlie. She's named after. Travels with Charlie Steinbeck, John Steinbeck, which is him driving around in a camper with his dog. Sort of wrote a book about America. Yeah. So I'm somewhat.

[Marc Maron]

You were following that. That trail.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, somewhat of a, you know, sort of a dissection of some of the political differences in the country and stuff. Is his book, you know, but. But I. I made YouTube videos about it that was. Were not political at all, but just. Just going out to the desert and. But that kind of led me to want to live more close to nature because I was spent, you know, a year of the beginning of the pandemic in the van. Going around the van. Just. I'd go out la. I'd go out into Utah and I'd go do photography out there.

[Marc Maron]

So did you find that, like I find that unless you make an effort to get off the interstate.

[Tom Green]

Exactly.

[Marc Maron]

You're not going to see anything.

[Tom Green]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So you had to make some choices.

[Tom Green]

Absolutely. I would never. On the interstate as much as possible. Just sometimes I'd.

[Marc Maron]

And there's still a lot left out there.

[Tom Green]

I discovered stuff out there that I had no idea existed, which has now taken me down, possibly down some sort of rabbit hole that may continue for the rest of my life, for all I know. Because I love. I just went back this winter again to do more of this exploring and discovering these Native American ruins that are out in the desert of the southwestern United States. Started out, I went to this place, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

[Marc Maron]

I grew up in Albuquerque.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Okay. So have you been to Chaco? You've been to Chaco?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

Isn't that just amazing?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And did you go to the hot springs up there? Isn't there some hot springs?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, I didn't go to the hot springs, but. But I. But I started going to all these different ruins and, you know, making videos and photography of it. And I just find it completely fascinating. Fascinating, because, first of all, just kind of somewhat baffled that I didn't know about it already, you know, like.

[Marc Maron]

Well, they're all over. It's weird because some of them aren't, you know, large, you know, marked in a big way.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you. And a lot of them aren't, like, really maintained. You can just sort of like. Oh, yeah, the cave's over there.

[Tom Green]

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you just go.

[Tom Green]

So it's just on this tour I was just on this winter.

[Marc Maron]

Did you go to Pecos and stuff?

[Tom Green]

No. Where's that?

[Marc Maron]

New Mexico?

[Tom Green]

No, no.

[Marc Maron]

There's a Pecos National Monument. I can't remember if that's. That might not be all the way back to Native Americans, but there is another one up there where the. They were just like. They would live in the mountain.

[Tom Green]

Oh, yeah, These caves. There's one in the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde, Colorado. Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Ye. Mesa Verde. That's a big one.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, that's a big one. That one's very organized. Organized. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You can walk through the Anastasi, wasn't it? The Anastasi, I think. And you can go through that whole tour.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, the Anastasi. It's called the. There's a. That means the ancient ones.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And so what was it that was connecting you to all this? What was so fascinating about it?

[Tom Green]

Well, you know, it started out as just kind of wanting to get out and be out there away from people and making some. Having something to take a picture of. I just really got back into photography.

[Marc Maron]

Films, or you're just a good camera Video.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was shooting. While shooting. I have a little Leica that I shoot film on, too. But also a lot of video. I was doing with a little Sony A7SIII. Just a little. Little. But I was getting into kind of figuring out the lenses and things that I kind of meant to get into.

[Marc Maron]

Over the years, both video and still.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. So I just kind of really kind of was getting into that. So it's like, oh, I gotta find something to take a picture of. Yeah. And Then, then you get out there and you just sort of. I know it's always kind of weird when people say this. The energy. You feel this energy. Right. But like I, and I don't know if it's just sort of psychological. You kind of feel like, wow, there's people that were living here 2,000 years ago and they're, you know, these buildings that they built remain. And you can kind of feel, you know, the footprints of these people and you think, wow. You know, it starts making me think like, about, like, okay, why do we make, why do we put videos and pictures up on Instagram? You know, is that the modern day petroglyph? Is that what we've become? Like, do people like to leave some sort of marking of who we are so future generations can. And it used to be go, okay, all these petroglyphs out there, let's draw these little drawings.

[Marc Maron]

I think the big question about, in terms of like, maybe that's true, but I'd like to think there was just a few people that were really good at it back then.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, sure.

[Marc Maron]

And they kind of left that job to them. Aside from that, there was just sort of my name, I was here. But I think that some petroglyphs. That must have been a special person that was in charge of that. And now it's definitely not special.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I think it's more comparable, I mean, a lot of the Instagram to maybe where they shit. But every once in a while a special petroglyph maker makes an Instagram video.

[Tom Green]

Sure, yeah. But they're everywhere out there. That's the thing that you sort of.

[Marc Maron]

Start to little markets everywhere.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, everywhere. And, you know, there's places up in the mountains of Colorado and Utah where they're not even where there's these stone structures. You know, everyone always talks about Machu Picchu. Yeah, everyone always talks about Machu Picchu.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Tom Green]

Chaco Canyon's basically as big as Machu Picchu. I mean, it's this huge thing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. A lot of stuff in North America.

[Tom Green]

Why, why is that not all talked about all the time, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Well, that's a, It's a good question about like, because they're all the. There are all those little ones, those just little etching like there. There's definitely sort of sides of rocks that are filled with stuff.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So like, I guess the, the question is, is like, is this someone declaring their existence and. But did you look into like the spiritual symbols or anything? Or why they are what they are?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, I haven't really gone too deep into what, the petroglyphs. As much as the. As more of just looking at these ruins more. Has been something that's been.

[Marc Maron]

It is kind of haunting in a nice way.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like when you go out there, but also New Mexico. Stunning.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. So there's a. I love New Mexico is.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. There's a weight to it, you know, like, you're like, am I feeling. Am I projecting this just because it's beautiful or is it fucking magic?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, exactly.

[Marc Maron]

And. But. But along the same lines, like, you got to think, like, when those tribes were out there that it was even more beautiful because there was less. You know, you didn't drive somewhere. There was no expectation. It just was.

[Tom Green]

So, yeah, Chaco Canyon was a place where people just from this. From me reading about it, but in the last couple of years, but, you know, people came from all over North America.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

You know, to sort of meet there, you know, from as far south. Yeah. From Mexico.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. It was built in 875, so it's all pre Columbian stuff. Right. It's like it was there from 875 till around 11, 1150.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And I guess there was a drought and they left, but. But they found, like, macaw feathers. And so they know that people were coming with, you know, macaw from as far as Mexico up to New Mexico and, you know, pottery and all these things they find. So it's been heavily studied. It's interesting. When I got into it, I found a book about it, and it was actually written by Mike Judge's father, James Judge. I guess he's from New Mexico.

[Marc Maron]

Yes.

[Tom Green]

He spent his life, like, doing that. James Judge, who just spent his life out there at Chaco Canyon, sort of doing research on it.

[Marc Maron]

Did you talk to Mike about it?

[Tom Green]

I did call him and talk to him about it. Yeah. I asked him about it.

[Marc Maron]

Was he like. My dad was always out there.

[Tom Green]

He kind of said something like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I. I heard. I just heard his father just passed away. I didn't talk to Mike about that, but they told me that at Choco Canyon they just passed away. But, but, but yeah, I guess Mike grew up out there. Drew his dad dragging him out to the dirt. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

That's fucking great.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But when, like, you know, I kind of rewatched some of the. I watched all the tom green countries that they gave me.

[Tom Green]

Cool. Thank you. Yeah. There's just four of them, so. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Are you doing more?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, well, I'm doing some more stuff this summer. Yeah, yeah. Not necessarily doing more of that episode, but of that show. But a similar show. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So that was a one off, the.

[Tom Green]

Four episode one off thing. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

That was the transition.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, possibly. Yeah. Yeah, we'll see.

[Marc Maron]

But you didn't want to. It's not a continuing story.

[Tom Green]

I may do more, but right now it's. It's a nice little beginning, middle and end to it. But I am doing some more shows this summer with.

[Marc Maron]

It's not. There is no end to it.

[Tom Green]

That's true. No, I know.

[Marc Maron]

It's like day to day up there. Absolutely. You know, and I'm sorry about the chickens.

[Tom Green]

Yes, I know it was tragic and quite heartbreaking for me actually, when that happened because I really had sort of named them all, you know, Loretta, Patsy, Chicken.

[Marc Maron]

It was all part of your first. Your introduction into the life.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. And I was having fun with my chick. I still have new chickens now, but I don't name them anymore. It was Loretta, Patsy, Shania, Dolly, June and Ann. I named them after country singers, of course. Two Canadians in there, Shania Twain and Anne Marie. But I was bringing Loretta into the house and playing piano with her and all this stuff. And you go into town one day and come back and it's just a massacre. The coyotes. Right. There's lots of wild animals there.

[Marc Maron]

Fucking coyotes sleep in my yard.

[Tom Green]

Right.

[Marc Maron]

I have a catio over there. And I think they think of it as like a lobster tank. And I'm the maitre d. You know, I'll take the orange one.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know you got the cats.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I think I lost. I've been through cats that have disappeared and I've had ferals get ripped up by those coyotes.

[Tom Green]

Your cats go outside here, no. Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Everyone's at the old house where you were at. I used to let them out. It was ridiculous.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I don't know how they all lived, but one of them got got. And then there was a feral cat out there, a deaf guy who couldn't hear, but he lived for years. He eventually got taken by the coyotes.

[Tom Green]

It's a horrible feeling, you know, I was pretty upset about it and now. But it's interesting. I've got new chickens now. I don't name them anymore. I don't individually recognize any of them. They all look the same to me now, sort of purposefully, and I've lost a couple of more. There's a lot of wolves and coyotes and all sorts of stuff up there.

[Marc Maron]

I know that was great. When you set up that camera, you Seem to be truly amazed at what.

[Tom Green]

I did not expect.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Everything.

[Tom Green]

The bears.

[Marc Maron]

Every kind.

[Tom Green]

I knew there were bears. I'd heard rumors, but I didn't know they were just walking up and down.

[Marc Maron]

The trails at night, just hanging out a porcupine.

[Tom Green]

Yep. Yep.

[Marc Maron]

That's crazy. But it's not crazy. But it's so beautiful up there. And the appeal of it is very understandable. I mean, I think about it a lot, you know. You know, I plan to sort of end up either, you know, in Canada or New Mexico, but I don't know about a farm. But you didn't know about it either.

[Tom Green]

No, it's true.

[Marc Maron]

And the responsibility of it. I guess, like anything else, I get overwhelmed with anxiety. So I'm like, you know, what the fuck am I gonna. But you pulled in the community, old friends, people that did the stuff that needs to be done in order to establish the thing.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And when you watch how you handled it, you're like, oh, this is doable. If you just, you know, get the guy to build the fence.

[Tom Green]

Exactly.

[Marc Maron]

You don't have to build the fence.

[Tom Green]

Well, the good news is I'm not trying to run a, you know, a profitable farm business, you know, lifestyle. I have my animals that I have to feed every day. I've got this mule, Fanny and Kia. A donkey.

[Marc Maron]

Well, that's a question I wanted to ask. Why? Because I don't know that. Like, I always knew there's a difference between a mule and a donkey. But why not just a horse? I mean, the mule is a very stunning animal. That one you got.

[Tom Green]

Yes. She's pretty cool.

[Marc Maron]

It's a unique. And it's as big as a horse.

[Tom Green]

She's maybe larger than most horses. Actually, her mother's a Percheron horse. Okay. So Percheron, it's like a workhorse. Almost like a Clydesdale. It's like a French type of European workhorse. Fancy horse, but big horse, though. Yeah. And her daddy's a mammoth donkey. So a mule is half horse, half donkey. It's two completely different species bred by humans. And they have one less chromosome than a horse and one more than a donkey. Or maybe it's the other way around. So they're sterile, they can't reproduce. So, like, I think it's a. I may be getting this backwards, but a horse has 64 chromosomes and. And a donkey is 66 or whatever, and the mule is 65.

[Marc Maron]

What a stunning animal, though.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

The color and everything. Doesn't look like a horse.

[Tom Green]

Most people think, yeah, she's at first glance, people would think she's a horse, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But if you keep looking at it.

[Tom Green]

She'S got the mule features and they.

[Marc Maron]

Were just built for work.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. And they're very sturdy animals. They're a great animal to ride. They're a little more difficult to, you know, get into a rhythm with. You gotta kinda earn their trust. It's a whole thing. Like, you can really, really. I mean, I think we can really get into this, actually. Cause we could talk about this in detail. It's really quite interesting. I had no clue. I didn't know anything about this, you know, but it was clear. Yeah. But it's been two years now since I got her. And so, like, we shot this the summer before last.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

You know, everything takes forever to come up. So, you know, the first year was a lot of learning. And now I've really kind of gotten quite, you know, quite comfortable with. With riding this, riding her, you know, and we go off every day when I'm home. We just go off on these rides and down the trails and out into the wilderness.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And, you know, you talk about anxiety. Right. Like, I also, you know, probably most comedians, I certainly feel like maybe more than. More than average have anxiety. Right.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And for me, like, getting this. These animals specifically. Riding a mule has been the best thing for my anxiety because it's a combination of a lot of things. Like, just being in nature has always been nice for me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

Being alone in nature has always been nice for me. Being around animals is nice for me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And then getting exercise is quite. Quite a lot of exercise. When you ride a mule, you go off all day and you're riding this thing. It's. You wouldn't feel. You're engaged, you're engaged and you're. And your mind is focused on the present.

[Marc Maron]

Right, Right.

[Tom Green]

You're not, you're not. You know, I don't want to fall off this thing or I'm going to get hurt, you know, so there's all of that. But then it's. It's also just like the thing that's sort of the most unexpected part of it, which I kind of have found fascinating, is that you have to kind of riding a mule teaches you to. At least the mule has to trust you and has to want you to be the leader and has to trust that you know what you're doing. Which when you don't know what you're doing, it's very difficult to make her trust you.

[Marc Maron]

They sense that. I've always been afraid of horses. And they feel that.

[Tom Green]

They feel it. They feel. And if they feel you're nervous, then they're worried about, like you say, okay, we're gonna ride off into these woods full of wolves, right. And you feel nervous. They go, well, I don't wanna go there. This guy is gonna lead me off into danger here. This guy's an idiot, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

So, you know, so I think the sort of light bulb went off for me one day when I was having trouble, you know, getting her to listen to me. She wasn't turning left, literally, she would just not turn left. So I really could only. Really, couldn't really go anywhere.

[Marc Maron]

And now you know her politics.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, exactly. So, yes. And you know, so I had some people that, the ladies that raised her.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, they were upset when they.

[Tom Green]

And they had her for 10 years. They've been really helpful. They're up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is 18 hours north of me. Imagine how big Canada is, right? An 18 hour drive north from where I am into northern Canada. So it's like Club Med down where we are for this mule. She's like, oh, man, it's balmy down here. But so we went out, they came down and we went out for a ride. And they were driving in this little ATV thing ahead of me. And I'd sort of learned that Fanny is Neil's name. Doesn't like the sound of these ATVs. Doesn't like ATVs. Yeah, they'd stop the ATV on a, on the trail and I'm riding up towards them and they're sort of giving me some direction. As I'm getting closer, I start thinking, okay, Fanny's not going to want to go around the atv. It's parked on the trail, there's a little space I could go around. But I'm like. And so Fanny stops. And I'm saying, fanny's not gonna wanna go around the ATV here. So I guess I'll stop. And they say, no, no, just go around the atv. Fanny's not gonna go around the. Wanna go around the ATV because you guys told me that she's afraid of ATVs and she doesn't seem to like the sound of ATVs. And you know, Fanny's resisting. And then they say to me, no, no, no, it's. No, no, no, it's not that Fanny doesn't wanna go around the atv. It's that you are worried that she doesn't wanna go around.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Tom Green]

And that's why she's not going around the atv because she can Tell that you're worried about it. Yeah. Like she can feel. So you start to go, okay. You start to have to train yourself when you're riding along towards something and you go, okay, she's not going to want to go that way. You have to say no, no. You have to say in your head, confidently in your head, not, we're going around there, we're going around. Stay confident. You know, if you feel nervous, you gotta take a deep breath. Make those nerves go away. You gotta, gotta be cool. You gotta. And it's like the antithesis of who I am. Right. Like you actually have to be cool and comfortable and relaxed, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And it's like, but I'm riding a giant mule. But I have to be relaxed and I have to not be worried about some fictional scenario that I'm creating in my head that she doesn't want to go this way. And so then you realize that translates into like human life. Right. Because if you walk well, that's all.

[Marc Maron]

Anxiety is, is projection.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Of fear. You know, that's, that's the core of like mind. Just the dread or the expectation.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Or the, the. But, but basically it's like with any animal you're going to like, I guess, I guess the word is anthropomorphized. You're. You're going to project your feelings onto them and they're sort of like all they're responding to is your nervousness or they know.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. So that's the way they communicate. I mean they don't have language. Right. So they've always communicated through energy. Right. Like.

[Marc Maron]

Well, that's interesting to you, isn't it? Because like, you know, you're kind of balls out, whatever. Generally the history of your expression is like.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And now like. But there's a. That's being present too. But it's kind of forcing, almost chaos because that's where you're comfortable. But this is so specific that you know, it's just a dynamic in your brain where you realize like, you know, I've just got to. Because I don't know that you. Do you feel like you ever really even acknowledged that space in your mind before?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, like not as much. That's why I'm saying it's really getting me more in tuned with that sort of getting ahead of the anxiety. You sort of. Because when you're, now when you're riding along you start to realize there's a direct sort of relationship between that anxiety and this animals sort of reaction and to it you start to try to go, okay, let's think about my thoughts and think about what I'm thinking and, you know, breathe calmly and stay calm and feel, feel good and be positive and. And it's working and it works. And then, and so then you sort of take that into life with, with people too, you know, because you go, okay. You know, when you think about it, we didn't always have language, right? We didn't. We used to probably when we were cavemen or whatever, we're running around like, follow that guy. He seems like he knows what he's doing, right. And so, so, you know, I can, yeah, I can kind of relate it to life in Hollywood. You know, you're on the 405, going to a meeting at Viacom to try to pitch some idea and in your head you're like, oh, they're never gonna buy this thing, you know, and then you go in and sure enough, they don't buy it. You know, I wonder why. Probably because they could tell that you didn't. Didn't believe in it, you know, that.

[Marc Maron]

You weren't in control of your horse.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

[Marc Maron]

Maybe. But it is kind of interesting though, that before, like, because I start to think about the type of, you know, even when I've had this thing where I'm watching, you know, everyone on YouTube, anyone who's talking now, everyone's become a broadcaster of some kind. And there's a zone of energy that you live in when you do that. There's almost a mania. And now that people watch influencers and that they think this is the tone you exist in this sort of balls out, kind of like, I'm talking now and this is what's happening. It's a very specific part of the spectrum. But I think people are doing it in regular life now that there's this mania that, that happens. And you know, there's a whole other, there's all kinds of other human ways of communicating that are not that. But, but I think like when, when I think about all your work leading up to this, that, that the, you know, the chaos you created, I don't know why, because your parents seem pretty level headed people.

[Tom Green]

I think I was rebelling.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, well, yeah, there's that. But also there's a comforting chaos. Like, you know, once you create that zone, it's a real buzz, you know, to, you know, because you don't know what the fuck is gonna happen. Yeah, yeah, you know, anytime. And you're just, you know, throwing yourself out there physically and mentally and, you know, whether it ends, good or bad. You definitely get high from the insanity of it. And now everything is. You're kind of. You've brought it all in, and you're dealing with yourself.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's wild.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, I, I. My dad was a captain in the military. Yeah. Army captain. And he was kind of a pretty strict guy, but also very funny guy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, he is funny.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. And then my mother also is very funny. They're funny in different ways. My dad's a bit silly when he's funny. He would always sort of, you know, when you're a kid, you'd go out and he'd sort of do things, like, kind of goofy things that would kind of, you know, kind of shock you. I remember you eating, go fishing, and you eat a grasshopper in front of me. What the hell are you doing? You know, funny stuff. Then. My mom's more of a sort of a. Has a little bit of a cynical, sarcastic side to her, which is. So the combination of them was always very funny. Like, there was always a lot of humor at the dinner table and things like this. Everybody kind of razzing each other essentially, to a certain extent. But. But yeah, on the new show, they're kind of more. The funny ones. I'm kind of. They're kind of. They're the stars of the new show. I think the relationship isn't me pulling pranks on them and doing the stuff I did when I was a kid. So.

[Marc Maron]

What's kind of funny that. Cause, like, I don't know, there's a certain kind of personality, and I'm not a parent. You're not, right? You don't have kids?

[Tom Green]

Nope, nope, nope.

[Marc Maron]

That, you know, it's hard.

[Tom Green]

I am engaged now, though. Are you recently engaged? Yes. Is that true? Absolutely. As of just a few months ago. I'm probably gonna be getting Marri very soon, so.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Tom Green]

Yes, absolutely. So I may have. May have a kid next time I come here.

[Marc Maron]

How old are you now?

[Tom Green]

I'm 53. I'm 53 years old.

[Marc Maron]

That's it.

[Tom Green]

Yep. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

How the fuck am I older than everybody? How the fuck did that happen?

[Tom Green]

Someone's gotta be older than someone.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I know, but it's.

[Tom Green]

You're younger than a lot of people, too, though.

[Marc Maron]

No, I know, but it's one of those. It's part of that realization of, you know, time and life is that, I think because it took me so long to kind of land that, you know, I always just assumed that everyone was my peer in our business, you know, after a Certain point. And now there's just like, there are these kids who are huge, and they're like 40. And I'm like, what the fuck? What have I been doing? I don't know.

[Tom Green]

For what it's worth, I'm turning 54 in July, so I'm basically 54, so.

[Marc Maron]

Okay, well, that makes me feel a little better. And you met her up there or what?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. She's Canadian. And a very Canadian way to meet, by the way. I was scared playing hockey on my pond, and I put a video up on Instagram and she sent me forward me one of these meme videos of somebody who had made their own Zamboni, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, wow.

[Tom Green]

The thing that you ice the drink with. Do it yourself Zamboni. And then I responded, and it turns out she was from a Canadian military family, grew up in the same small town. Before I moved to Ottawa, I was in this little military base called Petawawa. We went to the same elementary school.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, wow. And.

[Tom Green]

And hit it off. And now we're engaged.

[Marc Maron]

And you've got a common history in some weird way.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You're returning home, buddy.

[Tom Green]

Absolutely. She lives just down the road and it's been great. So we live together now, but. Yeah. And I'm in a pretty remote area too, so it was kind of felt like it was meant to be. Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I think the thing I was noticing. Well, congratulations.

[Tom Green]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Marc Maron]

That I was noticing about your folks, is that if you're a certain personality and you're a kid and you're not a criminal per se, but they realize that they, One, can't control you, and two, they're kind of amazed at whatever you're becoming, that there's a distance there, that there's an appreciation they have to be parents still, but they're just sort of like, he's gonna do something. And they have a faith in it. And it seemed like they have that with you somehow.

[Tom Green]

That's absolutely. I think what happened. It was very conflicting for them, I'm sure. Barging into their bedroom with. With a decapitated cow's head in the middle of the night a little much, but they're, well, creative.

[Marc Maron]

I don't get it. But he seems to be popular.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know. Well, when we did that, it was just public access tv, so they were probably a little bemused and concerned. But, you know, I started doing standup when I was 16.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And didn't keep it up. Right. I did it till I was about 19. And then I stopped and I started again maybe 20 years ago or something like that. Maybe not even, but, but, but at 16, you know, when you're on a school night, you know, Thursday night was the amateur night at Yuk Yuk's in Ottawa. And I'd get in the. Get on the bus and go downtown to do stand up and, you know, not get home till later in the night. Or they'd let me take their car or whatever. I think they'd probably let me take their car, now that I think about it. Yeah. But, you know, that was.

[Marc Maron]

They let you do it.

[Tom Green]

It was pretty cool, you know. And when I was. When I was, you know, I was in this rap group when I was a kid. Yeah, we went down to New York and they, you know, paid for the recording time and stuff. And so it was like. They were always very supportive of all this stuff, which was good, but it was. I don't know, I think. I think they kind of, you know, I think if you got good supportive parents, I mean, that's an important thing when you're in a creative business, I think, because it's a lot of uncertainty there. But they were always very encouraging, you know, even though at the same time they were very realistic and worried about there's a possibility that it's not going to work out, so you better have a plan B and all that kind of stuff. I kind of refused to admit that there was going to be any other route for. For things. And that I think was where the kind of conflict might have been. But.

[Marc Maron]

Well, after a certain point, there is no other route.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like you just. What are you going to do?

[Tom Green]

I just realized there was no way I could do anything else. I don't think.

[Marc Maron]

It's also interesting about Canada and I try to, you know, assess my own feelings about it that I think just even the fact of, like living out in the woods or having the farm and being alone up there, that there's just no denying on a cultural and in every way that Canada is a safer place than here. And it makes a big difference in your peace of mind and in your engagement with other people.

[Tom Green]

It absolutely is a safer place. I mean, it's not to say that there's not in the big cities. There is definitely problems, just like everywhere else, but even those are dramatically muted. Muted. Yeah. Yeah. But. And I kind of, again, I love Los angeles. Lived here 21 years.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

I'm still. It's funny, I was saying to my fiance when we were driving yesterday on the 101 freeway. Yeah, I was like. It just sort of occurred to me, you know, this is weird. You know, it actually feels more normal for me to be driving on this freeway today than it does when I'm driving on the highway back at home, because I'm still getting used to the fact that I'm back there now. But at the same time, you know, you know, it's odd because I lived here 21 years, so 21 years as an adult driving around. You know, I was in Canada when I left. I was 28. So I'd only really been driving around in a car for 12 years. My parents car for half of that. So it's sort of, you know, I left. Right. I left Los Angeles right at a time where, you know, if I'd been here another 10 years, it would have probably, I probably would have never been able to leave and it would have been strange. But it's maybe. It seems, it seems, it seems, it does seem sort of interesting to be home like that. But no, I'd say that the, to your point, like, so I got used to living in Los Angeles. I remember the first five years I was here, you know, when I'd go to sleep at night. Yeah, I'd be kind of scared.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

Like, you know, I was. Lived alone at first in a house that I was renting from William Shatner. He was my first landlord, which was ridiculous. Like MTV moved us out here and they said, okay, you can find a rent a house to rent. Here's your budget. So I went on the, Found the house that I could rent. Turned out it was William Shatner had a house next door to him that he rented out. Yeah, he literally would come over and pick up the rent check sometimes. It was like, welcome to Hollywood. Here, Captain Kirk. Here's the, here's, here's the rent check.

[Marc Maron]

You know, and he's a funny guy and he's Canadian.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, absolutely. He was great. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So you must have been able to really lock in on a frequency with him.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, I mean, we, we, we got to have a few good chats. He was great. But it was like, it was strange because it was like, you know, you'd sort of. I'm alone in this in the Hollywood Hills. Sort of, you know, flimsy door there. You know, you're kind of looking at it out of the corner of your eye at night and then you sort of get used to it. Oh, okay. I guess it's, it's pretty safe here. But then, then what would happen is when I would go home to Canada to visit. The second I would get home, I'd kind of be, oh, wait, oh yeah, it is less stressful here, you know, and for 20 years, I noticed that. Every time I went home, I noticed it's sort of. I wasn't sure if it was just cause I was home or if it was. You notice it too? You do notice it.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I talk about it even, like during the first Trump presidency, I'd go work in Canada, you know, and I'd fly up there. And literally when I got off the plane, I'm like, it's not up here. You know, whatever. That psychic weight of fear and intensity, it just doesn't. It's not up there. And you can feel it immediately. I mean, now it's. The relationship now between the two countries, it sort of. It kind of illustrates exactly what the difference is, because now Canadians are pissed off and afraid, and that's how we live down here all the time. I just hope it doesn't pollute the.

[Tom Green]

Psychic environment up there, you know, not to dive into. Like, some things kind of piss everyone off. But it's guns too. Like, there's just not totally, you know, people. There's not people walking around with a sidearm on their hip, you know, Like, I was in, you know, Utah the other day and buying a camera and a guy had a Glock on his hip. And I'm like. I'm kind of like, oh, boy, you know, is that really necessary? And, you know, it's like. And he didn't look like he was like the most stable individual either, you know, so I'm like, you know, don't. Let's not get into an argument here. You know, up in Canada, the worst thing that happens if you get in an argument with someone is you get in a hockey fight, you know, you might get punched in the nose or something. Totally.

[Marc Maron]

And that's like almost all of it, you know. Cause now. Yeah. With the carrywalls everywhere, like, you just have to exist in a world where, like you said, like, that guy doesn't look like he's official in any way.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. And then it becomes like an arms race. Oh, do I need one then? To protect myself? And. And you kind of go, well, geez, you know, if two people start shooting at each other at the camera shop, I don't think anybody's kind of come out of that on top. You know, it's not like your right to defend yourself. Doesn't really help you, really. I mean.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it's just. There's a we're right at the edge of a strange lawlessness, but I also think the combination between guns and socialized healthcare, it makes a big difference. Oh, yeah, because, like, you can always go to the doctor and, you know, in your heart and mind that it's not going to bankrupt you.

[Tom Green]

Yep, yep.

[Marc Maron]

And. And then. And then. And then, you know, someone's probably not going to shoot you. Those are two big, relaxing things.

[Tom Green]

And I've had a lot of conversations with, you know, my, you know, friends in Los Angeles, some of them who have, you know, a lot more money than your average person and are maybe a little bit more, you know, Republican than your average person. And, you know, they're like, well, the health care system up there is no good because, you know, the healthcare system is good in Canada, but they sort of feel like, you know, well, I can get my health care here. Yeah, because you can afford, you know, $1,500 a month for your insurance. Right. But I know so many specialists. Yeah. And I know so many people in Los Angeles who I work with who were, you know, young film students who were helping me film stuff, and they didn't have health insurance. Right. And so there's this sort of thing, you start to notice where it's like so many people are just living in fear of getting sick. Totally. Like, you're terrified. Oh, if I get sick. I had a friend of mine who thought he had testicular cancer, actually, which I had, you know, and he was kind of terrified about going to the doctor. I'm like, you gotta go to the doctor and get a check, because the only way you live is if you go right away and get it. And so eventually he went, but he was worried about the bill, and he had to go. Went back to Arizona because it was easier for him to do it there, but it was like, was he all right? He ended up being all right. But. But. But just seeing that sort of panic, decision making, being based upon how much it was going to cost and seeing that over and over is something that like, you know, if you're, you know, not some, you know, rich television producer or something like that, you know, you don't necessarily understand what it is that normal people are going through. Whereas, you know, I go home to Canada, and it's like, okay, I got my, you know, my health card here. I'll pull it out so you can see what it looks like. It's very, very, you know, official. Yeah, it's my firearms acquisition certificate. Okay.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I'm not that everyone has one of these, like a driver's license?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it's just like a driver's license.

[Marc Maron]

And that's where you live on the farm. There's a clinic. Yeah, you can just go.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's just the same here as hospitals. You go to the hospital, go to the emergency room if you need to, you go to your doctor's office and you just give me your health card. It looks like a driver's license.

[Marc Maron]

And that's what I was wondering when I was watching. I'm like, you know, with. It's an interesting thing, I think also the community that has to be built around just home ownership in general. But a farm is that you have to engage with the community because you're going to need help and you have people to do the specific things that you don't know how to do, or at least show you how to do it. And they come out and do it.

[Tom Green]

I talk to my neighbors down there, everyone's friends, everyone was really welcoming. Even though it's, you know, the properties are spread apart and, you know, the farm to each side and there are these, you know, huge, you know, thousand acre properties on the other sides of me and stuff. So, like it's miles down the road to the next neighbor. But, you know, the first day I was there, my new friends came up and said hello. And now that they're. They've been farming there for generations. Sure, they have a tractor, they come over and they help me do the hay. Every August, you know, we go out and they cut the hay with their tractor and bail it all up and then we all together go throw it into the barn for the winter for the animals. And it's interesting because you're not engaging with that many people who are practically nobody actually, that's in show business. So you're sort of.

[Marc Maron]

But that's the thing is the shift from when you're in show business. Your whole life is built on selling an illusion, either of yourself or an idea for this. This fiction that everyone can watch. And that's your life. And, you know, it seems kind of boundless in possibility, but it requires you engaging with this business to deliver the goods. Whereas their life is, you know, whatever they're farming or what it is community centric. And this is the life. We're going to go do the hay. And there's no other thing. Like we just do that as a hobby? No, no, it's like, this is it. And there must be some sort of transition to a life like that where your Alone time becomes much different because, well, I imagine you still fester and you're probably thinking of ideas and writing things down and on a microphone and whatever, but there is kind of an incentive to appreciate the slowness of it.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, absolutely. I get up 6:30 in the morning every day and I always was a fairly. But, you know, but part of the reason, you know, there's nothing to do at night, you know, once the sun goes down, I'm gonna go get sushi on Ventura Boulevard, you know, stumble in my Uber, you know, after three martinis, you know, at 2 in the morning, you know, no, I'll go to bed at 10:00, you know, get up in the morning, I go right out to the, you know, make coffee. I go to the barn and I got three big 60 pound bales of hay and I throw them out into the field. That's during the winter and the fall when there's no to feed the feed animals. Yeah. And then I brush them off and sometimes I'll saddle up Fanny and take her for a ride and, and what.

[Marc Maron]

Do you do at night? Just watch?

[Tom Green]

Well, because I got up at 6 in the morning, I just go to sleep.

[Marc Maron]

It's not the compulsion.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, sort of. I mean, no, I mean, I, you know, I've been making music, so I play piano or write or, you know, but I tend to get, tend to be asleep by 11 about.

[Marc Maron]

How's that studio working out on top of the barn?

[Tom Green]

Right now the barn's just sort of an empty loft, but when I do a podcast or something in there, I just set it up each time, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so it's not a permanent workspace?

[Tom Green]

No, it's because it's. I have a. More of a permanent studio workspace in the house. Upstairs in the house. But the loft of the barn is very, you know, cold.

[Marc Maron]

It's just, yeah, it just has the roof, but the sides are kind of open.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, but it looks, it's cool. Visually, it looks cool in the summer and in three, three seasons it's pretty cool. But no, I have a little recording studio in my house and.

[Marc Maron]

Are you doing something regularly?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, I just put out a record this year, a country album.

[Marc Maron]

Country album?

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah, I know. You're a guitar player, right? Yeah, I'm working on being able to play as good as you can, but I am enjoying it. I've always sort of fiddled with my acoustic guitar and I can play some chords and stuff, but I've been writing songs.

[Marc Maron]

It looks like you got a Good group of people up there to play with.

[Tom Green]

I do, yeah. And I did the whole sound. I wrote the whole soundtrac for the show. But that's the kind of stuff I like to do, you know, just be. In some ways, like, I end up having so much more time to be creative up there because I don't get distracted by going down to get sushi on Ventura Boulevard every day. You know, it's like, okay, okay, I'll go ride the horse and I'll come home, I'll write some stuff in the afternoon.

[Marc Maron]

But it's a different type of creativity. And how do you look at, you know, what interests you now versus kind of the adrenaline that drove your entire life previous? I mean, is there a part of you like, I remember, I don't remember when we did it, but it's funny because I think about it and I talk about it.

[Tom Green]

I know what you're gonna talk about.

[Marc Maron]

You do?

[Tom Green]

I know what you're gonna bring up.

[Marc Maron]

The Byron Allen.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. The comics Unleashed. Yeah. I knew you were gonna bring that. Well, just as soon as you said it, like.

[Marc Maron]

Cause why'd you know I was gonna bring it up?

[Tom Green]

Well, just. Cause I was thinking about when we would have done something, when we did something together. And I was. And you were, you know, you were thinking about the adrenaline fueled thing.

[Marc Maron]

But my feeling was like, I can explain that.

[Tom Green]

I can explain myself for that.

[Marc Maron]

Well, no, but here's my side of it.

[Tom Green]

I remember you. It was Ornie Adams, Jon Lovitz, who else was on that episode? It was. Who were the comics that were.

[Marc Maron]

Alonzo Bowden, maybe?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But I just remember when you do those panel shows, like, you kind of see who the other guests are because you know, especially with that show, you want to get your, your, your licks in. And then like, like that day or the day before, they were like, it's going to be you, you so and so, so Tom Green. I'm like, duh, fucking now he's going to take over the whole thing. I'm not going to be able to get a joke out. And I thought, like, maybe it'll be all right. But you come out within three minutes, you're in the fish tank, I'm in the fish. And I'm like, fuck. I knew, I knew I wasn't going to get a joke out.

[Tom Green]

The amount of times I have thought about that over the years and just thought, oh my God, what the hell was I doing? Because here's what really it is though, is like, I wasn't doing standup then. I'd done standup when I was a kid, but then I went to broadcasting school. I started doing my videos and pranks and stuff. And now I'm on Comics Unleashed. Now Comics Unleashed. What's the premise of the show? They go to the comic and then you tell a joke. Well, I don't have any jokes. I'm just going to have to jump in the fucking fish tank, I guess.

[Marc Maron]

And all the other comics are like, well, now it's about that.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was. And yeah, you know, I kind of definitely. I mean, I think a lot about that really. Two or three year period of my life when I first moved to Los Angeles and, you know, the show was on MTV and it was doing good and I was going on all the talk shows and I'm thinking about, you know, when I'd go on Conan or when I'd go on Leno and I never did this with Letterman because I wouldn't dare, but on the other shows I would go on and just like kind of be a fucking maniac. I'd come in with a costume or an ostrich egg and crack it over my head or. And it was coming from a place of. A combination of. First of all, I was always loved when I'd see, you know, I grew up loving watching Chris Elliot come nuts, just eat dog food or do something crazy. But it was also coming from a place of complete sort of anxiety over not knowing what to do. Well, I guess if I go over the top. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Make something happen.

[Tom Green]

Crazy. You know, then maybe it'll, you know, whereas, Whereas maybe I was a little bit afraid to go on and just sit there and try to kind of talk and be funny, you know, it would have been much easier to come out dressed as a. You know.

[Marc Maron]

And also expected.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I like that you saved the respect for Letterman.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, I. So I. Because I just.

[Marc Maron]

He's the best dude.

[Tom Green]

I just. It wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't a matter of. It was being disproportionate, disrespectful for the other guys. It was because obviously I love Conan and I love.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, sure.

[Tom Green]

It was more like. I think I just was so wanted to, you know, I mean, my first show, the Tom Green Show, I was sitting behind a desk, you know, why am I sitting behind a desk? Because I grew up watching Letterman and I love Letterman. It wasn't because I watched Johnny Carson. I watched Johnny Carson, but it was more because Of Letterman, right?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

So I want to sit behind a desk, too, you know, but so I was just so terrified, you know, and.

[Marc Maron]

To be with him, you mean?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah. And he was also, I guess, obviously he's a bit more of a cutting than Jay or Conan. If I'm gonna go on there, maybe he might not put up with that.

[Marc Maron]

It's so funny, man. Because, like, I interviewed him in this house. Yeah, he came up there before I set this up out here. He came up into the house. It was kind of funny. Cause you spend your whole life kind of loving a guy. And also, like, for me, in my generation, that was the show you wanted to get on. And I did it a few times. But, you know. You know, when you host a daily show, their memory of anything is. It's just, you know, they don't remember that much. But something funny did happen. That was the best moment I had with Letterman was odd because I was at the Comedy Store one night on a produced show, comic produced show, in the main room. And then the manager comes in back and he says, you know, Letterman's here, you know, and my first thought was, like, this was only a few years ago. I was like, am I in trouble? What is going on? And he had no show or anything. He had just come because someone brought him down. He wanted to see me. And then we're on the back porch or the back patio there at the Comedy Store, and I'm just talking to him, and he's very complimentary.

[Tom Green]

That is so cool.

[Marc Maron]

And I said something and he laughed. And it's that laugh that we grew up with, the laugh that you always wanted your whole life. And I'm just on the back patio at the fucking Comedy Store, and he's laughing, and it was like, oh, my God. Yeah, I just made Letterman laugh like that.

[Tom Green]

That's amazing.

[Marc Maron]

It's the best.

[Tom Green]

I've never had the opportunity to talk to him, camera or just.

[Marc Maron]

He's much. He's very sweet these days, you know, he's very. He's. He's different guy in a way.

[Tom Green]

I'm so glad that it. It's neat to see that he's out doing so much stuff, like going on podcasts and stuff. Cause, I mean, it's not like he didn't go the route of Johnny Carson and just sort of becoming a recluse on his boat out and never seeing him again.

[Marc Maron]

You know, I think he might have tried.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know what I mean? But, like. But that's sort of where you're at Too. You're kind of like, you know, you have to, you're up against that. It's weir that you get to a certain age and you have such an impact on so many generations. I thought it was interesting in the doc about how Eric Andre at least gives you credit for inventing him.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, it was cool. He was very cool about that. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And also I saw some other like random kind of self produced documentary where the guy who made that kind of credits you with creating the video podcast.

[Tom Green]

Right, Right, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you and I, we sort of were the early adapters to this shit, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was. You were like probably the first podcast, I guess, right. In LA that was having. But it was all audio comedians and stuff.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it was all audio. I mean, Carollo was around and Pardo and a few other people, but. But, you know, we stay in audio because that's what we do. Yeah, but the video thing, I don't think we could have assumed that the ability to do video podcasts would actually hijack and over whelm mainstream show business.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, amazing. You know, I, I, because it's like, I went to broadcasting school. That was really kind of was my route into this business. Right. I, I assumed there was no way to possibly get a television show unless I just made one. Yourself. Right, right. And so that's, that was the sort of the public access show that we started in 1994 up in Canada. The Tom Green show was just my friends and I making it. You know, we didn't actually build the studio, though there was a studio there already. The cameras and everything were there at the studio. But my friend Glenn Humplik, who. And my other friend Phil, who were on the show, they're like tech guys, you know, Ottawa's pretty tech. And my dad also became a computer guy when he retired from the military. Was COBOL program. Lots of technology up there in Ottawa. So believe it or not. But so when the Internet, like when we were on MTV in 99, Glenn had set up a thing where I could call my cell phone, leave a message on this number, push it, and it would post automatically onto the website, onto Tom Green dot com.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Tom Green]

And so I just, you know, it was nothing. It was just me walking around New York, you know, hey, I'm in New York. You know, and they would everybody, you know, watch the show tonight or whatever.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

But there was this sort of awareness that, oh, you can put audio on the website.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

And then it was like, well, when can we put video on the Website. Right. And it was. We were sort of waiting, you know, like, when can we put. It's getting faster. How long until we can put video on the website? And, you know, I. I kind of make a joke sometimes in my standup. I say, you know, I built a TV studio in my living room in the early 2000s because I just made this movie, Freddy Got Fingered. And y. After you make a movie like Freddy Got Fingered, if you want to do a television show, you have to build a TV studio in your living room.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

So. So necessity was. The only way to really make a show at this point was let's just build it ourself. And again, you know, but now it was kind of like, okay, what's the technology that's out there? How do we stream to the front page of the website? So it was sort of looking into all the different various people that were doing these things and were trying to do these things. And there's a company up in San Francisco called. They were called bitgravity.com and they were a CDN, content distribution network. Right. So they were essentially servers that you could upload your video to. And it was really catered to corporate sort of websites. You put a corporate video up or whatever. Right, right. So I contacted them and we did sort of an arrangement where, like, I could upload my. Upload my videos. Then I reached out to another company that was. Became the Tricaster, but it was the video toaster at the time, which was a switcher, a television switcher that they would sell to ch. Churches. Right. And like, to do, you know, to plug their cameras in and, you know, film the church service or whatever and put it. And, you know, they. They set me up with this thing and, you know, started just kind of engaging with all these sort of technology, new technology kind of people. And. And it was. It was. It was wild because it worked, you know, but. But there was sort of this sort of feeling of like. Well, you know, it was interesting because I would invite people up and, you know, and people kind of come to the house and they thought it was weird. You know, you have all these cameras everywhere. But. But. But I remember, like, there was a. You know, sometimes I. I hope that I'm just dreaming this happened and it didn't actually happen, but I do actually believe this happened. I remember once checking my email and I had all these like, you know, we're uploading our footage every day to the website.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

Before YouTube existed. Yeah, I got an email. It's like, hey, we're up in San Francisco. We like what you're doing. You should come visit us sometime. We're doing a whole thing up in our apartment here called YouTube. I'm like, oh, thanks, man. Now I'm doing my own thing. You know.

[Marc Maron]

You could have been on the ground floor.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You think, oh, my God. But. But it was sort of like there was those days where it was kind of. There was some video online, but it wasn't really comedians talking to each other, things like that. And that was kind of the beginning of it.

[Marc Maron]

And. Yeah, and you had to sort of. You had a vision that you had to then engage with these other people that were. We. We did a streaming show on for air America in 2007 or 8, and there was no streaming audience. Really?

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But we spent a lot of money to create a website where we could upload, you know, videos every day. But there was still. I don't. I don't think. I think YouTube was probably pretty young, but there was just no audience for it. And now that's the whole audience.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And then sometimes you kind of miss your timing on that.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Marc Maron]

You know what I mean? Like, you know, we did a streaming show, but no one could stream.

[Tom Green]

The Pioneers leave with the arrows in their back.

[Marc Maron]

Is that.

[Tom Green]

That's a good one.

[Marc Maron]

But do you ever find. How do you deal with. It looks like in Canada when you're doing standup, that because you're sort of one of their own and stuff, they're just happy to see you and they're like, you know, they've been with you the whole time and they're proud of you. And, you know, they. They seem to have a deeper and kind of heartfelt appreciation of people that age in the world that they live in. And, you know what I mean, in the sense that, like, you know, this is Tom Green now. We can accept that.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's. It's. Honestly, it's. It's the. The. In the States, too. It's like, you know, at this point, you know, the people kind of grew up with me on tv, too. It's like I was. I had a show. Was it last night, Night before last night in LA at the El Rey Theater? It was great. It was great. And. But I've been on tour in. In the US all winter. Shows have been awesome. I mean, it's. It's. It's.

[Marc Maron]

What's the age group? Is it like, you know, are they.

[Tom Green]

It's, it's, it's. It's interesting. There is a A younger audience coming to as well. But it is, you know, it's guys who grew up, pretty broad group of people, you know, for sure. And. But yeah, it's. It's. It's. It is a combination of. I try to talk about some of the old stuff, you know, and talk about some of the stories and things from, you know, Eminem rapping about me and. Yeah, all these. Some of the pranks and things like that. And then I. I, of course, try to. To do material as well and bring new material. And so it's kind of now been touring, you know, long enough that I think I have a lot of people that come out from. Just from seeing me do stand up the last time, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Right. But also, like, you're. Because you're kind of. In a way, even though you did stand up early on, you know, you have the chops, but now, like, the pressure is not to be crazy.

[Tom Green]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You're just sort of reflecting on your life.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Actually, yeah, we were going to talk about that a second ago, and we. That. That's something that I've been trying to kind of process over the last couple years. Why I'm not, you know, humping dead moose in my. All the time or running around doing crazy, you know.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Tom Green]

Shock stuff. But I think. I think that. I think what I also kind of come to the conclusion is that like. Oh, Charlie. Uh. Oh. You okay? She's just puked. Yeah, she's okay. She's just. She probably ate some grass this morning.

[Marc Maron]

And now I gotta clean up the vomit.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, it's okay. You're okay, Charlie. You're okay. You're okay.

[Marc Maron]

You're okay, dog.

[Tom Green]

You're okay. She. Good news is there's some paper towel right here.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Tom Green]

One second. Charlie. You okay? You're okay, baby. You're okay. Come over here. Come over here. It's okay. Come over here, Charlie. It's okay, baby. It's okay. You're okay, baby. Come here. Come here. You okay? Oh, at least, Mom. But in the same place. Hold on one second. She'll. She'll be okay. It's sort of. She just. Oh, now I'm really. As I was saying, this is all a setup, isn't it?

[Marc Maron]

He's up to his old tricks. He brought the vomiting dog. I knew this would end here.

[Tom Green]

No, she's okay.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, Good.

[Tom Green]

Sometimes she eats some grass in the morning.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. But when you have animals, you live with vomiting animals.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, She's. She. She's okay. You okay, baby? Yeah. You're okay. You're okay. She is okay too.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, she's good.

[Tom Green]

She doesn't vomit every day, but she has vomited occasionally like that. It's usually because she ate some grass in the morning.

[Marc Maron]

She seems all right.

[Tom Green]

She's a rescue from the Bahamas.

[Marc Maron]

Really.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Island dog.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah. And, and, but yeah, you just lie down there. Yeah. No, but it's. When we started the show, you know, video cameras were new and the idea of having a completely unfiltered crazy. You know, I was a kid too, and I was a skateboarder and running around doing crazy, but there wasn't all this crazy stuff, you know, it wasn't tick tock and there wasn't people running around.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it was unique.

[Tom Green]

So. Yeah, it was kind of like you had the. It did stand out to have that ability to go just do something completely uncontrolled.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Green]

Now it's, you know, like you get up in the morning, you pick up your phone and you're inundated with crazy shit.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

On your phone every day.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

Kind of makes me want to do something normal, you know? You know, it's almost weirder to do something kind of normal, you know, like, oh, I'm at a farm, I'm learning how to ride a horse, you know. Oh, that's almost weirder for you. Yeah, for me. And maybe even just in general, you know, like when you watch the Internet now, it's so much crazy shit. Oh, maybe something that's kind of nice.

[Marc Maron]

And well, also it's like there's a kind of mature self ownership of it. Like, you know, I think that we all kind of do our crazy shit and do our youth in a certain way. But as you get older, you realize like, well, that was just me kind of like swinging my dick around or whatever, just, you know, trying to get out of me. But eventually the best thing that can happen is you land in yourself and believe that that's enough. You know what I mean? Like, Like I'm just a person and this is the life I'm living, but my mind is my mind and I'll share this with you in this way. I'm not going to, you know, you know, dump milk on myself.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's like, you know, I would say, I say sometimes like, it's like when I was a kid, I was like terrified about the future.

[Marc Maron]

Right? Yeah.

[Tom Green]

So you kind of have to, you know, over.

[Marc Maron]

Over fight the future.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, Yeah. I was terrified that you're so much, you know, And I'm much calmer now because when you're a kid, it's like your future is so unpredictable. There's so much ahead of you. And now that 53, there's, I say, so much less of my life left to ruin. Ruin, you know.

[Marc Maron]

To ruin. Yeah.

[Tom Green]

So it's like you can kind of. I could probably just do nothing now and coast to the finish line. You know, this is probably, probably takes a lot of the pressure off, you.

[Marc Maron]

Know, and also the combination of just aging and then having gone through the cancer thing, you know, you've got two, you know, that perspective came on you kind of, you know, in a shocking way that you survived the cancer thing and that kind of reconfigured your sense of life. And now it's just, you've lived and now this is a lighter sort of acceptance.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, I, I, I think about the. I got 28 years old, I got cancer. That's why I stopped the show on MTV was when I had cancer. Yeah. And I sort of crazily, actually kind of am glad that it happened now that I've survived it, because it's like, I go. It does sort of make you realize, oh, man. You know, like, anytime, like, anything bad happens, I'm like, well, at least I'm not like, in the hospital with my, you know, lymph node dissection healing, which was sort of a even bigger surgery that I had to go through. So it's like, you know, you kind of. Your perspective changes for sure.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

But. Yeah, and the other thing that's changed a lot in the last few years is just, just with the Internet is like, I remember during the pandemic, you know, I literally just started doing all these zoom calls with people, and you realize, well, you don't really have to be anywhere anymore in specific, you know. Yeah. And with Stand up, we're traveling all the time anyways that, you know, I guess when you go home, you can go home to wherever the hell you want. Really.

[Marc Maron]

And you're enjoying the Stand Up.

[Tom Green]

I love it. I love it. Yeah. So this, this winter, I've, you know, I've been on. I took the camper van again for this, this tour. I started up in Canada, drove, Drove down through Nashville, down to Tulsa and down to Dallas and Austin, Phoenix, and up through Colorado and back up to Pittsburgh.

[Marc Maron]

Just you. No opener.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, I usually pick up just a local person. Dean Del Rey's been opening up the shows here in California with me, which has been great. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You know, Dean.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. Yeah. But so it's been super fun, but you know, usually I just go to get a local comic to come open up the show and then I do it. But yeah, no, I love it. And yeah, it's, it's, it's been great.

[Marc Maron]

Well, good. It's good to talk to you, man.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, I'm actually from here. I'm going. I'm in beautiful downtown Bakersfield tomorrow night, then San Francisco at Bimbo's, and then Portland, Seattle and Eugene. Oregon. Oregon. And Seattle's the last show you're driving up? Yeah. So this, this run, I, we flew into Phoenix from the farm, rented a car.

[Marc Maron]

Who?

[Tom Green]

My fiance and I. Oh, now she.

[Marc Maron]

Been to the States a lot?

[Tom Green]

No, not really. So she's seeing, she's seeing the country. Yeah. So she's been a couple places, but not.

[Marc Maron]

She hasn't seen San Francisco or Portland. That's gonna be great.

[Tom Green]

Yeah, it's really fun. Oh, that's really fly back to the farm from Seattle.

[Marc Maron]

And is Dean going to do those shows up on the coast with you?

[Tom Green]

I think he's just, I think he's just did these ones. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think he's gonna go all the way up the coast, so. Yeah, all right. He's doing the LA ones. Yeah. So.

[Marc Maron]

All right, well, good seeing you. I'm glad you're well. Nice to meet Charlie.

[Tom Green]

Yeah. She's feeling better. Look, she's looking at you.

[Marc Maron]

Yes, she is. All right, Tom, have a good, safe trip.

[Tom Green]

Thanks, Mark.

[Marc Maron]

Dog puked on my. On my rug. That Tom Green, he set me up. It was great to see him. You can watch the special, his doc and the series Tom Green country on Prime Video. Hang out for a minute, people. We love la. And I'm saying we because I already love it. And I know that when you visit here, you'll love it too. Whether you're looking for the best taco trucks or a standout Michelin star restaurant. LA's got you covered. I just went down to Joy on York in my old neighborhood of Highland park, which I love for the authentic Taiwanese food. You can go to Bodmash up on Fairfax, across from Cantor's, kind of hot rotted Indian food, or go to Cantor's. I actually go now for a vegan Reuben. And of course LA is known for entertainment, but this place is also a world class hub of art, music, museums and live theater. Check out the European art collection at the Getty center. Go to hear the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. And you can also come here and do all those LA things you've heard about. Go to Universal Studios. Check out the Griffith Park Observatory. See the view from Mulholland Drive. Check out the Hollywood sign. You can't pass up all the classic LA stuff. Find more ways to love Los Angeles at discoverla.com folks. If you have a WTF plus subscription, you can go back and listen to the first time Tom was on. It was all the way back in 2013. I've been married twice, man. They were both three and a half years. So, I mean, I. I think the.

[Tom Green]

Thing is, is you got to imagine. What would it be like.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

For you?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

What's your first wife's name?

[Marc Maron]

Kim.

[Tom Green]

Kim.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

What would it be like for you if every time you left up your house.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Tom Green]

Every day for the rest of your life, between five and 10 people, between the time you left your house and got back home. Yeah. Came up to you and said, hey, how's Kim? You talked to Kim lately? Oh, yeah, I remember you with Kim. Weren't you married to that Kim? Welcome to my Life.

[Marc Maron]

That's episode 360, available ad free for WTF subscribers. To sign up for WTF plus, go to the link in the episode description or go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by Acast. Here's some. Here's a Marc Maron oldie Guitar noodle thing. Riff Boomer lives Monkey lafonda Cat Angels everywhere.