The Tom Green Show

The show was hosted by Tom Green, along with longtime friends Glenn Humplik and Phil Giroux. Derek Harvie, who co-wrote the show with Green, occasionally appeared in the segments. Many of the sketches were targeted at his parents, both of whom appear to be embarrassed and not impressed by their son's antics.

Much of the show's humor was Tom Green's signature brand of shock comedy; numerous sketches featured Green performing bizarre or shocking acts in public, such as sucking on a cow's udder, and throwing plastic baby dolls at passing cars. This content was highly controversial, and the show quickly garnered many detractors. Perhaps most controversial was Green's treatment of his parents, who were often the targets of his pranks. In an infamous sketch, Green woke his parents in the middle of the night by placing a severed cow's head in their bed, a reference to a similar scene in The Godfather. During an interview with his parents for their 30th anniversary, he turned the discussion into asking questions about their sex life.

Despite the show's reputation for scatological and transgressive humor, several sketches featured Green performing in a responsible and respectful way, making fun of his juvenile persona. One of these sketches was "People Helpers", where Green and guest star Bruce McCulloch seriously assisted wheelchair users.

One segment saw Green crash a press conference for Grey Owl featuring Pierce Brosnan and Richard Attenborough. Green proceeded to serenade Brosnan with a song referencing both Remington Steele and The Fourth Protocol. Brosnan, assuming Green was a journalist, advised Green not to give up his day job.

The show also had a few recurring characters and sketches, including Billy Bob (a redneck who loved caramels and shaking his leg), Hockey Guy (a hockey player who would skate up in front of people and clumsily fall down), and a police station sketch.

He also explored the quirks of his friends. Green drew attention to Giroux's unusual laugh and discomfort with the smell of copper. One sketch aired when Glen had to urinate, but couldn't because Tom and the camera crew were in proximity (but still reasonably far away). They aired clips from a lengthy argument of whether a bear or a cougar would win in a fight.

When the show moved to MTV, Green released a single called "Lonely Swedish (The Bum Bum Song)", encouraging visitors to download the song off his website, burn it onto CDs and distribute it to friends. After airing the music video on his show and appealing to his audience to request it, the song became an instant number one hit on Total Request Live. He quickly called for the video to be retired because "it's not fair to 98 Degrees." Later, in his autobiography, he revealed that MTV had pressured him to do so in order to maintain the image that Total Request Live was, in fact, a live request show (the next week's episodes had been pre-taped on location, and the producers of the show were completely unaware of "The Bum Bum Song" at the time).[4]

In one episode that aired in early 2000, Green visited his parents in Ottawa, Ontario with Monica Lewinsky,[5] and used the occasion to fool local reporters into thinking that they would make an important "announcement" together, which turned out to be related to Monica's new interest in designing fabric handbags.

In 2000, Green made a one-hour special out of his testicular cancer surgery.[6] It focused on his reaction to the cancer diagnosis, as well as his family's, and footage of the actual surgery was included in one scene. The episode received wide critical acclaim for revealing a vulnerable, human side of an otherwise juvenile television personality.

In March 2002, he also starred in and directed a one-hour special called The Tom Green Subway Monkey Hour,[7] where he harassed strangers in Japan.