This week, Spark contributor Denis Grignon talked to Nora about meeting up with comedian Tom Green. Tom was a pioneer in using the internet to build a fan base, ahead of his time in his use of tech to connect and interact with them.
Denis remembers Tom from his early forays into comedy in Ottawa in the early 90s. He tells Nora about the first time he ever saw Tom on stage, and how even then, as a teenager, Tom's brand of humour stood out (like the time he walked on stage with a piece of meat taped to his stomach).
Denis also gave Tom his first piece of press. Check out 17-year-old Tom in a blazer and tie. And his jokes are pretty funny too.
It wasn't long before Tom became a star in Canada - remember the clever "Check the O.R" with his rap group Organized Rhyme?
And of course, there was his cable access TV show "The Tom Green Show". Everyone was always talking about it – how had Tom tortured his dad this time? What would he do next?
Although his humour was polarizing, his fame soon spread beyond Canada and with it came MTV shows, several movies, a Hollywood love story (and its demise), a battle with cancer, and a book.
Through it all, Tom was on the vanguard of technological trends. Sometimes too ahead of the curve, as you can hear him tell Denis.
Here they are, by the way, the night Denis interviewed him after his live show in Ajax, Ontario in May.
Now that Tom is all grown up, he's a kind of technology-meets-internet-meets-comedy elder statesman. And he's got some interesting ideas about the role of tech in comedy today, as evidenced this week, by this article he wrote in the Huffington Post.
You can hear Denis' story about Tom Green this week on Spark.
