Talk shows usually involve a fancy studio, celebrities dressed up in their best formal wear and a set of pre-approved, easy questions. To no one’s surprise, when Tom Green decided to start his own talk show, he wanted to do it a little differently. On The Tom Green Farm, the new Crave talk show premiering on May 29, Green is taking his star-studded lineup of guests out of the big city and onto his farm in rural Ontario. Riding horses, baling hay, chasing chickens — all of it is fair game for guests like Tony Hawk, Michael Cera, Chantal Kreviazuk, Priyanka and George Stroumboulopoulos. We chatted with Green about his new venture and what he and his guests learned along the way.
What interested you in hosting this talk show on your farm?
I like to show off the beauty of Canada, and it does really lend itself to a good interview too, because our guests have to kind of make a bit of an effort to come to the show. And when they get there, we’re experiencing something that a lot of people haven’t experienced before — we ride on a horse or go out in a canoe and are around a working farm in the barn. I think that helps people open up and have a good time.
What was the most unexpected part of filming this show?
The first episode, we built a giant skateboarding ramp for Tony Hawk, who is a friend of mine. I never really imagined he would come all the way to Canada to farm, and we would build an entire ramp! In future shows, we’re definitely going to have more athletes and skateboarders on.
I also got married this year to my wife Amanda, and she’s Canadian — she’s on the show, as is my father, and my mother was a producer on the show and appears on camera. There’s a lot of funny interactions between her and I; I used to do a lot of pranks on her, and now we’re working together in a professional way! So that was kind of surprising and fun, too.
Last time we spoke, you referred to this farm as a new chapter in your life. Does it still feel that way or does being on the farm now feel commonplace?
We’ve been at the farm for five years now in July, which goes by real fast. So some days, I’ll be out there working in the barn, and it just feels like I know what I’m doing, and this is just what I do. And other days I’ll sort of go, “What the hell, how did this happen?” But it’s the best decision I ever made, to move home.
How did you approach the actual talk show element in such an unconventional setting?
I like the conversation to unfold somewhat naturally. I think people are kind of relieved to be out in the country and out in nature, so I’d take them on a tour of the property, and that is somewhat calming for everybody. We would go and jump on the ATV and go for a drive through the woods, and everybody gets to kind of relax and exhale.
I think sometimes, when I’ve hosted talk shows before, you would get a guest who wasn’t very nice because they’re on some sort of press junket, and they’re just getting dropped off, interview after interview, and they’re tired or hungover, and they are sort of a jerk. But that doesn’t happen when they have to drive, you know, three hours out of their way or come in from another country. The people who did the show, they really wanted to be there.
So lesson learned: film every talk show on a farm.
Yes, exactly.
Which of your guests took to farm life the fastest?
Priyanka was pretty good at driving that old 1964 tractor, that was pretty cool! We were baling some hay with Paul Bissonnette, he’s a hockey legend and hilarious guy, so we were doing some real farm work with him. But it’s not the kind of show where we run the celebrity through the paces on the farm and see if they drop dead or whatever. It’s really just more being there and enjoying the Canadian wilderness as well.
Who were your favourite guests?
I didn’t really have a favourite! I was a huge fan of Dan Aykroyd and Tony Hawk, and I was thrilled that they came. I played music with Kurt Vile, who I’m a big fan of, and I’d never met him before; we got to play country music together and we were just jamming together in the barn. There was a Sasquatch sighting with Michael Cera, which was scary — we were really lucky it didn’t turn out worse than it did.
