Being an idiot in the 90s was a recipe for success that spawned the early 2000s shows like Jackass, and Dirty Sanchez to step it up tenfold just to stand out but there is one man who defined TV idiot more than any other in that era, and his name is Tom Green.

Growing up on movies like Road Trip, Freddy Got Fingered and more had me surrounded by all things Tom Green in a movie sense but never once did I see an episode of the Tom Green show or any of his humble Canadian beginnings.
This Amazon Original documentary follows Tom Green’s career as a trailblazing influence on comedy, film, television, and internet culture.
With thousands of hours of digitalized personal footage, rare episodes, and unseen raw footage from past series and films, the documentary captures the early days of his humble beginnings in Canada, to stardom in Hollywood, as he goes full circle and returns to his roots moving from his LA home to a rural farm in the country.
Amazon Prime Video
What I liked about the Tom Green documentary is that he’s front and centre of the entire thing. There are no random actor voiceovers documenting someone else’s life from archive footage and interviews with friends, this is Tom front and centre catching up with those around him who helped him on his rise to stardom.
It’s quite humbling to see him go from Hollywood comedian back to his Canadian roots, shunning the limelight (up until this documentary release) and opting for a quieter life. I respect that but for someone like Tom whose entire life has been built around ridiculous stunts and pushing the boundaries just to get a laugh, I think he’s long overdue a good rest.
Amazon Prime Video
A ‘unique brand of humour’ is how the Amazon press kit described Tom’s personality and how unique it is, he’s very much what you would call a Marmite comedian here in the UK. You either love him or you hate him.
With such classic songs under his belt as ‘Daddy, Would You Like Some Sausage?’ and ‘Tiny Salmon’ I have to love him as 99% of my college years were spent singing those songs around campus and let me tell you, singing songs like that to a British audience… the reception never goes down to well.
 
I was merely misunderstood as that outcast who would be singing songs from films and quoting movies that no one had ever seen but it’s in American comedy where I found my happy place.
I never really connected to any British comedians, I found them to be rather safe in their delivery and rarely did one arise that would push the boundaries to bring the laughter but Tom always went the extra mile and despite openly admitting he was a f**king idiot, he was a f**king funny idiot.
In a time where there was rarely ‘on the street’ style shows you could say that Tom Green was one of the original ‘vloggers’ of sorts. He started a trend, he created a movement and perked up the ears of the right people.

I love how authentic the documentary is from the eyes of Tom but there isn’t really a deep-dive into Tom as a person it’s certainly more of a highlight reel with running commentary as opposed to getting to know Tom Green the person, instead, we get to know Tom Green the persona.
There’s certainly more that could have been done with this documentary, it feels very surface level from a character exploration but is a great trip down memory lane as I get to check out the skits that I never saw growing up.
This is the Tom Green documentary is now available on Prime Video

Our Rating

Summary
Whilst it’s not Tom Green insightful in terms of his personality, it is certainly insightful idiocy in its entirety as we scope Tom Greens career rise to stardom in a variety of personal archive footage with Tom front and centre narrating his own life.
What this documentary does do well though however is take us back to a time when comedians were funny, a time where offending people was OK and a time where pushing the boundaries was deemed radical and hilarious as opposed to offensive. God, I miss those days!