Tom Green

Written by Tom Farrington | 06 August 2011

The most consistently tapped source in tonight’s otherwise haphazard performance (as is to be expected, really) is Tom Green’s purported hatred of today’s technological flow. This may seem a tad hypocritical for a man with such a strong Internet presence, but his problems really lie with how and why we press the buttons, rather than with the buttons themselves.

The dangers of freely sharing our personal information with an entire planet are revealed to be both political and private, and though Green is mostly making points we’ve heard before, he does so with a mercurial energy and emphasis that is entirely his own. Yes, the old masturbating over facebook joke is in there, but works well as part of a larger, more thoughtful memorial regarding the accelerating effects of technology on adolescent development.

With surprising subtlety, Green observes and charts a shift from his very personal loss of innocence in the Eighties via found pornography, through what he sees as the theft of innocence from the late 90s teen, to today’s apparently wilful denial of there ever having been any such naivety to lose.

Unfortunately, it seems Green just doesn’t have enough of this structured material for a whole hour, and soon resorts to the desperate, attention-grabbing self-mockery for which he’s often criticised. Spouting lines from ‘Freddy Got Fingered’ might get a few whoops from fans, but most of us are here for original stand-up, not decade-old parroting.

There are glimmers of his capabilities, with a few great one-liners standing out from his well-trodden ‘gross-out’ imaginings, and his infectious sense of fun keeps us all smiling. I really do like Tom Green, and have a lot more patience and respect than many for his boldness and honesty over the years. If he could just hold his focus and deliver a full hour of tight, written comedy, then this would be an incredible experience. As it is (and he hasn’t much time to improve), these uncertain meanderings just aren’t sufficiently funny for an expectant crowd.

Tom Green: World Comedy Tour, Udderbelly’s Pasture, 3-14 Aug, 10.55pm