I’ll admit, Tom Green makes me laugh. And when I heard that he had testicular cancer, I was really curious to see how he’d deal with it. Surely, a disease like that changes your perspective on everything, your outlook on life. But how would it affect the man who was famous for interviewing people with a microphone that had feces on the end of it?
Well, it did affect his life. Apparently, he was deeply depressed and quite scared (in addition to having one of his testicles removed, he had to have his lymph nodes removed as well). But, he dealt with it the best way he knew how: he documented it on film in classic Tom Green style and set up a research fund called “The Tom Green’s Nuts Fund.”
I watched the hour-long special the other day and I was impressed with the delicate balance between disgusting humor (sidekick Glenn holding Tom’s removed testicle in a baggie proclaiming, “I can’t believe I’m holding Tom’s balls!”) and informational instruction (how to check oneself for warning signs). It’s not easy to deal with such a sensative, but important, subject on a station that’s geared towards short-attention spanned teenagers who probably don’t think much about cancer, even though this cancer typically strikes men between ages 16 and 35.
I guess Tom said it best in his latest musical masterpiece, debuted on this show:
Rub your balls,
So you don’t get cancer.
Rub your balls,
Squeeze your balls,
Tease your balls,
Please your balls.
-ram
Posted in Television, Movies, and Music