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Shannon Hawkins, however, offers up another apt description of Ottawa's own shock comic ... serious?!?
"He can be serious, he's certainly very serious about his career," Hawkins says sipping water at a local restaurant discussing Udder Insanity, her 180-page biographical portrait of Green, scheduled for paperback release at the end of this month in Canada and the U.S.
HOAX?
Not many knew what to make of Green when news that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer first broke. During an Entertainment Tonight segment, Green's quip-filled wit shone through when he talked of setting up "Tom Green's Nuts Cancer Fund."
"When he said he had testicular cancer and was fighting it, I had people calling me and asked, 'Do you believe it? Do you think this is another one of his hoaxes.' I said no, because I've seen that other side of him. People couldn't deal with that.
"Besides, he wouldn't joke about something like that. I don't think people would want him to joke about that."
In putting together Udder Insanity, Hawkins, 27, spent 51/2 months writing and fine-tuning her research, while expanding upon her own dealings with Green when she served as the Sun's TV critic.
"The first time I met him, I was 25 and scared to death. I didn't know what to make of him," says Hawkins, now holding fort as a writer for The NewRO. "I've seen him on television and I was soooo nervous, thinking he was going to videotape our conversation and I was going to end up as a subject on his show.
"But when we finally met, he was very shy, demure and career-focused. He talked about his show and doing all the work behind-the-scenes, which was amazing to me. This one guy had a vision and he made it all come to life."
She says she wanted to give readers a down-to-earth view of Green through the eyes of his parents, close friends, Tom Green Show producer Merilyn Read and all those who supported the lanky goateed prankster from his Rogers 22 cable series, a failed CBC pilot, a successful move to the Comedy Network and subsequently MTV.
DEAD RACCOON
Hawkins devotes plenty to Green's off-the-wall antics, notably sucking on a cow's udders, the infamous 'slutmobile' design on his parents car, the dead raccoon he brought on to The Mike Bullard Show and, most recently, his 'fabric-inspired' press conference joined by former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
But one of Udder Insanity's greatest what-if's involves Green as a potential Canadian rap star with his group, Organized Rhyme, who got as far as a 1992 Juno nomination with Check The OR.
"There were a lot of avenues open to them," Hawkins says. "Tom loved the attention, he loved being on stage and loved people laughing, or not knowing what people would expect."