Poolside Chats

Infobox Television
show_name = Poolside Chats


caption = "Poolside Chats" title card
format = Internet Talk show
camera = Multiple-camera setup
runtime = approx. 60 minutes
creator = Tom Green and Neil Hamburger
starring = Neil Hamburger
country = USA
network = ManiaTV!
[http://www.tomgreen.com tomgreen.com]
first_aired = August 31, 2006
last_aired = present
num_episodes = 6 as of January 15, 2007

"Poolside Chats" with Neil Hamburger is a webcast show, which airs at 12 p.m. EST on apparently random days at comedian Tom Green's website.

Description

"Poolside Chats" comes on right after "Tom Green Live". The star of the show is self-described "America's Funnyman", Neil Hamburger. Neil takes calls in which he usually insults the callers. He has referred to some of his guests as "diseased degenerate rock and rollers." There is no schedule for the show; it comes on randomly every few weeks when there are suitable gaps in Hamburger's touring schedule.

List of shows

The format

"Poolside Chats" has a simple format. Filmed outside of Tom Green's house in the evenings, positioned by Green's outdoor pool, hence 'Poolside'. There is a small table where a telephone is positioned, from which Hamburger takes calls for his guest(s). Hamburger is seated to the right of the table, and his guest(s) to the left.

Hamburger takes a mix of questions he has thought of himself and questions from callers. The show operates without a call screener, meaning anyone can call in and ask anything, serious or otherwise.

This lead, especially in earlier episodes, to many calls being pranks, simply insulting Hamburger, his guest(s) or just swearing. This would lead Hamburger himself to insult the viewers and calls (often without even being provoked), and hang up on callers if they either did not respond quickly enough or seemed to be another pranker.

This leads to few actual questions of worth being asked, and a regular torrent of insults exchanged between callers and Hamburger.

Mania TV and Episode 1

In the episode of "Tom Green Live" before "Poolside Chats", Tom Green (out of frustration with a repeatedly failing phone system) smashed the thousand-dollar 'Pepper Pad' supplied by Mania TV. In response, Mania TV cut off the live feed, changing it to Mania TV's feed so viewers saw its programming instead of "Poolside Chats".

"Poolside Chats" carried on unknowingly, until callers informed Hamburger that the feed had been changed (the first few minutes of the show aired before the feed was changed). This led to angry callers demanding the feed to be fixed, Hamburger greeting callers with 'You're not on the air!' and 'Poolside SHIT with Neil Hamburger' (phrases that would be used again in future episodes), and bemused conversations between Hamburger, King Buzzo and Tom Green.

With one angry caller, Hamburger claimed that Bob Dole had the censored the show, to which the caller replied 'Yeah, fuck Bob Dole!'. Hamburger then suggested the caller 'go down to the local wall' and spray paint 'Fuck Bob Dole' on it, to which the caller replied 'I'll spray paint everything'. This as become a joke with fans of "Poolside Chats", who bring up their dislike for Dole because of his censorship

Eventually Hamburger began 'breaking character' - his voice changed from the Hamburger voice to his real voice, he repeatedly laughed and spoke 'un-Hamburger-like'. This increased when Hamburger was informed as to why Mania TV changed the feed - completely breaking character and actually looking shocked. This eventually led to everyone involved (Hamburger, Buzzo & Tom Green) ending the show early and abruptly, realising that there really was no show.

The episode was briefly available to view on the On Demand section of the site, before being taken down. There has been some speculation as to why this was. Some have claimed that it is because the audio quality of the episode wasn't up to the standards of future shows. It is more likely that the reason was due to both Hamburger's breaking of character during the episode, and the general chaos the show had fallen into.

Other problems with episodes

Episode 2 was filmed 'live-to-tape' as technical difficulties meant the first few minutes of the show were not broadcast live, but the feed returned after, leading to humorous conversations between Hamburger, Pleaseeasaur and callers who did not know the feed was back up.

An episode of "Poolside Chats" was planned on February 12, 2007 with special guests King Buzzo and 'Quacker' [ [http://www.poolsidechats.com/?p=29 PoolsideChats.com » Poolside Chats tonight with King Buzzo and QUACKER ] ] , but was pushed back to February 14, 2007, and then cancelled altogether. This was mostly likely due to travelling issues as Hamburger was touring with Tenacious D as their opening act.

As of March 14, 2007, only Episodes 4 and 5 were available to view in the On Demand section of Tom Green.com. When the On Demand section was 'taken down' because 'the system couldn't handle it' (as said by Tom Green himself) it was said all the previous content would be available from before. No further episodes of "Poolside Chats", or major-length content from Tom Green.com had been put back up until all the episodes were removed.

Hamburger had originally stated on the official forum for Tom Green.com (now unavailable to access) that he would be available for a new episode to be filmed on either March 26 and/or 27, 2007 [ [http://www.poolsidechats.com/?p=33 PoolsideChats.com » More Poolside? ] ] . Instead of this, Hamburger appeared on the March 26 episode of "Tom Green Live" as a guest (along with Steve-O) ironically along with 'Quacker', who was to be a guest on "Poolside Chats" previously.

No future episodes have been planned.

Removal from Tom Green.com

As of the April 4, 2007, all previously hosted episodes of "Poolside Chats" were removed from the On Demand section of Tom Green.com [ [http://www.poolsidechats.com/?p=36 PoolsideChats.com » No More Poolside Chats On Demand ] ] , as well as the section dedicated to the show. Only via Hamburger's official website and the "Poolside Chats" fansite are the episodes currently available.

No reason has been given for this, and around the same time the official forum for Tom Green.com also was removed with no reason given, which featured a section dedicated to discussion for the show.

The future of "Poolside Chats"

On March 27, 2007 Neil appeared on Tom Green Live with Steve-O, during this show Hamburger walked off set. This combined with the removal of old episodes from the "On Demand" section of TomGreen.com, which targeted the 'silliness' and comedy Green has been associated with, made it uncertain if Hamburger and "Poolside Chats" would be returning for future episodes.

The "Poolside Chats" section returned to the "On Demand" section of the Tom Green.com website on May 19 2007, containing only an 'archive' clip of Hamburger performing as the opening comedy act for an Alien Ant Farm performance, along with some previously removed episodes of "Tom Green Live" (including the above mentioned episode with Steve-O). These were only available to view for a few months before again being removed.

On the June 19 2007 episode of Tom Green Live, which featured Hamburger as the guest, Tom Green stated that Poolside Chats was not cancelled, and apologised to Hamburger for both his and Steve-O's behaviour on the show. In typical Hamburger style this was blown off as Steve-O being 'on drugs' and that he 'needed help'. From this it was assumed that there would indeed be more episodes in the future.

Currently, there has not been a new episode of Poolside Chats for over a year. From this it can be assumed that there will be no further episodes, although there is yet to be official confirmation from either Green or Hamburger on the issue.

Jokes

Despite having only a few episodes filmed, many reoccurring jokes appear in the show, many which have spawned from the actions of callers and of Hamburger himself. Also Hamburger has revealed details of his personal life, and other strange and random pieces of information.

* The Pool Guy works during the filming of "Poolside Chats" because 'Mr. Green doesn't like me around during the day'. He often smokes joints, and with the guests. Neil has stated that he does not appreciate the man "stoning" the guests, and that if this continues he will "call 9-1-1".
* Neil claimed that a boy named Nathan had drowned in the pool by which the show is filmed, and was not saved since his parents were filming a porno while the accident happened. He further claimed that this tragic incident had lowered the property values for the house. Green has been very evasive when asked about this incident.
* Hamburger has claimed the phone number for "Poolside Chats" is similar to the number for Pizza Hut, and that the prankers are really angry customers trying to complain about the pizza they ordered.
* Hamburger has claimed that the show 'unlike "Tom Green Live"' has a sponsor, called "Gay Cigarettes", an obscure Japanese brand. Neil has also said that 'Only through Dog-Food sponsorship can this show survive'.
*In episode 5, Hamburger and Kyle Gass played a duet with Hamburger using a small child's electronic keyboard toy shaped like a hamburger. They also played with a caller who played a Melodica.
* Hamburger has stated during the shows that "Poolside Chats" may be cancelled because of the prankers.
* Hamburger often changes the name of the show mid-show when things are going badly, answering the phone with the new name and confusing callers. Names have included 'Poolside Shit', 'Pizza Hut', 'Hell on Earth', 'Cancelled Show' and 'Girl Talk'.
* Hamburger would demand zip codes of people claiming to be from certain cities/states if they hesitated when asked where they were to decide if the caller was trying to make a prank.
* During one episode, Hamburger revealed that the hair gel he uses, "New Wave Hard Rock Gel", is actually prescribed to him from an Australian pharmacy. It "has" to be imported as it is "banned" in America.
* During an episode a user from a website 'Hate The Radio.com' called in, which Hamburger instantly dismissed as a 'horrible website' because it was trying to be promoted. He then asked for a viewer to 'reserve 'Hate The Hate The Radio.com, because we hate you.' This spawned a fansite at that location as a direct response to the incident.
* During "Poolside Chats" Hamburger has claimed to be homeless and living in a cardboard box in back of a Denny's, and says his mode of transportation is the Greyhound bus.
* Hamburger has stated that the show is coming live 'from 10 Apricot Lane in the Hollywood Hills'. This became a joke when a caller said he was living in 'Peach Drive' when asked if he lived in Apricot Lane as well as he was in Hollywood.
* Hamburger is very vague when queried as to his birthdate, his birthplace, and to the relevance of the name Gregg Turkington.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.poolsidechats.com PoolsideChats.com - Unofficial fansite]
* [http://www.americasfunnyman.com Neil's Unofficial-official site]
* [http://www.tomgreen.com Tom Green's official site]
* [http://www.maniatv.com ManiaTV homepage]