Seth Green has built up an incredible body of work. Spanning almost four decades, Mr. Green has managed to rise from his start as a child actor, and survived the infamous curse of the child star to carve a career for himself in the mainstream, and cult arena. Seth Green has set foot in every corner of Hollywood imaginable, and he just continues re-inventing himself and taking bold moves with his career. He’s had plenty of flops (ahem–“Without a Paddle”), and many mediocre jobs (“Can’t Hardly Wait”), but Green still comes out ahead in the end. This is due to his personable nature, his humility, his ability to connect with geeks and fanboys eye to eye since he is one, and because he is one of the most daring comedic actors alive today. He takes risks, and when he’s in the zone he can inspire raucous laughter from everyone.
People love Seth Green, and we do too. Whether it’s earning the love of comedy fans in his role as the demented Chris Griffin on “Family Guy,” keeping the love of nineties kids with his role as Wiley in “Airborne,” gaining the attention of action fans in films like “The Italian Job” and “Knockaround Guys,” or earning indie cred in the abysmal “Party Monster,” Seth Green is never afraid to try something new with his career and take a chance on a project. What’s more is he always seems to enjoy doing favors for his close circle of friends adding his credit to their work. Seth Green is a very popular entity who can act, write, and pretty much shill his stuff shamelessly on shows like “The Soup” without coming off pathetic. It’s because he’s so damn funny and likable. Here are ten reasons why we love Seth Green.
10. He Got Everyone on the set of “Italian Job” to sing “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
In one of the funniest recollections of his career, Seth Green explained on an interview in “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” that while working on the set of the Mark Wahlberg vehicle “The Italian Job” he egged everyone on set in to singing a Bon Jovi ditty.
During one day while sitting on a boat preparing for a scene, Green began the opening verses “Tommy used to work on the docks, Unions been on strike, He’s down on his luck… it’s tough…” ultimately going quiet and was shocked to hear Mark Wahlberg turn to him and mutter soulfully, “So tough!” Much to his shock, the entire cast sang the rest of “Livin’ on a Prayer.” Only Seth could pull that off.
9. He Gives Us Hope We Can Land a Babe, too
In 2010, Seth Green married model Clare Grant. Ms. Grant happens to be a part of the online comedy troupe “Team Unicorn FTW,” a group of gorgeous women who create their own viral videos that celebrate geek culture. Ms. Grant and Team Unicorn are mostly known for their cover of “California Girls” entitled “G33K & G4M3R Girls,” a hilarious and excellent music video celebrating the good-looking women who are in to Star Wars, video games, and comic books. Green of course cameos, much to my delight. Between you and me, it’s infinitely more listenable than Katy Perry’s original. Grant and Team Unicorn are popular web presences, so Ms. Grant is cut out of the same geek cloth Green is. Except, she just has the face of a goddess. Seth is usually a handsome gent, but if we had to place a bet, he won Clare Grant over with his personality and pop culture love.
Don’t envy Seth, use him as a template for your future relationships. You can have your cake and eat it, too. You can be a fan boy and get married to a beauty if you just apply yourself. Put the cheetos down, and go for it! Interesting bit of trivia, Grant’s comedy partner on the team Rlieah Vanderbilt is married to acclaimed indie filmmaker Adam Green–another major fan boy, himself. Green has directed many of Team Unicorn’s shorts when not directing popular horror films like “Hatchet” and “Frozen.” Naturally, Seth Green made a guest appearance on Adam Green’s television show “Holliston.” We geeks gotta stick together. Green and–uh–Green give hope to the rest of us fan boys and pop culture geeks that someday if we have enough self-confidence and charisma, we can get married to a girl with the pop culture knowledge of your everyday comic-con nerd, and the beauty of Aphrodite. We can doo eet! I salute you, Seth.
8. He Made Scooby Doo Bearable
I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but Seth Green played a character in “Buffy” who rode around in his own van his entire time on the show fighting monsters with a group of teens, and for “Scooby Doo 2,” his character basically hooks up with another monster fighting group who ride around in a van.
Granted, “Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” is barely a watchable film as it is, but the casting of Seth Green as geeky Patrick, a character who intends on solving the mystery of the film while also romancing the secretly hot Velma in the process. Green has made constant light of his stint on ‘Scooby Doo” even bringing back the film’s original cast time and time again to lampoon Scooby Doo for “Robot Chicken.”
7. He made being Amish funny in “Sex Drive”
“Oh right, because I’m Amish, so I wouldn’t know anything about your 69′ GTO Judge, 455 Big Block, Ram-Air, 4.11 Posi… Somethin’ like that? Weird… That thing must have fallen straight from space! Well, good luck with your future ride, spaceman!”
You wouldn’t think playing an sardonic Amish guy in a comedy movie could be funny. But then you don’t know Seth Green. We really enjoyed “Sex Drive” as a film, but the highlight of the whole film is Seth Green who appears for a good portion of the film as Amish farmer Ezekiel who helps the characters repair their car. When their car breaks down, he offers to repair their car in his barn. They’re shocked he knows what electronics are.
He’s not shocked they’re shocked, and approaches their somewhat patronizing awe with a soft smile, and a patronizing gleam that tells us that he’s experienced this kind of stereotyping a thousand times over and can do nothing but respond with good humor and sarcasm. When they see he has a tech based auto-shop in his barn, the characters are shocked. And he simply smiles and responds with an equally patronizing nod. When they repair their car in under a day, they’re shocked. And he simply responds with an equally patronizing nod. Green’s turn as Ezekiel is worth many laughs and he pulls off this minor character with his usual sharp timing.
6. He Was Hilarious in “Idle Hands”
“Idle Hands” is a pretty underrated horror comedy, and one that is just balls to the wall demented. Basically Devon Sawa is Anton, a guy whose hand has taken on a life of its own and begins murdering everyone around him. Particularly his well meaning best friend, both of whom try to help stop the problem and pay for it dearly. With a surprising amount of gore, and a wicked climax, “Idle Hands” is hysterical.
In what I hope was intended as an homage to “An American Werewolf in London,” Anton is forced to deal with his rapidly demonic hand while being taunted by visions of his undead best friends, both of whom have a laugh at Anton’s expense for most of the film. Green is of course given the best dialogue, and “Idle Hands” sadly faded in to obscurity.
5. He fought a Closet Monster in “Tales from the Darkside”
In one of the many light hearted episodes in what was usually a bleak and scary series, Green plays Timmy, a little boy who is prone to immense sensitivity and playing with toys more than toughening up. His dad Biff, hung up on manliness, insists his son act like a man, pushing him around and giving him beer.
During bed time Timmy begins to see movement within the darkness of his room, and despite his pleas, dad Biff refuses to allow a night light. Timmy wages war on the monsters in his room for the rest of the episode, ending on a twisted note typical of “Tales.”
4. He fought a killer clown in “It”
Beep, Beep, Richie! Seth Green was one of the many stars of “Stephen King’s It” playing the geeky class clown Richie who approached every situation with a one-liner and a comedy routine. Even when faced with a demonic clown threatening to rip him apart, he has a good laugh and uses his humor to deflate every horrible situation.
He’s silenced by his friends when they mutter “Beep, Beep, Richie.” Green is one of the few child stars to make it out of the rut, and in “It” he has a real potential for acting and comedy and visits the horror genre yet again.
3. He Was Oz on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”
Much to the surprise of many fans when he left “Buffy” and went on to comedy, Seth Green was amazingly restrained in his role as Oz in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Beginning the show as a very minor character, he caught on and eventually became a part of the cast for a few seasons as the quiet, reserved, and clever Oz. Oz barely spoke, but always had something insightful or interesting to contribute to the group, and spent most of his time in a rock band and fawning over character Willow Rosenberg with loving eyes and a deep commitment to her.
Oh yes, and he’s a werewolf, too. Did I forget to mention that? Unlike Dawn or Anya, Oz never felt shoe horned in to the cast to create tension. Oz was a likable and charming character who often seemed simple upon first glance, but was in fact incredibly intelligent and insightful. His grasping with his werewolf curse is a source of many interesting sub-plots in “Buffy,” especially when he returns to the show to discover Willow is in a love affair with her best friend Tara, and is so shocked he can barely contain his inner beast. Oz was a banner Buffy supporting player, and that’s because of Green.
2. He’s Scott fucking Evil
Scott Evil: I hate you! I hate you! I wish I was never artificially created in a lab!
Dr. Evil: Scott, that hurts daddy when you say that. Honestly.
Scott Evil was created by Dr. Evil’s sperm years before Dr. Evil was cryogenically frozen after being launched in to space, and upon his return discovers he has a son named Scott. Thinking he has an heir to the throne, Scott ends up a smart ass resentful emo punk who loathes everything about his dad, and takes every chance to mock his plans for world domination. Their relationship is fodder for many hilarious moments in the “Austin Power” series, and when Austin Powers mania took over for a while, Scott Evil was a supporting character that ended up being indispensable.
1. He Created “Robot Chicken”!
When Green finally ventured out on his own being able to carve a name for himself in comedy and animation, he was able to cut loose and do whatever he damn well pleased. So, being a major fan boy, a pop culture fanatic, and a child of the eighties, he gave his growing fan base something to feast on with glee. He gave us “Robot Chicken.” Using stop motion animation, a lot of dolls, voice cameos from huge stars like Scarlett Johannsson, Simon Pegg, and George Lucas (to name only a few), and an obscene knowledge of pop culture from the seventies, eighties, and nineties, “Robot Chicken” caught on and became a huge success.
Running for six seasons (so far), and comprising an endless slew of ideas, “Robot Chicken” is Seth Green. It’s hilarious, demented, occasionally brilliant, and continues thinking of new ideas to keep our attention. Whether it’s the Star Wars episodes, the DC Comics episode, or just lampooning “Dawn of the Dead” at every turn, “Robot Chicken” is not only genius, but absolutely hysterical. He re-united most of the cast of “Saved by the Bell” for crying out loud. I’ll let that sink in. “Robot Chicken” is a close representation of Seth Green, and it’s his gift to his fans. It’ll live for on a long time. And you have to love the chicken cover of “The Gonk.” That’s just brilliant.
Thank you, Seth.