Gregg Turkington
Gregg Turkington | |
---|---|
Turkington as Neil Hamburger at Crap Comedy Festival in Oslo in 2016 | |
Born |
Darwin, Australia | 25 November 1967
Residence | Los Angeles, California |
Occupation | Comedian, musician, actor, film buff |
Years active | 1980s–present |
Spouse(s) | Simone Turkington |
Website |
americasfunnyman |
Gregg Turkington (born 25 November 1967) is an Australian-born American entertainer and actor, known for his character Neil Hamburger. He is also known for his contributions as "Resident Expert" on the parodic film review web series On Cinema and for playing the character Kington in the Adult Swim series Decker. Turkington had a small part in the 2015 film Ant-Man by Marvel Studios, and starred in the drama Entertainment the same year.
Personal life
Turkington was born in Darwin, Australia, of American parents, and grew up in Tempe, Arizona and San Francisco, California. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Simone Turkington. He has been a vegetarian for over two decades and supports animal welfare causes.
Career
Turkington rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as the co-publisher of underground zine Breakfast Without Meat, which he edited with Lizzy Kate Gray which brought punk respectability to "square" musical artists such as Tiny Tim, Jimmy Webb, the 101 Strings, and Richard Harris through feature articles. A frequent contributor to the zine was Derrick Bostrom of the Meat Puppets.
In the 1980s, Turkington also performed in obscure San Francisco bands such as Caroliner, Hello Kitty on Ice and Bean Church, and worked at Subterranean Records, contributing artwork and live recordings to Flipper's Public Flipper Limited Live 1980-1985 album.
In the early 1990s, Turkington operated the Amarillo Records label, which released works by many artists from San Francisco’s post-punk avant-garde music scene. He was a member of The Easy Goings, Totem Pole of Losers and the Zip Code Rapists (with John Singer). He collaborated with Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle in The Three Doctors, Faxed Head (with James Goode, Trey Spruance, "Grux" Edward Apperson and Phil Franklin), Secret Chiefs 3, Colonel Truth (with Brandan Kearney and Rebecca G. Wilson) and The Bon Larvis Band. Many of these bands appeared on 1996's Amarillo Records compilation CD, You Gan’t Boar Like An Eabla When You Work With Turkrys, along with the likes of Sun City Girls, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, U.S. Saucer, Harvey Sid Fisher, Dieselhed, and Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey. He was also a tour manager for both Link Wray and Mr. Bungle. He contributed lead vocals to two tracks by the Secret Chiefs 3.
In the late 1990s, Turkington had abandoned Amarillo Records and all of his musical projects and moved to Melbourne, Australia, where he lived until 2003. Since then, he has written the book Warm Voices Rearranged: Anagram Record Reviews with fellow Three Doctors alumnus Brandan Kearney, also of World of Pooh, Caroliner, and Archipelago Brewing Co. He was a contributing editor to the British version of Maxim in 2005 and 2006, as well as to Johan Kugelberg's 2013 book Enjoy The Experience: Homemade Records 1958-1992.
In 2005 and 2006, after ten years of inactivity, his musical duo Zip Code Rapists did a handful of reunion shows, performing in San Francisco, Saint Paul, Minnesota, Toronto, and Montreal.
He has provided various voices for the animated series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Adventure Time, Sanjay and Craig, and Gravity Falls. A parody screenplay entitled "Bicycle Built for Two" which was co-written with Tim Heidecker was published in McSweeney's #36 in December, 2010.
Turkington appears in the full-length independent drama The Comedy, directed by Rick Alverson and starring Tim Heidecker. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2012.
Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington star in Adult Swim's web series On Cinema At The Cinema, portraying a pair of hapless movie reviewers. The series has run for eight seasons thus far, with guest appearances by Jimmy McNichol, Joe Estevez, Sally Kellerman, Candy Clark, Peyton Reed, and John Aprea. In 2013 the On Cinema Film Guide app was released, featuring the voices of Turkington and Heidecker reviewing over 17,000 films. Turkington also co-stars as Special Agent Kington in the On Cinema At The Cinema spin-off series Decker.
Turkington had a role in Marvel Studios' 2015 movie Ant-Man.[1][2] He appeared in the series finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as bombing suspect Lawrence Territo.[3]
Turkington co-wrote and starred in the 2015 feature film Entertainment, directed by Rick Alverson, with a supporting cast including John C. Reilly, Tye Sheridan, Lotte Verbeek, Amy Seimetz, Michael Cera, David Yow, and Annabella Lwin. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2015.[4]
Neil Hamburger
Turkington is best known for creating anti-comedian Neil Hamburger. In 1992, Turkington released an album of prank phone calls with several tracks featuring an early version of the character and soon after began developing a stand-up comedian persona. The character constantly clears his throat while telling off-paced jokes that, for the most part, fail. Neil's unique brand of comedy has thrilled, perplexed and repulsed audiences worldwide. Since 1998, he has released a number of records on the Drag City record label.
In the 2000s, he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Tom Green Live, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and Fox News' Red Eye. He also appeared in the short film Left For Dead In Malaysia, and had a brief cameo appearance in the 2006 film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. The Neil Hamburger character plays the role of Osric in the 2014 film, Hamlet A.D.D., a live action and animated version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He was rumored to appear in his Neil Hamburger persona in Greg Mottola's 2011 ensemble comedy film Paul, but in fact, did not.[5]
Discography
with the Zip Code Rapists
- 1992 - Sing And Play The Three Doctors (Amarillo)
- 1994 - The Man Can't Bust Our Music! (EP Ectoplasm)
- 1994 - Sing And Play The Matador Records Catalog EP (Ecstatic Piss)
- 1995 - 94124 EP (Amarillo)
- 1995 - Live "In Competence" (Beast 666 Tapes)
- 2005 - Here At Last... Live!!! (Freedom From)
- 2009 - Sing And Play The Three Doctors (with 24 bonus tracks) (Eabla)
with The Easy Goings
- 1989 - The Easy Goings (Bee-Fast)
- 1993 - Cigarettes (Nuf Sed)
with the Three Doctors
as Totem Pole of Losers
- 1993 - Jesus, I Am Loving You (Amarillo)
with Faxed Head
- 1995 - Uncomfortable But Free (Amarillo)
- 1997 - Exhumed At Birth (Amarillo)
- 2001 - Chiropractic (Web of Mimicry)
- 2008 - From Coalinga to Osaka: Live In Japan 1995 (Web of Mimicry)
with Secret Chiefs 3
- 2007 - Path of Most Resistance (Web of Mimicry)
as The Golding Institute
- 1994 - Sounds of the American Fast Food Restaurants (Planet Pimp)
- 1997 - Sounds of the San Francisco Adult Book Stores (Planet Pimp)
- 1998 - Sounds of the International Airport Restrooms (Planet Pimp)
- 2006 - Final Relaxation (Ipecac)
with Hard-ons
- 2011 - American Exports (Alternative Tentacles)
as Neil Hamburger
- 1992 - Great Phone Calls - (Amarillo)
- 1996 - America's Funnyman (Drag City)
- 1998 - Raw Hamburger (Drag City)
- 1999 - Left for Dead in Malaysia (Drag City)
- 2000 - Inside Neil Hamburger (EP) (Drag City)
- 2000 - Fifty States, Fifty Laughs (Million Dollar Performances)
- 2002 - Laugh Out Lord (Drag City)
- 2003 - Live at Phoenix Greyhound Park DVD (Kung Fu)
- 2005 - Great Moments At Di Presa's Pizza House (Drag City)
- 2005 - The World's Funnyman DVD (Drag City)
- 2007 - Hot February Night (Off-Price Value Center)
- 2008 - Sings Country Winners (Drag City)
- 2012 - Live At Third Man Records (Third Man Records)
- 2012 - Margaret Cho and Neil Hamburger (7") (Million Dollar Performances)
- 2013 - Incident At Cambridge, Mass. (cassette) (Burger Records)
- 2014 - First of Dismay (LP/cassette) (Drag City)
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Terminal USA | Six | Film debut |
2006 | The Amazing Adventures of Pleaseeasaur | Neil Hamburger | |
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny | Neil Hamburger | ||
2006–2007 | Poolside Chats with Neil Hamburger | Neil Hamburger | Live webcast; co-creator |
2007–2008 | Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! | Egg-Zackly Guy / Neil Hamburger | 2 episodes |
2009 | Free Radio | Neil Hamburger | Episode: "Lance's Posse" |
Coco Lipshitz: Behind the Laughter | Neil Hamburger | Short film | |
SpongeBob SquarePants | Camera Operator (voice) | Episode: "Truth or Square" | |
2009–2010 | The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack | Various voice roles | 12 episodes |
2010 | The New Big Ball With Neil Hamburger | Neil Hamburger | Unaired pilot; writer and producer |
Shaky Advice from Neil Hamburger | Neil Hamburger | Video game; also writer | |
The Great Intervention | Josh (voice) | ||
2011 | Aqua Teen Hunger Force | Wi-tri (voice) | Episode: "Wi-tri" |
2012–2016 | Gravity Falls | Toby Determined | 15 episodes |
On Cinema | Himself | Also writer | |
2012 | Pick-a-Split | Neil Hamburger | Game show; host |
The Comedy | Bobby | ||
Adventure Time | Chipler / Shrub (voice) | Two episodes | |
2013 | Think Talk | Neil Hamburger | Episode: "Neil Hamburger" |
On Cinema Film Guide | Himself | Video game; also writer | |
2014 | Tom Green Live! | Neil Hamburger | Episode: "Season 2, Episode 10" |
Hamlet A.D.D. | Osric | ||
The Begun of Tigtone | The Cave Demon (voice) | ||
Comedy Bang! Bang! | Drinking Man | 1 episode | |
2014–present | Decker | Special Agent Jonathan Kington | 22 episodes; also writer |
2015 | Entertainment | The Comedian | Feature film; lead role, co-writer |
Sanjay and Craig | D.I.N.K. (voice) | Episode: "Dangerous Debbie/D.I.N.K." | |
Ant-Man | Dale | ||
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Lawrence Territo | Episode: "Immortality" | |
2016 | Decker: Unclassified | Jonathan Kington | Writer Producer |
2017 | A Futile and Stupid Gesture | Advertiser | Post-production |
References
External links
- Gregg Turkington at AllMusic
- Hour-long WFMU radio show with guest DJ Gregg Turkington
- Review of "Final Relaxation"
- Neil Hamburger website
- Three Doctors Band official website
- Frank Sinatra Jr. website run by Gregg Turkington