The series stopped production in March 2000, due to Green's diagnosis of testicular cancer, but continued to appear on the channel via reruns and other promotional materials.

In an infamous sketch, Green woke his parents in the middle of the night by placing a severed cow's head in their bed, a reference to a similar scene in The Godfather.

Despite the show's reputation for scatological and transgressive humor, several sketches featured Green performing in a responsible and respectful way, making fun of his juvenile persona.

One segment saw Green crash a press conference for Grey Owl featuring Pierce Brosnan and Richard Attenborough.

It consists of a painting, called Tiger-Zebra, introduced, simply without any of the guards taking notice, to a local art gallery in a segment on the show.

In the other scene Green could be seen with a sort of lexicon - which he briefly legislate for giving him the brand idea of a Cow Brain Boat.

Later, in his autobiography, he revealed that MTV had pressured him to do so in order to maintain the image that Total Request Live was, in fact, a live request show (the next week's episodes had been pre-taped on location, and the producers of the show were completely unaware of "The Bum Bum Song" at the time).

The episode received wide critical acclaim for revealing a vulnerable, human side of an otherwise juvenile television personality.

In March 2002, he also starred in and directed a one-hour special called The Tom Green Subway Monkey Hour, where he harassed strangers in Japan.

The show takes place in Green's own living room in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley.