Gregg Turkington
Encyclopedia
Gregg Turkington is an Australian-born U.S. comedian, best known for his stand-up comedy character, Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger is a standup comedian character played by comedian and musician Gregg Turkington.-Style:Hamburger's live act, which is quite different from his many albums, features a barrage of question/answer jokes aimed often at celebrity targets, including Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, The Red...

. He has also participated in a number of avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 and post punk bands. Turkington founded Amarillo Records
Amarillo Records
Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

.

Personal life

Turkington was born in Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, of American parents, and grew up in Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...

 and San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. He currently lives in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 with his Australian wife, Simone Turkington. He has been a vegetarian for over two decades and supports animal welfare causes.

Music career

He rose to prominence in the mid-1980s as the co-publisher of underground zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....

 Breakfast Without Meat, which brought punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...

 respectability to "square" musical artists such as Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age...

, Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"...

, the 101 Strings
101 Strings
101 Strings Orchestra was a brand for a highly successful easy listening symphonic music organization, with a discography exceeding a hundred albums and a creative lifetime of roughly thirty years. Their LPs were individualized by the slogan "The Sound of Magnificence", a puffy cloud logo and...

, and Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....

 through feature articles. A frequent contributor to the zine was Derrick Bostrom
Derrick Bostrom
Derrick Bostrom is an American musician. He was the original drummer of the band Meat Puppets, which he founded together with the Kirkwood brothers, Cris and Curt, in 1980....

 of the Meat Puppets
Meat Puppets
The Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980, in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood , his brother Cris Kirkwood , and Derrick Bostrom . The Kirkwood brothers met Bostrom while attending Brophy Prep High School in Phoenix...

.

In the 1980s, Turkington also performed in obscure San Francisco bands such as Hello Kitty On Ice and Bean Church, and was rumoured to have been a founding member of Caroliner
Caroliner
Caroliner, a group formed in 1983 in San Francisco, is an industrial bluegrass–experimental–Noise conceptual art band that utilizes instruments from bluegrass and rock traditions, as well as homemade electronics and other modified instruments...

.

In the early 1990s, Turkington operated the Amarillo Records
Amarillo Records
Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

 label, which released works by many artists from San Francisco’s burgeoning post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 music scene. He was a member of Totem Pole of Losers and the Zip Code Rapists (with John Singer). He collaborated with Trey Spruance
Trey Spruance
Preston Lea Spruance III or "Trey Spruance" is an American composer, producer, and musician, perhaps best known as the leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3 and for his work as guitarist and keyboardist with Mr. Bungle...

 (Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle was an experimental band from Northern California. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children's educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and...

) in the Three Doctors, Faxed Head
Faxed Head
Faxed Head is a death metal side project headed by Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle fame. The band's bios and lyrics describe them as 'teenage survivors of a suicide pact gone horribly awry,' and place them in small-town Coalinga, California. Band members' identities are generally kept secret and the...

, Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3 is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance . Their studio recordings and tours have featured different line-ups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music,...

and the Bon Larvis Band. Many of these bands appeared on 1996's landmark Amarillo Records compilation CD, You Gan’t Boar Like An Eabla When You Work With Turkrys, along with the likes of Sun City Girls
Sun City Girls
The Sun City Girls were an American experimental rock band, formed in 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona. From 1981 the group consisted of Alan Bishop , his brother Richard Bishop , and the late Charles Gocher . Their name was inspired by Sun City, Arizona, an Arizona retirement community...

, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 is an experimental indie rock group formed in 1986 in San Francisco, California, though half of its members are from Iowa. Their albums combine lo-fi noise rock and ambient sounds with tightly constructed rock and pop songs. The band has a small but intensely loyal...

, U.S. Saucer, Harvey Sid Fisher
Harvey Sid Fisher
Harvey Sid Fisher is a singer/songwriter/musician, actor, model, and screenwriter. He is best-known for writing and performing mostly humorous songs about Astrology, golf, the battle of the sexes, quitting smoking, the F-word, and wanting his mommy...

, Dieselhed
Dieselhed
Dieselhed was a San Francisco-based band, originally from Arcata, California.-Early career:Dieselhed formed in 1989 in the San Francisco Bay Area playing a blend of country, punk, and pseudo-classic rock. Drummer Heifetz spread his time between Dieselhed and the genre-bending experimentalists Mr....

and Church of Satan
Church of Satan
The Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.- History :...

founder Anton Szandor LaVey. He was also a tour manager for both Link Wray
Link Wray
Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer....

and Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle was an experimental band from Northern California. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children's educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and...

. He contributed lead vocals to two tracks by the Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3 is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance . Their studio recordings and tours have featured different line-ups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music,...

for Sony Japan.

By the late 1990s, Turkington had abandoned Amarillo Records and all of his musical projects and moved to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Since then, he has written the book Warm Voices Rearranged: Anagram Record Reviews with fellow Three Doctors alumnus Brandan Kearney (of World of Pooh, Caroliner, and Archipelago Brewing Co). He was also a contributing editor to the British version of Maxim magazine in 2005 and 2006.

In 2005 and 2006, after 10 years of inactivity, his musical duo Zip Code Rapists
Zip Code Rapists
Zip Code Rapists were an avant-garde band active in the 1990s. The band was composed of guitarist John Singer and singer Gregg Turkington. The band is known for their confrontational, deconstructionist, absurd live performances. as well as their bizarre, more fleshed-out recordings...

 began doing sporadic shows again, performing in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

.

Recently, he has done miscellaneous voices for the Cartoon Network animated series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is an American animated television series produced for Cartoon Network that premiered on June 5, 2008 and ended on August 31, 2010...

, and for an upcoming episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Aqua Teen Hunger Force , retitled Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 in 2011, is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network late night programing block, Adult Swim, as well as Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block and later G4 Canada's ADd block in Canada...

. A parody screenplay co-written with Tim Heidecker
Tim Heidecker
Tim Heidecker is an American actor, comedian, musician, writer and director. He is one half of the comedy team of Tim and Eric...

 was published in McSweeney's
McSweeney's
McSweeney's is an American publishing house founded by editor Dave Eggers.Apart from its book list, McSweeney's is responsible for four regular publications: the quarterly literary journal,...

 #36 in December, 2010.

Neil Hamburger

Turkington is best known for creating anti-comedian Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger is a standup comedian character played by comedian and musician Gregg Turkington.-Style:Hamburger's live act, which is quite different from his many albums, features a barrage of question/answer jokes aimed often at celebrity targets, including Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, The Red...

. In 1993, Turkington released an album of prank phone calls with several tracks featuring the character, and soon afterwards began developing a full-figured comedian persona. Hamburger's pacing is off, constantly clears his throat, and most of his jokes 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
Drag City (record label)
Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

 record label.

In the 2000s, he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on ABC.The nightly hour-long show made its debut on January 26, 2003, following Super Bowl XXXVII. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Jackhole Productions in association with ABC Studios...

, Tom Green Live
Tom Green Live
Tom Green's House Tonight is an Internet-based talk show hosted by Tom Green. In addition to its primary broadcast on TomGreen.com, the show was syndicated on television stations throughout North America...

, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010...

, and Fox News' Red Eye
Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld
Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld is a late-night/early-morning satirical talk show on the Fox News Channel, airing at 3:00 am ET Tuesday through Saturday. The show features panelists and guests discussing the latest news in politics, pop culture, entertainment, business, sports, and religion...

. He also appeared in the short film Left For Dead In Malaysia, and had a brief cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 in the 2006 film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. The Neil Hamburger character plays the role of Osric in the 2011 film, Hamlet A.D.D.
Hamlet A.D.D.
Hamlet A.D.D., directed by Bobby Ciraldo & Andrew Swant and produced by Special Entertainment, is an upcoming independent feature film and web series which re-imagines Shakespeare’s play as a bizarre and comical tour through the ages....

, a live action and animated version of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

. He was rumored to appear in his Neil Hamburger persona in Greg Mottola
Greg Mottola
Gregory J. "Greg" Mottola is an American filmmaker, screenwriter and television director. Mottola wrote and directed the 1996 independent film The Daytrippers, then concentrated for several years on directing in television for series such as Undeclared and Arrested Development...

's 2011 ensemble comedy film Paul
Paul (film)
Paul is a 2011 science fiction comedy film directed by Greg Mottola, written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It stars Pegg, Frost, and the voice of Seth Rogen as the title character...

, but in fact, did not.

with the Zip Code Rapists
Zip Code Rapists
Zip Code Rapists were an avant-garde band active in the 1990s. The band was composed of guitarist John Singer and singer Gregg Turkington. The band is known for their confrontational, deconstructionist, absurd live performances. as well as their bizarre, more fleshed-out recordings...

  • 1992 - Sing And Play The Three Doctors (Amarillo
    Amarillo Records
    Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

    )
  • 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
    Amarillo Records
    Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

    )
  • 1995 - Live "In Competence" (Beast 666 Tapes)
  • 2005 - Here At Last... Live!!! (Freedom From
    Freedom From
    Freedom From is a Minneapolis, Minnesota based record label which primarily focuses on the international noise underground genre. The label was founded in 1996 with its first official release by a San Francisco three-piece named Job. Up until early 1998, the labels focus was singularly cassettes,...

    )
  • 2009 - Sing And Play The Three Doctors (with 24 bonus tracks) (Eabla)

with the Three Doctors

  • 1994 - Back To Basics-"Live" (Amarillo
    Amarillo Records
    Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

    )
  • 1995 - Archaeology Of The Infinite (Amarillo
    Amarillo Records
    Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

    )

with Faxed Head
Faxed Head
Faxed Head is a death metal side project headed by Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle fame. The band's bios and lyrics describe them as 'teenage survivors of a suicide pact gone horribly awry,' and place them in small-town Coalinga, California. Band members' identities are generally kept secret and the...

  • 1995 - Uncomfortable But Free (Amarillo
    Amarillo Records
    Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

    )
  • 1997 - Exhumed At Birth (Amarillo
    Amarillo Records
    Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

    )
  • 2001 - Chiropractic (Web of Mimicry
    Mimicry Records
    Mimicry Records is an independent record label currently based in San Francisco, California founded by Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3.Bands under Mimicry often feature theological and philosophical themes.-Band lineup:*Secret Chiefs 3...

    )
  • 2008 - From Coalinga to Osaka: Live In Japan 1995 (Web of Mimicry
    Mimicry Records
    Mimicry Records is an independent record label currently based in San Francisco, California founded by Trey Spruance of Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3.Bands under Mimicry often feature theological and philosophical themes.-Band lineup:*Secret Chiefs 3...

    )

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
    Ipecac Recordings
    Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman and Mike Patton Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles,...

    )

as Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger
Neil Hamburger is a standup comedian character played by comedian and musician Gregg Turkington.-Style:Hamburger's live act, which is quite different from his many albums, features a barrage of question/answer jokes aimed often at celebrity targets, including Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, The Red...

  • 1992 - Great Phone Calls - (Amarillo
    Amarillo Records
    Amarillo Records is a defunct independent record label that operated out of San Francisco from 1992 to 2001. It was owned by Gregg Turkington. The label specialized in releasing experimental post-punk avant-garde rock...

    )
  • 1996 - America's Funnyman (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )
  • 1998 - Raw Hamburger (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )
  • 1999 - Left for Dead in Malaysia (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )
  • 2000 - Inside Neil Hamburger (EP) (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )
  • 2000 - Fifty States, Fifty Laughs (Million Dollar Performances)
  • 2002 - Laugh Out Lord (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )
  • 2003 - Live at Phoenix Greyhound Park DVD (Kung Fu
    Kung Fu Records
    Kung Fu Records is an American independent record label founded in 1996 by Joe Escalante and Warren Fitzgerald of the punk rock band The Vandals. Founded in order to release a record by the Riverside, California band Assorted Jelly Beans, the label soon grew to include a roster of notable artists...

    )
  • 2005 - Great Moments At Di Presa's Pizza House (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )
  • 2005 - The World's Funnyman DVD (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )
  • 2007 - Hot February Night (Off-Price Value Center)
  • 2008 - Sings Country Winners (Drag City
    Drag City (record label)
    Drag City is a Chicago-based independent record label. It was established with a Royal Trux release in 1990 in Chicago, Illinois by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn.Drag City specializes in experimental indie rock acts...

    )

External links

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