Neil Hamburger

Neil Hamburger is the name of a stand-up comedian character played by Gregg Turkington.

Hamburger's jokes range from variations of "Why did the chicken cross the road?" to Diana, Princess of Wales jokes to Paris Hilton jokes. His pacing is off, and he clears his throat nonstop through his entire routine, which is all part of the ultimate goal: to be the world's "worst" stand-up comedian. Neil's unique brand of comedy has thrilled, perplexed and repulsed audiences from the New York University Thompson Center to Jimmy Kimmel himself. One of Neil's best loved gags is the Zipper Lips, in which he asks an audience member a question, and the audience member doesn't respond.

Turkington is rarely - if ever - seen in public not as Hamburger. Since 1996, he has released a number of records on the influential Drag City record label.

Turkington's past projects include the bands Faxed Head, Zip Code Rapists, and Three Doctors Band. Gregg was also co-owner of the now defunct Amarillo Records, and he co-wrote the book Warm Voices Rearranged: Anagram Record Reviews with Brandan Kearney.

He can currently be seen hosting Poolside Chats with Neil Hamburger, which airs usually once every couple of weeks at tomgreen.com. It is a show in which Neil and his guest for the night will talk and takes calls from what is normally a majority of prank callers, who are all dealt with in Neil's own unique fashion.

He tours all year around the United States, Eastern Canada, and Australia, either with other comedic acts, or bands that he is usually good friends with.

Recently he had a cameo appearance in the film Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, based on the band made up of actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass.