Career
Turkington's first Neil Hamburger recordings were self-recorded, imagining an unfunny, poorly recorded self-released stand-up comedy act. Turkington used recordings of audience laughter that were intentionally out of sync with his jokes, to replicate the private pressing albums by outsider artists that he enjoyed.
These early recordings found a cult audience, which led to record label Drag City issuing his album America's Funnyman in 1996. Several more albums were issued on the record label. These albums featured crowd chatter, clinking glasses, and ambient club noise, but were all made in studio.
And because Hamburger was only appearing on albums and never in clubs, some thought the character was an elaborate hoax.
But after originally conceiving Hamburger to be a studio-only character, Turkington was convinced to perform as the character on stage. His first such shows were supporting punk rock band Frenzal Rhomb, who flew Turkington from the United States to Australia especially for the performance. Neil Hamburger later appeared in the music videos for "Ballchef" and "Punisher" on their 2003 album Sans Souci.
In 2000, Hamburger opened for the band Trans Am on their North America tour.
Hamburger was a frequent guest on the Internet talk show Tom Green's House Tonight (2006–2013). In 2006, Hamburger started doing his own show called Poolside Chats with Neil Hamburger on The Channel at Tomgreen.com. Guests on his show have included Tim and Eric, Kyle Gass of Tenacious D, Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, and Bonnie "Prince" Billy.
In 2006, Hamburger had a cameo appearance in the film Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. Over the next year, he opened for Tenacious D during their Pick of Destiny tour. His performances incited mostly negative reactions, including booing and heckling in Ireland and England. His performance at Madison Square Garden was referred to by Sia Michel of The New York Times as likely "the greatest night of his career."
In 2008, Drag City released an album of country and western originals and covers recorded by Hamburger. During the sessions, Hamburger was backed by musicians including Prairie Prince of The Tubes and Todd Rundgren's band, David Gleason, Atom Ellis of Dieselhed and the New Cars, and Rachel Haden from That Dog.
In December 2010, Special Entertainment released an iPhone App called Shaky Advice from Neil Hamburger that functions much like a Magic 8 Ball, with 30 video clips of Hamburger giving comical advice.
In 2011, Hamburger was attacked onstage by a woman in Calgary who was mad about his act.
In 2015, the Neil Hamburger act was dramatized for the Rick Alverson film Entertainment. In it, the character is shown repeatedly on- and offstage, as well as the life of a fictional portrayal of the man behind the act separate from the real Gregg Turkington. The film's script was written by Turkington, Alverson, and comedian Tim Heidecker, although the dialogue was improvised.
In 2021, Neil Hamburger won "Best Guest Host" of Tim Heidecker's podcast Office Hours.
