If you need a lively, crowd-pleasing host for your event, you go to Tony Green. But, the Fort Worth native is more than just the life of the party. He has a growing media presence: an online talk show, a podcast and a local TV segment. He uses all of his varied platforms to champion the city’s cultural scene.
“My main job is to attract people to this great city,” he said during a recent chat at Hotel Dryce.
Standing 6’3″ with impeccable style and a mighty laugh, Green is pretty hard to miss. Ten minutes into our conversation, and he’s already been spotted by a friend.
“I gotta say hello,” he says with a beaming smile on his face as the hotel’s owner Jonathan Morris walks up.
These chance encounters are pretty typical for Green.
“I think it happens literally everywhere he goes when he walks into a room,” Morris said. “He commands it, but at the same time, is always welcome in those spaces.”
From podcast to talk shows, Tony Green uses his charisma to uplift Fort Worth’s cultural community. Photo by Walt Burns, courtesy of Tony Green.
The man Fort Worth Weekly once dubbed the city’s “Coolest Local Celebrity” has never had trouble finding the spotlight. As a kid, Green would squeeze theater rehearsals in between high school football practice.
“My first role? Oh my god, it was My Fair Lady, and I was Mr. Higgins who is like the professor sidekick,” Green said.
The stage might have ignited his penchant for entertainment, but it was his reputation as a bartender that connected him to the who’s who in Fort Worth.
“I was always trying to make sure people were having a great experience,” he said. “That transitioned over to me being offered hosting gigs. That’s all the things I do. I could host, sing and throw a party. So, we’re going to do that.”
Green could’ve taken that charisma elsewhere, but after stints in New York and Dallas, he came back home.
“Fort Worth was like this place that was just like growing so much and the culture was just really expanding,” he said. “Then, they latched on to me too. So, it was a mutual understanding. This is best for all parties involved.”
The city agreed. NBC 5 nabbed him for a lifestyle segment on “Texas Today,” and in 2019, he launched his own online talk show.
A big crowd gathered at Shipping & Receiving Bar for the live pilot episode of “Hello, I’m Tony Green.” He says the bar’s co-owner Eddie Vanston pitched him the idea.
“I really think that we did it for the city,” Green said. “It was like a night out on the town. You can come to a live taping of a talk show. Nobody has a party like that that we’ve seen an example of locally.”
Shipping & Receiving has since shut down, but there’s no shortage of backdrops in Fort Worth for Green. He teamed up with the Modern for a holiday show with a wild, over-the-top entrance. Clad in red velvet, he rode in on a small pontoon boat floating on the water surrounding the art museum.
“It was really cool for all of us to have that experience together, the production team and just my friends,” he said. “My mom got to come to that one. She got to see, I think two shows before she had passed. That one was really important to me.”
And his brand keeps growing. Last year, Green launched a podcast with his friend Henry Abuto, who owns the local catering company byWasonga. The pair covers local art, culture, politics, business and more. Like his TV projects, Green says “On The Same Page” is another way to tell Fort Worth’s story.
“We just get in there and start talking and it just works,” he said. “That is it. It’s still about the city a lot of times, but we try to always speak in a way that gives you, like this story about a place that you don’t know.”
His focus on Fort Worth has made him a unifier of sorts. Artists, business owners, journalists, musicians, drag queens, bartenders, everyone has a seat when Tony Green hosts the show. It’s his charm and that infectious laugh that makes us tune in.
“You don’t really turn it off, and I love that Fort Worth has attracted itself to it. I love using it for the city,” he said.
Whatever Green does next, the culture in Cowtown is better for it.
Got a tip? Email Miguel Perez at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter @quillindie.
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