I could listen to Greg’s stories all day. I still watch his story about his hangover toilet incident at work with the deaf mic on whenever it pops up and crack up every time. I’d have loved to be in his class when he was a teacher 😂 comedy gold
Oh dear, this brings back memories. My Uncle let me walk around for 10 years, most of my childhood, thinking and telling people my father's family was from Spain. We were from INDIA. My school teachers must have been so confused. 😂
Funny prank. Or could the story perhaps have been like my grandmother's? The Connollys had migrated to Canada in around 1775. So herself, Anna Campbell Connolly, told people she was English, beginning to do so in 1918. Because she didn't want to be thought of as the Irish hunger refugees who came over in 1845. I laughed when I heard this recently. All of a piece with her.
My dad had my mum going for 30 years with a gag. He had a scar on his chin, which he had told her was from him falling asleep on sentry duty and stabbing himself in the chin with his bayonet whilst on National Service. I was always a bit sus about it because of the shape of the scar, it was a single straight line, and called him on it in front of mum. I literally cried with laughter at mum's face when he admitted he had had a boil lanced but decided to wind my mum up by making it a story about his army life. She genuinely had no idea for 30 years. Long term pranks Oh My!!😆
I never knew how miserable but full of love my dad was when I was growing up until he was on his way out. I’m just so blessed that I got to spend time with him in the months before he passed and we got to really talk. Why did I leave so late?
Hey Russell (yt chan), this is awesome and I'm loving the rest of your "Wonderbox" podcasts... they are so hilarious... Are the other podcasts also vodcast like this? I wish they were... its great to see the comedians when you talk to them.
This so reminds me of my dad insisting Sugar Puff's didn't exist. That they were in fact called Sugar Bibs (I have no idea why he called them that), he would literally get every single person to agree with his story, he carried this on for years. Never smiling, always tasking it very seriously.
My papa done the same thing to me. Always told us outlandish tales and used to enjoy a good laugh when we found out it was a joke. Wondering now if there’s any I’m still waiting on figuring out. A lovely reminder of how funny a man he was. Edit- the man literally had me running around sand dunes in uist “hunting” wild haggis as a kid.. all day 🤣
His dad is my dad. To a tea. Literally, told everyone at school that my Dad was in a band called... Chook Fowler and the Fowlhouse Five. As a 30+ year old... while with my partner at the time who's really into music and shit... "Dad, you were in a band back in the day, weren't ya, Dad?"
Yes my dad was one too .. When i was about 6 or 7 my dad told me ..( remember the car speed advert with the kids, what will happen if u hit a child at 20mph or at 30 ect) he told me that they are naughty kids no one wants an they actually run them over .. cut to year 11 in high school when am 16 an we r doing speed in physics .in comes the video of this advert where i then protest to the teacher an hole class we should nt be watching it .. they laugh school thinks its disturbing and rings my dad .. he will ever be a legend and am now 33 and still haunted by that day in class 😂😂
Magnificent story teller :P The only place we went on holiday regularly was Wales...... Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Wales...but for 10 years straight? There's only so many sheep!
@@PrincessJasmin1111 you may have to search but you can buy molds to cook square eggs. Surprise her one day and take her some boiled square eggs and let her know you never stopped looking 😆
My grandad was our best prankster. He told my sister a local artist was king of the gypsys to the point she wrote a GCSE essay about everything my grandad has told her. was total bullshit x
My father was the same,and all of my uncles,very self deprecating, perhaps it was part of their wartime upbringing, my brother and I still take the piss out of our grandchildren to this day Makes them more well rounded individuals Some of our wind ups are so good that my grandson will not believe the truth,
Once my friends and siblings started having kids, I was shocked, SHOCKED, at how strong the impulse to tell them wild made up stories was. Maybe it’s like the impulse to write your name in wet cement, you just see this beautiful blank canvas and start making stuff up.
I don’t think it lasted very long, but before my parents were married, my dad convinced mom that he was several years younger than her (like 22 vs. 29).
Storytellers like greg are so important. Storytellers were the only method for our history to be recorded for the vast majority of homo sapien history. Hearing stories in this way reinvigorates an often dorment or atrophied component of our psyches.
2 of my kids managed to get scars in the identical spot at base of spine and I told them it was from where their tails had been removed, older siblings happily went along with it, 20+ years later one was was telling this to their son at family gathering, they BOTH still believed it, no one corrected them lol, maybe once I die they will be told
I really hope that Gregg discovers that, when his dad was "away, teaching around the world", he was actually carrying out missions for the Secret Service. 🕵♂
The prank relationship with his dad is wonderful & lovely... ...but read on if you don't mind a bit of "ruining" it. . . Harmless jokes as these are delightful for the most part, but as an adult, I can say from experience that care should be taken in choosing what to joke about. Sometimes these things have unforeseen repercussions. Several people in my life are still dealing with occasionally finding out that they were lied to, quite casually (...& not!) by a parent, for whatever reasons (including the parent protecting an unearned reputation & wanting to seem knowledgeable). If it's known that the person jokes & that things said should be taken with a grain of salt, excellent. Finding out you were played for a fool & having to adjust accordingly several times thru adulthood can be pretty rotten & leaves quite a bad feeling about the "joker" by all who discover the behavior. So much for their reputation!
@@nahuelma97 Some people behave like jackasses, not considering the implications of what they do, say, or write. If they did, unlikely they'd do it...obviously, provided they could control themselves. It's especially when they think they're behaving in a superior manner, & particularly when they think they're amusing. Mainly it's an attention seeking behavior. Thank you for providing such a good example.
when i was 6my dad was "helping" me with my homework, so after getting all the details i went to school the following day and told the nun who taught me, in front of the entire class that the reason the gunns left scotland was because all the gunn men went over and raped the keiths granny so the keith clan ran them out of scotland! suffice it to say my mom was called in and asked to tell my father to stop playing these pranks on his kids it was inappropriate lmao
How on earth is the mental abuse of a parent constantly lying to you, to mess with your reality, 'majestic'? I like Russell, but sometimes his emotional lack of awareness startles me.
You can clearly see Greg enjoys talking about those pranks his dad pulled on him, I wouldn’t call it abuse. Plus he said he was in his 30s when this particular instance happened, when it’s not going to “mess with your reality” to find out your uncle didn’t go to a private school like your dad insisted. It seems like they all thought it was just a bit fun, there’s no need to make it deeper than it is
The "majestic" part is the commitment and planning of the prank. As an adult child it can't be called abuse. As a young child so long as it's not ground breaking stuff you get over it. From the child though once you find out your parent is so good at bullsh*t your never sure what's true or not 😂
This clearly was a pattern from childhood. As the title suggests, Greg feels like 'he grew up in the matrix'. So, yes, it sounds like his father continued this from childhood until Greg's adulthood. A prank would end in Greg being told the truth, and a shared laugh. A diliberate attempt to destablise his son's reality, without the truth and shared laughs, is something else. This is a deliberate power game, and mental abuse. I didn't see Greg being in full agreement with Russell. I saw a man perplexed, and laughing in incredulity, as to why his father would not eventually come clean and share the joke, as Greg would have done. It is because is wasn't a prank, it was a power game. Plenty of people have had their lives messed up by adults, particularly a parent, lying to them, and later finding out things aren't true. You don't know what to trust of your childhood. It is very destablising. The same applies to people who grew up in a cult. I am not reading into things. I have lived experience, including as a parent, and years of accademic study of child development and psychology at uni. Greg's frame of referrence is a prank - yet there is no punchline, which is bewildering. Russel lacks the emotional awareness to see the obvious red flags of a cruel power game. I have noticed that Russell has to be taught a lort of things. Such as his behaviour of pranking Jon Richardson when they lived together wasn't fun at all for Jon. Well into his afulthood, Russell needed it spelled out to him that it was abusive behaviour towards someone with OCD. Russelll was just having fun. He had no comprehension he was being cruel. The same applies here. Russell sees a 'majesric' prank, not the cruelty of Greg's reality and trust of all he has been told by the adults in his life since childhood, being messed up. Frank's son, Greg's cousin, came clean, so it was a prank to him. Greg's father obviously had some pathological power issues, and Greg was the victim. That is not 'majestic'.
@@daniellamcgee4251I haven't commented on TH-cam in years but I'm commenting now to say I agree. Greg clearly idolised his father, and still does, but nearly every time he tells a story about him, the old man comes across as an insufferably selfish person who used his son as an audience or a patsy. I want to think I've got it all wrong, but that's what it feels like to me.
@@tvgoblinlady Thank you very much for responding to my comment! It ended up being rambly (again!) and I thought no-one would bother to read it. Or TH-cam would automatically delete it, as with many people's messages these days. The censoring system is confused about it's own guidelines. So your special effort to respond is definitely appreciated. You restore my faith in humanity in that you had much the same response as me, hearing about Greg's father. That Greg forgot he was in his 30s when telling his anecdote, and talked about having having a drink he would have had as a child, and being separate from the adults, made it clear that he was strongly reminded of childhood experiences. You expanded what I knew of how Greg's father's treatment of his son. It disturbs me when other people don't have any awareness that certain behaviours are not 'all in good fun', but are abusive. Especially living today when knowledge about children's developmental needs is more readily available. But even without that information, you would think some empathy would kick in at some point! People typically don't want to see something more sinister, and would be happy to dismiss this as 'a prank', as presented by two comedians. Some would be happy to minimise it, and laugh it off, because they can't comprehend what it's like to have the lack of a safe, honest foundation of reality to grow up in. Others do know, but it is confronting to consider that what they went through actually was abuse. They have normalised, and minimised the 'pranks' in their own lives. What Greg described was not normal behaviour, and not fun for him. Your further descriptions add to the same picture. Of course, it is entirely speculation, but I have wondered if Greg wasn't in a relationship when he has made it clear he is attracted to women, and there are many women who would definitely be interested in giving a relationship 'a go' with him, could be that he has trust issues. What I just heard about his dad, that would make sense. But it could just be he hasn't met anyone he wants to be in a relationship with. He has said, 'I just can't be bothered'. It does sound like Greg has had a close relationship with his Mum, and his Nan, and sister, which has provided him with love, stability and inspiration. So, that is positive, at least!
so one of the funniest things i heard post death gags is rodney dangerfields wife gave out a few boxes that were claimed to be his weed cases and his innitials on, i know she gave bab sagget and jim carrey one and both think its a 1 of a kind, i imagine there are a few more out there..
I could listen to Greg telling stories for hours, he's such a treasure
I wrote to him years ago, asking him to please write his autobiography. Still waiting.
His Dad isn't the only raconteur in that family
@@EdelweisSusieI like to think he has many more bizarre stories to encounter first 😅
I never understand how people remember all these stories! I barely remember last week!
Just about to say the same thing. Brilliant storyteller and of course a hilarious and genuine comedian.
I could listen to Greg’s stories all day. I still watch his story about his hangover toilet incident at work with the deaf mic on whenever it pops up and crack up every time. I’d have loved to be in his class when he was a teacher 😂 comedy gold
Yeah that story is brilliant. I've watched it on Graham Norton so many times and it always has me on the floor 😂😂😂
"VEGETABLES!" is my favorite.
Why Greg is still single is mind boggling! I would never be bored with a man like him and his stories.
That dad committed to the lie until his death! That's committment. 😂
"He's a perfectly nice young man but I don't want to see his fucking show" 😂
If I were him I'd think seriously about using that as the name of my next show, it's brilliant!
Oh dear, this brings back memories. My Uncle let me walk around for 10 years, most of my childhood, thinking and telling people my father's family was from Spain. We were from INDIA. My school teachers must have been so confused. 😂
Funny prank. Or could the story perhaps have been like my grandmother's? The Connollys had migrated to Canada in around 1775. So herself, Anna Campbell Connolly, told people she was English, beginning to do so in 1918. Because she didn't want to be thought of as the Irish hunger refugees who came over in 1845. I laughed when I heard this recently. All of a piece with her.
My dad had my mum going for 30 years with a gag.
He had a scar on his chin, which he had told her was from him falling asleep on sentry duty and stabbing himself in the chin with his bayonet whilst on National Service.
I was always a bit sus about it because of the shape of the scar, it was a single straight line, and called him on it in front of mum.
I literally cried with laughter at mum's face when he admitted he had had a boil lanced but decided to wind my mum up by making it a story about his army life.
She genuinely had no idea for 30 years. Long term pranks Oh My!!😆
If only your Mum had the presence of mind to comeback with "he's not your son" 😂
Thanks for posting this. Love Russell. Stalker level crush on Greg ❤❤
Greg is a fantastic story teller.
"I always thought--" what? You always thought what? What a cliffhanger
This is like a Greg Davies origin story.... Loved it. Love him.
Love Greg and enjoying the podcasts.
Thanks for the words. No one dies until the memory does.
Needed that. YNWA.
What a great story teller Greg is and a great actor
It’s great to hear someone in the public eye pronounce Shrewsbury correctly!!!😃
Right?! 😆
Love Greg, i could listen to his stories forever. He should write a book. ❤
These two guys are hilarious together!
I never knew how miserable but full of love my dad was when I was growing up until he was on his way out. I’m just so blessed that I got to spend time with him in the months before he passed and we got to really talk. Why did I leave so late?
Russel looks like a miniature opposite Greg. 😂
To be fair everyone looks teeny next to Greg. "Little" Alex Horne is 6"2 and looks ickle next to him 😂
greg's actually normal size. he's a medium. everyone had just been shit using forced perspective. same team as lord of the rings.
Great stories as always, I love Greg and Russell, on their own and combined too lol
Hey Russell (yt chan), this is awesome and I'm loving the rest of your "Wonderbox" podcasts... they are so hilarious... Are the other podcasts also vodcast like this?
I wish they were... its great to see the comedians when you talk to them.
I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation!
Dads a legend RiP
Greg your dad sounds like a legend.
Love these
I thought it said “My life’s been like a maxi-pad” had to read it few times till I finally realised it said feckn “the matrix” 🤣
A fellow sufferer of mental autocorrect 😂 I'm constantly changing what's written to whatever my brain thinks it says, it's annoyingly funny 😂
Absolutley love Greg! ❤
This so reminds me of my dad insisting Sugar Puff's didn't exist. That they were in fact called Sugar Bibs (I have no idea why he called them that), he would literally get every single person to agree with his story, he carried this on for years. Never smiling, always tasking it very seriously.
My papa done the same thing to me. Always told us outlandish tales and used to enjoy a good laugh when we found out it was a joke.
Wondering now if there’s any I’m still waiting on figuring out. A lovely reminder of how funny a man he was.
Edit- the man literally had me running around sand dunes in uist “hunting” wild haggis as a kid.. all day 🤣
I'm re reading this several times and I can't stop laughing, that's epically hilarious 😂😂
His dad is my dad. To a tea.
Literally, told everyone at school that my Dad was in a band called...
Chook Fowler and the Fowlhouse Five.
As a 30+ year old... while with my partner at the time who's really into music and shit... "Dad, you were in a band back in the day, weren't ya, Dad?"
Oh, how he LAUGHED. Asshat!
Bless his soul, but still, complete ASSHAT!!
Absolutely class
please upload the whole video podcasts
Yes my dad was one too ..
When i was about 6 or 7 my dad told me ..( remember the car speed advert with the kids, what will happen if u hit a child at 20mph or at 30 ect) he told me that they are naughty kids no one wants an they actually run them over .. cut to year 11 in high school when am 16 an we r doing speed in physics .in comes the video of this advert where i then protest to the teacher an hole class we should nt be watching it .. they laugh school thinks its disturbing and rings my dad .. he will ever be a legend and am now 33 and still haunted by that day in class 😂😂
I love this!
Where can I watch the whole thing? I know I can listen to it on Spotify. But I wana watch it
My uncle told his children that he was the guy who lights up the moon. 😄
Magnificent story teller :P The only place we went on holiday regularly was Wales...... Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Wales...but for 10 years straight? There's only so many sheep!
Shrewsbury girl here 🙌🏼
My dad actually sent me to a garage to get some elbow grease.
That's up there with striped paint, glass hammers, left handed screwdrivers etc 😂
My Mum sent me to sainsburys for square eggs … and I went 💔
@@PrincessJasmin1111 you may have to search but you can buy molds to cook square eggs. Surprise her one day and take her some boiled square eggs and let her know you never stopped looking 😆
My grandad was our best prankster. He told my sister a local artist was king of the gypsys to the point she wrote a GCSE essay about everything my grandad has told her. was total bullshit x
Is there a way to watch full episodes of this? (I know I can listen to them on spotify but I like watching them)
Love it! BUT...!!!
I don't want to 'just listen' on Spotify, i want to watch the interaction too! Thank-you-please
My father was the same,and all of my uncles,very self deprecating, perhaps it was part of their wartime upbringing, my brother and I still take the piss out of our grandchildren to this day
Makes them more well rounded individuals
Some of our wind ups are so good that my grandson will not believe the truth,
Once my friends and siblings started having kids, I was shocked, SHOCKED, at how strong the impulse to tell them wild made up stories was. Maybe it’s like the impulse to write your name in wet cement, you just see this beautiful blank canvas and start making stuff up.
Too short. I could listen to these two talk for hours.
2 great men ❤
My mates dad told him that his grandad invented the overhead kick
Geez, to see their body language after only hearing the podcast is a delight.
Imagine having Greg’s dad and Russell’s mum as parents. Dying of laughter would be a thing for sure.
Greg’s mum is a gem too.
I don’t think it lasted very long, but before my parents were married, my dad convinced mom that he was several years younger than her (like 22 vs. 29).
Storytellers like greg are so important. Storytellers were the only method for our history to be recorded for the vast majority of homo sapien history. Hearing stories in this way reinvigorates an often dorment or atrophied component of our psyches.
Why not end the clip at the end of the story? Editor needs firing
Russell sitting across from Greg looks like it's forced perspective. It's an optical illusion of an optical illusion.
He is a giant but that side perspective makes me think please Greg, get off the carbs and drink...
Love from America! I would watch you 2 do anything!
Yeshk 🙌
2 of my kids managed to get scars in the identical spot at base of spine and I told them it was from where their tails had been removed, older siblings happily went along with it, 20+ years later one was was telling this to their son at family gathering, they BOTH still believed it, no one corrected them lol, maybe once I die they will be told
Wheres the rest of this?
Full Hasselhoff! 😅
My dad told me he fought in the wars on the moon. 😂😂😂😂😂
Ankle deep in his Mom!!
This has inspired me heh heh heh
''He who laughs last, takes longest to see the joke''. School on the hill?
Isn't this the plot of Big Fish?
Love that film
I have a sudden urge to play cribbage
Why does this look like Greg is sat at the dinner table with his naughty, teenage son sat opposite him?
*You don't die as long as you live on in the memories of others* ~ *One Piece* 👒
You can't believe a single word that comes out of gregs mouth did he mention that he used to he a teacher not a real teacher a drama teacher
I really hope that Gregg discovers that, when his dad was "away, teaching around the world", he was actually carrying out missions for the Secret Service. 🕵♂
Man, the person editing these videos for TH-cam needs to be fired. Every single one gets abruptly cutoff in the middle of a sentence.
Who would be the ideal partner for Greg? (If he hasn't already found them secretly)
If I had been something because of my mom's sins, then I would not received an education.
Now that's a new way of ending a video 🤨
There's way too many people giving the podcast route a try, you used to be pretty original Russell, what a shame
Really? You cut him off mid-WORD?!
The prank relationship with his dad is wonderful & lovely...
...but read on if you don't mind a bit of "ruining" it.
.
.
Harmless jokes as these are delightful for the most part, but as an adult, I can say from experience that care should be taken in choosing what to joke about. Sometimes these things have unforeseen repercussions. Several people in my life are still dealing with occasionally finding out that they were lied to, quite casually (...& not!) by a parent, for whatever reasons (including the parent protecting an unearned reputation & wanting to seem knowledgeable). If it's known that the person jokes & that things said should be taken with a grain of salt, excellent.
Finding out you were played for a fool & having to adjust accordingly several times thru adulthood can be pretty rotten & leaves quite a bad feeling about the "joker" by all who discover the behavior. So much for their reputation!
Yes, Captain Obvious. Thank you for pointing that out 😂
@@nahuelma97 Some people behave like jackasses, not considering the implications of what they do, say, or write. If they did, unlikely they'd do it...obviously, provided they could control themselves.
It's especially when they think they're behaving in a superior manner, & particularly when they think they're amusing. Mainly it's an attention seeking behavior.
Thank you for providing such a good example.
Abit weird to go to those lengths just to make a lie a weird form of reality?
🤠💜
How many other families did your Dad have Greg? Wasted opportunity, Russell Howard.
when i was 6my dad was "helping" me with my homework, so after getting all the details i went to school the following day and told the nun who taught me, in front of the entire class that the reason the gunns left scotland was because all the gunn men went over and raped the keiths granny so the keith clan ran them out of scotland! suffice it to say my mom was called in and asked to tell my father to stop playing these pranks on his kids it was inappropriate lmao
Could they not have fitted those wall boards with the holes lined up properly??
One of them is wearing their headphones wrong.
Here is me as a father torturing my kids with pranks all the time. The wife thinks im evil.. I now know Im on thr right path. Thanks Greg!
540...
Seems like Gregs dad was a pathological liar or something
Who pronounces it santro-pay 😂
English is san tro pay, french is more san tro paye (slight sound difference at the end). But the Z is silent in French and English.
How on earth is the mental abuse of a parent constantly lying to you, to mess with your reality, 'majestic'? I like Russell, but sometimes his emotional lack of awareness startles me.
You can clearly see Greg enjoys talking about those pranks his dad pulled on him, I wouldn’t call it abuse. Plus he said he was in his 30s when this particular instance happened, when it’s not going to “mess with your reality” to find out your uncle didn’t go to a private school like your dad insisted. It seems like they all thought it was just a bit fun, there’s no need to make it deeper than it is
The "majestic" part is the commitment and planning of the prank. As an adult child it can't be called abuse. As a young child so long as it's not ground breaking stuff you get over it. From the child though once you find out your parent is so good at bullsh*t your never sure what's true or not 😂
This clearly was a pattern from childhood. As the title suggests, Greg feels like 'he grew up in the matrix'. So, yes, it sounds like his father continued this from childhood until Greg's adulthood.
A prank would end in Greg being told the truth, and a shared laugh. A diliberate attempt to destablise his son's reality, without the truth and shared laughs, is something else. This is a deliberate power game, and mental abuse.
I didn't see Greg being in full agreement with Russell. I saw a man perplexed, and laughing in incredulity, as to why his father would not eventually come clean and share the joke, as Greg would have done. It is because is wasn't a prank, it was a power game.
Plenty of people have had their lives messed up by adults, particularly a parent, lying to them, and later finding out things aren't true. You don't know what to trust of your childhood. It is very destablising. The same applies to people who grew up in a cult.
I am not reading into things. I have lived experience, including as a parent, and years of accademic study of child development and psychology at uni.
Greg's frame of referrence is a prank - yet there is no punchline, which is bewildering. Russel lacks the emotional awareness to see the obvious red flags of a cruel power game.
I have noticed that Russell has to be taught a lort of things. Such as his behaviour of pranking Jon Richardson when they lived together wasn't fun at all for Jon. Well into his afulthood, Russell needed it spelled out to him that it was abusive behaviour towards someone with OCD. Russelll was just having fun. He had no comprehension he was being cruel. The same applies here. Russell sees a 'majesric' prank, not the cruelty of Greg's reality and trust of all he has been told by the adults in his life since childhood, being messed up.
Frank's son, Greg's cousin, came clean, so it was a prank to him. Greg's father obviously had some pathological power issues, and Greg was the victim. That is not 'majestic'.
@@daniellamcgee4251I haven't commented on TH-cam in years but I'm commenting now to say I agree. Greg clearly idolised his father, and still does, but nearly every time he tells a story about him, the old man comes across as an insufferably selfish person who used his son as an audience or a patsy. I want to think I've got it all wrong, but that's what it feels like to me.
@@tvgoblinlady Thank you very much for responding to my comment! It ended up being rambly (again!) and I thought no-one would bother to read it. Or TH-cam would automatically delete it, as with many people's messages these days. The censoring system is confused about it's own guidelines. So your special effort to respond is definitely appreciated.
You restore my faith in humanity in that you had much the same response as me, hearing about Greg's father.
That Greg forgot he was in his 30s when telling his anecdote, and talked about having having a drink he would have had as a child, and being separate from the adults, made it clear that he was strongly reminded of childhood experiences.
You expanded what I knew of how Greg's father's treatment of his son. It disturbs me when other people don't have any awareness that certain behaviours are not 'all in good fun', but are abusive. Especially living today when knowledge about children's developmental needs is more readily available. But even without that information, you would think some empathy would kick in at some point!
People typically don't want to see something more sinister, and would be happy to dismiss this as 'a prank', as presented by two comedians.
Some would be happy to minimise it, and laugh it off, because they can't comprehend what it's like to have the lack of a safe, honest foundation of reality to grow up in. Others do know, but it is confronting to consider that what they went through actually was abuse. They have normalised, and minimised the 'pranks' in their own lives. What Greg described was not normal behaviour, and not fun for him. Your further descriptions add to the same picture.
Of course, it is entirely speculation, but I have wondered if Greg wasn't in a relationship when he has made it clear he is attracted to women, and there are many women who would definitely be interested in giving a relationship 'a go' with him, could be that he has trust issues. What I just heard about his dad, that would make sense. But it could just be he hasn't met anyone he wants to be in a relationship with. He has said, 'I just can't be bothered'.
It does sound like Greg has had a close relationship with his Mum, and his Nan, and sister, which has provided him with love, stability and inspiration. So, that is positive, at least!
so one of the funniest things i heard post death gags is rodney dangerfields wife gave out a few boxes that were claimed to be his weed cases and his innitials on, i know she gave bab sagget and jim carrey one and both think its a 1 of a kind, i imagine there are a few more out there..