Green, the former husband of actress DREW BARRYMORE, was holidaying in Central America recently when he tasted the true force of the ocean - and lived to tell the tale.

The comic says, "I tried surfing and I got hit by a riptide and it pulled me out to sea... I spent about an hour and a half trying to get back to shore. It was very scary.

"I said, 'I'm very going near the ocean again,' and then the next day I decided to go fishing.

"I walked out onto this rock, I had a shrimp and a fishing rod and I thought I would try catching something off the rock... I was putting the shrimp on (a hook) and this wave hit and it knocked me kinda flying about 100 yards.

"I thought all the waves were the same size... so I figured, 'I'm safe here,' but then a massive type of tsunami wave came along.

"I was by myself and I hit my head on a rock really hard and it was very scary and I kinda pulled myself out of this tide pool and I had broken ribs and there was blood."

Green then drove himself to a nearby hospital and spent two days in bed coping with the pain of his shattered sides, videotaping his efforts in getting out of bed.

Tom Green on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, USA - 20.04.06