0
SPEAKER_01
Oh by the way, I m at the Venetian with Nikki Glaser if anyone s interested.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m there again end of September and I m there in November.
0
SPEAKER_01
So if you want to beep bop over to that, click a few links and buy a few ticks.
0
SPEAKER_00
I will be at Leonardo s Pizza Place in Sherman Oaks.
0
SPEAKER_00
Next Friday.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, that s a noon show.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m going to go to Knott s Berries Farm.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that ll be a noon show.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m gonna be at Knott s Berries Farm on the water slide ride on August 19th.
0
SPEAKER_00
Letting people on the ride?
0
SPEAKER_00
August 19th.
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, yeah, I do sometimes moonlight.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s the carnival stuff I do.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s another time.
0
SPEAKER_00
I will be organizing the midget tossing exposition in Laughlin, Nevada on the Riverboat Casino.
0
SPEAKER_00
I would be face down in a pile of my own goo early Sunday morning.
0
SPEAKER_00
Your own goo?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, face down in a pile of my own goo.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s what I tell people.
0
SPEAKER_00
No, I m not gonna drink that much.
0
SPEAKER_00
How was the drinking last night?
0
SPEAKER_00
Great, I woke up face down in a pile of my own goo.
0
SPEAKER_00
That doesn t sound good.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know what, David?
0
SPEAKER_00
Tony Hawk.
0
SPEAKER_00
Flash observation.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
No one has ever woken up and said, damn, I forgot to do shooters last night.
0
SPEAKER_00
A lesson for you hard drinkers.
0
SPEAKER_00
No one s ever woken up, so.
0
SPEAKER_00
I didn t get fucked up last time.
0
SPEAKER_00
I should ve dranken more.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Dranken.
0
SPEAKER_00
David, Tony Hawk is a friend of yours.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s all.
0
SPEAKER_00
David, can I just say this before we start Tony Hawk?
0
SPEAKER_00
We ll cut this.
0
SPEAKER_00
We ll cut it.
0
SPEAKER_00
No, whatever.
0
SPEAKER_00
David, because I was mentioning you to someone recently who d seen Police Academy go, like he was a national class skateboarder.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s what they said.
0
SPEAKER_00
Or a really, really good skateboarder.
0
SPEAKER_00
That I was?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yep.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s what they said.
0
SPEAKER_00
I hope that s out there.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s fucking lying.
0
SPEAKER_00
So you were really good.
0
SPEAKER_00
But brings us to our person we want to introduce, Tony Hawk.
0
SPEAKER_01
Well, Tony is a freak of nature at skating.
0
SPEAKER_01
I was blessed to be in a movie with him because I m in Arizona, like what they call it a beater.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s a guy that just pretends to be like a surfer or a skater, but I was kind of good medium, but Tony, they were so good.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I read about these guys, suddenly they re on the movie with me.
0
SPEAKER_01
And that was Police Academy 4.
0
SPEAKER_01
Stayed in touch with him.
0
SPEAKER_01
He did that video game.
0
SPEAKER_01
He talks about that.
0
SPEAKER_01
That blew him up.
0
SPEAKER_01
He still skates.
0
SPEAKER_01
He still gets hurt.
0
SPEAKER_01
He still has neck trouble like I do.
0
SPEAKER_01
Taking those falls so many times, I don t know how he still does it, but unbelievable.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he s still tough as shit.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s a hard job to be a pro skater.
0
SPEAKER_01
He still gets in and gets dirty.
0
SPEAKER_00
He s competitive.
0
SPEAKER_00
I mean, he is driven.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think he sees the new guys and goes, fuck this, like I m still good.
0
SPEAKER_00
He competes with himself.
0
SPEAKER_00
He just still wants to grab, but he will break down.
0
SPEAKER_00
This is one of my favorite parts of this podcast, what it s like to go up those giant ramps and you re going upside down and what you re thinking, what are you thinking, where you have to grab, how do you not get killed by doing that?
0
SPEAKER_00
I admire daredevils.
0
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I once jumped off a six foot thing into a lake and I never did it again.
0
SPEAKER_00
I never did it again.
0
SPEAKER_01
I never did it again, let me tell you.
0
SPEAKER_01
When you do those ramps, when you re up there doing half pipes, in the middle of the trick, it s about a second and away when you re doing your next trick.
0
SPEAKER_01
So once you realize you ve completed it and you re starting to land, you have to think, where do I go for the next trick?
0
SPEAKER_01
And then how do I get my weight shifted?
0
SPEAKER_01
Then you go up and then you go, oh, this one, this one.
0
SPEAKER_01
I have to land here because I have to go to the corner and jump the fucking gap.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s so crazy.
0
SPEAKER_01
And they do eight, 10 tricks in a row.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I can t believe the thinking that goes on.
0
SPEAKER_01
You got to do it so many times.
0
SPEAKER_00
So we re going to talk all about his career as a.
0
SPEAKER_00
Is he the GOAT?
0
SPEAKER_00
Is he kind of the GOAT?
0
SPEAKER_00
He s the known GOAT all time of skateboarders.
0
SPEAKER_01
There s Tiger Woods, there s Gretzky, there s some that are sort of, nobody argues.
0
SPEAKER_00
And that s his real name, I understand, because it is kind of the coolest name if you re trying to brand things for like eighth grade kids, Tony Hawk.
0
SPEAKER_00
And he, incredibly nice guy, really, really smart about anything to do with flying around on a skateboard.
0
SPEAKER_00
And as an entrepreneur, he is a brand, he s a global brand.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he had just done his first thing on SNL,
0
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
Tied it all together.
0
SPEAKER_00
He was on SNL for seven seconds.
0
SPEAKER_00
Therefore he s part of our podcast.
0
SPEAKER_00
Sorry, now you re on.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s called Slim Connections episode.
0
SPEAKER_00
You fucked up, you re on our show now.
0
SPEAKER_00
If you ve heard of Lorne Michaels, you qualify as a guest.
0
SPEAKER_00
Apply now.
0
SPEAKER_00
If you ve ever said the word Saturday and live in the same day, you can be on fly on the wall.
0
SPEAKER_00
If you know what these three words mean, you re going to be a guest.
0
SPEAKER_01
This is a bit off subject, but because I m a great guy and I have great guy syndrome, I think for actresses, I don t think it s fair that every article they re like, Mimi Rogers, 67.
0
SPEAKER_01
They always put their name and then their age.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I do not know why.
0
SPEAKER_01
Do they fail to do that with men?
0
SPEAKER_01
They do it for men too, but I think it s mostly women.
0
SPEAKER_01
And that s when I notice it and I go, why does that matter?
0
SPEAKER_01
And that should be eradicated because it doesn t matter.
0
SPEAKER_01
You could look it up if you want to know, right?
0
SPEAKER_01
I think they ll eradicate it if we look up anything at this point.
0
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I can t believe they re still doing that when they don t do anything else.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s like.
0
SPEAKER_01
That one seems a little more obvious.
0
SPEAKER_00
David, let s put a billboard and say, stop putting the ages of women in competition.
0
SPEAKER_01
I got a lot of time in life.
0
SPEAKER_01
Especially in the acts world, like if you re thinking of hiring someone that s just in the back of your head, you go, oh, that s the right age, or oh no, that feels, you know, whatever.
0
SPEAKER_01
It sends a weird message immediately, and it doesn t need to be in an article.
0
SPEAKER_01
I know.
0
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, thanks for coming by, Tony, take it easy.
0
SPEAKER_00
You re free to look up my age, I m super old.
0
SPEAKER_00
I m not blaming Tony for this, but... The age thing, one, it always gives a sense of humor about it, and I have a dermatologist who s, I think he s like 85.
0
SPEAKER_00
I said, how old are you?
0
SPEAKER_00
He goes, I m 106.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s a standard answer.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s a good way to say it, just to say it s high.
0
SPEAKER_00
He s a guy who checked my skin, and he had a woman with a clipboard, and he kept going, age-related.
0
SPEAKER_00
He s got a microscope, age-related.
0
SPEAKER_00
Do you have to say age-related?
0
SPEAKER_00
Can t I have something age-related?
0
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, I ve done that on this podcast before.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m running out of shtick.
0
SPEAKER_01
Tony, we might not get to you, but- That s fine.
0
SPEAKER_00
I listen to the show anyway, so I m just here- You know how it works.
0
SPEAKER_00
You know it s gonna come to you.
0
SPEAKER_01
We have so many questions for you.
0
SPEAKER_01
It s gonna be a two-parter.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I go to this high-end restaurant, Koi, and Koi, which is basically sponsored by us.
0
SPEAKER_00
I think I saw you at Koi back in the day.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
They moved it, they moved it.
0
SPEAKER_00
When people were like hovering with cameras over the- Oh, it was very paparazzi-ish, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s where I got caught with some.
0
SPEAKER_00
It was the place, and then catch took him.
0
SPEAKER_01
Or Craig s.
0
SPEAKER_01
So, this guy was there and he goes, hey, this is my buddy, he s a plastic surgeon, he works in town, and he s already looking at me.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I was, of course, a little buzzed, naturally, because it was nighttime.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I had a little loud mouth soup in me.
0
SPEAKER_00
The sun goes down, you re like a werewolf.
0
SPEAKER_01
I go, guh-guh-guh-guh-guh-guh-guh.
0
SPEAKER_00
I get that little humming review.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I get on there and I go, and I m just standing at his table.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I go, the worst question, what would you do to me?
0
SPEAKER_01
And he like slowly looks at me like RoboCop, boop, boop, boop.
0
SPEAKER_01
I go, no, no, no.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he goes, well, and I go, no.
0
SPEAKER_01
And he goes, listen, here s- He s got a lot of bullet points.
0
SPEAKER_01
If you want just the top nine things that are like no brainers.
0
SPEAKER_01
These are things that are not even- What do you say, chin tuck?
0
SPEAKER_01
No, Dana, I m not going to say because I want to go, oh yeah, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_01
because- We would disagree.
0
SPEAKER_01
Oh, no.
0
SPEAKER_01
No, you can t.
0
SPEAKER_01
You have to just, you have to roll with it.
0
SPEAKER_00
You just get nice work, good work.
0
SPEAKER_00
That s the key, good work.
0
SPEAKER_00
So people just don t know you got work.
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, Tony, let s get- I m looking at you, Tony.
0
SPEAKER_00
Tony and I are about- When is that happening?
0
SPEAKER_01
We re about the same age.
0
SPEAKER_01
Do you have that guy s number?
0
SPEAKER_01
No, this guy, honestly, he was like, listen, I ll do it on the house.
0
SPEAKER_00
This has to be done by noon tomorrow.
0
SPEAKER_00
Cutters like to cut, I ll tell you that.
0
SPEAKER_00
Face guys don t go, you don t need anything.
0
SPEAKER_00
They go, we can get in there and dig around a little bit.
0
SPEAKER_00
This is all natural.
0
SPEAKER_00
I ve been here since Eisenhower s first administration.
0
SPEAKER_00
I won t give my age, but I ll just say I was on this earth with these hands and these feet since the mid-50s.
0
SPEAKER_00
Voting for Calvin Coolidge.
0
SPEAKER_00
Look how good I look now.
0
SPEAKER_01
Tony, let s talk about, there s so many places to ask, but I want to know just cause I was talking about Vicodin and how I only get plastic surgery for Vicodin.
0
SPEAKER_01
I don t need it.
0
SPEAKER_00
I don t need this thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
I had crazy surgery.
0
SPEAKER_00
I took a Vicodin and hated it.
0
SPEAKER_00
I liked Advil much better.
0
SPEAKER_00
Hey Advil, if you re listening.
0
SPEAKER_01
I know, like when the doctor goes, so you broke your leg.
0
SPEAKER_01
You ll wanna really pump the Advil.
0
SPEAKER_01
I go, the what?
0
SPEAKER_01
How fucking dare you?
0
SPEAKER_00
Funny you say that, because I broke my leg in March, a year ago, tomorrow.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, this is actually a good story.
0
SPEAKER_00
Where s the celebration?
0
SPEAKER_00
No, no, can I get details on that?
0
SPEAKER_00
No, this is a good story, but I did, I was laying there on my ramp with my leg.
0
SPEAKER_00
Was it the femur?
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, the femur, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
What was the trick?
0
SPEAKER_00
McTwist.
0
SPEAKER_00
It s always a McTwist, isn t it?
0
SPEAKER_00
Were you by yourself?
0
SPEAKER_00
I was not, but my good friend Kevin came over about five minutes later with two Advil.
0
SPEAKER_00
Two Advil?
0
SPEAKER_00
Jesus Christ.
0
SPEAKER_00
I ll never forget that.
0
SPEAKER_00
All right, thanks.
0
SPEAKER_00
I might do an opioid at that point.
0
SPEAKER_00
Was it particularly scary?
0
SPEAKER_00
It seems like a lot of times people get hurt when it s perfunctory, but they re just not zoned in as much.
0
SPEAKER_00
Dude, your fucking thigh.
0
SPEAKER_00
It was a trick that I,
1
SPEAKER_01
I have done tens of thousands of times, and I didn t have enough speed going into it, and I knew that full well, but I was always able to figure that out, adjust for it, and I guess at age 54, that s the time when you can no longer adjust for it so easily.
1
SPEAKER_01
And next thing I know, I m just sliding through the flat part of my ramp with my leg.
1
SPEAKER_01
I could feel it just dangling.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I looked up at another friend of mine, I go, I broke my leg.
1
SPEAKER_01
And he s like, what?
1
SPEAKER_01
And then I grabbed it and I put it back in place instinctually.
1
SPEAKER_01
I can t believe what I m hearing.
1
SPEAKER_01
But then in that moment, I knew like, oh, I m so fucked.
1
SPEAKER_01
Like I can t, I can t move.
1
SPEAKER_01
I can t do anything.
1
SPEAKER_01
I want to rewind this whole moment in time, but.
1
SPEAKER_01
Did you hear it as well?
1
SPEAKER_01
Or did it pop?
1
SPEAKER_01
It was all very chaotic, the fall.
1
SPEAKER_01
So then you kind of realize.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m not really sure how it happened, but I don t remember hearing it pop.
1
SPEAKER_01
I just felt it disconnect.
1
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_02
And what do you, what did they do with that?
1
SPEAKER_02
Do you have a metal rod down your finger?
1
SPEAKER_02
I do, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_02
How much did that cost?
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, it s funny, I looked at the hard costs of it, because I thankfully have insurance.
1
SPEAKER_01
It s more than a house.
1
SPEAKER_01
Really?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
By the way, who was insuring you?
1
SPEAKER_02
The homes in my area anyway, not where you guys live.
1
SPEAKER_02
Who do you get your insurance from?
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, my God, it was like- Bobby s Healing and Band-Aids on Ventura.
1
SPEAKER_02
No, where did you- Oh, Zach.
1
SPEAKER_02
Zach.
1
SPEAKER_02
Zach.
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, Zach.
1
SPEAKER_02
Blue Cross.
1
SPEAKER_02
Anthem.
1
SPEAKER_02
How is it now?
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, tell this story.
1
SPEAKER_01
I went through eight months of recovery and got back on my skateboard much too soon.
1
SPEAKER_01
I watched this whole thing on Instagram play out.
1
SPEAKER_01
And it never connected.
1
SPEAKER_01
My bone never connected because I was so active on it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you rushed it a little bit and it never grew together?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and I kept thinking like, it s gonna happen, it s gonna happen.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then at some point I realized that I m just in pain all the time.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, like I would have to take a painkiller to get through an airport.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I go, this doesn t feel right for eight months in.
1
SPEAKER_01
I went and got x-rays and realized the bone had moved further away from where it was when it got fixed.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because you were too active?
1
SPEAKER_01
I was too active.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I came up here to a specialist and he s the specialist in non-union fractures, which means it never formed a union.
1
SPEAKER_01
And he put it straight and sent me on my way and I ve been taking it slow and I m finally back on my skateboard the way I used to.
1
SPEAKER_00
Your bone wouldn t cross your knee lines?
1
SPEAKER_01
One year later.
1
SPEAKER_01
What s that?
1
SPEAKER_02
I m supposed to get a hip replacement at some point.
1
SPEAKER_01
Let s do it.
1
SPEAKER_02
I heard those are very effective and quick healing.
1
SPEAKER_02
55 minutes open to close.
1
SPEAKER_02
I ve been avoiding it for seven years, Tony, because they take a saw and saw off the top of your femur.
1
SPEAKER_01
I heard it s awesome.
1
SPEAKER_01
I would rather go through that than my femur issue.
1
SPEAKER_02
No, no, yours would be much worse.
1
SPEAKER_02
People who do it always say, ah, I should have done this a long time ago.
1
SPEAKER_02
I like to wait and kind of suffer.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s part of my personality.
1
SPEAKER_02
David s like that too.
1
SPEAKER_02
But I m inspired by your healing, you know, because at 24, you know, things heal faster.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I learned that too.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re full court.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re fully around now.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m on my way.
1
SPEAKER_01
I can t say I m fully back to where I was.
1
SPEAKER_00
You re not going to push it, are you?
1
SPEAKER_00
Doesn t your wife say don t push it anymore because you re going to break it again?
1
SPEAKER_01
She is concerned that I am getting a little too ambitious and confident with it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I have been taking it
1
SPEAKER_01
as slow as I can, let s put it that way.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m much more aware of it this time.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re like, you re still kind of the old gunslinger in a way.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, you re the guy who invented the sport, basically, in some ways.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, popularized it.
1
SPEAKER_02
Everything I read, it s just Tony Hawk and you re an icon, I mean, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, and everyone s sick of it.
1
SPEAKER_01
No, I appreciate it, thank you.
1
SPEAKER_02
You re attached to the sport.
1
SPEAKER_02
Everyone s sick of it, you got a point there.
1
SPEAKER_02
But there s a lot of people on our podcast.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m like, when is he just gonna quit and go away?
1
SPEAKER_02
My wife loves this podcast.
1
SPEAKER_02
And she ll know enough about you just through our sons that did that.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I, just for a second, before we get into all the questions I have.
1
SPEAKER_02
So the beginning, cause I was reading about your high IQ and you were sort of a difficult, like, cause I m interested in what kind of brain, not even your physical gifts, becomes brilliant at something.
1
SPEAKER_02
at age 12, nine, 12?
1
SPEAKER_01
Honestly, it was just being obsessive and determined to a point, like to a fault.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because when I was a kid, I just was so, I wanted to do certain things and I didn t have the body for it or whatever, but I was always fired up.
1
SPEAKER_01
Couldn t do football.
1
SPEAKER_01
I didn t play football, but baseball, basketball.
1
SPEAKER_00
I m saying I could do a little bit of that.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like I was saying, what other sports are you good at?
1
SPEAKER_00
Because I couldn t do everything and I went to skateboarding
1
SPEAKER_00
in Arizona.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was that.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, skateboarding is a culture too, which we ll talk about.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it s more than a sport.
1
SPEAKER_01
Sure.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then once I started doing it, I kind of fell in love with the misfit aspect because I never really felt like I fit in with my schoolmates.
1
SPEAKER_02
So are you saying to me that, are you saying, Tony, that you may not have absolute physical gifts
1
SPEAKER_02
like someone who could just, Larry Bird got a basketball and just came to him right away.
1
SPEAKER_02
Eddie Van Halen got his son, his son, his brother s guitar, sat on the bed at 8 a.m.
1
SPEAKER_02
and played till midnight.
1
SPEAKER_02
It just spoke to him.
1
SPEAKER_02
So when you got on the board, it just spoke to you.
1
SPEAKER_01
It spoke to me, but in no way was I a natural.
1
SPEAKER_01
A natural, you would do that fun.
1
SPEAKER_01
I would just do it, but I would just do it endlessly.
1
SPEAKER_01
I would go from school to the skate park,
1
SPEAKER_01
stay there until my mom got off work.
1
SPEAKER_01
She worked at the community college at eight or 9 p.m.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then she d have to drag me away until they turn the lights off.
1
SPEAKER_01
Did you ever annoy them?
1
SPEAKER_02
Because bad skateboarding kids are really loud.
1
SPEAKER_02
Like they re constantly falling and banging.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s not a very relaxing thing as a parent watching bad skateboarders.
1
SPEAKER_00
You didn t have steel wheels.
1
SPEAKER_00
You weren t that far back, were you?
1
SPEAKER_00
Not that far back.
1
SPEAKER_00
Did you have a yellow freeform with a split tail?
1
SPEAKER_01
No, but... Geez, what s going on, man?
1
SPEAKER_00
He s flexing.
1
SPEAKER_01
Or a Bane.
1
SPEAKER_01
I did have a... Bane was my first board.
1
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_02
You like that, Dane?
1
SPEAKER_02
What?
1
SPEAKER_02
You like that shit?
1
SPEAKER_02
Bane?
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Okay, let me go back to... This guy s legit.
1
SPEAKER_02
Let me go back to more Larry King type stuff.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I do.
1
SPEAKER_01
No, I have a psychological... We want to get into the weeds of urethane and clay wheels.
1
SPEAKER_01
We have a psychological question for him.
1
SPEAKER_02
My son had, when I was just talking to him on the way over here, he just had a comment.
1
SPEAKER_02
He wanted you to comment on, this is jumping ahead a little bit, the turf war at a skate park between the BMXers, the Rollerbladers, and the skaters, even though it s called a skate park.
1
SPEAKER_02
So will you comment please on that, Mr. Hawk?
1
SPEAKER_01
I d say Rollerbladers lose.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I got lucky in that,
1
SPEAKER_01
I was sort of a generation before that was happening and at some point I got very lucky that I was still skating when rollerblading started to be on the rise because I was struggling to make a living at skateboarding and I got to be the special guest at rollerblade shows.
1
SPEAKER_01
Like, this is a Rollerblade show, but we got special guest skateboarder Tony Hawk here.
1
SPEAKER_01
That was paying my mortgage, literally.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I never had the beef.
1
SPEAKER_01
I saw it playing out and people were whatever, having bad stereotypes with everything.
1
SPEAKER_01
But I love everyone.
1
SPEAKER_00
You re like the godfather though, so if they see you, do you win because you re a skater and they re like, oh, the fucking king is here?
1
SPEAKER_01
I don t, it s more that I grew up, I grew up to, not that I grew up, but eventually I was in all the X Games and doing all that and then we were all sort of brethren, the BMXers, even the inliners and the skateboarders because
1
SPEAKER_01
we rode the same terrain and we were all sort of coming up together.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I didn t feel that turf war, like you said.
1
SPEAKER_01
I will say that it s tricky when you have a lot of BMXers and a lot of skateboarders as a skateboarder because BMXers are silent.
1
SPEAKER_01
Oh, you can t see them coming.
1
SPEAKER_01
You get hit.
1
SPEAKER_01
You don t hear them coming.
1
SPEAKER_01
Right.
1
SPEAKER_01
Because the rubber tires and everything.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
So that can be an issue.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so I think that there s a good... Some skate parks assign certain days for bikes and certain days for skateboarding.
1
SPEAKER_01
I think that helps.
1
SPEAKER_02
It seems to me as a layman that the rollerblader has the device attached to his feet.
1
SPEAKER_02
the BMXer is hanging onto the device.
1
SPEAKER_02
And the skateboard guy has to stand on the fucking thing.
1
SPEAKER_02
And it s like, seemed much harder.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, there s some apples to oranges there, I gotta say.
1
SPEAKER_02
I guess, I mean, I was such a baby.
1
SPEAKER_02
That was when there were steel wheels back in the 60s, a really steep hill.
1
SPEAKER_02
I d sometimes just sit on the fucking thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
We used to catamaran down some hills at the Wedge in Arizona.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then big wipeouts at the end when you catamaran.
1
SPEAKER_00
Always.
1
SPEAKER_00
With your friend, and then it s almost fun to wipe out.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, we would do it down really steep grass hills just so that we knew, because we knew we were going to wipe out.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then we just come up with grass hills.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you might live.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
1
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
1
SPEAKER_00
I actually wiped out at High Roller.
1
SPEAKER_00
I ll tell you that in a second, though.
1
SPEAKER_00
High Roller skate park.
1
SPEAKER_02
Can we just finish off this young Tony for a second, just you re, you re just,
2
SPEAKER_01
You were just a quirky kid.
2
SPEAKER_01
You weren t a natural athlete.
2
SPEAKER_01
You got ahold of a skateboard from someone in the neighborhood or you re nine years old?
2
SPEAKER_01
My older brother.
2
SPEAKER_01
Older brother.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then it just spoke to you.
2
SPEAKER_01
You became possessed.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then within- Possessed is good, yes.
2
SPEAKER_01
Within three years of that, you were world-class.
2
SPEAKER_01
At 12, it was something.
2
SPEAKER_01
At 14, it was such a quantum leap.
2
SPEAKER_02
I started skating around age 10 and then got really into it.
2
SPEAKER_02
As I dove into it completely,
2
SPEAKER_02
It took a downturn in popularity.
2
SPEAKER_02
So really sort of like at the time when I was really Starting to come into my own and fall in love with it.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was all the world was crumbling away around me And so I got sponsored at age 12 by dogtown skateboards.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, which I
2
SPEAKER_02
didn t really mean a whole lot.
2
SPEAKER_02
It just meant that sometimes they would send me free skateboards.
2
SPEAKER_02
That was pretty much it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then I moved up.
2
SPEAKER_00
So no money?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, no money.
2
SPEAKER_00
Sponsor?
2
SPEAKER_00
I never knew what that meant, but I thought Dogtown was the coolest one.
2
SPEAKER_02
Free gear.
2
SPEAKER_02
Free gear.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then that moved me up to the sponsor division.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that kind of lit a fire because suddenly I was skating with people who are much more advanced and I had to figure out how to navigate that.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then I rose to the top of the amateur ranks within two years, and then I actually turned pro at age 14.
2
SPEAKER_02
But when you turn pro, what that means is I was filling out an entry form to the competition.
2
SPEAKER_02
And there s your name and address, and then there s a box that says amateur, and there s a box that says pro.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I checked the pro box.
2
SPEAKER_02
That was the only difference?
2
SPEAKER_02
That was it.
2
SPEAKER_02
Do you remember the first time you made money?
2
SPEAKER_02
Or sorry, go ahead.
2
SPEAKER_02
That was competing for $100 first place.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
75 second, 50 for third.
2
SPEAKER_02
I got fourth.
2
SPEAKER_02
So no money?
2
SPEAKER_01
No money.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you remember your first check for doing this?
2
SPEAKER_01
My first check was 50 bucks when I got third place.
2
SPEAKER_01
50 bucks.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
I got paid $3 for my first set.
2
SPEAKER_00
Ooh, you have money for your first set.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s pretty rare.
2
SPEAKER_01
Rob Williams was there.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think it was $10.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think he took seven.
2
SPEAKER_01
I took three.
2
SPEAKER_00
Her.
2
SPEAKER_01
Her.
2
SPEAKER_01
70-30.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, $7.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you want to be famous?
2
SPEAKER_01
I asked him.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, I just want to play for the people.
2
SPEAKER_01
Never forgot that.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, you re playing pretty well.
2
SPEAKER_01
God rest his soul.
2
SPEAKER_01
Good friend.
2
SPEAKER_01
Anyway, Tony.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s remarkable.
2
SPEAKER_01
How are your parents reacting to this and your brother?
2
SPEAKER_01
Are you is there a sibling thing like Tony s a superstar?
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, he was he was um, he is 13 years older than me.
2
SPEAKER_02
So okay, so he was in college and uh, just kind of watched it.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, he was there sometimes but
2
SPEAKER_02
My parents, I think they saw what it provided me just in terms of my sense of self and self-confidence and finally kind of focusing all of my energy and frustrations onto that instead of them.
2
SPEAKER_02
So they were thankful and they were supportive and there were very few parents were supportive.
2
SPEAKER_01
Because of the danger of it or just because of the culture of it.
2
SPEAKER_00
The stigma, the culture, the danger.
2
SPEAKER_00
And you weren t gonna go to school.
2
SPEAKER_00
Even though there s a rumor you re smart, but we have no proof.
2
SPEAKER_01
It says here your IQ is 144.
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, maybe at one point.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re at least half as high as that.
2
SPEAKER_01
He s incredibly smart.
2
SPEAKER_01
He s a chess champion.
2
SPEAKER_01
That was his thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s when I got off of that to go into skateboarding, which was a mistake.
2
SPEAKER_00
Some of us didn t go pro, Tony, and didn t get fourth place.
2
SPEAKER_02
So you got paid $50.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, and then eventually got my own skateboard model.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that s when I started receiving royalty checks for between four and $5 a month.
2
SPEAKER_02
Four and five a month, that s not too bad.
2
$4.85.
2
SPEAKER_01
Did you design it or how did you get your own model?
2
SPEAKER_02
I designed the shape of it and then my sponsor, Palo Peralta, they designed the graphics of it.
2
SPEAKER_02
But then something happened in the mid 80s where suddenly skateboarding kind of came around again.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I found myself in high school making six figures from royalties on those skateboards.
2
SPEAKER_01
So you re already an entrepreneur, you re a businessman already as you re a superstar athlete.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I didn t see it that way.
2
SPEAKER_01
But were other kids doing it as well?
2
SPEAKER_01
Did you have other dudes or women in the school that were doing it?
2
SPEAKER_02
Not in school, no.
2
SPEAKER_02
That was the weird thing is that there was this resurgence of skateboarding.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was popular, but not a mainstream or widespread popularity.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I was still the outcast at school.
2
SPEAKER_02
I literally would hide my skateboard in the bushes when I go to school because people would hassle me if I carried around.
2
SPEAKER_02
They would yell skater fact.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I was pro, I was pro and I was traveling to places like Florida, to places like Phoenix to go to these big events and sign autographs and come to school and I was a ghost.
2
SPEAKER_01
Can I ask you just a technical question?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_01
Because it would seem to me when I watched gymnasts and stuff that you growing to six foot three,
2
SPEAKER_01
Is that an advantage, disadvantage, or neutral?
2
SPEAKER_01
In terms of doing upside down flips, you have to have a bigger range.
2
SPEAKER_01
The math of that, when did you get to 6 3 ?
2
SPEAKER_01
Not till I was in my late teens.
2
SPEAKER_01
So you re becoming a brilliant skateboarder and you re growing, and so you re adapting your revolutions to that height.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, and I was still very flexible when I got tall, so it was to an advantage because I finally was able to get speed.
2
SPEAKER_02
and get more height.
2
SPEAKER_02
And because I could ball up, I could still do those spins and things, but at greater heights.
2
SPEAKER_02
So your height begat the speed.
2
SPEAKER_02
It helped me, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
I can t say it s helped me into my older age, but it definitely helped me.
2
SPEAKER_02
Interesting, okay.
2
SPEAKER_00
David?
2
SPEAKER_00
Okay, my psychological question.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m the layman, he s a skateboard.
2
SPEAKER_00
When you grew up in San Diego, and what was the park in Carlsbad?
2
SPEAKER_00
Was it Big O?
2
SPEAKER_00
What s that?
2
SPEAKER_02
So there was Oasis Skate Park in San Diego, and then that closed, and then Del Mar Skate Ranch was the last park in that area.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s a cool one, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Okay, so let s say Tony s- Vans, do you remember Vans?
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you remember Vans?
2
SPEAKER_00
Vans Skate Park?
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that s much later.
2
SPEAKER_01
For one of my kids  birthdays,
2
SPEAKER_01
bought the place.
2
SPEAKER_01
Which one, Ontario or Orange?
2
SPEAKER_01
It was like Milpitas or something, South Peninsula.
2
SPEAKER_01
Vans, that made him the coolest kid in school.
2
SPEAKER_00
That was a good part.
2
SPEAKER_00
Now, let s say, because I did get to golf with Tiger Woods, let s say he s the best in golf, that s sort of generally known, and you are, let s say, generally known as the best skater.
2
SPEAKER_00
Is it something in you that makes you not wanna give up, number one, because you still skate, you don t really have to skate anymore, you could stop, and Tiger could stop.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, well, I never did it for fame or fortune.
2
SPEAKER_02
You still like it.
2
SPEAKER_02
But those things weren t even dreams.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, the same.
2
SPEAKER_01
I asked my wife, did I ever talk about being rich or famous?
2
SPEAKER_01
Never.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was in the club and I just wanted to be the best guy in that club.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I totally relate to that.
2
SPEAKER_02
But in skateboarding, no one was rich or famous when I started.
2
SPEAKER_02
No one could aspire to that.
2
SPEAKER_02
What do you aspire to?
2
SPEAKER_02
I don t know, I m going to be pro.
2
SPEAKER_00
No one s making money.
2
SPEAKER_02
You get that $100 check and your picture in the magazine.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so that was never the motivation.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so having come this far and having,
2
SPEAKER_02
success I would have never dreamed, I still just want to skate.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it really is what you want to push it that hard.
2
SPEAKER_02
You re the first superstar of skateboarding.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think I ve turned a corner on that, to be honest.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, you ve proven everything, but I guess it s still fun to be like, you re still as good as everyone.
2
SPEAKER_00
We go to comedy clubs, you still want to do as good as these guys, you know, it s the same thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
Sure, yeah, I can t, that s the thing though, I can t phone it in.
2
SPEAKER_02
And everyone s watching you.
2
SPEAKER_02
I can t, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so if I were to feel like I m not really of a professional level, I wouldn t do it in public or on camera.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I still do it.
2
SPEAKER_01
I still walk the walk.
2
SPEAKER_01
I totally relate to what you re saying.
2
SPEAKER_01
When I go to do a day, I can t help it, I just want to dominate.
2
SPEAKER_01
but it s not in an unfair way.
2
SPEAKER_01
Like you have your peers and friends.
2
SPEAKER_02
But to do your personal best.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Not because you want to destroy everyone else.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, no.
2
SPEAKER_01
But it becomes a de facto comedy competition sometimes.
2
SPEAKER_01
And there s a lot of subjectivity to it.
2
SPEAKER_01
When 10 guys go on and we re supposed to be just hanging out at the Comedy Store doing our sets, but it s always like, you re the best setter.
2
SPEAKER_01
He couldn t follow you.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a gunslinger thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
But yeah, it s not as much with Dave and I. Well, I did enjoy you guys after Chris Rock.
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, you saw that?
2
SPEAKER_01
I saw that, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Did you sense the awkwardness?
2
SPEAKER_01
Because we were Caucasians.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, I think you guys handled it very well.
2
SPEAKER_00
I didn t want anyone to figure that out, but they did right away.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, yeah, it was good.
2
SPEAKER_01
We were there to facilitate, but I can t join in on those conversations.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, but I thought you guys did a good job moderating it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Well, we wanted a joke.
2
SPEAKER_00
First of all, we liked everybody there.
2
SPEAKER_00
The panel was cool.
2
SPEAKER_00
We hung with them all day.
2
SPEAKER_00
I love JB.
2
SPEAKER_00
JB s funny.
2
SPEAKER_00
He s hysterical.
2
SPEAKER_00
He came out of his shell that night.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know what?
2
SPEAKER_01
For the first time, he lit his cigar backstage.
2
SPEAKER_01
He d held it for 20 years.
2
SPEAKER_01
That went so good.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m going to light this up.
2
SPEAKER_01
I said, JB, you are smooth.
2
SPEAKER_01
Arsenio is smooth.
2
SPEAKER_01
He was nice.
2
SPEAKER_01
And we ve known Chris, David, especially close with Chris, but known him since 1990.
2
SPEAKER_01
And, uh,
2
SPEAKER_00
That was sort of how it came about.
2
SPEAKER_00
We had a podcast, we re together anyway, SNL, it s Chris, we re all buddies, let s put a panel together.
2
SPEAKER_00
I guess they want to make the event bigger, so why not, we ll talk about it.
2
SPEAKER_00
But there s some stuff in there, if I had some heavy controversial opinions, I would say them.
2
SPEAKER_00
But I didn t really, I just watched the jokes, liked them, said a few funny things, but when it got really heavy things,
3
SPEAKER_00
to comment.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I wouldn t let them talk.
3
SPEAKER_00
And that was why we were all there.
3
SPEAKER_02
I had the same thesis, but it happened to Chris and he owned it and expanded it.
3
SPEAKER_02
But I thought it was always about something else, that anger with the wife.
3
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it was pretty obvious, but he laid it out perfectly.
3
SPEAKER_02
And what was fascinating to me is that
3
SPEAKER_02
Very rarely does the world watch, quote unquote, the world, and we all know the story.
3
SPEAKER_02
We all saw the slap and all the reaction.
3
SPEAKER_02
And then a year later, we have a guy who got connected to it in such a way, because Chris doesn t flub lines, but I think the emotion was so strong at that moment, which made it better, because it was live and real, that this was more than a mic drop.
3
SPEAKER_02
He was working some stuff out.
3
SPEAKER_02
And, um, it, you know, I just wonder casually, is this, is this over now or?
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, me, Dana, Chris, we ve all been bullied.
3
SPEAKER_00
Me and Chris used to talk about it.
3
SPEAKER_00
I was pushed around Arizona.
3
SPEAKER_00
I was always a pipsqueak and I hated it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And Chris hated it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And, uh, I I m sure Dana got a little bit of it.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, no, no, no, way more.
3
SPEAKER_00
When you get older.
3
SPEAKER_02
I got bullied by a grown man.
3
SPEAKER_00
Your family.
3
SPEAKER_00
Knocked out and shit, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and so when you get like that, I can see when things like that set you off, road rage shit, because people try to fuck with me, they ll hit on a date right in front of me.
3
SPEAKER_00
They ll go, oh, this guy gonna say anything?
3
SPEAKER_00
Or they ll say that you re not gonna do shit.
3
SPEAKER_00
And that anger builds up over your whole life.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so Chris getting that on stage at the Oscars, in my head, I was like, I don t know if I could continue life.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s so humiliating and then you don t fight back.
3
SPEAKER_00
Should I have shit?
3
SPEAKER_00
So you go on and on and Will, I thought, got off pretty easy because banning from the Oscars is one thing, but banning from getting an Oscar is, I thought, should be stronger.
3
SPEAKER_00
For a couple of years.
3
SPEAKER_02
He doesn t have to go to the silly show.
3
SPEAKER_00
Who cares?
3
SPEAKER_00
Go to the Vandy Fair party.
3
SPEAKER_00
Just wait and watch people walk in.
3
SPEAKER_00
They ll bring it in on a platter.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
I saw him there after the Vandy Fair party.
3
SPEAKER_00
Then I saw Chris at Guy-O s.
3
SPEAKER_00
And Chris was pretty cool.
3
SPEAKER_01
So I saw Chris the next morning.
3
SPEAKER_01
Where were you?
3
SPEAKER_01
I was staying up here and I saw him at breakfast.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, you did?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and he was alone at a table and I just came in.
3
SPEAKER_01
He s always alone.
3
SPEAKER_02
Well, tell us what you said to him.
3
SPEAKER_01
I just said, I thought that you handled that like a maestro.
3
SPEAKER_01
And he said, yeah, I don t think that had anything to do with me, but he already had a clear piece of me.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, he has his own history with
3
SPEAKER_02
with that family.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s smart to sit on that.
3
SPEAKER_00
Sit on it for a year.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s got to drive him crazy, but at least he let it all out.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was great.
3
SPEAKER_02
I feel like he s- I think that was a literal mic drop.
3
SPEAKER_02
I don t think he got it all out.
3
SPEAKER_02
I don t think he has anything else to say, but I hope it continues.
3
SPEAKER_02
People have said to David and I, if we had a real feud, this podcast would blow up.
3
SPEAKER_00
No, we re trying.
3
SPEAKER_02
So I m trying to find a way to get mad at him, but he s pretty mellow.
3
SPEAKER_02
I m trying to work up anger, but I just can t.
3
SPEAKER_01
I want to have credit for that.
3
SPEAKER_01
No, but what you say about bullying, I mean, and in our day it was, you just, you got picked on.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re always picking on me.
3
SPEAKER_01
You know, we pick on him.
3
SPEAKER_01
That was totally accepted.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
There were no resources.
3
SPEAKER_02
And a lot of it is not grandiose.
3
SPEAKER_02
Like a lot of it is just the guy in the locker room just takes the back of your neck and just quickly just pushes you down to the floor.
3
SPEAKER_01
They use that.
3
SPEAKER_00
Knowing you re going to do nothing.
3
SPEAKER_01
Because I was so small, they would pick me up in the hallway and spin me around once.
3
SPEAKER_00
By the way, nothing more humiliating.
3
SPEAKER_02
Now that s why you were so great doing 360.
3
SPEAKER_02
You gotta thank the guys.
3
SPEAKER_01
Let s go two and a half this time.
3
SPEAKER_02
I was working up to a 900.
3
SPEAKER_02
Tony Hawk became brilliant because of bullies who would flip him, throw him in the air, throw him across the room, roll him down the hill.
3
SPEAKER_02
But it s how you got a skateboard.
3
SPEAKER_02
You go, no one s trying to hit me.
3
SPEAKER_00
This is easy.
3
SPEAKER_00
I don t think you get picked up like I do.
3
SPEAKER_00
When people pick me up at a party, I fucking flip out.
3
SPEAKER_00
And to this day, it happens.
3
SPEAKER_00
I go, if you pick me up, we re dead for life.
3
SPEAKER_00
We re not friends ever again.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s like the most humiliating asshole move.
3
SPEAKER_02
I would get picked up too.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, and they d throw you against the locker.
3
SPEAKER_02
I had a girl pick me up.
3
SPEAKER_02
And that was my mom.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s it.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s it.
3
SPEAKER_00
After I came to my pants, I said, this is over.
3
SPEAKER_00
Surprise ending.
3
SPEAKER_02
A happy surprise.
3
SPEAKER_02
So Tony.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, Tony.
3
SPEAKER_02
Tony,
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, let s ask him about the movie we did.
3
SPEAKER_00
We have to talk about that.
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh, yeah, okay.
3
SPEAKER_02
Well, I just, so- Oh, go ahead, you got something else before that?
3
SPEAKER_02
I m still so fascinated how, well, just to make one casual observation.
3
SPEAKER_02
The sport went fallow for a while.
3
SPEAKER_02
You come up, you re emerging right as the sport is going, and so you re the first.
3
SPEAKER_02
I don t know if there s a second or there are these after superstars, but to the casual observer, you are skating.
3
SPEAKER_02
I mean, you re, who,
3
SPEAKER_00
How many people, their name is a brand.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s funny because I don t know, I know skating, I know some names, but.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s synonymous, Tony Hawk.
3
SPEAKER_00
To equate with Tony is at that level, I don t think it is.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, I can tell you, I credit a lot of that for a successful video game.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, that s right.
3
SPEAKER_01
Because our game had huge success.
3
SPEAKER_01
They were gigantic.
3
SPEAKER_00
That was where you made the most money, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so people would see my name synonymous with a successful video game, so that kind of added to the recognition factor.
3
SPEAKER_02
Well, that s the cool thing, is that you re the video game guy, and then you re still actually the best guy.
3
SPEAKER_02
who can physically do it.
3
SPEAKER_02
So that s so much power.
3
SPEAKER_02
So how did the video game quickly, how did that come about?
3
SPEAKER_02
They approached you, you got to a certain level, a company approached you, and were you in on the design of it and so forth and so on?
3
SPEAKER_01
So I was actually working with a PC programmer who came to me and said, hey, I have an idea for a skateboard game.
3
SPEAKER_01
What s that?
3
SPEAKER_00
Nerd, nerd.
3
SPEAKER_01
We were two nerds literally knocking on doors.
3
SPEAKER_01
We were going to console manufacturers, we re going to software companies and saying, how old are you?
3
SPEAKER_01
So this was like around 97, 96, 97.
3
SPEAKER_01
So you re huge though at that point, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, there s sort of a gap in skating s popularity in the early 90s.
3
SPEAKER_01
So it went underground very much so, and that s kind of when street skating emerged.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
So this game, they don t come to you fully formed.
3
SPEAKER_00
They say, do it with us.
3
SPEAKER_00
So you re pursuing it together.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, no, what happened was, he and I went to meetings and we just got shut down everywhere we went.
3
SPEAKER_01
They said, skateboarding s not popular.
3
SPEAKER_01
Classic.
3
SPEAKER_01
Why would anyone want to play a skateboarding game?
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
And at the time there weren t,
3
SPEAKER_01
that many home consoles, there were some, but not, it wasn t infiltrating.
3
SPEAKER_01
Did you go to Nintendo or Atari?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, so he gave up, he got frustrated.
3
SPEAKER_01
And he actually told me, he said, look, I gotta find a job, but I feel like we ve made some headway in terms of putting your name out there that you re interested in doing this, and then maybe something will come of that.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I remember thinking, yeah, okay, buddy, sure.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then almost a year later, Activision called me and said, hey, we heard you wanna do a video game.
3
SPEAKER_01
I said, well, yes, very much so.
3
SPEAKER_01
And they said, well, we are doing a video game of skateboarding and we d like your input or to see if you want to get involved.
3
SPEAKER_01
So I went up to Activision and they were working on this game that was based on an engine that they had already made for a game called Apocalypse, starring Bruce Willis.
3
SPEAKER_01
It was the first game that had a celebrity lookalike.
3
SPEAKER_01
Avatar, I guess they call him.
3
SPEAKER_01
Avatar, sure.
3
SPEAKER_01
Not the movie, but just literal definition.
3
SPEAKER_01
And his voice, but it didn t do very well, but the engine was perfect for skateboarding.
3
SPEAKER_01
The engine means the motion.
3
SPEAKER_01
The motion in the game, got it.
3
SPEAKER_01
So the first time I ever played what became Tony Hawk s Pro Skater was Bruce Willis on a skateboard with a gun on his back.
3
SPEAKER_01
Doing kickflips.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
Like through a desert.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it was Bruce Willis, that s hysterical.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that was it.
3
SPEAKER_02
Was there a breakthrough moments or an epiphany like how to make a skateboard thing as exciting as a war one or something?
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, when I played the game, I knew then like this is the way it should.
3
SPEAKER_01
Because you re feeling it.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m feeling it and it was intuitive.
3
SPEAKER_01
Suddenly I was doing tricks right away.
3
SPEAKER_01
Right.
3
SPEAKER_01
So I thought with my resources, we could probably make something that is legitimate.
3
SPEAKER_01
I wasn t thinking it was going to go gangbusters because I still heard those voices saying, who would want to play a skateboard game?
3
SPEAKER_01
And when I told them, I had a Nintendo 64 at the time and I said, oh, we re going to make this for Nintendo 64.
3
SPEAKER_01
And they go, no, we re making this for PlayStation.
3
SPEAKER_01
PlayStation.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s a million PlayStations out there.
3
SPEAKER_01
There aren t a million Nintendo 64s.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so I went along with that, obviously.
3
SPEAKER_01
Another smart idea.
3
SPEAKER_01
Not long after, when it had success in the beginning, they called me and said, you get your wish.
3
SPEAKER_01
We re going to do Nintendo 64.
3
SPEAKER_01
I was like, cool, and then we ended up doing all the systems.
3
SPEAKER_00
And did the first guy, you wet the beak on him a little bit or not?
3
SPEAKER_00
Did he go away for good?
3
SPEAKER_02
Show business term, wet the beak.
3
SPEAKER_00
Give him a little taste.
3
SPEAKER_01
No, I felt bad for that guy.
3
SPEAKER_02
So you had gross points.
3
SPEAKER_02
I mean, I don t know whatever, but you re an owner, and so being an owner is king.
3
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah, I mean it changed my life.
3
SPEAKER_02
So it just starts rolling in and then it gets bigger.
3
SPEAKER_00
Did you evade taxes?
3
SPEAKER_01
By the time the fourth game, no.
3
SPEAKER_01
I remember my first, I remember writing my first check to the IRS and thinking this is more, this is more than the money I d ever think I d made in my lifetime.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s interesting.
3
SPEAKER_01
Giving to the IRS.
3
SPEAKER_02
So the rich do pay, the rich pay their fair share.
3
SPEAKER_02
The only one who did was Tony Hawk.
3
SPEAKER_02
Tony Hawk!
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I couldn t figure out the loopholes.
3
SPEAKER_02
That was Joe Biden, sorry.
3
SPEAKER_02
I got it.
3
SPEAKER_00
He gets it.
4
SPEAKER_02
Seems to be going well at this point in your existence, the game has kicked ass.
4
SPEAKER_02
You ve won so many X Games, world champion.
4
SPEAKER_02
Done a lot of commercials.
4
SPEAKER_02
You land a 900 at some point.
4
SPEAKER_02
How long did it take you?
4
SPEAKER_02
I saw that whole video.
4
SPEAKER_02
How big a deal was that for you?
4
SPEAKER_00
For me, that was my best exit from competition.
4
SPEAKER_02
So you were thinking, I m gonna land this.
4
SPEAKER_00
There was no plan.
4
SPEAKER_00
Oh.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was all spontaneous that night, honestly.
4
SPEAKER_02
So you just thought, so just, because I was trying to explain it to my wife and my sons, you re going up in the air really, really high.
4
SPEAKER_02
You re going a full revolution in your body, another full revolution, and then a half a revolution, which, you know, 360, 360, 180, and then hit it.
4
SPEAKER_02
And that was a little Mount Everest kind of thing?
4
SPEAKER_00
For me at that time, yeah, because it s something that I had been trying off and on for 10 years.
4
SPEAKER_00
I did the first 720 in 1985.
4
SPEAKER_02
And that was huge at the time.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, for sure.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, in the skateboard world, but the skateboard world wasn t huge.
4
SPEAKER_00
Oh, okay.
4
SPEAKER_00
There were no X Games, there was no social media.
4
SPEAKER_00
Oh, okay, so no one really.
4
SPEAKER_01
Does it have to be filmed or do they take your word for it?
4
SPEAKER_00
I got a sequence of it.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, back then there was, Bones Brigade videos were out kinda, but really it was more about, did it get in the magazine?
4
SPEAKER_00
So I got a small sequence in Thrasher.
4
SPEAKER_01
Teach all those photos like that?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
I got a small sequence in Thrasher doing a 720.
4
SPEAKER_00
Fuck yeah, I probably saw.
4
SPEAKER_00
On a backyard ramp in Sweden.
4
SPEAKER_02
So when you landed the 900, what competition were you in?
4
SPEAKER_00
That was at the X Games.
4
SPEAKER_02
At the X Games, that was global television.
4
SPEAKER_02
What?
4
SPEAKER_01
I said, what kind of pussy did you get?
4
SPEAKER_01
I thought that s what you were saying.
4
SPEAKER_02
For mature audiences only, is that on the video game?
4
SPEAKER_01
I thought that s where you re headed.
4
SPEAKER_01
Not quite.
4
SPEAKER_01
No, so you do the... I get all serious.
4
SPEAKER_01
So you do the... So to answer your question... He s famous, he s out there in Sweden.
4
SPEAKER_00
To answer your question, I was trying it off and on.
4
SPEAKER_00
I couldn t figure it out.
4
SPEAKER_00
I got hurt a couple of times doing it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then when that event happened in 99, it was the best trick event.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I had one trick planned for that event, which was not the 900.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was a variation of a 720.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I made that early on.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I had 10 minutes to kill in this event.
4
SPEAKER_00
And the announcer, the live announcer for the audience that was there said, why don t we see one of those 900s?
4
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, great.
4
SPEAKER_00
Now I m on the spot.
4
SPEAKER_02
I watched this last night.
4
SPEAKER_01
This isn t the one where you kept trying it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Is that the one?
4
SPEAKER_01
I kept trying it, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s one where you go over and over and over.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then they all bobbed you.
4
SPEAKER_01
And everyone almost gave up.
4
SPEAKER_00
You kept doing it.
4
SPEAKER_00
I think after my third or fourth attempt, I realized that this is the closest I ve ever gotten.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, there s no way I m going to give up.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s either I m going to make this or they re going to take me away.
4
SPEAKER_00
Or you re going to get hurt or something.
4
SPEAKER_00
Are you thinking right as you take off like to get height, right?
4
SPEAKER_00
To get as high as... Or what are you thinking?
4
SPEAKER_00
There s a bunch of elements, but speed for sure.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s got to be a certain height to get that much spin and rotation.
4
SPEAKER_00
The snap is when the moment you leave the ramp, you gotta have a snap where you hit your tail and you grab the board at the exact same time.
4
SPEAKER_00
And if that doesn t happen, your board just flies away immediately and you re stuck kind of spinning in space.
4
SPEAKER_02
Right as you re about to go airborne, you gotta grab your board, so you re attached to it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And so if you get a good snap, then somewhere in the middle of the spin, you have to shift your weight towards the front foot.
4
SPEAKER_00
That was the part that I couldn t figure out all those years.
4
SPEAKER_00
Whoa.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh, interesting.
4
SPEAKER_00
And so, I mean, sorry, not towards the back foot.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, you spinning, if you just spin the way that you take off and try to land, you re too top heavy.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, I had to figure out how to sort of shift my weight to the back foot mid-spin.
4
SPEAKER_00
And that s what you see me working out.
4
SPEAKER_01
You mean when you land, you ll go face first.
4
SPEAKER_01
You won t
4
SPEAKER_01
I did go face first the first time I ever tried to make it.
4
SPEAKER_01
So that s why you go, I gotta get the board.
4
SPEAKER_02
But with the weight on the back foot, it seemed like when you did do it, you did sort of a squat.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, well that was me overcompensating.
4
SPEAKER_02
Right, but you didn t leave the board, you set the record.
4
SPEAKER_02
But that was like, yeah, interesting.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, when I used to skate, it s fun to watch once I quit because you sort of know a little bit about it enough to know which tricks are hard.
4
SPEAKER_01
So when I see Instagram and I m like, God damn, it got so beyond what I could ever do.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s video games now.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like the tricks that you see on Instagram or the pros that you see out there, especially street skaters, it s the kind of thing that we did on our video game in combos as a joke.
4
SPEAKER_01
Because you know you could never do it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, no one will ever do this.
4
SPEAKER_00
And now they re doing it.
4
SPEAKER_02
Has the equipment gotten better then?
4
SPEAKER_00
The equipment hasn t changed that much.
4
SPEAKER_02
It s about the same.
4
SPEAKER_02
It seems about the same.
4
SPEAKER_02
Do you think they have like, they have, you know, plates on track shoes, people running four minute miles, high schoolers, you know, carbon plating.
4
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
4
SPEAKER_02
So, they re all about the same weight.
4
SPEAKER_02
They re all about the same wheels.
4
SPEAKER_00
But it s also like when you think about the generations that have come before, the generation coming in now establishes that, oh, a 900 is possible or these tricks, these combos are reality.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, that s the baseline of which to start.
4
SPEAKER_01
You could even go crazier.
4
SPEAKER_01
They used to have these things, Dan, they called sky hooks.
4
SPEAKER_02
That was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
4
SPEAKER_01
Tony knows what it is.
4
SPEAKER_01
I was like, it was hard for me when I got to doing aerials at the old high roller skate park in Arizona.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so when you have to leave the top of the pool, that s being a colossal pussy.
4
SPEAKER_01
This is a doctor telling me this.
4
SPEAKER_02
That s three pussies on this pile.
4
SPEAKER_01
No, that s just saying I am not tough.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, with different connotations.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s a fear.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, yeah, totally different meanings every time.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s a fear thing, Dana.
4
SPEAKER_01
Once you leave the top of the ramp.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, come on, don t be a baby.
4
SPEAKER_01
I ll be my dad for a second.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s too scary.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then so I wiped out a high roller trying to do an aerial axle stall.
4
SPEAKER_01
I think I ve told Tony this before.
4
SPEAKER_01
Which, to his credit, is a pretty gnarly trick.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s a hard trick.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s hard, and it s dangerous.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so you go up, I think David Andreich, someone did this.
4
SPEAKER_01
You go up out of the pool, it was a pool at the skate park, and you go up and you land on your axles and then you drop back in.
4
SPEAKER_01
Landing is the hard part, dropping it I could probably do, but I missed it and I wiped out and I fell backwards into the pool and broke both wrists.
4
SPEAKER_01
Everyone, all the concerned skaters go, get the fuck out of the bowl.
4
SPEAKER_01
Because I was laying there.
4
SPEAKER_00
And you had two broken wrists.
4
SPEAKER_00
I had to drag my board up.
4
SPEAKER_01
And it s hard to walk up from the deep end of the shallow end, it s like slippery.
4
SPEAKER_01
So I get out and I m laying on my brother s, we had the Lee car and Andy got mad because we just got to the skate park.
4
SPEAKER_01
We had two hours.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so I m laying in the car on the windshield and,
4
SPEAKER_01
Andy, they go get Andy, my brother, because he saw me.
4
SPEAKER_01
He goes, I ll just go in the car.
4
SPEAKER_01
We re out of here in two hours.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so the skate park person saw me kind of shaking out the car.
4
SPEAKER_01
I didn t say anything.
4
SPEAKER_01
I knew I was in trouble.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then they went and got Andy and he comes and throws his helmet.
4
SPEAKER_01
He goes, what the fuck?
4
SPEAKER_01
You re fine, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
And I go, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
And they go, no, you got to take him home.
4
SPEAKER_01
You can t stay.
4
SPEAKER_01
And he goes, fuck.
4
SPEAKER_01
So he throws me in the car and he goes, I m going back.
4
SPEAKER_01
So he dropped me to my stepdad.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, and he went back to the CPR.
4
SPEAKER_01
And he went back, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then I sat there and then my stepdad was buzzed because it was night, he was just drinking.
4
SPEAKER_01
It was morning.
4
SPEAKER_01
And he took me to his clinic and x-rayed him.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I saw a crack down both of them around his corner.
4
SPEAKER_01
I look around the corner, I go, hmm, I didn t even go to med school.
4
SPEAKER_01
I see something going on.
4
SPEAKER_01
Did they set them?
4
SPEAKER_01
Something looks off.
4
SPEAKER_01
He goes, let s sit on this.
4
SPEAKER_01
He was drunk.
4
SPEAKER_01
I go, what are we waiting for?
4
SPEAKER_01
So I lay down and I don t, you know, we don t have vacuums back then, we don t have anything.
4
SPEAKER_01
So I m just lying there, sort of whimpering.
4
SPEAKER_01
I was whimpering.
4
SPEAKER_01
And then the next day my mom was like, take a man and do something.
4
SPEAKER_01
So he just gave me splints.
4
SPEAKER_01
So then the first day of school, I went as a freshman, I had two splints, but I looked like a badass.
4
SPEAKER_01
I had my Quicksilvers, I had my fucking OP shirt, carrying a skateboarder magazine.
4
SPEAKER_02
We got injured in different ways, like my brother,
4
SPEAKER_02
pop the wheelie, that s what we do on our, pop the wheelie, the wheel comes off, chips his teeth.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah, the forks go down, you go, uh-oh, this is just a way to happen.
4
SPEAKER_02
So he s like got fangs for a while, they finally got him, you know, caps on him, and then he s doing a Duncan Imperial, going with the yo-yo, boom, broke him again.
4
SPEAKER_02
I m so old.
4
SPEAKER_02
That s twice, you guys were daredevils.
4
SPEAKER_01
Then he had a slinky.
4
SPEAKER_01
Then he got a slinky.
4
SPEAKER_01
Broke his leg.
4
SPEAKER_02
He lost an ear.
4
SPEAKER_02
I don t want to go into the Carvey.
4
SPEAKER_02
We were rough and tumble 60s kids.
4
SPEAKER_00
It wasn t, nothing was safe.
4
SPEAKER_00
Trust me.
4
SPEAKER_00
I knocked my teeth out, my front teeth five times.
4
SPEAKER_00
God dang, are you, really?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, but the cool thing about that is every time you knock them out, you can choose the size and the color of the next ones.
4
SPEAKER_00
You have a very positive attitude.
4
SPEAKER_00
But in your adult life, that s a thing, right?
4
SPEAKER_02
How many bones do you have broken in your body?
4
SPEAKER_02
Everyone wants to know, everybody.
4
SPEAKER_02
Four officially.
4
SPEAKER_00
Four officially.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, my pelvis, my elbow, my femur, and well, I broke my thumb, basically.
4
SPEAKER_00
Concussions.
4
SPEAKER_01
How many bruises, roughly?
4
SPEAKER_00
Concussions?
4
SPEAKER_00
I had many.
4
SPEAKER_02
My son, he used to do ramp rats.
4
SPEAKER_02
Ramp rats with a BMX bike.
4
SPEAKER_02
You know, you find out later, but he was out cold for three minutes once.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
Well, concussions.
5
SPEAKER_01
Weapons weren t talked about a lot in the old days.
5
SPEAKER_01
No, no, you just hit your head hard.
5
SPEAKER_01
They didn t know.
5
SPEAKER_01
Bell rung.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you got his bell rung.
5
SPEAKER_01
But they say multiple hard hits is the hardest thing on your brain.
5
SPEAKER_02
Or in the hundreds.
5
SPEAKER_02
In succession.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, where it s one after the other in a short time.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yes, absolutely.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I ve been proactive in that and I ve had the tests and to see if I m at risk for Alzheimer s and it seems that I m doing all right.
5
SPEAKER_00
I see a lot of dudes in these Instagram with no helmets doing some gnarly stuff.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s a little scary.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s kind of a skateboarder cool thing to do, but it is not the smartest thing to do.
5
SPEAKER_02
They were trying to, when they put skateboarding in the Olympics, there was a movement which I found odd to not have helmets in the park event.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you can see- In the park event where people are flying.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you re doing rail slide.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s it when it s flat, you re saying?
5
SPEAKER_00
When it s just street stuff?
5
SPEAKER_02
Not on the street, they re not.
5
SPEAKER_02
But what they were saying at the park event, we shouldn t have to wear pads.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I was like, you guys are, I was not in the conversation, but you guys are flying 10 feet above 10 foot pools.
5
SPEAKER_02
I don t think it s gonna go well for the general audience.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I mean.
5
SPEAKER_02
You know, it s not like it s supposed to be kind of a fun game.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I had to picture parents going, yeah, you re never gonna do that.
5
SPEAKER_01
Does the skateboarding culture, does it overlap with surfing in a way or is that a bad vibe that it also, it s not necessarily a cannabis culture?
5
SPEAKER_02
It was kind of, oh.
5
SPEAKER_02
I d say skateboarding is so diverse now that I wouldn t just zero in on something like that.
5
SPEAKER_02
I feel like this definitely has been associated with skating.
5
SPEAKER_01
But they had the phrase surfer bum.
5
SPEAKER_01
Do they have skater bum?
5
SPEAKER_02
Skate rat, I think is more appropriate.
5
SPEAKER_02
Skate rat is more like to someone who... But I think on the outside, especially in those days when skating wasn t very popular, there was a sort of view of skating that was, oh, they re slackers, they re in the wake up late, they re stoners.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I guess you could view it like that, but I feel like skating requires so much discipline that that was sort of being ignored.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it s very technical.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s true.
5
SPEAKER_00
We were sort of outliers.
5
SPEAKER_00
Cause you didn t fit in anywhere at our school.
5
SPEAKER_01
So my brother and I. We took my kids to Europe and they, cause we were middle-class kids, got some money.
5
SPEAKER_01
We re in Italy, but all they wanted, all they talked about was statues and monuments.
5
SPEAKER_01
I could catch so much air off that.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Everything was about what they could skate off of, you know.
5
SPEAKER_02
Any angle.
5
SPEAKER_02
I remember we went on one of the pile tours, went to the Vatican and I tail dropped off one of the sculptures.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m sure they loved that.
5
SPEAKER_02
People didn t really like that.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Wait a minute, you were in the Vatican and skateboarding off the statue?
5
SPEAKER_02
I mean in the Vatican City in the outdoor area.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oh, in that area.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
We were just skating.
5
SPEAKER_02
That was the thing in those days.
5
SPEAKER_02
All we cared about was skating, so it was- Anything, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, the sightseeing was just more incidental to us getting to skate that day.
5
SPEAKER_01
What would you get most excited about, just in sort of urban environments?
5
SPEAKER_02
Back in those days, anything that resembled a ramp or a bank or like a reservoir.
5
SPEAKER_00
Even Kettner School here, I used to see in Skateboard Magazine, so when I came here I had to go find it, and it was kind of lame.
5
SPEAKER_00
It was just slight banks on asphalt, but it was something.
5
SPEAKER_02
That was the early days.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I do some Bertelman s.
5
SPEAKER_00
Bertelman s?
5
SPEAKER_00
Bertelman s?
5
SPEAKER_00
Is that right?
5
SPEAKER_00
I do little tail blockers because there s really no danger.
5
SPEAKER_00
I have a photo.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m representing the audience at home.
5
SPEAKER_02
In the first Bones Brigade newsletter, I had a photo doing a Bertelman at Canterbanks.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, for real?
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, jeez, we used to go to Vernon s Deli for bagels.
5
SPEAKER_00
A good thing is, if Tony s a photographer across me, if you go up to him and there s a camera low, and you do a tail block, put your hand down, and then turn.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s a good picture.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s the hero angle.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s a good one.
5
SPEAKER_00
Let s talk about the movie.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, wait, you were in Jackass, too, before we get to Police Academy.
5
SPEAKER_02
All of them.
5
SPEAKER_00
You were in all of them?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
And did you do, Dane, have you seen when they go full circle?
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, you were in some kind of blown up suit.
5
SPEAKER_00
Full pipe?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
Did you do a full pipe in a chicken suit or something?
5
SPEAKER_02
I did, yes.
5
SPEAKER_00
I was about to say, it sounds like possible.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s Johnny Knoxville.
5
SPEAKER_02
I did that for Jackass with Matt Hoffman.
5
SPEAKER_00
The TV show?
5
SPEAKER_02
The TV show.
5
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_02
He and I worked.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, he was at BMX, you re right.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, and we did a loop in Orlando and then after the loop, we jumped into this lake.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh, that s fun, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
And then I was on Wild Boys.
5
SPEAKER_02
And we were skating in gorilla costumes.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s never easy.
5
SPEAKER_02
We were also skating with an orangutan.
5
SPEAKER_02
So that was the whole vibe.
5
SPEAKER_02
There was an orangutan that skated, and then Bob Burnquist and I dressed up in gorilla costumes.
5
SPEAKER_01
Did the orangutan think you were gorillas or didn t know you were?
5
SPEAKER_02
No, but it did not like if we got ahead of him.
5
SPEAKER_02
Competitive?
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, very competitive.
5
SPEAKER_02
He s in it to win it, and we re going to stand behind.
5
SPEAKER_02
Cause you don t want him coming after you.
5
SPEAKER_02
We ended up skating.
5
SPEAKER_00
Picture your face off I heard.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
We ended up skating.
5
SPEAKER_02
Side note.
5
SPEAKER_02
Just to fill the content.
5
SPEAKER_02
And then we went and did, Bob had his own loop.
5
SPEAKER_02
and we did Bob s Loop, and Bob s Loop was very slow and weathered, and I didn t take that into consideration as I went down to it, and then I ended up paying the price.
5
SPEAKER_00
Did you not get around the whole thing?
5
SPEAKER_02
I fell from, what happens, I fell just around 10 o clock going up, and that makes you go all the way to the top and then fall.
5
SPEAKER_02
So I fell 16 feet, that s when I broke my pelvis.
5
SPEAKER_01
And were you in the orangutan suit at that point or some other suit?
5
SPEAKER_01
Was the orangutan suit- That was for Wild Boys.
5
SPEAKER_01
Was it padded?
5
SPEAKER_01
Not worth it.
5
SPEAKER_01
No, that was extra.
5
SPEAKER_01
We don t got any money.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I was wearing the mask, so I wasn t wearing my helmet.
5
SPEAKER_02
So that was the problem.
5
SPEAKER_00
I got a concussion, but I lost my skull.
5
SPEAKER_00
For people at home, you just go straight down fast like a Hot Wheels and then you do a whole loop.
5
SPEAKER_00
A whole loop, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
And you lose all your momentum at the top and you wanna bail, I m sure.
5
SPEAKER_00
But if you just hang on, you re fully lightweight.
5
SPEAKER_00
I m sure you re full.
5
SPEAKER_02
If you have the right amount of speed, you just hold steady and it works.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it will stay on.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, but the problem with Bob s is that it was so weathered, you couldn t get that amount of speed.
5
SPEAKER_02
So I tried to compensate by using my legs.
5
SPEAKER_02
And if you use your legs, then you end up completely straight leg with nowhere to go.
5
SPEAKER_01
Have you ever studied geometry or physics?
5
SPEAKER_01
Because it sounds like you re really, you got to know speed.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s wind.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s like- Well, the first time I ever did it, I did go, I actually like did a Hot Wheels and tried to measure that and do the ratios of how that would work.
5
SPEAKER_02
And it worked the first time, but this time it didn t work.
5
SPEAKER_01
It seems like there s a lot of thinking that goes into these tricks that maybe not every skateboarder has.
5
SPEAKER_01
Usually it s just intuitive.
5
SPEAKER_01
No, it s just try.
5
SPEAKER_00
Right.
5
SPEAKER_00
I don t like they gave you a shitty ramp.
5
SPEAKER_01
If I get here, I m going to fall there.
5
SPEAKER_01
I got to get speed to get this velocity and this angle.
5
SPEAKER_01
I don t know.
5
SPEAKER_01
Sounds interesting.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
We re just kind of going off of feeling.
5
SPEAKER_02
We didn t have foam pits or training grounds.
5
SPEAKER_02
Right.
5
SPEAKER_02
So it s like David, like he, he tried to aerodactyl stall and
5
SPEAKER_02
Came down hard, broke his wrist.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, by the way, we did this movie in the old days.
5
SPEAKER_00
I was trying to jump the simple thing of stairs.
5
SPEAKER_01
Let s see if your wrist has a bump.
5
SPEAKER_00
No, I actually broke my wrist again after that.
5
SPEAKER_00
Skating?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and then my mom goes, you shouldn t skate anymore.
5
SPEAKER_00
I go, because it s too dangerous?
5
SPEAKER_00
She goes, no, you re horrible at it.
5
SPEAKER_00
We have to keep you in school.
5
SPEAKER_00
We re mortgaging the house to pay for your medical bills.
5
SPEAKER_00
It got too hard because it was too,
5
SPEAKER_00
You know, I could do the Desert Pipes.
5
SPEAKER_00
We did those.
5
SPEAKER_00
I could do, you know, and just go to Vert and come.
5
SPEAKER_01
I couldn t really do that much.
5
SPEAKER_01
Those are famous.
5
SPEAKER_01
Could you do, what is it, the Pineapple Reverse Squat?
5
SPEAKER_01
Do you remember that one?
5
SPEAKER_01
The old dipsy doodle?
5
SPEAKER_00
No, I can do front side grinders.
5
SPEAKER_00
I can do stuff, but it gets scary, Dana.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it was just, when it gets too hard and what they were doing, it just, it separates.
5
SPEAKER_01
I had a hard time looking at it.
5
SPEAKER_01
My kids coming down steep hills, didn t want to wear helmets, but kind of put the helmet on, put the helmet on.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I, because of childhood trauma, I had to look away.
5
SPEAKER_01
My wife could just watch them, but I would just, I would just look away.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oh, they made it.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know, we had 23 ER visits between the two sons.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh, wow.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I actually have the cell number of the head of the ER down there by you in your secret location.
5
SPEAKER_02
They have a special lane.
5
SPEAKER_01
He s coming in on Tony Drive.
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay, put him in a hot one.
5
SPEAKER_02
We have several children and they all went through their share of injuries because they all skate, so that too.
5
SPEAKER_02
And is Riley a pro?
5
SPEAKER_01
Riley, my oldest son is pro, yes.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, he s good.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oh, that s cool.
5
SPEAKER_01
So do you think when you see him becoming that good, do you see yourself in him intellectually?
5
SPEAKER_02
I see his determination and his drive to keep trying to outdo himself, very much so.
5
SPEAKER_02
He s more of a street skater, so that is not my wheelhouse, but I do see the same sort of motivation that he has that I have.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s kind of true of all successful people.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s hard that he s that good because he s got this guy as a dad.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it s hard to be good anyway.
5
SPEAKER_02
He kind of shied away from skating when he started getting good because of that.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s weird.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s definitely weird.
5
SPEAKER_02
But came back to it because he had so many close friends that were just hardcore skaters and kind of found his own path after that.
6
SPEAKER_01
it s something that s a passion.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s kind of a, it s a very nice thing.
6
SPEAKER_01
So he is professional.
6
SPEAKER_01
He is.
6
SPEAKER_01
And I always wanted to make the same amount of money I could as a waiter, like maybe 1500 a month.
6
SPEAKER_01
And once I got to 600 a month, I was able to put down the apron.
6
SPEAKER_01
Are you there yet?
6
SPEAKER_01
I made 600.
6
SPEAKER_01
We made 600 on this podcast alone.
6
SPEAKER_01
By the time you finish that sentence.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m telling you, life s been good, but to your point, it s for everybody who excels at things, the passion has to come first and just wanting to get better at it, you know, wanting to get better.
6
SPEAKER_02
I do see, I have seen skaters come and go because their motivation is fame and fortune.
6
SPEAKER_02
And if they get a taste of it, then they don t want to skate anymore or they don t want to push themselves.
6
SPEAKER_01
And also if that s your moniker, it s like Lorne Michaels, one of his, the minute you re hot, you feel yourself getting less hot.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s hard to stay.
6
SPEAKER_01
So in other words, if you re a fame whore, you re just like, I like to stay home.
6
SPEAKER_01
I don t want to go anywhere.
6
SPEAKER_01
Dave s a man about town, but we re different.
6
SPEAKER_01
That s why we have a chemistry.
6
SPEAKER_01
But yeah, I d much rather watch Friday night lights at home.
6
SPEAKER_01
I have to extract Dana out to dinner once a week.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah, I feel you.
6
SPEAKER_01
But he has a steak dinner and mashed potatoes waiting for him when he sits down.
6
SPEAKER_01
And then he ll have a small cocktail.
6
SPEAKER_01
I go, are you feeling anything with that two pounds of T-bone in your... I ll have a glass of whiskey at night.
6
SPEAKER_00
Dana, why aren t you asking him about the movie you don t care about?
6
SPEAKER_00
It s Police Academy 4.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s where we met.
6
SPEAKER_01
Well, this is for our listeners.
6
SPEAKER_01
No, well, I have some questions after this, but this is the axis of connection between these two.
6
SPEAKER_01
The movie, Police Academy 4, the good one.
6
SPEAKER_01
David s in it, Tony s in it.
6
SPEAKER_01
Go guys.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I got hired just doing improv.
6
SPEAKER_00
I wasn t a good actor.
6
SPEAKER_00
The way I lucked into that, Tony, is I went in, I was very new, I was 21, and I just started doing sets of the improv.
6
SPEAKER_00
And there s casting people peppered around, you just don t know.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then when they called me in, and they said, we got a script, can you come in and audition?
6
SPEAKER_00
I didn t know what I was doing.
6
SPEAKER_00
I would have, literally, because my next audition, I just read it off the page.
6
SPEAKER_00
They go, we want you to read.
6
SPEAKER_00
I go, oh, I can read.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then I just read the script to them, and they were like, you don t know what you re doing.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I go, nope.
6
SPEAKER_00
So the only reason I got that is cause they go, can you skate?
6
SPEAKER_00
And I said, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
Cause I auditioned for North Shore, a movie.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I said, I could surf and I could not.
6
SPEAKER_02
And that was- But did they discover that?
6
SPEAKER_00
They discovered it.
6
SPEAKER_00
Well, I didn t get it.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I got down and me and Matt Adler, a buddy of mine got it and he, he could surf.
6
SPEAKER_00
So it was by about a guy from Arizona.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I go, I have all the components.
6
SPEAKER_00
I can t surf that good.
6
SPEAKER_02
So I think you dodged a bullet with that one.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I would have fucking drowned.
6
SPEAKER_02
Surfing is... No, no, but I m just saying that is one of the most quoted, ridiculous surf movies.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, yeah, it was kind of goofy?
6
SPEAKER_00
Is that what you re saying?
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I mean, there s some one-liners in there that endure, that live on.
6
SPEAKER_02
Which movie was this?
6
SPEAKER_00
It was called North Shore.
6
SPEAKER_00
North Shore, yeah, and who was in it?
6
SPEAKER_00
Matt Adler is a buddy of mine.
6
SPEAKER_00
Laird plays the protagonist.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, he does?
6
SPEAKER_00
Laird Hamilton is the guy that pulls his leash?
6
SPEAKER_00
He would have drowned me.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, Laird Hamilton?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, he s a trip.
6
SPEAKER_00
He s the bad guy.
6
SPEAKER_00
If he knew I was not good.
6
SPEAKER_00
So anyway, so I auditioned for Police Academy, but when I get there, they go, we re getting a new script in.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s not here yet.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I go, oh, and they go, shit, you re here.
6
SPEAKER_00
Do you want to just...
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, perfect.
6
SPEAKER_00
You want to just ad-lib stuff.
6
SPEAKER_00
You re just a smart-ass kid.
6
SPEAKER_00
And the lines are so stiff.
6
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, I would have bombed.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I just started making up stuff.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s good.
6
SPEAKER_00
And it was so lucky because they go, oh, he s not bad.
6
SPEAKER_00
Because I was just free-forming.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s so much better.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I get hired.
6
SPEAKER_00
I go there.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m making so much fucking money.
6
SPEAKER_00
I think I was making $2,500 a week.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s a movie.
6
SPEAKER_00
I was in a movie in Toronto.
6
SPEAKER_00
And they go, you re a part of a little skate gang of misfits.
6
SPEAKER_00
And they go, oh, we re going to get, and of course I knew the Bones Brigade.
6
SPEAKER_00
I knew everything from Arizona.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then they go, this guy, Tony Hawk, I think it was Guerrero and Cavalero and Mike McGill and Lance Mountain.
6
SPEAKER_00
And so they all came out and I was so excited because they were rock stars.
6
SPEAKER_01
Do you remember your first impressions of David Spade?
6
SPEAKER_02
I thought he was super funny.
6
SPEAKER_02
It was one of those things where you go, oh, you re really funny.
6
SPEAKER_02
You should be a comedian.
6
SPEAKER_00
That was lucky because, you know, Tony, the one problem we had was Tony was taller than me and he was, were you goofy or regular foot?
6
SPEAKER_00
I m goofy footed.
6
SPEAKER_00
And so we had Chris Miller,
6
SPEAKER_02
Well, no, can I interject?
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, go ahead.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
6
SPEAKER_02
So we all read for that part.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh, is that right?
6
SPEAKER_00
We all read for the part that you got.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, that s right.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, okay.
6
SPEAKER_02
Or that you and, who s the guy from Fast Times?
6
SPEAKER_02
Brian Backer.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
Brian Backer.
6
SPEAKER_02
So we all read for those parts as the Bones Brigade and they re like, yeah, you guys are not actors, but we ll consider you in the gang or whatever.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
6
SPEAKER_02
And then they- I didn t know that.
6
SPEAKER_02
They singled out, when they hired you guys, they singled out Lance and me as the doubles.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
I went through a growth spurt.
6
SPEAKER_02
from the time we tried out to the time we got there.
6
SPEAKER_02
And so for the first week, they were like, I think that guy s too tall.
6
SPEAKER_02
And I remember the director saying like, you know, he s a pretty good skater, but he s a bad stunt double.
6
SPEAKER_02
And so then Stacy kept telling me like, stay low.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh, crouch.
6
SPEAKER_02
Stay low.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, Stacy problem.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
And I go, I don t know.
6
SPEAKER_02
I was trying, I was trying.
6
SPEAKER_02
And then they just quietly sent me home.
6
SPEAKER_02
Basically, I got fired.
6
SPEAKER_02
And then they sent in Chris Miller, who looks like you and is the same stance.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m goofy, but he was closer.
6
SPEAKER_00
It was a tough decision because you re goofy and he s regular.
6
SPEAKER_00
Sorry, what does goofy foot mean?
6
SPEAKER_00
I m goofy.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh, that means he stands with his right foot forward.
6
SPEAKER_01
So do I. And that s called goofy?
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
And left foot is called?
6
SPEAKER_01
Regular.
6
SPEAKER_01
Regular.
6
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
6
SPEAKER_02
And so when I got hired, you remember that was part of the thing.
6
SPEAKER_02
It was like, oh, you re goofy footed too.
6
SPEAKER_02
That s what David is.
6
SPEAKER_02
So I went.
6
SPEAKER_02
So in long story short, they sent in Chris Miller, who looks more like him, but is regular footed.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, okay.
6
SPEAKER_02
in the skate sequence, his stance keeps changing.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s so crazy.
6
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m gonna watch this tonight.
6
SPEAKER_00
So unprofessional.
6
SPEAKER_02
But you had a legit skate part, like going through the mall.
6
SPEAKER_00
I could skate.
6
SPEAKER_00
I could skate.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then when I go, one time I go, Brian Bakker could not skate.
6
SPEAKER_00
He was very much against it.
6
SPEAKER_02
To the point where he s making us very uncomfortable.
6
SPEAKER_01
As part of the movie?
6
SPEAKER_02
He just didn t want to even pretend.
6
SPEAKER_02
And they needed establishing shots of him skating.
6
SPEAKER_00
Even if they had to pull him on something.
6
SPEAKER_00
He didn t want to be.
6
SPEAKER_02
But at one point they did try to get him on a skateboard and he was very upset about it.
6
SPEAKER_02
And he was kind of complaining to us and we re like, well, we just work here.
6
SPEAKER_02
But we can help you!
6
SPEAKER_00
Stacy Peralta was a great skater and a great director and one of his bosses because he s from Pal Peralta, Bones Brigade, all that stuff.
6
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I mean he s the one who put us together and he was the one who got us the audition.
6
SPEAKER_00
And he did second unit.
6
SPEAKER_00
So he directed us in a lot of those skate scenes, if not all of them.
6
SPEAKER_00
And one time I go, Stacy, he goes, you can skate a little bit, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
I go, yeah, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
I go, listen, on this one, I m wearing a pink Bones shirt, didn t I?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I go, we re just rolling through the city at night.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I go, and then I go, you go over these steps.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I go, what is it, five steps?
6
SPEAKER_00
I go, I can do that.
6
SPEAKER_00
And he goes, okay.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I could do five steps, seven out of 10 times.
6
SPEAKER_00
So, but when the pressure, so they re all behind me.
6
SPEAKER_00
I don t know if you remember this.
6
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, I m in front, woo-hoo.
6
SPEAKER_00
making noise as we looped later.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then we go in and I do the first steps and I fucking wipe out.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then everyone has to wipe out on top of me because they re all like two feet behind me.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah, there was no, was the camera rolling?
6
SPEAKER_00
There s no adjusting.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then it s like cut and I m like.
6
SPEAKER_00
And they use that?
6
SPEAKER_00
No, I think they just go, Tony, just do it.
6
SPEAKER_01
And then you did it.
6
SPEAKER_01
We need to get one right.
6
SPEAKER_01
As a stunt double.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, as a stunt double.
6
SPEAKER_01
Five steps.
6
SPEAKER_01
Was it nothing for you?
6
SPEAKER_02
Not nothing, but it was doable.
6
SPEAKER_01
It seemed to be a lot for David.
6
SPEAKER_01
It seemed to be very difficult for David.
6
SPEAKER_02
But what we learned in that shoot is we learned about stunt bumps and we didn t know anything about that.
6
SPEAKER_02
So if we pretended like something was really hard, it would give us extra money.
6
SPEAKER_01
You did jump a police car.
6
SPEAKER_01
You re talking about two stairs.
6
SPEAKER_01
Are you nuts, boy?
6
SPEAKER_01
I ve got a fee for that one.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I got you.
6
SPEAKER_02
It was when we jumped the fountain.
6
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
6
SPEAKER_02
I don t think you were there for that one, but we jumped a fountain.
6
SPEAKER_02
They set up this big ramp and it just was so janky, the whole thing.
6
SPEAKER_02
The landing zone was terrible and we were just sitting there sweating it.
6
SPEAKER_02
And they re like, we ll give you each 500 bucks to do this.
6
SPEAKER_02
We re like, what?
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
Oh.
6
SPEAKER_01
Oh, the ramp got a lot better.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_02
Every time I run it back, let s keep going.
6
SPEAKER_02
And that s when we learned that.
6
SPEAKER_01
Interesting.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
Stunt doubles.
6
SPEAKER_01
I ve been next to guys that were about to take a car hit on my behalf, talking to them.
6
SPEAKER_01
How you doing?
6
SPEAKER_01
Pretty good.
6
SPEAKER_00
And they never, they never say they won t go again.
6
SPEAKER_00
Because they get another- I guess they get more money.
6
SPEAKER_00
Junk, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
So every take they do it, they get a bump.
6
SPEAKER_02
Right, right, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
There s only one time I had a stuntman tap out and I took over.
6
SPEAKER_01
You took over, what was it?
6
SPEAKER_01
Weird.
6
SPEAKER_01
Well, it was going inside this big vat of goo, big wooden thing, and Anthony Hopkins was the dad, and he was there, and it s supposed to go under it, and then the goo fills everything.
6
SPEAKER_01
Scary, scary.
6
SPEAKER_01
And I guess that little claustrophobia, the guy was a great stuntman, but just got him shook up, so I did it.
6
SPEAKER_01
You did it?
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I got underneath the thing.
6
SPEAKER_01
That s terrifying.
6
SPEAKER_01
I go, well, fuck, I m a little guy, I can t skate, I can t do anything, but I ll stay down in this fucking goo.
7
SPEAKER_02
I come up from the goo and there s Anthony Hopkins, or Tony as I call him, or Hoppy, we were close.
7
SPEAKER_02
Anyway, he s playing my dad.
7
SPEAKER_02
Anyway, I have questions.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, give him the questions.
7
SPEAKER_02
I just do this sometimes for fun.
7
SPEAKER_02
Let s see what I got here.
7
SPEAKER_01
I do want to say though, to end that, I get asked about that.
7
SPEAKER_01
All the time.
7
SPEAKER_01
I do too, all the time.
7
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah, Police Academy 4.
7
SPEAKER_00
Police Academy 4 is kind of, it s just one of those comedies of the 80s, everybody knows.
7
SPEAKER_00
From then on, we stayed friends.
7
SPEAKER_00
He would always give me a board.
7
SPEAKER_00
He would always, if I asked for something, we went and skated McGill s ramp once, which I was not good at.
7
SPEAKER_00
And I m so brittle that I can t believe you still will risk falling because every time I fall, it really rocks me.
7
SPEAKER_01
I think I got accustomed to the slight pains of skating, but now as I grow older, things linger more.
7
SPEAKER_01
But I do find that if I stay active, it s easier.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
7
SPEAKER_00
Because when I, but Dana, when I did that thing with Tiger, I was comparing them because they re both like the number one in their field.
7
SPEAKER_00
Tiger is so driven.
7
SPEAKER_00
So we played golf that night and he was visibly hurt from his back operations.
7
SPEAKER_00
He wasn t, he s super cool, he s great, he s reading putts, he was having fun, but I could tell he s in pain.
7
SPEAKER_00
I even asked him, do you think he ll ever play golf again?
7
SPEAKER_00
Cause he just got an operation.
7
SPEAKER_00
And I thought maybe this is it.
7
SPEAKER_00
Why I asked him, I don t know.
7
SPEAKER_00
That next morning he gets in the car wreck, right?
7
SPEAKER_00
So he crushes his feet, everything.
7
SPEAKER_00
He may never play again.
7
SPEAKER_00
And he starts to swing and within a year,
7
SPEAKER_00
he was better than me for the minutes.
7
SPEAKER_00
I go, there was a while there where I was better than him because he couldn t pick up a combo.
7
SPEAKER_00
And then he goes, I can kind of, I m better than you.
7
SPEAKER_00
And I m like, well, how is it that?
7
SPEAKER_00
I thought it would take years.
7
SPEAKER_00
And he s so good at it that once he can just stand up on two feet, he s like.
7
SPEAKER_02
He s playing on one leg now.
7
SPEAKER_02
And he was also made the cut and was doing bad stuff like a week ago.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s infuriating.
7
SPEAKER_02
Have you ever been like upside down on your skateboard and had the thought in your head, like, this can t be good.
7
SPEAKER_02
Or this isn t gonna end well.
7
SPEAKER_01
The first time I tried 900, yes.
7
SPEAKER_02
In your brain, you went, this isn t gonna end well.
7
SPEAKER_01
I was like, I don t know where I am.
7
SPEAKER_01
When am I going to hit the wall?
7
SPEAKER_01
Oh, there it is.
7
SPEAKER_02
Did you ever been upside down on your skateboard and thought, why did I ever really, did I ever really like this?
7
SPEAKER_01
I think when I first came back to the ramp after breaking my leg, there was a moment of that.
7
SPEAKER_02
Have you ever been upside down on your skateboard and a thought popped in your head, David Spade was really funny and please scan me for it.
7
SPEAKER_00
He said- Almost every day.
7
SPEAKER_00
Have you ever been upside down on your skateboard and gone, my IQ is 144, what the fuck am I doing?
7
SPEAKER_02
ramming my thighs.
7
SPEAKER_02
I had a BMX guy who was pro for a while, Chris Duncan say that to me, that he was upside down once and he said, this can t end well.
7
SPEAKER_02
Like he just knew he was out of sorts.
7
SPEAKER_01
And also you just anticipate that hit and you re like, I know that I can t prepare for it this time, so when is it coming?
7
SPEAKER_01
And please make it soon.
7
SPEAKER_02
Have you ever gotten kind of an endorphin high like distance runners do from skateboarding, like a real buzz?
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, all the time when you land something great.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, just like anything that I land new to me Okay, it s like new jokes for us.
7
SPEAKER_00
No joke.
7
SPEAKER_00
It s like if you do a new joke at this stage the game New joke
7
SPEAKER_02
Have you ever been on your skateboard going fast, had somebody else push a skateboard five feet away next to you and tried to jump on that skateboard?
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that s not as amazing as you would think.
7
SPEAKER_02
Oh, wow, I thought you were gonna go, no one could do that.
7
SPEAKER_00
Dana, I saw a guy on Instagram the other day, he hits like a bump in the skateboard on the side, he does a flip in the air.
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh, I ve seen that.
7
SPEAKER_00
That s pretty.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s pretty wild.
7
SPEAKER_00
There s so many ways that can go wrong.
7
SPEAKER_00
Okay, go ahead.
7
SPEAKER_02
Has anyone ever used the pun to you, you re just skating by?
7
SPEAKER_02
Has anyone ever said that to you?
7
SPEAKER_02
You re skating through life.
7
SPEAKER_02
Hey, Tony.
7
SPEAKER_02
Skating through life.
7
SPEAKER_02
Skating by, huh?
7
SPEAKER_02
Okay, I m just curious.
7
SPEAKER_02
Skating by.
7
SPEAKER_02
What makes a prodigy?
7
SPEAKER_02
I guess it s determination.
7
SPEAKER_01
I think a lot of determination, discipline, and it s just, you know it when you see it.
7
SPEAKER_00
Mozart, right?
7
SPEAKER_00
John Manet, yeah, all the big ones.
7
SPEAKER_02
The biggest mistake beginning skateboarders make, Tony Hawk.
7
SPEAKER_01
The biggest mistake beginner skateboarders make?
7
SPEAKER_01
getting ahead of themselves skill-wise, where they think that because they can ride a skateboard, that suddenly they can do some big stunt, a big set of stairs, a big handrail, and they do not have all the required elements to that, and it goes horribly.
7
SPEAKER_00
And they get discouraged then.
7
SPEAKER_00
It looks easy on Instagram, Dan.
7
SPEAKER_00
When you see someone make a trick, you don t realize they fell 30 times.
7
SPEAKER_02
Fill in the blank, Tony Hawk is...
7
SPEAKER_02
You don t have to answer these.
7
SPEAKER_01
A skateboarder, a husband, a father, and a philanthropist.
7
SPEAKER_02
Okay, David Spade is.
7
SPEAKER_02
You can say all those same ones all the time.
7
SPEAKER_00
A philanthropist.
7
SPEAKER_00
A funny skateboarder.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, a funny skateboarder.
7
SPEAKER_00
A really funny skateboarder.
7
SPEAKER_02
Not so good at skateboard, but incredibly funny.
7
SPEAKER_02
No, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
Let s see.
7
SPEAKER_02
Do you think Evel Knievel could have made some noise in the skateboarding world?
7
SPEAKER_02
Noise.
7
SPEAKER_01
He was an inspiration to me, so by proxy, yes.
7
SPEAKER_02
So you d watch him on TV going over cars with his car.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I had the wind up, SSP, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
Which one?
7
SPEAKER_02
Oh, okay.
7
SPEAKER_02
I know you ve landed the 900 and I m just throwing this out.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s going on record.
7
SPEAKER_02
This is going out all over the world, 1200.
7
SPEAKER_01
Mitchie Brusco, a current pro skater, has done a 12.60.
7
SPEAKER_01
Was he young?
7
SPEAKER_01
Is he really young?
7
SPEAKER_01
Tom Scharr, you re thinking of Tom Scharr.
7
SPEAKER_01
Tom Scharr did the first 10.80, he was very young.
7
SPEAKER_01
This is on a bigger ramp, so more airtime.
7
SPEAKER_01
People somehow think that s easier.
7
SPEAKER_01
I don t think that s easier.
7
SPEAKER_00
Cheater.
7
SPEAKER_01
Asterisk.
7
SPEAKER_01
But Mitchie Brusco did a 12.60, so he did 3.5.
7
SPEAKER_01
God dang.
7
SPEAKER_02
I can t put that in my head.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s amazing that the humans just want to keep reach for something.
7
SPEAKER_02
If you look that up, find the clip, it s worth watching.
7
SPEAKER_02
Because in track and field, in sprints, it s like a hundredth of a second.
7
SPEAKER_01
World record by 0.001.
7
SPEAKER_01
No, this is a full spin.
7
SPEAKER_02
That is extraordinary.
7
SPEAKER_02
These were just random ones.
7
SPEAKER_02
Like fear, where does fear come into it and how do you deal with it right before you go on off?
7
SPEAKER_02
You want to be in an attack mode,
7
SPEAKER_01
I treat fear in more that I feel confident that I have the skills to do this.
7
SPEAKER_01
The preparation.
7
SPEAKER_01
As opposed to, hope this works.
7
SPEAKER_01
Hopefully it can land it.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
Like, I don t know what s going to happen.
7
SPEAKER_01
It s more like I have all the pieces to this, let s put them together.
7
SPEAKER_01
And I approach it with more confidence than fear.
7
SPEAKER_01
That s it.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
Have you ever done a rope swing into a lake and you were the kid who would do like all kinds of triple somersaults?
7
SPEAKER_01
No, but I was little, I would go off the high dive.
7
SPEAKER_02
Did you have vertigo at all?
7
SPEAKER_02
Did you look down and go?
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, but I think I just knowing that other people have done it gave me some sort of- Seems like you would have been a good high school diver probably with this sort of- I don t think I d be that accurate.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know what I mean?
7
SPEAKER_01
I m down to do flips, but I don t want to pencil in and splash.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you d hit the water, but maybe not.
7
SPEAKER_01
Pencil in, I like that.
7
SPEAKER_01
I m gonna make it look like a hyena.
7
SPEAKER_02
I just ask people this anyway.
7
SPEAKER_02
Did you, as a kid, movie or television show blow your mind and make you happy?
7
SPEAKER_01
Shoot.
7
SPEAKER_01
That s true.
7
SPEAKER_02
For Ben Stiller, it was the Poseidon Adventure.
7
SPEAKER_02
I was giving that as an example.
7
SPEAKER_02
That s a good one.
7
SPEAKER_02
For me, it was Jason and the Argonauts.
7
SPEAKER_01
Oh, for a TV show?
7
SPEAKER_02
Or those are movies.
7
SPEAKER_02
Mine is probably Animal House.
7
SPEAKER_02
TV show would have been Little House on the Prairie.
7
SPEAKER_02
That s Dave s favorite.
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh, I love that one.
7
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_00
I did like it.
7
SPEAKER_02
He s a huge Michael Landon fan.
7
SPEAKER_02
Once Mary got blind, she couldn t realize I m a six.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
That s a good question.
7
SPEAKER_02
That s all right, you can pass.
7
SPEAKER_01
I think I really, I enjoyed Greatest American Hero.
7
SPEAKER_01
The movie?
7
SPEAKER_02
Okay, that s the new best one.
7
SPEAKER_01
Oh, it was kind of, okay, so more.
7
SPEAKER_01
It was like this regular dude that had superhero qualities and it just didn t fit.
7
SPEAKER_01
That was fine, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
And he would run into the walls and stuff like that?
7
SPEAKER_02
That was fine, yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
Okay, that makes sense.
7
SPEAKER_01
My favorite movie back in the day was Fast Times.
7
SPEAKER_02
Fast Times at Bridgemont High.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, because it summed up high school.
7
SPEAKER_01
Well, that says it all.
7
SPEAKER_01
That s perfect.
7
SPEAKER_02
You were right at the age to hit that.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
And Sean Penn s Stunner Dude.
7
SPEAKER_01
That was great.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, great movie.
7
SPEAKER_02
Tasty Waves.
7
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that was a big comedy.
7
SPEAKER_01
I got to actually clarify a line from Fast Times with Sean Penn, so that was a big deal.
7
SPEAKER_02
You did?
7
SPEAKER_02
Well.
7
SPEAKER_02
It s coming of age.
7
SPEAKER_02
What was it?
7
SPEAKER_01
People think he says, all I need is a cool buzz in Tasty Waves.
7
SPEAKER_01
He said, cool buds.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
And that s how I heard it.
7
SPEAKER_01
I got to clarify it with him.
7
SPEAKER_01
He thought he said buzz?
7
SPEAKER_01
No, he said buds.
7
SPEAKER_01
He had to think about it.
7
SPEAKER_01
People think he says buds.
7
SPEAKER_01
Because they don t know what buds means.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_02
I remember that line and it was buds.
7
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
7
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
7
SPEAKER_00
Well, Tony, thank you for talking about SNL.
8
SPEAKER_01
for an hour with us.
8
SPEAKER_02
Well, no, that s part B. We ll talk Tony s audition for SNL.
8
SPEAKER_02
He skates onto 8-H, Lawrence, like, what do you have?
8
SPEAKER_00
Do it, 13 million.
8
SPEAKER_00
Skateboarder, dude.
8
SPEAKER_00
I gotta say, it was a dream come true.
8
SPEAKER_00
And it only happened recently.
8
SPEAKER_00
And I was so thankful.
8
SPEAKER_02
And you came out and did a cameo.
8
SPEAKER_02
What did you do?
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So I was here in LA doing our podcast, Hawk vs. Wolf.
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Hawk vs. Wolf, wherever you can find podcasts.
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And it s also on YouTube.
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Yes.
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Hawk vs. Wolf.
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And so I was staying here doing this for a couple of days in the studio in Santa Monica, driving back to my hotel.
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It s like 6 p.m.
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and I get a call and they said, hey, can you make it to New York by tomorrow night?
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They wrote you into a skit on SNL.
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It s Thursday.
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And I m like, yes, I can do that, let s do it, sure.
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Stayed there, did my podcast with Seth Rogen and went straight to LAX.
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I live in San Diego.
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I m not even prepared to travel at all.
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And went there, bought a jacket upon landing and they had written me into a script.
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Literally all I was going to do was say my name.
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Not skating at all.
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You can handle that.
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SPEAKER_00
Sure.
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Whatever it takes.
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It was a skit about the, you know, that whole thing went viral with the Miss Universe.
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France!
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Yeah, yeah.
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Oh, you were in that.
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Yeah, that s right.
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I was going to be one of the judges of that pageant with the Property Brothers.
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And when it came to me to ask who won, I just say my name.
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And honestly, when I saw the script, I thought, this is it.
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This is my big break to SNL.
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And then they loved it in the rehearsal so much, they added a line for me.
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We re writing a line for you, Tony.
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It ll be on the cards.
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Did you say, Lauren, so do I have the it quality?
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Should I stay and be a cast member?
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I did get to, at the after party, I got to actually sit with him for a few minutes.
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He s quite a brilliant character.
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He just says really interesting stuff all the time.
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Tony s like, I know who you are.
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Ah, yeah.
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He would be that.
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Yes.
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He would be very, very, yeah.
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I know success when I see it.
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David, Dana didn t know how to monetize, but Tony did.
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Well, thank you, Tony.
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Tony s a very cool guy.
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So Tony Hawk, just to sum up, yeah, your podcast is great.
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Thank you.
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And all your business endeavors.
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And I think this will be an inspiring episode.
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And it doesn t matter what your passion is.
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You just have to apply yourself and focus.
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I always say to people, look at your feet.
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Don t look at the fame, the money.
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Just look at your feet, literally with skaters.
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But just like, am I better today than I was yesterday?
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And what can I do to get better?
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No matter what you re trying to do.
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That s what I take away.
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David, your takeaway is?
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Same thing.
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You know what he said.
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All right, Tony Hawk.
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Talking to Tony, it s good.
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He s a philanthropist, does a skate park, builds them, and I think that s all great.
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SPEAKER_01
You have a foundation, you re giving money, called the Skate Park Project.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_00
Oh, that s right, and you help save skate parks and that.
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We help finance parks in underserved areas.
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SPEAKER_00
Yes, yes, that s great.
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Going for 20 years now.
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SPEAKER_00
Wow, so you re touching it.
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They give skate parks that s sick, you make them better.
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I don t understand how it works.
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All right.
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SPEAKER_02
Thanks, Tony.
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Tony Hawk, everybody.
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This has been a podcast presentation of Cadence 13.
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Please listen, then rate, review, and follow all episodes.
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Available now for free wherever you get your podcasts.
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No joke, folks.
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Fly on the Wall has been a presentation of Cadence 13, executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Chris Corcoran of Cadence 13, and Charlie Finan of Brillstein Entertainment.
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The show s lead producer is Greg Holtzman with production and engineering support from Serena Regan and Chris Basil of Cadence 13.