RE-RELEASE - Tony Hawk

Okay, the Hawk, Tony Hawk. The Hawk, my story. Tony Hawk is back. We had to bring him back because he's the coolest. We had a good time with good old Tony Hawk. I met this young man who's, it's always fun to know someone who's the best at something. He came in the studio. We met when I was 20 or 21 on Police Academy for the good one. Yeah, that's right. Your skateboarding debut in a motion picture. I knew about him from skateboard magazines and all the stuff. And getting to meet him right off the pages of the magazines. And he had Mike McGill and Lance Mountain, all these great skaters with him and we would, what a great time. So anyway, we did that and we talked about that. And also just talking about what it's like to be the best skater in the world. I mean, a lot comes with it. He's very rich, which I like as his own board. Well, he breaks down moment to moment for what was it, five flips or something in this. And you'll enjoy hearing that. I mean, obviously what he's doing is very brave, but he's an affable, agreeable personality. He's not like a tough guy. He just sort of talks it through and it's really fun. No ego telling us like doing a 1080, what's it like. You're going up and spinning and where's the ramp? Where are you in the world? Or what's going through your head? Yeah, you're upside down. Your head is an inch from concrete. What are you thinking at that moment? Barry, I, you know, listen, I like Tony, I've known him a long time and he's done a lot and he has a lot to say and he has Tony Hawk video games, just a lot going on. And he has an incredibly cool. And very chill dude. Here he is Tony Hawk. Yeah. I think for, for actresses, I don't think it's fair that every article they're like, Mimi Rogers, 67, they always put their name and then their age. And I do not know why. Do not know why. They do it for men too, but I think it's mostly women. And that's when I notice it and I go, why does that matter? And that should be eradicated because it doesn't matter. You could look it up if you want to know, right? I think they'll eradicate it. If we look up anything at this point. I mean, I came over there still doing that when they don't do anything else. It's like, that one seems a little more honest. David, let's put a billboard and say, stop putting the ages of women. Exactly. Because I got a lot of time in life. Especially in the acts world, like if you're thinking of hiring someone that just in the back of your head, you go, oh, that's the right age. Oh, no, that feel, you know, whatever. Just, it sends a weird message immediately and it doesn't need to be an article. I know. Anyway, thanks for your time Tony. Take it easy. Thank you. You're free to look up my age. Tony Hawk who turns 20. 27 tomorrow. He's, you know, the age thing, one is always keeps a sense humor about it. And I have a dermatologist who's, I think he's like 85. I said, how old are you guys? I'm 106. That's a standard answer. That's a good way to say it. Just to say it's high. He's a guy who checked my skin and he had a woman with a clip pointing and kept going, age related. He's got a microscope age related. I mean, you have to say age related. Can I have something age related? Dude, I went to. I've done that on this podcast before. Day and I went to catch one. I'm ready now. Tony, we might not get to you, but that's fine. I'm just going to tell you. I listen to the show anyway, so I'm just here fast. You know how it works. You know it's going to come to you. We have so many questions for you. It's going to be a two parter. So I go to this high end restaurant, Koi. And Koi, which is basically sponsored by us. I think I saw you at Koi. Koi's back in the day. Yeah. They moved it. They moved it. When people were like hovering with cameras over the. Oh, is very pop rotsy a chef. Yeah, that's right. That's a good place. And then catch took him. Oh, Craig's. 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. And I was, of course, a little buzz naturally, because it was nighttime. So I had a little loud mouth soup to me. The sun goes down and you're like, oh, where am I? I go, guh guh guh guh guh guh guh guh guh. I get that little humming review. Gug, guh guh guh guh guh. So I get on there and I go, and I'm just standing at his table. So I go, the worst question. What would you do to me? And he slowly looks at me like Robocop. I go, no, no, no. And he goes, well, and I go, no. And he goes, listen, here's a lot of bull points. If you want just the top nine things that are like no-brainers. These are things that are not even negotiable. No, Dana, I'm not going to say because I want to go, oh, yeah, yeah. Because we would disagree. Oh, no, no, you can't. You have to just you have to roll with it. You just get nice work. Good work. That's the key. Good work. So people just don't know you got work. Well, Tony, let's see. I'm looking at you, Tony. Tony and I are about, when is that happening? We're about the same age. Can you, do you have that guy's number? No, this guy, honestly, he was like, listen, I'll do it on the house. He's on Instagram by noon tomorrow. Cutters what like to cut. I'll tell you that. Face guys don't go, you don't need anything. They go, we can get in there. Dig around a little bit. This is all natural. I've been here since Eisenhower's first administration. 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 fifties. Voting for Calvin Coolidge. Look how good I look now. Tony, let's talk about, there's so many places to ask, but I want to know just because I was talking about Vicodin and how I only get plastic surgery for Vicodin. I don't need it. I don't need this. I had crazy surgery. I took a Vicodin and hated it. I'd like to Advil much better. The minority. Hey, Advil, if you're listening. I know, like when the doctor goes, so you broke your leg. You'll want to really pump the Advil. I go, the what? Yeah. Fucking do it. You funny you say that because I broke my leg in March a year ago. Tomorrow. Yeah. Well, this is actually good story. Where's the celebration? No, no. Can I get details on that? No, this is a good story because I know what I did. I was laying there on my ramp with my leg. Was it the femur or the femur? Yeah. What was the trick? McTwist. It's always a McTwist. Wait a minute. Were you by yourself? I was not. But my friend Kevin came over about five minutes later with two Advil. Two Advil. Jesus Christ. I'll never forget that. Well, that. All right, thanks. I might do an opioid at that point, you know. But so was it was it particularly scary? It seems like a lot of times people get hurt when it's like perfunctory, but it was not his own did as much. You're fucking thigh. It was a trick that I have done tens of thousands of times. OK. 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. In the air. And I guess at age 54, that's the time when you can no longer adjust for it so easily. And next thing I know, I'm just sliding through the flap part of my ramp with my leg. I could feel it just dangling. Oh, and I looked up at another friend of mine. I go, I broke my leg. And he's like, what? And then I grabbed it and I put it back in place. Instinctually. I can't believe what I'm hearing. But but then in that moment, I knew like, oh, I'm so fucked. Like, I can't I can't move. I can't do anything. I want to rewind this whole moment in time. But did you hear it as well? Or did it pop? It was all very chaotic. The fall. So then you kind of realize how it happened. But I don't remember hearing it pop. I just felt a disconnect. Wow. What do you what do they do with that? Do you have a metal rod down your. I do. Yeah. Yeah. OK. How much did that cost? You know, it's funny. I didn't look. I looked at the hard costs of it because I thankfully have insurance. It's a lot. It's more than a house. Really? Yeah. But who's insuring? Really? The whole of my area anyway. Not now where you guys live. Who do you get insurance from? I mean, my God, it was like Bobbies, healing and Band-Aids, right on Ventura. But where did you? Oh, Zach. Zach. Zach. Oh, Zach. Blue Cross. So. Anthem. That. How long? How is it now? Well, I went through. I went through eight months of recovery and got my got back on my skateboard much too soon. I watched this whole thing on Instagram play out and it never connected. My bone never connected because I was so active on it. So you you rushed it a little bit and it never grew together. Yeah. And I and I kept thinking like it's going to happen. It's going to happen. And then at some point I realized that I'm just in pain all the time. I mean, like I would I would have to take a painkiller to get through an airport. And I got admit this doesn't feel right for eight months in. I went and got x-rays and realized the bone had moved further away from where it was when it because you were too active. I was too active. So I I came up here to a specialist and he's the specialist in non-union fractures, which means it never it would never form the union. 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. When your bone wouldn't cross union lines when you're later. What's that? When I'm supposed to get a hip replacement at some point. I heard those are. Let's do it. I heard those are very effective and quick healing. Fifty five minutes open to close. Yeah, I've been avoiding it for seven years, Tony, because they take a saw and saw off the top of the knee more. I heard it. I heard it's awesome. But people would rather go through that than my femur issue. No, no, yours would be much worse. People would do it always say, I should have done this a long time ago. I like to wait and kind of suffer. It's part of my personality. David's like that, too. But I'm inspired by your healing, you know, because you had 24, you know, things heal faster. Yes. But you're you're full court. You're full fully around now. I'm I'm on my way. I'm not. I can't say I'm fully back. You're not going to push it. Are you? Doesn't your wife say don't push it anymore because you're going to break it again? She is concerned that I that I am getting a little too ambitious and confident with it. So I have been taking it as slow as I can. Let's put it that way. So I'm much more aware of it this time. You're like you're still kind of the old gunslinger in a way. I mean, you're the guy who invented the sport, basically, in some ways. I mean, thank you. The eyes that I can. Everything I read, it's just Tony Hawk and your icon. I mean, right? I'm not. Yeah, everyone's sick of it. No, I appreciate it. Thank you. You're attached to the sport. I was sick of it. You got it right there. But there's a lot of people on our podcast. My wife loves it. When is he just going to quit? My wife loves this podcast. And she she'll know enough about you just through our sons that did that. And I just for a second, before we get into all the questions I have. So the beginning, because I was reading, you know, about your your high IQ and you were sort of a difficult like, because I'm interested in what kind of brain, not even your physical gifts, becomes brilliant at something. At age 12, 9, 12. Yeah, it was honestly, it was just being obsessive and determined to a point of like to a fault. 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 fired up. Because I couldn't do football. I didn't play football, but baseball. I'm saying I could do a little bit of that. Like I was saying, what other sports you get at? Because I couldn't do everything. And I went to skateboarding because in Arizona. It was that. Yeah. Well, skateboarding is a culture, too, which we'll talk about. I mean, it's more than. Sure. 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. Are you saying to me that are you saying, Tony, that you may not have absolute physical gifts like someone who could just Larry Bird got a basketball and just came right away? Eddie Van Halen got his son, his son, his brother's guitar sat on the bed at eight a.m. and played till midnight. Right. It just spoke to him. So when you got on the board, it just spoke to you. And it spoke to me. But but in no way was I a natural. A natural. You you would do that. I would just do it. But I would just do it endlessly. Like I would go I would go from school to the skate park. Stay there until my mom got off work at the she she worked at community college at eight or nine p.m. And then she'd have to drag me away until they turn the lights off. Did you ever annoy them because bad skateboarding kids are really loud? Like they're constantly falling and banging. It's not a very relaxing thing as a parent watching bad skate for wheels. You weren't that far back. Were you not that far back? Did you have a yellow free form with a split tail? No, but she's what's going on, man. Or a flexing. Bane. I did have a Bane was my first board. OK, OK, you like that thing? What you like that? Bane. OK, let me go back to this guy's legit. Let me go back to more Larry King type stuff. Yeah, I do. So there you go. I have a psychological weeds of of your thing and clay wheels. We have a psychological question for him. My son had a when I was just talking the way over here, you just had a comment. 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. So. OK, so what? What do you comment, please, on that, Mr. Mr. I got lucky in that I was a 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. This is a rollerblade show, but we got special guest skateboarder Tony Hawk here. Thank God. That was paying my mortgage, literally. So I never had the beef. I saw it. I, you know, I saw it playing out and people were whatever, having bad stereotypes with everything. Yeah. But I love everyone. 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 I don't. It is more that I grew up. I grew up to not that grew up, but but eventually I was in all the games and doing all that. And then we were all sort of brethren, the BMXers, even the inliners and the skateboarders, because we rode the same terrain and we were all sort of coming up together. So I didn't feel that turf war, like you said. I will say that it's tricky when you have a lot of BMXers and a lot of skateboarders as a skateboard, because BMXers are silent. And you can't come and you get hit. You don't hear them coming. Right. Because the rubber tires and everything. Yeah. Yeah. So that that can be an issue. And so I think that there's a good some skate parks assigned certain days for bikes and certain days for skateboarding. I think that helps. It seems to me as a layman that the rollerblader has the device attached to his feet. The BMXer is hanging on to the device. Right. And the skateboard guy has to stand on the fucking thing. And it's like seem much harder. Yeah, there's some apples to oranges there. I guess. I mean, I would. I was such a baby. That was when there were steel wheels back in the 60s. A really steep hill. Yeah. I'd sometimes just sit on the fucking thing. Sandfrank. Yeah. We used to cat ran down some hills at the wedge in Arizona. And then big wipeouts at the end when you cat run with your friend. And then we would do it down really steep grass hills just so that we knew because we knew we were going to wipe out. Yeah. And then we just see my live. Yeah. Exactly. I actually wiped out at high roller. I'll tell you that in a second. High roller skate park. Can we just finish off this young, young Tony for a second. Just you're you're just a quirky kid. You weren't a natural athlete. You've you got a whole of a skateboard from from someone in the neighborhood or you're older brother. Yeah. And then it just spoke to you. You became possessed. Yes. And then with his ass is good. Yes. Within three years of that, you were world class or 12. It was something that 14. You were such a quantum leap. I I started skating around age 10 and then got really into it. As I dove into it completely, it took a downturn in popularity. So really sort of like at the time when I was really starting to come into my own and fall in love with it, it was all the world was crumbling away around me. And so I got sponsored at age 12 by Dogtown Skateboards, which didn't really mean a whole lot. It just meant that sometimes they would send me free skateboards. That was pretty much it. And then I moved up to no money. No, no money. Sponsor, I never knew what that meant, but I thought that was a coolest one. Free gear, free gear. And then and then that moved me up to the sponsor division. 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. And then I rose to the top of the amateur ranks in within two years. And then I actually turned pro at age 14. But when you turn pro, like that, what that means is I was filling out an entry form to the competition. And there's an there's your name and address. And then there's a box that says amateur and the box says pro. So I checked the pro box. That was the only difference. That was it. And that was the first time you made money or sorry. That was competing for $100 first place. OK. 75 second, 50 for third. I got fourth. So no money. Do you remember your first check for doing this or my first check was 50 bucks when I got third place? 50 bucks. Yeah, I got paid three dollars for my first set. Oh, yeah. Money for your first set. That's pretty rare. Rob Williams was there. I think we it was ten dollars. I think he took seven. I took three. Her. Her. 73. Oh, seven. Seven dollars. Do you want to be famous? I asked him, oh, I just want to play for the people. Never forgot that. Oh, you're playing pretty well. I got a rest assault. Good friend. Anyway, Tony, that's remarkable. How are your parents reacting to this and your brother? Are you is there a sibling thing like Tony's a superstar? Well, he was he was he is 13 years older than me. So OK, so he was he was in college and just kind of watched it. Well, he was there sometimes. But 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. So they were thankful and they were supportive and there were very few parents were supportive because of the danger of it or just that because of the culture of it, the culture of the dude, you weren't going to go to school. Yeah, even though there's a room where you're smart, but we have no proof. It says here, your IQ is 144. I mean, maybe at one point, maybe at least half as high as that. Mine's so. Yeah, mine's incredibly smart. He's a chess champion. That was his thing. That's that's what I got off of that to go into skateboarding, which was a mistake. So did you some of us didn't go pro Tony and didn't get four. So you got paid fifty dollars. Yeah. And then eventually got my own skateboard model. And that's when I started receiving Royal checks, royalty checks for between four and five dollars a month. Four and five a month. That's not too bad. Four dollars and five cents. Or how did you design the shape of it? And then my sponsor, Pal Peralta, they designed the graphics of it. But then something happened in the mid eighties, where suddenly skateboarding kind of came around again. And I found myself in high school making six figures from royalties on those skateboards. So you're already an entrepreneur. You're you're a businessman already as you're a superstar athlete. I didn't see it that way. But it would just were other kids doing it as well. Did you have other did you have other dudes or women in the school that were? No school. No, that's it. That was the weird thing is that there was this resurgence of skateboarding was popular, but not a mainstream or widespread popularity. So I was still the outcast at school. I literally would would hide my skateboard in the bushes when I go to school because people would hassle me if I if I carried around, they would yell skater fact. Yeah. And I was 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. Can I ask you just a technical question? Yes, because it would seem to me when I watch gymnast and stuff that you you growing to six foot three is that an advantage, disadvantage or neutral in terms of doing upside down flips, you have to have a bigger rain, the math of that. When did you get to six three? Not till I was in my late teens. So you're becoming a brilliant skateboard and you're growing. And so you're adapting your revolutions to that height. 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 and get get more height. And because I could ball up, I could still do those spins and things, but at greater heights. So your height. Beg at the speed. Yeah, I can't say it's helped me into my older age, but it definitely helped me. Interesting. OK. David. OK. Mike's psychological question. I'm the layman. He's a skateboard is now. When you grew up in San Diego and what was the park in Carl's Bay? Was it big? Oh, what's that? So there was Oasis skate park in San Diego and then that closed. And then Del Mar Skate Ranch was the last school park in that area. Yeah. OK. So let's say. Vans. Do you remember Vans? Do you remember Vans? Yeah. That's much later for one of my kids' birthdays. I bought the place, which one? Ontario or down in Orange. It was like Milpitas or something. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was Vans. Yeah, they made him the coolest kid in school. That was a good part. Yeah. Welcome to Paris, Pizzeria. Your blind date is already at the table and there she is. Cos and Brenda, what are you doing here? You're married anyway. Substitution brought to you by Paddy Power. Cos and Brenda makes way for Beth, the office crush. Oh, get in. You might not always pick the right starter, but your sub can still deliver because with Paddy's super sub, your bet rolls over to the player coming on. Paddy Power. Validant, selected leagues and markets only. Pre-match and in-play bets on qualifying player outcome selections only. T-sensees and exclusions apply. It's in plus, scammerware.org. Listen up. Huh? That means you. Yes, you. We know you're pointing at yourself. When it comes to Paddy Power games, we've got a place made for all sorts. From the experts to the drama queens. It's me, the JC. The finance bros. Look at those stocks, lads. We'll stick with slots. It's what we're good at. And not forgetting you. Yes, you, the one listening. Because at Paddy Power games, we've got all sorts of games for all sorts of trickles. Eligibility rules in terms of conditions apply. Please come by responsibly. AtomPlus, scammerware.org. 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. Uh, is it, is it something in you that makes you not want to give up number one? Cause you still skate. You don't really have to skate anymore. You could stop and Tiger could stop. Well, I never did it for fame or fortune. You still like it. But those things, those things weren't even dreams. No, I, I, I have the same. I asked my wife, did I ever talk about being rich or famous? Never. I was in the club and I just wanted to be the best guy in that club. So I totally relate to that. But in skateboarding, no one was rich or famous when I started. No, that wasn't, that was, you know, no one could aspire to, what do you aspire to? I don't know. I'm going to be pro. Okay, so making money. You get that $100 check. Yeah. And your picture in the magazine. And so, um, that was never the motivation. So having come this far and having success, I would have never dreamed. I still just want to skate. I mean, it really is. What do you want to push it that hard? You're the first superstar of skateboarding. I think I've turned a corner on that. God damn. I mean, you've proven everything, but I guess it's still fun to be like, you're still as good as everyone. We go to comedy clubs. You still want to do as good as these guys, you know, it's the same thing. Sure. Yeah, I can't, that's the thing though. Like I can't phone an in and everyone's watching him. I can't. Yeah. 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. Yeah. But I'm still, I'm still walk the walk. I still believe it relates to what you're saying, you know, when I go to do a day, I can't help it. I just want to dominate, but it's not in an unfair way. Like you have your peers. Just to do, but to do your personal best. Yeah. Yeah. And not because you want to destroy everyone else. No, no, but it's, it becomes a de facto comedy competition. Sometimes. And there's a lot of subjectivity to it when 10 guys go on and we're supposed to be just hanging out at the comedy store doing our sets. But I was like, yeah, the best setter, he couldn't follow you. It's a gunslinger thing. Right. But yeah, it's not as much with Dave and I. We don't. Well, I did enjoy you guys after Chris Rock. Oh, you saw that? I saw that. Did you sense the awkwardness? Cause we were Caucasians. I know that you guys handled it very well. I didn't want anyone to figure that out, but they did right away. Well, they were, yeah, it was, it was good. We were there to facilitate, but, um, you know, I can't join in on those conversations and. No, but I thought you guys did a good job. Well, we wanted to joke. First of all, we liked everybody there. All the panel was cool. We hung with them all day. I love JB. JB's funny. He's a miracle. He came out of his shell that night. You know, finally, for the first time, he finally opened him up. He was smoking and prodding. Yeah. The guy. He lit his cigar backstage. He'd held it for 20 years. That went so good. I'm going to light this up. I said, JB, you are smooth. Our senior is smooth. He was nice. We know, and we've known Chris, David, especially close with Chris, but known him since 1990. Yeah. And, uh, that was sort of how it came about. Like we had a podcast. We're always together. We're together anyway. SNL, it's Chris. We're all buddies. Let's put a panel together. Let's, I guess they want to make the event bigger. So why not? We'll talk about it. But there's some stuff in there. If I had some heavy controversial opinions, I would say I'm, I, but I didn't really, I just watched the jokes, liked them. Said a few funny things, but when it got really heavy things, I don't want to comment. I mean, I want to let them talk. And that was, I had the same thesis, but it happened to Chris and he owned it and expanded it, but I thought it was always about something else, that anger. Right. With the wife. I mean, it was pretty obvious that, but he laid it out perfectly. And what was fascinating to me is that very rarely does the world watch quote unquote, the world and we all know the story. We all saw the slap and all the reaction. And then a year later, we have a guy who got connected to it in such a way. Cause Chris doesn't. Flood lines, but I think the emotion was so strong at that moment, which made it better cause it was live and real that this was a more than a mic drop. He was working some stuff out and, um, it, you know, I just wonder casually, is this, is this over an hour? I mean, me, another special next year, we've all been bullied. Me and Chris, we used to talk about, I was pushed around Arizona. I was always a Pipsqueak and I hated it and Chris hated it. And I'm sure Dana got a little bit of it. Well, no, no, no way more. I got bullied by a grown man. Family knocked out and shit. 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. They'll go, oh, this guy going to say anything. Or they'll say that you're not going to do shit. And that anger builds up over your whole life. 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. It'd just be, it's so humiliating and then you don't fight back. Should I have shit? 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 for a couple of years. He doesn't have to go to the silly show. He doesn't have to go to the Vandy Fair Party. He's waiting, watch people walk in. They'll bring it in on a flatter. Yeah. I saw him there after the Vandy Fair Party. And I saw Chris, the Gios. And Chris was pretty cool. So I saw Chris the next morning. Where were you? I was staying up here and I saw him at breakfast. Oh, you did? Yeah. And he was alone at a table. And I just came in. He was alone. Well, tell us what you said to him. I just said, I thought that you handled that like a maestro. And he said, yeah, I don't think that I didn't do it with me, but he, but he already had a clear piece of, you know, I was. He has his own history with, with. Right. It's smart to sit on it. Sit on it for a year. Yeah, I hear you. It's got to drive him crazy, but at least he let it all out. And it was, it was great. I feel like he's. I think that was a literal mic drop. I don't think he got it all out. I don't think he has anything else to say. Right, right. But I hope it continues. People have said to David and I, if we had a real feud, this podcast would blow up. And now we're trying. Ooh. So I'm trying to find a way to get mad at him, but he's pretty mellow. You want to be part of it? It's a wedge here. Let's see, you know. He's pretty mellow. I'm trying to work up anger, but I just can't. I want to have credit for that. No, but what you say about bullying, I mean, and in our day, it was you just, you got picked on. Yeah. I just, they're always picking on me. They, you know, we pick on him. And that was totally accepted. Yeah. And there was no, there were no resources. And a lot of it is not grandiose. Like a lot of it is just the, the guy in the locker room just takes the back of your neck and just, just quickly just pushes you down to the floor. There's no, you're going to do nothing. Cause I was so small, they would pick me up in the hallway and spin me around once. By the way, nothing more humiliating. No, that's why you were so great doing 360. You got to think the guys. Let's go, wait, let's go two and a half this time. I was working to a 900 Tony Hawk became brilliant because of bullies who would flip them from the air, throw them across the room, roll them down the hill. But tell me on skateboard, you go, no one's trying to hit me. This is easy. You get picked up like I do. When people pick me up at a party, I fucking flip out. And to this day, it happens. I go, if you pick me up, we're dead for life. We're not friends ever again. It's like the most humiliating asshole move. Yeah. And they'd throw you against the locker. I had a girl. And that was my mom. That's it. After I came my pants, I said, this is over. Surprise ending. So Tony, well, Tony, Tony, um, you know, let's ask him about the movie we did. We have to talk about that. Oh yeah. Okay. Well, I just, so you got some. Fascinate how well, just to make one, one, one, the obstacle, casual observation. The sport is one fallow for a while. Yeah. You come up, you're emerging right as the sport is going. And so you're the first that I don't know if there's a second or there are these after superstars, but to the casual observer, you are skating. And you're who, how many people, their name is a brand. It's funny because I don't know, I, you know, I know skating. I know some names, but. It's synonymous. Tony. Tony is at that level. I don't know. Yeah. Well, I can tell you, I credit a lot of that for a successful video game. Oh, that's right. These are names. Because our game. And huge letters. Had, had huge success. They're gigantic. Yeah. That was where you made the most money, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. And there's still a lot. And so people would, would see my name synonymous with a successful video game. So that kind of added to the recognition factor. Well, that's the cool thing is that you're the video game guy and then you're still actually the best guy. Oh, thank you. You can physically do it. It doesn't always happen. So that's, that's so much. So how did the video game quickly, how did it come about? They approached you, you got to a certain level and a company approached you and were you in on the design of it and so forth and so on. So I was actually working with a PC programmer who came to me and said, hey, I have an idea for a skateboard game. Nerd. What's that? Nerd, nerd. We were two nerds. Nerd alert. Literally knocking on doors. We were going to console manufacturers. We're going to software companies and saying, how old are you? So this was like around 97, 96, 97. So you're huge at that point. Um, yeah. Well, there was there's sort of a gap in, in skating's popularity in the early nineties. So it went underground very much so. And that's kind of when street skating emerged. Okay. So this game, they don't come to you fully formed. They say you're with us. Well, what happened was this, he and I went to meetings and we just got shut down everywhere we went. They said skateboarding is not popular. Classic. Why would anyone want to play a skateboarding game? Okay. And at the time there weren't that many home consoles. There were, there were some, but not, it wasn't. Did you go to Nintendo or? No, sorry. He gave up. He got frustrated. Okay. And he, he actually told me, he said, look, I got to find a job. But I feel like we've made some, 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. I remember thinking, yeah, okay, buddy, sure. And then almost a year later, Activision called me and said, hey, we heard you want to do a video game. I said, well, yes, very much so. And they said, well, we are doing a video game. About skateboarding. And we'd like your input or to see if you want to get involved. 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. Okay. It was the first game that had a celebrity lookalike or, you know, their avatar, I guess they call it. Avatar, sure. Not the movie, but. Not that, yeah. Literal. And his voice and, but it didn't do very well, but the engine was perfect for skateboarding. The engine means the motion. The motion in the game. Got it. So the first time I ever played what became Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was, was Bruce Willis on a skateboard with a gun on his back. Doing kickflips. Okay. Like through a dozen. And it was Bruce Willis. That's hysteric. Yeah. That was it. Was there a breakthrough moment or an epiphany like how to make a skateboard thing as exciting as a war? Well, when I played the game, I knew then like this is the way it should. Because you're feeling it. I'm feeling it. And it was intuitive. And suddenly I was doing tricks right away. Right. So I thought with my, with my resources, we could probably make something that is legitimate. 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. Right. 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. And they go, no, we're making this for PlayStation. PlayStation. There's a million playstations out there. There aren't a million Nintendo 64's. And so I went along with that obviously. Another smart idea. Not long after when, when it had success in the beginning, they called me and said, you get your wish. We're going to do Nintendo 64. Great. I was like, cool. And then we ended up doing all the systems. Did the first guy, you wet the beak on him a little bit or not? Did he go away for good? Show business term, wet the beak. Give me a little money. Give me a little money. Little taste. No, I felt bad for that guy. He's totally. So you had gross points. I mean, I don't know whatever, but you're an owner. You're an owner. And so being an owner is king. And. Oh yeah. I mean, it changed my life. So it just starts rolling in and then it gets bigger. Did you evade taxes? By the time the fourth game, no. 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. It's interesting to the IRS. So the rich duke, the rich pay their fair share. The only way to debt is Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk. I'm this. Yeah. I could have forgotten the loopholes. That was Joe Biden. Sorry. I got it. He gets it. Anyway, well, everything seems to be going well at this point in your existence. The game is kicked ass. You've won so many X games, world champion. You've done a lot of commercials. You land a 900 at some point. How long did it take you? I saw that whole video. How big a deal was that for you? Oh, that was, well, that was, for me, that was my best exit from competition. So you were thinking, I'm going to land this. There was no plan. It was all spontaneous that night, honestly. So you just thought, so just because I was trying to explain it to my wife and my son, you're going up in the air really, really high. 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. Right. And that was a little Mount Everest kind of thing. For me at that time, yeah, because it's something that I had been trying off and on for 10 years. I did the first 720 in 1985. And that was huge at the time. Yeah, for sure. I mean, in the skateboard world, but the skateboard world wasn't huge. Oh, okay. There were no X games. There was no social media. Oh, okay, so no one really, yeah. Does it have to be filmed or did they take your word for it? I got a sequence of it. I mean, back then there was, Bonesburg gave videos, we're out, kind of, but really it was more about, did it get in the magazine? So I got a small sequence and thrash. Oh, teach, teach, teach, teach, all those photos like that. Yeah, yeah. I got a small sequence and thrash or doing a 720. Lucky, I probably saw. I had a backyard ramp in Sweden. So when you landed the 900, what kind of, what competition were you in? That was at the X Games. At the X Games. That was global television. What? I said, what kind of pussy did you get? I thought that's what you were saying. From mature audiences only, is that on the video game? I thought you were headed. Not quite. No, so you do the, I get all serious. So what? So you do the 900. So that's what you're saying. You're asking the what? To answer your question. He's famous. He's out there in Sweden. To answer your question, I was trying it off and on. I couldn't figure it out. I got hurt a couple of times doing it. And then when that event happened in 99, it was the best trick event. And I had one trick planned for that event, which was not the 900. It was a variation of a 720. And I made that early on. So I had 10 minutes to kill in this event. And the announcer, the live announcer for the audience that was there said, why don't we see one of those 900s? And I was like, great. Now I'm on the spot. Crowd. Okay. So I'll try it. Yeah, I watched this last night. This isn't the one where you kept trying it. Is that the one? I kept trying it, yeah. That's one where you go over and over and over. Like your 10th one. And then they all bobbed you. And everyone almost gave up. And then you kept doing it. Yeah. Well, I was, I think, I think after my third or fourth attempt, I realized that this is the closest I've ever gotten. So I'm, there's no way I'm going to give up. It's either I'm going to make this or they're going to take me away or you're going to get hurt or something. Are you thinking right as you take off like to get height, right? To get as high. There's, there's kind of, there's a bunch of elements, but speed for sure. You just got to be a certain height to get that much spin rotation. The snap is when the, the, the moment you leave the ramp, you got to have a snap where you, you hit your tail and you grab the board at the exact same time. And if that doesn't happen, your board just flies away immediately. And you're stuck kind of spinning in space. Oh, right as you're about to go airborne, you got to grab your board. So you're attached to it. 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. That was the part that I couldn't figure out all those years. Whoa. Interesting. And so, I mean, sorry, not, not towards, towards the back foot. So you spinning, if you, if you just spin the way that you take off and try to land, you're too top heavy. So I had to figure out how to sort of shift my weight to the back foot mid spin. And that's what you see me working out. You mean when you land, you'll go face first. You won't. I did go face first the first time I ever tried to make it. So that's why you go, I got to be, I got to get the weight. With the weight on the back foot, it seemed like when you did do it, you did sort of a squat. And it, you, yeah. Well, that was me overcompensating. Right. But you didn't leave the board. You set the record. But that was like, yeah, interesting. Wow. Yeah. You, you know, because I do, 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. So when I see Instagram and I'm like, God damn, like it got so beyond what I could ever do. I was, I was, it's video games now. Like the tricks that you see on Instagram or the, or the pros that you see out there, especially street skaters, it's the kind of thing that we did on our video game and combos as a joke. Cause you know, you could never do it. Yeah. No one will ever do this. You're right. And now they're doing it. Is the equipment gotten better than it? Or is there, The equipment hasn't changed. It's about the same. It seems about the same. I think they have like, they have, you know, plates on track shoes, people running four minute miles at high schoolers. You know, carbon, carbon plating. Just skating with your trailer. Okay. So it's, they're all about the same weight. They're all about the same wheels. But it's also like the, when you think about the generations that have come before, they, the generation coming in now establishes that, oh, a 900 is possible. Or these, these tricks, these combos are reality. So that's the baseline of which to start. You could even go crazier. Yeah. You know, they used to have these things named, they called a sky hooks. So if you, Tony knows what it is. If you, if I was like, it was hard for me to, when I got to doing aerials at the old high roller skate park in Arizona. And so when you have to leave the top of the pool, that's being a colossal pussy. This is a doctor telling me that. That's three pussies on this. No, that's just saying I am not tough. So all with different connotations. It's a fear. All yeah. Totally different meanings every time. It's a fear thing, Dana. Once you leave the top of the ramp or the, it's too scary. And then so I wiped out a high roller trying to do an aerial axle stall. I think I've told Tony this before. And so I, which, but to his credit is pretty gnarly trick. It's a hard trick. It's hard. And it's dangerous. And so you go up land, I think David Andrews, someone did this. You get speed, you go up off David Andrews. You go up out of the pool. It was a, it was a pool at the skate park and you go up and you land on your axles. And then you drop back in. Okay. The landing is the hard part. Dropping. And I can probably do, but I missed it and I wiped out and I fell backwards into the pool and broke both wrists. Now everyone, all the concerned skaters go, get the fuck out of the bowl. Yeah. Yes. So cause I was laying there and so I had to drag my board up and it's hard to walk up from the deep end of the shallow. And it's like slippery. So I get out and I'm laying on my brothers. We had the Lee car and Andy got mad because we just got to the skate park. We had two hours. And so I'm laying on the car on the windshield and Andy, they go get Andy, my brother, because he saw me. He goes, I'll just go in the car. We're out of here in two hours. And so the skate park person saw me kind of shaking on the car. I didn't say anything. I knew I was in trouble. And then they went and got Andy and he comes and throws his helmet. He goes, what the fuck? You're fine. Right. And I go, yeah. And they go, no, you got to take him home. You can't stay. And he goes, fuck. So he throws me in the car and he goes, I'm going back. So he dropped me to my stepdad. Oh, and he went back to the skate park. And then I sat there and then my stepdad was buzzed because it was night. He was just drinking. It was morning. And he took me to his clinic and X-rayed him. And I saw a crack down both of them around his corner. I look around the corner. I go, hmm, I didn't even go to med school. I see something going on. Did they set them? Something looks off. He goes, let's sit on this. He was drunk. I go, what are we waiting for? So I lay down and I don't, you know, we don't have vikings back then. We don't have anything. So I'm just lying there, sort of whimpering. I was whimpering. And then the next day my mom was, take a man and do something. So he just gave me splints. So then the first day of school I went as a freshman. I had two splints, but I looked like a badass. I had my quick silvers. I had my fucking OP shirt. Carrying skateboarding magnet. We got injured in different ways. Like my brother popped a wheelie. That's what we do. Pop the wheelie. The wheel comes off. Chips is tea. The forks go down. You go, uh-oh. This is just a way you have it. 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. That's pretty sad. That's twice. You guys, we're daredevil. Then he got a slinky. Then he got a slinky and he lost an ear. Look, I don't want to go into the car. We were rough and tumble 60s kids. It wasn't, nothing was safe. Trust me. I knocked my teeth out, my front teeth, uh, five times. God dang. Are you, are you really? Yeah. But the cool thing about that is every time we knock him out, you can choose the size and the color. Oh, the only one. The next one is positive. But to your adult life, that's, that's a thing, right? So. How many bones do you have broken in your body? Everyone wants to know. Uh, four officially. Four officially. Yeah. My pelvis, my elbow, uh, my femur. And, um, well, I broke my thumb basically. Concussions. How many bruises roughly? Concussions? I had, I had many. My son, he used to do ramp rats. Ramp rats with BMX bike. I, you know, you find out later, but he was out cold for three minutes once. Yeah. Well, concussions weren't talked about a lot in the old days. No, no, you just hit your head hard. They didn't know. Bell wrong. Yeah, you got, you got his bell wrong. Sure. But they say multiple hard hits is the hardest thing on your brain. Well, or, or in the hundreds. In succession. Yeah. Yeah. Where it's one after the other, they're in a short time. Yes, absolutely. And, and, um, I've been proactive in that and I've, 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. I see a lot of dudes on these Instagram with no helmets doing some gnarly stuff. Yes. A little scary. It's kind of a skateboarder, cool thing to do, but it is not the smartest thing. They were trying to, when they put skateboarding in the Olympics, there, there was a, there was a movement which I found odd to not have helmets in the park event. Yeah, you can sing. And the park event where people are flying. Yeah, you're doing real sight. That's it. When it's flat, you're saying when it's just street stuff. Not when it's street, they're, they're, they're not. But what they were saying. Oh, invert. We shouldn't have to wear pads. And I was like, you guys are, I was, I was not in the conversation, but see you guys are flying. 10 feet above 10 foot pools. That's... Yeah. I don't think it's gonna go well for the general audience. Yeah. You know, it's not like it's supposed to be kind of a fun game. I, I do picture parents going, yeah, you're never gonna do that. and harmful gases such as NO2, day and night. Hush jet, powerful, compact purification, that's quiet. ["Skateboarding Culture"] Does 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? It was kind of, oh. Well, I'd say skateboarding is so diverse now that I wouldn't just zero in on something like that. I feel like there's definitely husband associated with skating. But they had the phrase surfer bum. Do they have skater bum? Skate rat, I think is more appropriate. Skate rat is more like to someone who lives. 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 awake up late, they're stoners, 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. Yeah, it's very technical. That's true. We were sort of outliers. Because you didn't fit anywhere at our school. So my brother and I. We took my kids to Europe and they, because we were middle-class kids, got some money, we're in Italy, but all they wanted, all they talked about was statues and monuments. I could get so much air off that. Oh yeah. Everything was about what they could skate off of. Sure, yeah. Any angle. I remember when one of the Palaturs went to the Vatican and I tail dropped off one of the sculptures. I'm sure they loved that. People didn't really like that. Wait a minute, you were in the Vatican? It's skateboarding off the station. I mean, in the Vatican City and the outdoor area. Yeah, yeah. We were just skating. That was the thing in those days. All we cared about was skating. So it was. Anything, yeah. Yeah, the sightseeing was just more incidental to us getting to skate that day. Stairs, what would you get most excited about? Just in sort of urban environments. Back in those days, anything that resembled a ramp or a bank or like a reservoir. Even Kettner School here, I used to see in skateboarding magazines. So when I came here, I had to go find it. And it was kind of lame. It was just slight banks on asphalt, but it was something. That was the early days. Yeah, do some Bertlemans. Yeah. You know, show off a little bit. Bertlemans. Oh yeah, just a little. One step. I was like, all right. I do little tail blockers because there's really no dangers. Tail blockers. I have a photo in the first. I'm representing the audience at home. In the first Bones Brigade newsletter. I had a photo doing a Bertleman at Kettner Banks. Oh, for real? Yeah. You had to go to Bertleman's deli. 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 out. Oh yeah. That's a good picture. That's the hero angle. Yeah, that's a good one. Let's talk about the movie. You were in Jackass too before you got to Police Academy. All of them. You were in all of them. Did you do, Dave, have you seen when you were in full circle? You were in some kind of blown up suit. Full pipe. Yeah. Did you do a full pipe in a chicken suit or something? I did, yes. I was about to say, it sounds like possible. Well, let me correct. That's Johnny Knoxville. I did that for Jackass with Matt Hoffman. The TV show? The TV show. Okay. He and I worked. Oh, he was at BMX, right? Yeah, and we did a loop in Orlando and then after the loop we jumped into this lake. Oh, that's fun, yeah. And then I was on Wild Boys and we were skating in gorilla costumes. That's never easy. We were also skating with an orangutan. So that was the whole vibe. There was an orangutan that skated and then Bob Burkowitz and I dressed up in gorilla. Bob. Did the orangutan think you were a gorilla or didn't know you were a gorilla? No, but it did not like if we got ahead of him. So we learned very quickly. He's in it to win it and we're just standing behind because you don't want him coming after you. In your... We ended up skating. Picture your face off I heard. Yeah, yeah. We ended up skating. Side note. Just to fill the content. And then we went and did Bob had his own loop 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. Did you not get around the whole thing? You're saying... 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. So I fell 16 feet. That's when I broke my pelvis. And were you in the orangutan suit at that point or some other suit? Was the orangutan suit... That was for wild boys. Was it padded? Not worth it. No, that was extra. We don't got any budget for it. And I was wearing the mask. So I wasn't wearing my helmet. So that was my problem. I got a concussion. But I looped my skull. For people at home, you just go straight down fast like a hot wheel. So then you do a whole loop. A whole loop. And you lose all your momentum at the top and you want to bail, I'm sure. But if you just hang on your fully lightweight, I'm sure you're full. If you have the right amount of speed, you just hold steady and it works. And it will stay on. Yeah, but the problem with Bob's is that it was so weathered, you couldn't get that amount of speed. I like how no one gives you... So I try to compensate by using my legs and if you use your legs, then you end up completely straight leg with nowhere to go. Have you ever studied geometry or physics? Cause it sounds like you're really, you got to know speed, it's wind. 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. And it worked the first time, but this time it didn't work. There's a lot of thinking that goes into these tricks that maybe not every skateboarder has. It's just intuitive. No, it's just try. I don't like they gave you a shitty round. If I get here, I'm going to fall there. I got to get speed to get this velocity and this angle, I don't know, sounds interesting. We're just kind of going off of feeling... We didn't have foam pits or training grounds. Right. So it's like David, like he tried to air it access to all and came down hard broke his wrist. Yeah, by the way, we did this movie in the old days. I was trying to jump the simple thing of stairs. Just see if your wrist has a bump. No, I actually broke my wrist again after that. Skating? Yeah, and then my mom goes, you shouldn't skate anymore. I go, because it's too dangerous. She goes, no, you're horrible at it. We have to keep you in school. You keep... We're mortgaging the house. Yeah, I did your medical bills. It got too hard because it was too... I could do the desert pipes. We did those. I could do, you know, and just go to Vert and come. I couldn't really do that much. Those are famous. Could you do a... What is the pineapple reverse squat? Do you remember that one? Do the old Dipsy Doodle? Now I could do front side grinders. I could do stuff, but it gets scary Dana. And it was just when it gets too hard and what they were doing, it just... I had a hard time looking at it. My kids coming down steep hills, didn't want to wear helmets, but put the helmet on, put the helmet on, put... And I, because of childhood trauma, I had to look away. My wife could just watch them, but I would just look away. Oh, they made it. We had 23 ER visits between the two sons. Oh wow. Yeah. Yeah, I actually have the cell number of the head of the ER. My... Down there by you. In your secret location. They have a special lane. Tony, he's coming in on Tony Drive. Okay, put him in a hot one. We have several children and they all went through their share of injuries. You got? They all skate, so that too. And is Riley a pro? Riley, my oldest son is pro, yes. Yeah, he's good. He's cool. Oh, that's cool. I think when you see him becoming that good, do you see yourself in him intellectually? I see his determination and his drive to keep trying to outdo himself very much so. 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. It's kind of true of all successful people. It's hard that he's that good because he's got this guy as a dad. And it's hard to be good anyway. He kind of shied away from skating when he started getting good because of that. That's weird. That's definitely weird. 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. Well, once you're making a living at something that's a passion, it's kind of a, it's a very nice thing. So he is professional. He is, yep. And I always wanted to make the same amount of money I could as a waiter, like maybe 1500 a month. And once I got to 600 a month, I was able to put down the apron. I made 600. We made 600 on this podcast alone. By the time you finish that sentence. Yeah, I'm telling you, okay. Two jokes, call it. No, it's a nice bit good. But to your point, and 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. I do see, I have seen skaters come and go because their motivation is fame and fortune. And if they get a taste of it, then they don't want to skate anymore or they don't want to push themselves. And also if that's your moniker, it's like Lauren Michaels, one of his. The minute you're hot, you feel yourself getting less hot. It's hard to stay. So in other words, if you're a fame whore, you're just like, I, you know, I don't like to stay home. I don't want to go anywhere. Dave's a man about town, but we're, we're different. That's why we, we have a chemistry. But yeah, I'd much rather watch Friday night lights at home. I have to extract Dana out to dinner once a week. Oh yeah. I feel you. But he has a steak dinner and mashed potatoes waiting for him when he sits down. And then he'll have a small cocktail. I go, are you feeling anything with that two pounds of tea bowl in your... I got a glass of whiskey tonight. Dana, why aren't you asking him about the movie you don't care about? It's police academy four. That's what we've got. Well, this is for our listeners. No, well, this, I have some questions after this, but this is the access of connection between these two. The movie police academy. Four, the good ones. David's in it. Tony's in it. Go guys. I said it out. I got hired just doing improv. I wasn't a good actor. The way I lucked into that Tony is I went in, I was very new as 21 and I just started to insets the improv. And there's casting people peppered around, you just don't know. And then when they called me in and they said, we got a script, can you come in and audition? I didn't know what I was doing. I would have literally, cause my next audition I just read it off the page. They go, we want you to read. I go, oh, I can read. And then I just read the script to them. And they were like, you don't know what you're doing. And I go, nope. So the only reason I got that is cause they go, can you skate? And I said, yeah. Cause I auditioned for North Shore, a movie. And I said, I could serve and I could not. And then they discovered that? They discovered it. Well, I didn't get it. So I got down to meet Matt Adler, a buddy of mine got it and he, he could serve. So it was about a guy from Arizona. And I go, I have all the components. I can't serve that good. So I do. I think he does it with that one. Yeah. I would have fucking drowned. Surfing is. No, no, but I'm just saying that is, that is the one of the most quoted, ridiculous surf movies. Oh yeah. It was kind of goopy. What's kind of goopy? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Yeah. There's some one liners in there that endure, that live on because. Which movie was this? It's called North Shore. North Shore. Yeah. And who was in it? Matt Adler is a buddy of mine then. Okay. Laird plays the protagonist. Oh, he does. Laird Hamilton is the guy that pulls his leash. He would have drowned me. Oh, Laird Hamilton. Yeah. He's the trip. He's the bad guy. If he knew I was not good. So anyway, so I auditioned for police academy. But when I get there, they go, we're getting a new script in. It's not here yet. And I go, oh, and they go, shit, you're here. Do you want to just? Oh, perfect. You want to just ad lib stuff? You're just a smart ass kid. And they weren't lying to you. So stiff. So I just started making up stuff. That's good. And it was so lucky because they go, oh, he's not bad. Cause I was just free forming. That's so much better. So I get hired. I go there. I'm making so much fucking money. I think I was making $2,500 a week. That's a movie. I was in a movie in Toronto. And they go, you're part of a skate gang of misfits. And they go, oh, we're going to get, and of course I knew the bones brigade. I knew everything from Arizona. And then they go, this guy, Tony Hawk, I think it was Guerrero and Cavalero and Mike McGill. Lance Mountain. And so they all came out and I was so excited cause they were rock stars. Do you remember your first impressions of David Spade? That was super funny. So you started cracking jokes. It was one of those things where you go, oh, you're really funny. You should be a comedian. That was lucky. Cause you know, Tony, the one problem we had was Tony was taller than me and he was, were you goofy or regular foot? I'm goofy footed. And so we had Chris Miller. Well, no, can I interject? Yeah, go ahead. So we all read for that part. Oh, is that right? We all read for the part that you got. Or the you and the, who's the guy from Fast Times? Yeah, Brian Backer. 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 and the gang or whatever. And then they singled out, when they hired you guys, they sing it out Lance and me as the doubles. I went through a growth spurt from the time we tried out to the time we got there. Really? And so for the first week, they were like, I think that guy's too tall. And I remember the director saying like, you know, he's a pretty good skater, but he's a bad stunt double. And so then Stacy kept telling me like, stay low. Oh, crouch. Stay low. Oh, Stacy, problem. Yeah. And I go, I don't know. I just trying, I was trying. And then they just quietly sent me home. Basically I got fired. And then they sent in Chris Miller, who looks like you. And is the same stance as, you're, you're, I'm goofy, but he was closer. It was a tough decision because you're goofy and he's regular. Sorry, what is goofy foot? I'm goofy. Oh, that means he stands, he stands with his right foot forward. So do I. And that's called goofy. Yeah. And left foot is called regular. Regular. Okay. And so when I got hired, you remember that was, that was part of the thing. I was like, oh, you're goofy footed too. That's what David is. So I went, so in long story short, they sent in Chris Miller, who looks more like him, but is regular footed. So in the, in the skate sequence, his stance keeps changing. It's so crazy. Wow. I'm going to watch this tonight. So professional. But you had a legit skate part, like going through the mall. I could skate. I could skate. And then when I go one time, I go, Brian Backer could not skate. He was, he was very much against it. Yeah. To the point where he's making us very uncomfortable. As part of the movie? Or he just didn't want to even pretend and they needed establishing shots of him skating. Even if they had to pull him on something, it just stands there. He didn't want to be. Yeah. But at one point they did try to get him on a skateboard and he was very upset about it. And he was kind of complaining to us and we're like, well, we just work here. Yeah. But we can help you. Stacy, Stacy Peralta was a great skater and a great director and one of his bosses, cause he's from Pal Peralta, bones were great. All this. Yeah. I mean, he's the one who put us together and he was the one who got us the audition. And he did second unit. Yeah. So he directed us in a lot of those skate scenes, if not all of them. And one time I go, Stacy, he goes, you can skate a little bit. I go, yeah, yeah. I go, listen on this one. I'm right a pink bones shirt, didn't I? Yeah. And I go, we're just rolling through the city at night. So I go, and then they go over these steps and I go, what is it? Five steps? I go, I can do that. And he goes, okay. So I can do five steps seven out of 10 times. So, but with the pressure. So they're all behind me. I don't know if you remember this. Anyway, I'm in front, woo-hoo, making noises we loop later. And then we go in and I do the first steps and I fucking wipe out. And then everyone has to wipe out on top of me because they're all like two feet behind me. Oh yeah, there was no, there was the camera rolling. There's no adjusting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's like, and I'm like, and they use that. No, I think they just go, Tony, just do it. And then you need to get one right. As a stunt double. Yeah. Five steps was nothing for you. Oh, not nothing, but it was doable. It seemed to be a lot for David. But also, we learned. It seemed to be very difficult for David. But what we learned in that shoot is we learned about stunt bumps. And we didn't know anything about that. So if we pretended like something was really hard, it would give us extra money. You did jump a police car. You're talking about two stairs? Are you nuts, boy? I've got a fee for that one. Yeah, I got you. It was the, when we jumped the fountain. I don't think you were there for that one, but we jumped the fountain. They set up this big ramp and it just was so janky, the whole thing. The landing zone was terrible. And we were just sitting there sweating it. And they're like, we'll give you each 500 bucks to do this. We're like, what? Oh, yeah. Oh, the ramp got a lot better. Every time I think you did. When it went back, let's keep going. And that's when we learned that we could step on it. Interesting. Yeah, stunt doubles. I've been next to guys that were about to take a car hit on my behalf, talking to them. How you doing? Pretty good. And they never say they won't go again. Because they get another. I guess they get more money. Junk, yeah. So every take they do it, they get a bump. Right, right. So it's only one time I had a stuntman tap out and I took over. You took over? What was it? Weird. Well, it was going inside this big vat of goo. Big wooden thing. And Anthony Hopkins was the dad and he was there. It was supposed to go under it. And then it's the goo fills everything. And I guess a little claustrophobia, the guy was a great stuntman, but just got him shook up. So I did it. You did it? Yeah, I got underneath the thing. It's terrifying. I go, oh, fuck, I'm a little guy. I can't skate. I can't do anything, but I'll stay down in this fucking goo. I come up from the goo and there's Anthony Hopkins or Tony, as I call him, or Hoppy. We were close. Anyway, he's playing my dad. Oh, yeah. So anyway, I have questions. Yeah, I get the questions. I just do this sometimes for fun. Let's see what I got here. I do want to say, though, to end that, I get asked about that all the time. I do, too, all the time. Oh, yeah. Please count me four. Please count me four. It is kind of, but Tony. It's one of those comedies of the 80s, everybody knows. Yeah. From then on, we stayed friends. He would always give me a board. He would always, if I asked for some, we went and skated McGill's ramp once, which I was not good at. And I'm so brittle that I can't believe you still will risk falling, because every time I fall, it really rocks me. I think I got accustomed to the slight pains of skating, but now, as I grow older, things linger more. But I do find that if I stay active, it's easier. Yes. Because when I did the thing with Tiger, I was comparing them, because they're both like the number one in their field. Tiger is so driven. So we played golf that night, and he was visibly hurt from his back operations. 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. I even asked him, would you, do you think he'll ever play golf again? Because he just got an operation. And I thought, maybe this is it. Why ask him? I don't know. That next morning, he gets in the car wreck, right? So he crushes his feet, everything. He may never play again. And he starts to swing, and within a year, he was better than me. Within minutes, I go, there was a while there where I was better than him, because he couldn't pick up a home club. And then he goes, I can kind of, I'm better than you. And I'm like, well, how is it that? I thought I'd say years. And he's so good at it that once he can just stand up on two feet, he's like, he's playing on one leg now. And he was also made the cut and was doing bad stuff like a week ago. It's infuriating. You know, have you ever been like upside down on your skateboard and had the thought in your head like, this can't be good? Or this isn't going to end well. The first time I tried 900. Yes. In your brain, it went, this isn't going to end well. I was like, I don't know where I am. When is, when am I going to hit the wall? Oh, there it is. Did you ever been upside down your skateboard and thought, why did I ever really, did I ever really like this? I think when the first came back to the ramp after raking my leg, there was a moment of that. Have you ever been upside down on your skateboard? When the thought popped in your head, David Spade was really funny and please scan me for it. He said, almost every day. Have you ever been upside down your skateboard and gone, my IQ is 144. What the fuck am I doing? Ramming my style. 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. Like he just knew he was out of sorts. 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? And please make it soon. Have you ever gotten kind of an endorphin high like distance runners do from skateboarding? Like a real buzz. Oh yeah, all the time. When you land something great, you're just like, anything that I land new to me. Okay. It's like new jokes for us. No joke. It's like, if you do a new joke at this stage of the game. No joke. New joke. 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? Yeah, that's not as amazing as you would think. Oh wow. I thought you were going to go, no one could do that. Geez. Dana, I saw a guy on Instagram the other day, he hits like a bump and there's a skateboard in the set. He does a flip in the end. I've seen that. That's pretty. Yeah, that's pretty wild. There's so many ways I can go wrong. Okay, go. Has anyone ever used the pun to you? You're just skate and buy. Has anyone ever said that to you? You're skating through life. Hey, Tony. Skating through life. Skating by, huh? Okay, I just curious. What makes a project G? I guess it's determination. I think a lot of determination, discipline and it's just, you know when you see it. Mozart, right? Jambané, yeah, all the big ones. The biggest mistake beginning skateboarders make, Tony Hawk. The biggest mistake beginner skateboarders make? 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. Because it looks good on Instagram. It looks easy on Instagram, Dan. When you see someone make a trick, you don't realize they fell 30 times. Fill in the blank. Tony Hawk is, you don't have to answer this. A skateboarder, a husband, a father and a philanthropist. Okay, David Spade is... You can say all those same ones on the screen. A funny skateboarder. Yeah, a funny skateboarder. A funny skateboarder. Not so good at skateboard but incredibly funny. No. No. It's like anything. Let's see. Do you think Evil Knievel could have made some noise in the skateboarding world? Noise. He was an inspiration to me so by proxy, yes. So you'd watch him on TV going over cars with his car. Yes. I had the wind up. SSP. Yeah. Which one? Oh, okay. I know you've landed the 900. I'm just throwing this out. It's going on record. It's going out all over the world. 1200. Michi Brusco, a current pro skater has done a 1260. Was he young? Is he really young? Tom Schar. You're thinking of Tom Schar. He did. Tom Schar did the first 1080. He was very young. Oh, yeah, yeah. This is on a bigger ramp. So more airtime. People somehow think that's easier. I don't think that's easier. Cheater. Asterisk. No, it's hard. But Michi Brusco did a 1260 so he did three and a half. God dang. I can't put that in my head. It's hard. It's amazing. The humans just want to keep reaching for some. If you look that up, find the clip. It's worth watching. Because in track and field and sprints, it's like a hundredth of a second. World record by .001. No, this is a full spin. Yeah. That is extraordinary. These are just random ones like fear. Where does fear come into it and how do you deal with it right before you're going off? You want to be in attack mode? I treat fear in more that I feel confident that I have the skills to do this. With preparation. I hope this works. Hopefully it can land it. Yeah. I don't know what's going to happen. It's more like I have all the pieces to this. Let's put them together and I approach it with more confidence than fear. Have you ever done a rope swing into a lake and you were the kid who would do all kinds of triple summer salts? No, but I was little. I would go off the high dive. Did you have vertigo at all? Did you look down and go? Yeah, but I think I just knowing that other people have done it. Yeah. It 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. Do you know what I mean? I'm down to do flips, but I don't want to pencil in and splash. Yeah, you'd hit the water, but maybe you'd like that. I'm down. I'm going to make it look like a hyena. I just asked people this anyway. Did you as a kid movie or television show blow your mind and make you happy? Shoot. For Ben Stiller, it was The Poseidon Adventure. I always give that as an example. For me, it was Jason the Argonauts. Oh, for a TV show? Or those were movies. Mine was probably Animal House. TV show would have been Little House and the Prairie. That's Dave's favorite. I love that one. I did like it. I love it. I had to think for Mary. He's a huge Michael Landon fan. Once Mary got blind, I was like, she couldn't realize I'm a six. That's a good question. That's all right. You can pass. I think I really enjoyed Greatest American Hero. The movie? Oh, there was kind of, okay, so more. He was like a regular dude that had superhero qualities and it just didn't fit. And he would run into the walls and stuff like that. Okay, that makes sense. My favorite movie in the back of the day was Fast Times. Fast Times of Bridge Monarch. Yeah, because it summed up high school. Well, that says it all. That's perfect. You were right at the age to hit that. And Sean Penn's probably 82 or something. That was great. Yeah. It's a tasty wave. That was a big comedy. I got to actually clarify a line from Fast Times with Sean Penn. So that was a big deal. You did? Well. It's coming of age. What was it? People think he says all I need are tasty. Is it cool buzz and tasty waves? He said cool buds. Yes. And that's how I heard it. Cool buds. I got to clarify it with him. He thought he said buds? No, he said buds. He had to think about it. People think he says buds. Because they don't know what buds means. I remember that line and it was buds. Yeah. Well, Tony, thank you for talking about SNL for an hour with us. Well, no, that's part B. We'll talk Tony's audition for SNL. He skates on to 8-H. Lawrence, what do you have? Do a skateboarder. Skateboarder. I got to say, it was a dream come true. And it only happened recently. And I was so thankful. And you came out and did a cameo. What did you do? So I was here in LA doing our podcast, Hawk vs. Wolf. Hawk vs. Wolf. Wherever you can find podcasts. And it's also on YouTube. Yes. Hawk vs. Wolf. And so I was staying here doing this for a couple of days in the studio in Santa Monica, driving back to my hotel. It's like 6 p.m. and I get a call and they said, hey, can you make it to New York by tomorrow night? They wrote you into a skit on SNL. It's Thursday. Fuck yeah. Yes? I can do that. Let's do it. Sure. Went, stayed there, went, did my podcast with Seth Rogen and went straight to LAX. I live in San Diego. I'm not even prepared to travel at all. Right. And went there, bought a jacket upon landing. And they had written me into a script. Literally all I was going to do was say my name. Not skate at all? You could handle that. Sure. Whatever it takes. I was going to skit about the, you know, that whole thing went viral with the Miss Universe. France. Yeah. Oh, you were in that. That's right. I was going to be one of the judges of that pageant with the property brothers. And when it came to me to ask who won, I just say my name. And honestly, when I saw the script, I thought, this is, this is it. And flying out here. It's a long way to go. But also, like, this is my big break to SNL. Yeah. Is that I get to, and then they loved it in the rehearsal so much they added a line for me. Oh. We're adding a line for you, Tony. It'll be on the cards. Did you say, Lauren, so do I have the it quality? Should I stay and be a cast member? I did get to, at the after party, I got to actually sit with him for a few minutes. He's quite a brilliant character. He just says really interesting stuff all the time. Tony's like, I know who you are. Ah, yeah. He would be that. Yes. He would be very, very, yeah. I know success when I see it. David, Dana didn't know how to monetize, but Tony did. Thank you, Tony. Tony is a very cool guy. Tony Hawk, just to sum up, yeah, your podcast is great. Thank you. And all your business endeavors. And I think this will be an inspiring episode. And it doesn't matter what your passion is, you just have to apply yourself and focus. I always say to people, look at your feet. Don't look at the fame, the money. Just look at your feet. Literally with skaters. But just like, am I better today than I was yesterday? And what can I do to get better, no matter what you're trying to do? That's what I take away. David, your takeaway is, same thing. Hey, I already said. All right, Tony Hawk. I'm talking to Tony, it's good. He's a philanthropist at Skate Park, builds them and I guess it's all great. You have a foundation here. You're giving me one called the Skate Park Project. Oh, that's right. You help the Skate Parks. Save Skate Parks. We help the parks in underserved areas. Yes. Great. Going for 20 years now. Wow. So you're touching it. They give Skate Parks that's sick. You make them better. I don't understand the words. All right. Thanks, Tony. Tony Hawk, everybody. Hey, guys. If you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us a review, five star rating. And maybe you can share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Audissey, an executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Mattie Sprung-Kaiser and Leah Reese Dennis of Audissey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweetek, booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hilary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtney and Lauren Vieira. Reach out with us any questions to be asked and answered on the show. You can email us at flyonthewall at audissey.com. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y.com. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.