Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - RE-RELEASE - Tony Hawk

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

Let’s revisit gnarly injuries, a life-changing video game, and Police Academy 4 with Tony Hawk. *Note: this interview was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike took effect. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What a hawkmeister. 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 kind of, 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 talking to him.

Telling us like doing a 1080, what's it like? Yeah. You're going up and spinning and where's the ramp? Where are you in the world? 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?

You know, listen, I like Tony. I've known a long time. 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. Very chill, dude. Here he is Tony Hawk.

Yeah. I think 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.

Did they fail to do that with men? 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 can look it up if you want to know, right? I think they'll eradicated.

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 odd. Davis, let's put a billboard and say, stop putting the ages of women in sex. I got a lot of time in life. Especially in the action world, like if you're thinking of hiring someone that's in the back of your head, you go, oh, that's the right age or, oh, no, that feels, you know, whatever. It sends a weird message immediately, and it doesn't need to be in an article. I know.

Anyway, thanks. We should all keep an eye. Thank you. You're free to look at my age. Tony Hawk, who turns 27 tomorrow. He's, you know, I, the age thing, one is always a sense of humor about it. And I have a dermatologist who's, I think he's like 85. I said, how old are you?

He goes, 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 clipboard and kept going age-related. He's got a microscope. Age-related. Do you have to say age-related?

Can I have something to find age-related? Dude, I went to. Anyway, I've done that out in this podcast before. I'm running out of shit. Tony, we might not get to you, but I'm just going to tell. I listen to the show anyway, so I'm just here fascinating. You know how it works. You know it's going to come to you.

We have so many questions for you. So it's going to be a two-partner. 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 back in the day. Yeah. They moved it.

When people were like hovering with cameras over the, yeah. It was the place. And then Ketch took him. 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.

And I was, of course, a little buzzed naturally because it was nighttime. So I had a little loud. The sun goes down and you like a wear. I go, gug, gug, gug, gu. I get that little humming review. 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 like 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. She's got 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 not. Chin tuck.

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 get, let's get it. I'm looking at you, Tony. Tony and I are 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 and 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-50s. 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 Vicodinin, I don't need it.

I don't need this. I had crazy surgery. I took a viking and hated it. I liked Advil much better. Ooh, the minority. Hey, Advil, if you're listening. I know, like when the doctor goes. So you broke your leg, you want to really pump the Advil?

I go, the what? Yeah, how fucking dare you. Funny you say that, because I broke my leg in March a year ago, tomorrow. Yeah, this is actually a 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? The femur, yeah. What was the trick? McTwist. It's always a McTwist, didn't it? Were you by yourself? I was not.

But my friend, especially dangerous. My good friend Kevin came over about five minutes later with two Advil. Two adjil. 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 they're just not as zoned in as much or what.

Dude, your fucking thigh. It was a trick that I have done tens of thousands of times. Okay. 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 flat part of my ramp with my leg. I could feel it just dangling. 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 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. I'm not really sure how it happened, but I don't remember hearing it pop. I just, felt it disconnect. Wow.

And what do they do with that? Do you have a metal rod down your? I do, yeah. Okay. How much did that cost? You know what's funny? I looked at the hard cost of it because I thankfully have insurance. Uh-huh.

It's a lot, it's similar than a house. Really? Yeah. By the way, who was insuring? Really? The holes in my area anyway. Not where you guys live. Who do you get insurance from?

I mean, my God, it was like, Bobby's healing and band-aids right on Ventura. No, where did you? Oh, Sack. Zach. Sag. Oh, Sag. Blue Cross. So, Anthem.

That, how long, how is it now? Well, tell this story. 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 rushed it a little bit and it never grew together. Yeah.

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 have to take a painkiller to get through an airport. And I go, 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 got fixed. Because you were too active? I was too active.

So I came up here to a specialist. And he's the specialist in non-union fractures, which means it never, it would never form a 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. Your bone wouldn't cross your new lines.

One year later. What's that? I wouldn't cross the line. I'm supposed to get a hip replacement at some point. Let's do it. Let's do it. I heard those are very effective

and quick healing. 55 minutes open to close. Yep. I've been avoiding it for seven years, Tony, because they take a saw and saw off the top of the Pmore. Samson did. I heard it.

I heard it's awesome. But people... I would rather go through that than my femur issue. No, no, you'd just be much worse. People 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... Yeah, I learned that too.

You're full court. You're fully around now. I'm on my way. I'm not... I can't say I'm fully back to where I was. Are you? It isn't your wife say don't push it anymore because you're going to break it again?

She is concerned 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 that way. 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 sport, basically, in some ways. I mean, I popularized it.

Everything I read is Tony Hawk. and you're an icon, I mean, right? Yeah, and everyone's sick of it. No, I appreciate it. You're attached to his port. Everyone's sick of it, you've got a point there. But there's a lot of people on our podcast. My wife loves this.

My wife loves this podcast. And 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 at the beginning, because I was reading about your high IQ and you were sort of a difficult, like, because I'm interested in what kind of brain, not even your physical. physical gifts becomes brilliant at something at age 12, 912? Um, 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 the body for it or whatever, but I was always fired up. Couldn't do football. I couldn't do football. Well, I didn't play football, but baseball, but baseball, basketball. I'm saying I could do a little bit of that. Like, I was thinking what other sports you got 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 the sport. 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. So 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 him right away.

Eddie Van Halen got his son. son, his son, his brother's guitar, sat on the bed at 8 a.m. and played till midnight. Right. It just spoke to him. So when you got on the board, it just spoke to you. It spoke to me, but in no way was I a natural. A natural. You would do that following. I would just do it, but I would just do it endlessly. Like, I would go, I would go from school to the skate part, stay there until my mom got off work at the, she worked at the community college at 8 or 9 p.m. And then she'd definitely

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 skateboarding. You didn't have steel 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...

Jeez, what's going on, man? Or a bone. I did have a... Bain was my first board. Okay, okay. You like that thing? What? You like that shit?

Okay, let me go back to... This guy's legit. Let me go back to more Larry King type stuff. Yeah, I do. So, you know, there you are. No, I have a psychological... We want to get into the weeds of urithane and clay wheels. We have a psychological question for him.

My son had a... When I was just talking about the way over here, he 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 what do you... Will you comment please on that, Mr. Hock? I'd say rollerbladers lose. 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. Porter Tony Hawk here. That was paying my mortgage, literally. So I never had the beef. I saw it. I saw it playing out and people were whatever, having bad stereotypes with everything. 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 there? I don't, is more that I grew up, I grew up too, not that 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 in-liners,

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. Oh, you can't see them coming.

You get hit. You don't hear them coming. Right, because the rubber tires and everything. Yeah. So that can be an issue. And so I think that there's a good, some skate parks assign certain days for bikes and certain days for skateboard. 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 got to say. 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. I'd sometimes just sit on the fucking thing. We used to catamaran down some hills at the wedge in Arizona. And big wipeouts at the end when you catamaran with your friend. And then it's almost fun to wipe up. 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 come up grassland.

Yeah. Exactly. I actually wiped out at High Roller. I'll tell you that. I'll tell you that. High Roller's a great part. Can we just finish off this young, young Tony for a second. Just you're, you're just a quirky kid.

You weren't natural athlete. You got a hold of a skateboard from someone in the neighborhood, or you're nine years older brother. Older brother. Yeah. And then it just spoke to you. You became possessed. Yes.

And then within-est is good, yes. Within three years of that, you were world-class? At 12, it was something, or 14? It was such a quantum leap. 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 it was 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. So no money. No money. Sponsor, I never knew what that meant, but I thought Dollar County was the coolest one. Free gear.

Free gear. And then that moved me up to the sponsored 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 within two years. And then I actually turned pro at age 14. But when you turn pro, So what that means is I was filling out an entry form to the competition and 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. Do you remember the first time you made money or sorry? That was competing for $100 first place. Okay. 75 second, 50 for third. I got fourth. So no money? No money. Do you remember your first check for doing this? My first check was $50 when I got third place. $50. Yeah. I got paid $3.00. for my first set. You have money for your first set?

That's pretty rare. Rob Williams was there. I think it was $10. I think he took seven. I took three. Her. $7.30. Oh, 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. God rest of soul, 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 is 13 years older than me. So 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 many, very few parents were supportive.

we're supportive. Because of the danger of it or just because of the culture of it. The stigma, the culture, you're a surfer dude. And you weren't going to go to school. Yeah. Even though there's a rumor you're smart, but we have no proof.

It says here your IQ is 144. 144. Maybe at one point. You're at least half as high as that. Yeah, mine's half. He's incredibly smart. He's a chess champion. That was his thing.

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, So you got paid $50. Yeah, and then eventually got my own skateboard model. And that's when I started receiving royalty checks for between $4 and $5 a month.

$4.5 a month. That's not too bad. $4.85. Did you design it? How did you get your own model? I designed the shape of it. And then my sponsor, Powell Peralta, they designed the graphics of it. Oh.

But then something happened in the mid-80s 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 a businessman, already as you're a superstar athlete. Yeah, I didn't see it that way, but... 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...

Not school. No. That was the weird thing, is that there was this resurgence of skateboarding. It was popular, but not a mainstream or widespread popularity. So I was still at the outcast at school. I literally would hide my skateboard in the book. when I go to school because people would hassle me if I, if I carried around. They would yell skater fact.

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. Can I ask you just a technical question? Yes. Because it would seem to me when I watch gymnasts 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 rate. 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 more height. And because I could ball up, I could still do those spins and things, but at greater heights. So your height begat the speed. Yeah, I can't say it's helped me into my older age, but it definitely helped me. Interesting. Okay.

Okay. Mike's psychological question. I'm the layman. He's a skateboard. Now, when you grew up in San Diego, and what was the park in Carl's back? Was it big O. What's not? So there was Oasis skate park in San Diego.

And then that closed. and then Delmar Skate Ranch was the last park in that area. Okay, so let's say Tony, 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 Orange? It was like Milpitas or something.

It's South Peninsula. Yeah, that was. Vans. That made him the coolest kid in school. That was a good part. Yeah. Hey, Ontario, come on down to BetMGM Casino and see what our newest exclusive the Price's Right Fortune Pick has to offer. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino

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Now, let's say, because I did get to golf of 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. Is it something in you

that makes you not want to give up, number one, because you still skate. You don't really have to skate anymore. You could stop. And Tiger could stop. Yeah, well, I never did it for fame or fortune. You still like it. But those things weren't even dreams.

No, 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.

That was, you know, no future. What do you aspire to? I don't know, I'm going to be pro. No one's making money. You get that $100 check. Yeah. And your picture in the magazine. And so that was never the motivation.

And 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. To be honest. 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. Yeah, I can't. That's the thing, though. I can't phone it in. And everyone's watching you.

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. But I'm still do it. I still walk to walk. I totally relate to what you're saying, you know, when I go to do it day,

I can't hope, but I just want to dominate. But it's not in an unfair way. Like, you have your peers and friends. 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 sometime. And there's a lot of subjectivity to it when 10 guys go on.

And we're supposed to be just hanging out with the comedy, so we're 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. Well, I did enjoy you guys after Chris Rock. Oh, you saw that?

I saw that. Did you sense the awkwardness? Because 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 good. We were there to facilitate. But, you know, I can't join in on those conversations.

No, but I thought you guys did a good job moderating. Well, we wanted a joke. First of all, we liked everybody there. All the panel was cool. We hung with them all day. J.B. is funny. He came out of his show that night. You know what?

For the first time he lit him poking and prodding. Yeah. The guy will talk. He lit his cigar back stage. He'd held it for 20 years. That went so good. I'm going to light this up.

I said, J.B., you are smooth. Arsenio's smooth. He was nice. We know, and we've known Chris, David's especially close with Chris, but known since 1990. Yeah.

And that was sort of how it came about. Like, we had a podcast. We're together anyway. S&L. It's Chris. We're all buddies. let's put a panel together. 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 them. 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 why we were all there.

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, 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. Oh, yeah.

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, 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 microcontractor. more than a mic drop. He was working some stuff out. And it, you know, I, he just wondered casually, is this, is this over now? Or I mean, me, Dan, Chris, we'll be another special next year. We've all been bullied. Me and Chris used to talk about it. I was pushing on Arizona. I was always a Pipscqueak. And I hated it. And I'm sure Dana got a little bit of it. Well, no, no, way more. When you get older. I got, no, I got bullied by a grown man.

Your family knocked out and shit. Yeah. 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, this guy, I'm 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's 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 it should be stronger. For a couple.

A couple years. He doesn't have to go to the silly show. Who cares? Go to the Vanity Fair Party. Just wait and watch people walk in. They'll bring it in on a platter. Yeah, I saw him there after the Vanity Fair Party. Then I saw Chris at Gaios.

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 up for a little bit. 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 didn't do with me. But he already had a clear piece of, you know. Yeah, he has his own history with, with, that family, sit on it for a year. It's got driving crazy, but at least he let it all out. 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.

Now we're trying. Oh. 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? Let's turn a wedge here. Let's see. He's pretty mellow.

How do I do that? 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. They're always picking on me. You know, we pick on him.

That was totally accepted. Yeah. There was no, there were no resources. And a lot of it is not grandiose. Like, a lot of it's just the guy in the locker room just takes the back of your neck and just quickly just pushes you down to the floor. They used to... No, you're going to do nothing.

Because I was so small, they would pick me up in the hallway and spin me around once. By the way, nothing more humiliating. Now, that's why you were so great doing 360. You got to thank the guys.

Let's go, wait, let's go two and a half this time. I was working up to a 900. Tony Hawk became brilliant because of bullies who would flip him, throw him in the air, throw them across the room,

roll them down the hill. But you're on skateboard, you go, no one's trying to hit me. I don't think 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.

I would get picked up too. Yeah, and they'd throw you against the locker. I had a girl and that was my mom. That's it. That's it. After I came my pants, I said, this is over. Surprise ending. A happy surprise. So Tony. Well, Tony. 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 I'm still so fascinated how, well, just to make one of casual

observation. The sport is went fallow for a while. You come up, you're emerging right as the sport is going. And so you're the first. I don't know if there's a second or there are these after superstars, but to the casual observer, you are skating.

Who, how many people, their name is a brand? It's funny because I don't know. I, you know, I know I know skating. I know some names, but to equate with Tony at that level. I don't know. Well, I can tell you, I credit a lot of that for a successful video game.

Oh, that's right, because your name was... Because our game... In huge letters. Had huge success. They're gigantic. Yeah. That was where you made the most money, right? Oh, yeah. And so people 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 who can physically do it doesn't always happen so that that's that's so much power so how did the video game quickly how did that 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 uh 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 uh nerd nerd nerd nerd we were two nerds nerd alert literally knocking on doors.

We were going to console manufacturers, we were going to software companies and saying, how old are you? So this was like around 97, 96, 97. So you're huge though at that point, right? Yeah. Well, there was sort of a gap

in skating's popularity in the early 90s. 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 go with us. So you're pursuing together.

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 Atari? No, so he gave up. He got frustrated. Okay. And 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 of 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 look-alike or, you know, their avatar, I guess they call. Avatar, sure.

Not the movie, but just literal definition. And his voice, but it didn't do very well, but the engine was perfect for skateboarding. The engine means the motion in the game. So the first time I ever played what became Tony Coxborough Skater was Bruce Willis on a skateboard with a gun on his back doing kickflips. Okay. Like through a desert. And it was Bruce Will's, that's hysterical. Yeah, that was it.

Was there a breakthrough moments or an epiphany like how to make a skateboard thing as exciting as a war or something? 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. Suddenly I was doing tricks right away. So I thought 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 64s.

And so I went along with that, obviously. Another smart idea. Not long after when it had success in the beginning, they called me and said, you get your wish, we're going to do Nintendo 64. I was like, cool. And then we ended up doing all the systems. Wow.

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. A little taste. No, I felt bad for that guy. Oh, he's totally. Well, yeah.

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. 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. Giving to the IRS. So the rich do pay their fair share.

The only way of did it was Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk. I'm this. Yeah. I could have got out 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 has kicked ass. You've won so many X games, world champion. Done a lot of commercial. You land a 900 at some point. How long to take you? I saw that.

How big a deal was that for you? 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. Oh. 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's, you're going up in the air, really.

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. Okay, so no one really is. Does I have to be filmed or do they take your word for it? I got a sequence of it. I mean, back then there was, Bonesbergay videos were out, kind of,

but really it was more about did it get in the magazine? So I got a small sequence and thrashers. Oh, teach, teach, all those photos like that? Yeah, yeah. I got a small sequence in thrashor doing a 720. Fuck yeah, I probably saw. On a backyard ramp in Sweden. So when you landed the 900, what competition were you in?

That was at the X games. That the X game. So that was global television. What? I said, what kind of pussy did you get? I thought that's what you're 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 you do the 9-900. You're asking. 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 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 watched this.

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 a 10th one. And then they all bobbed you.

And everyone almost gave up. And then you kept doing it. Well, I was, I think after my third or fourth attempt, I realized that this is the closest I've ever gotten. So 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. What do you think?

Are you thinking right as you take off like to get height, right? To get as high. Or what are you thinking? There's a bunch of elements, but speed for sure. it's got to be a certain height to get that much spin rotation. The snap is when the moment you leave the ramp. The ramp, yeah.

You got to have a snap where 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. Right as you're about to go overboard, you've got to grab your boards or 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 towards the back foot. So you're spinning, 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 time

I tried to make it. So that's why you go, I got to be, I got to get the weight on the back foot. it seemed like when you did do it, you did sort of a squat. Yeah, well, that was me overcompensating. Right, but you didn't leave the board.

You set the record. But that was like, yeah, interesting. 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 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. Because you know you can never do it. Yeah, no one will ever do this.

Right. And now they're doing it. Is the equipment gotten better then? 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, high schoolers. Yeah, no, it's just skating. Yeah, no, it's just skating. Oh. Okay. So it's, they're all about the same weight.

They're all about the same weight. 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. So that's the baseline of which to start. You could even go crazier. Yeah. You know, they used to have these things, Dana, called Sky Hooks.

That was Kareem Abdul-Jubbard. 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 and air. 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 this. That's three pussies on this. No, that's just saying I am not tough. All with different connotations. It's a fear. Yeah, totally different meanings every time.

It's a fear thing, Dana. Once you leave the top of the ramp or the- Oh, come on. Don't be a baby. I'll be my dad for a second. 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, it's a pretty gnarly trick. It's a hard trick. It's hard, and it's dangerous. And so you go up, I think David Andryke, someone did those. You get speed, you go up off David Anderre. 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. 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. Now, everyone, all the concerned skaters go, get the fuck out of the bowl. Yeah. Because I was laying there. And you had two broken wrists.

I had to drag my board. And it's hard to walk up from the deep end of the shallow. 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 on 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 stepdad. And he went back.

Yeah. 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 look around the corner.

I go, hmm, I didn't even go to med school. I see something going on. Did they set them? 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 O.P. shirt.

Carrying skateboard and magazine. I didn't, we got injured in different ways. He's like my brother, pop the wheelie. That's what we do on us. Pop the wheel. The wheel comes off, chips his teeth. Oh, yeah, the forks go down and you go, uh-oh, this is just a way to happen. 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 were 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 five times. God, dang. Are you, really? Yeah.

But the cool thing about that is every time you knock them out, you can choose the size and the color. Oh, the next ones? You have a very positive attitude. But in your adult life, that's a thing, right? How many bones do you have broken in your body? Everyone wants to know. Four officially.

Four officially. Yeah. My pelvis, my ulterior. elbow, my femur. And, well, I broke my thumb, basically. Concussions. How many bruises, roughly? Concussions?

I had many. My son, did he seem like you're pretty together, though. Ramp rats with BMX bike. 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, you know.

Bell wrong. Yeah, you got his bell rung. Shook up. say multiple hard hits is the hardest thing on your brain. Well, or in the hundreds. In succession. Yeah. Yeah, where it's one after the other,

in a short time. Yes, absolutely. 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. I see a lot of dudes in these Instagram with no helmets, doing some gnarly stuff. Yes.

It's kind of a skateboarder, cool thing to do, but it is not the smartest. They were trying to, when they put, putting in the Olympics, 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 railside.

That's it when it's flat, you're saying, when it's just street stuff? Not when it's street, they're not. But what they were saying in the park event, we shouldn't have to wear pads. And I was like, you guys are, I was not in the conversation, but you guys are flying 10 feet above 10-foot pools. I don't think it's going to go well for the general audience. No, it's not like it's supposed to be kind of a fun game.

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Flip. Or that. And enjoy. Via rail, love the way. Does skateboarding culture Is 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 I'm just throwing out I'd say skateboarding is so diverse now That I wouldn't just zero one on something like that I feel like this definitely has been associated With skating But they had the phrase surfer bum

Do they have skater bum? Skate rat I think is more appropriate Is more like to someone who lives But I think on the outside Especially in the in the days when skating wasn't very popular, there was a, there was a sort of view of skating that was, oh, they're slackers, they're wake 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. It's very technical. That's true. We were sort of outliers. Because you didn't fit in 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 catch so much air off that. Oh yeah. Everything was about what they could skate off of.

Any angle. I remember one of the Palo tourists, went to the Vatican and I tail dropped off of one of those sculptures. I'm sure they love that. People didn't really like that. Yeah. Wait a minute. You were in the Vatican? It's skateboarded off a statue. I mean, in the Vatican City in the outdoor area. Yeah, yeah.

We were just skated. That was the thing in those days. All we cared about was skating. So it was Anything, yeah. Yeah, the sighting 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 skateboard magazine. 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, I do some burtlements, you know. Show off a little bit. Burdlemen's. Oh, yeah. That's a tough term.

Is that right? I do little tail blockers because there's really no danger to. You just turn around. I have a photo. I'm representing the audience at home. In the first Bones Brigade newsletter, I had a photo doing a Bertelman at Canterbanks. Oh, for real?

Yeah. You used to go to Burdum'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. Yeah, that's a good photo.

Let's talk about the movie You were in Jackass too Before we get to the Police Academy All of them You were in all of them Yeah And did you do Dane have you seen when

Would you were in full circle A 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 That's Johnny Knoxville I did that for jackass Yeah With Matt Hoffman The TV show The TV show He and I wore chicken shoes

Oh he was a BMXer 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 guerrilla costumes. It'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 Burghuis and I dressed up in gorilla. Did the orangutan think you were guerrillas, or did it knew you... No, but it did not like if we got ahead of him. Competitive? very cordial.

He's in it to win it and we're going to stand behind because you don't want him coming after you. We end up skating. Make sure your face off I heard. Yeah, yeah. We end 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? 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 orangutangetang suit at that point? Or some other suit. Was the orangutang suit? That was for Wild Boys. Was it padded? Not worth it.

No. That was extra. We don't got any budget. And I was wearing the mask so I wasn't wearing my helmet. So that's the problem. I got a concussion. I refresh 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, you're 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 a no longer issue. 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? Because 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 did a hot wheel and tried to measure that and do the ratios of how that would work.

And it worked the first time. Right. This time it didn't work. It seems that there's a lot of thinking that goes into these tricks that maybe not every skateboarder has. Usually it's just intuitive. No, it's just try. Right. I don't like they gave you a shitty ram.

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 a feeling. We didn't have foam pits or training grounds. Right. So it's like David.

Like he tried to air it axle stall and came down hard and 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 seeing if your wrist has a bump. No, I actually broke my wrist again after that. Skating? Yeah, and 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. We're mortgaging the house. Yeah, it got too hard because it was too, you know, 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 it, the pineapple reverse squat? Do you remember that one? Do you need old dipsy doodle? Now, I can do front side grinders. I can do stuff, but it gets scary, Dana. And it was just, when it gets too hard and what they were doing, it just separates. I had our 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. 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, you know. 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. Down there by you. In your secret location. They have a special lane. He's coming in on Tony Drive. Okay, put him in a Hawk 1. We have several children, and they all went through their share of injuries because they all skate, so that too.

And is Riley a pro? Riley, my oldest son is pro, yes. Yeah, he's good. Oh, that's cool. So do you think when you see him becoming that good, do you see yourself for? offend him intellectually or? I see, I see his determination and his drive to keep trying to outdo himself. Yeah. Very much so. He, 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's a dad. And it's hard to be good anyway. He kind of, he kind of shied away from skating when he started getting good because of that. It's weird. It'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. And I always wanted to make the same amount of money I could as a waiter, like maybe 1,500 a month. Right. 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. I mean finish that sentence. I'm telling you.

Two jokes, no, life's been 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, 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 Michael's 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 like to stay home. I don't want to go anywhere. Dave's a man about town. But we're different.

That's why 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 bone in your...

I don't have a glass of whiskey in night. Dana, why aren't you asking him about the movie you don't care about? It's Police Academy 4. That's where we met. 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 one.

David's in it. Tony's in it. Go, guys. I got hired just doing improv. I wasn't a good actor. The way I locked into that, Tony, is I went in. I was very new. I was 21.

And I just started doing sets of 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 an audition? I didn't know what I was doing. I would have literally,

because 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 because they go,

can you skate? And I said, yeah. Because I auditioned for North Shore, a movie. And I said I could surf and I could not. But did they discover that? Yeah. Well, I didn't get it. So I got down to Matt Adler,

a buddy of mine got it, and he could surf. So it was about a guy from Arizona. And I go, I have all the components. I can't surf that good. I think you dodged a bullet with that one. Yeah, I would have fucking drowned. No, no, but I'm just saying that is one of the most quoted, ridiculous surf movies.

Oh, yeah, it was kind of goofy. Is that you're saying? Yeah. I mean, there's some one-liners in there that endure, that they live on. Which movie is this? It's called North Shore. North Shore, yeah, and who was in it? Matt Adler is a buddy of mine then.

Laird plays the protagonist. Oh, he does. Laird Hamilton is the guy that pulls his leash. He would have drowned. Oh, Laird Hamilton? Yeah, he's a trip. He's the bad guy. If he knew I was not good.

So anyway, so I audition 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 lines. They're so stiff. Anyway, I would have bummed. So I just started making up stuff. That's good. And it was so lucky because they go, oh, he's not bad. Because I was just free-form. That's so much better.

So I get hired. I go there. I'm making so much fucking money. I think I'm thinking $2,500 a week. That's a movie. I was in a movie in Toronto. And they go, you're part of a little 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 and Lance. Lance Mountain. And so they all came out. And I was so excited because they were rock stars. Do you remember your first impressions of David Spade? I thought it was super funny.

Yeah. So you started cracking. It was one of those things where you go, oh, you're really funny. You should be a comedian. 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?

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. Oh, that's right. Okay.

Or the you and the, who's the guy from Fast Times? Yeah. And 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 in the gang or whatever. And then they,

I didn't know that. They singled out when they hired you guys, they singed out Lance and me as the doubles. I went through Grosspurt 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 Stacey, kept telling me like, stay low. Oh, crouch. Stay low.

Oh, Stacy Prolton. Yeah, and I go, I don't know. I was trying, I was trying. And then they just quietly sent me home. Basically, I got fired. Oh. And then they sent in Chris Miller, who looks like you.

And is the same stance as, well, 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 me? I'm goofy. Oh, that means you.

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 part of the thing. It 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. Oh, okay. So in the skate sequence, his stance keeps changing. It's so crazy. Wow. I'm going to watch this tonight. So unprofessional.

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? He just didn't want to even pretend

and they needed establishing shots of him skating. Okay. Even if they had to pull him on something and he didn't want to be. Yeah. But at one point

they did try to get him on a skateboard it and he was very upset about it and he was kind of complaining to us and we're like we just work here yeah but we can help you stacey stacey pralta was a great skater and a great director and one of his bosses because he's from pal praalta bones were great all this stuff yeah he 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 he's so he directed us in a lot of those skate scenes or if not all of them and one time i go stacey he goes you can skate a little bit right i go yeah yeah i go listen on this one i'm right a pink bone shirt didn't

I go, we're just rolling through the city at night. So I go, and then they go, you go over these steps. And I go, what is it, five steps? I go, I can do that. And he goes, okay. So I could do five steps seven out of ten times. But when the pressure, so they're all behind me. I don't know if you remember this.

Anyway, I'm in front, woohoo, 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 me because they're all like two feet behind me. Oh, yeah. There was no... Was the camera rolling? There's no adjusting. That's like...

And I'm like... And they use that? No, I think they just go, Tony, just do it. And then you did it. We need to get one right. As a stunt double. Yeah. As a stunt double.

Five steps. Was it nothing for you? Not nothing, but it was doable. It seemed to be a lot for David. Also, what we learned... It seemed to be very difficult for David. Yeah. But what we learned in that shoot is we learned about stunt bumps.

Mm-hmm. And we didn't know anything about that. if we pretended like something was really hard Oh right 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 There was one it was the um When we jumped the fountain Okay I don't think you were there for that one But we we jumped a fountain They set up this big ramp And it just was so janky

The whole thing And 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

Oh, the ramp got a lot better. Yeah, every time. When it went to back, let's keep going. And that's when we learned that we can stuff on. Interesting. Yeah, stunt doubles. I've been next to guys that were about to take a car hit on my behalf talking to him. 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. Yeah. So every take, they do it, they get a bump. Right, right, yeah. So there's only one time I had a stunt man 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. And it's supposed to go under it. And then it's the goo fills everything. And I guess that 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, 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.

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, or dirt. So, anyway, I have questions. Yeah, give him the questions. I just, we 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. He's got me four. It's kind of, it's just one of those comedies of the 80s, everybody knows. From then on, we stayed friends. He would always give me a board.

He would always, if I asked for something, 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 that 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 at 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, do you think he'll ever play golf again? Because he just got an operation. And I thought, maybe this is it. Why I asked 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. Minutes, I go, there was a while there where I was better than him because he couldn't pick up a comb comb. And then he goes,

I can kind of, I'm better than you. And I'm like, well, how is it that? I thought it would take years. Yeah. 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 down. Yeah, he was also made the cut and was doing bad ass stuff like a week ago. It's infuriating.

Go ahead. 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 go. end well? The first time I tried 900. Yes.

In your brain, you went, this isn't going to end well. I was like, I don't know where I am. 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 I first came back to the ramp after raking my leg, there was a moment of that. Have you ever been upside down? skateboard. And the thought popped in your head.

David Spay was really funny and please scan me for it. He said, almost every day. Have we ever been upside down in his skateboarding on? My IQ's 144. What the fuck am I doing? Ramming my styes. 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 anticipated that hit. You're like, I'm not, I know that I can't prepare for it this time. So when is it coming? And please make it soon. Do you, have you ever gotten kind of at 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, or 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 skate? 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. Deanna, I saw a guy on Instagram the other day. He hits like a bump. There's a skateboarding on the other side. He does a flip in the air. Oh, I've seen that. That's pretty wild.

There's so many ways I can go wrong. Has anyone ever used the pun to you? You're just skating by. Has anyone ever said that to you? You're skating through life. Hey, Tony. Skating through life. Yeah, huh?

Okay, I just curious. What makes a prodigy? I guess it's determination. I think a lot of determination, discipline. And it's just, you know it when you see it. Mozart, right? Jamonet, 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. And they get discouraged that. It looks easy on Instagram. Yeah. 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 these. A skateboarder, a husband, a father, and a philanthropist. Okay, David Spade is. You can say all those same ones. A funny, funny skateboard. Yeah, funny skateboard. A really funny skateboard. Not so good to a skateboard, but incredibly funny.

No. It's like anything. Let's see. Do you think evil caneeval 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. Yeah, 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. This is going out all over the world. 1,200.

Mitchie Bruscoe, a current pro skater, has done a 12th. Was he young? Is he really young? Tom Sharre, you're thinking of Tom Sharre. Tom Sharre 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. Astrosk. But, uh, no, it's hard. But Michibrisco did 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, reach for some. If you look that up, find the clip. worth watching. Because in track and field in sprints, it's like a hundredth of a second. World record by point. Oh, oh, won it!

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 go on off, you want to be an attack mode? I treat fear in more that I feel confident that I have the skills to do this. The preparation. Hope this works.

Hopefully it can land it. Yeah. Like, 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, yeah. Have you ever done a rope swing into a lake? If you were the kid who would do like all kinds of triple somersaults.

I would know, 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 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. Do you know what I mean?

Like, I'm down to do flips, but I don't want to pencil in and... Yeah, yeah, you'd hit the water, but maybe... Pantsle in, I like that. You know, I'm going to make it look like a hyena. I just ask 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 Poseid Adventure.

I was giving that as an example. For me, it was Jason the Argonauts. Oh, for a TV show? Or those are movies. Mine is probably Animal House. TV show would have been A Little House in the Prairie. That's Dave's favorite. I love that one. I did like it.

I like him. He's a huge Michael Landon fan. Once Mary got blind, I was like she couldn't realize I'm a six. Yeah. That's a good question. That's all right. You can pass. I think I really, I enjoyed greatest American hero.

The movie? Oh, that's the new best one. Okay, so more. He's 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 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. Yeah. And Sean Penn's stung or something. That was great. Yeah.

Tasty waves. Yeah, 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

is a cool buzz and tasty waves. He said cool buds. Yes. And that's how I heard it. Yeah. I got to clarify it with him and that. He thought he said buzz? No, he said buds.

He had to think about it. People think he says buzz. Because they don't know buds means. Yeah. I remember that line and it was buds. Yeah. Thank you. Well, Tony, 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 S&L. He skates on to 8H. Lawrence, like, what do you have? Do it. 13 million. 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 versus Wolf. Hawk versus Wolf wherever you can find podcasts. And it's also on YouTube. Yes. Hawk versus

Walk. And so I was staying here doing this for a couple 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 skin on SNL it's Thursday and I'm fuck yeah yes I can do that let's do sure went

stay there went did my podcast with Seth Rogan and went straight to LAX I live in San Diego I'm not even prepare it 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 skating at all. You can handle that. Sure. Whatever it takes. It was a skid about the, you know, that whole thing went viral with the Miss Universe.

France! Yeah. Oh, you were in that. Yeah, 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. This is a long way to go. But also, like, this is my big break to S&L. And then they loved it in the rehearsal so much, they added a line for me. Ooh. Um, 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 castover? 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. He would be very, very, yeah. I know success when I see it. David, Dana, didn't know how to monetize, but Tony did. Well, thank you, Tony. Tony's a very cool guy. 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 of 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. You know what he said. All right, Tony Hawk. I'm talking to Tony. It's good.

He's a philanthropist. Does a skate park builds them? You have a foundation here. He already called the skate park project. Oh, that's right. Save skate parks. That's the parks in underserved areas. Yes.

Yes. That's great. Going for 20 years now. Wow. So you're touching. They give skate parks that's sick. You make them better? I don't understand the orders.

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 Odyssey, and executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro, and Greg Holtzman, Mattie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis, Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Schuff, 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. We can email us at Fly on the Wall at Odyssey. dot com that's a u d-ac-y-a-c-y-i-i-com