Tosh Show - My Pro Hang Glider - Joe Greblo

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Daniel straps in with Joe Greblo, whose hang gliding career dating from the 1970's through today has earned him the nickname The Godfather of Free Flight. Join our Patreon for exclusive content: http://patreon.com/toshshow

Now I'm panicking and I can't. All I can think of is, ha, you're going to be known as a guy who lost his dick hang gliding. That's going to be your, that's my scariest. Joe, did you ever consider just peeing in your pants? Yeah, my partner did that. My partner did the same thing. It just seems way safer.

Welcome to Toss Show for show. Welcome to Toss Show. Hark the Herald Angels sing. Glory to. The Newborn King. Dylan, you know this song? I do, yeah. You do?

Well, well, well. Oh, look who's brushing up on there. I want to get into heaven stuff. It's good to be here. Great news. Eddie? Yeah. You're getting a raise.

Come on. No. No. Wait, what? It sounded great. I like the, uh... No, you're not. But we are going to do some viewer feedback.

Oh, man. is good. Which always puts me in a bad mood, but for some reason, I feel empowered right now. I'm like, let's bring it. What could people say that I haven't already heard? Especially because we do the love you, love you not segment at the end of the show. So I've already heard people shitting on me. Right. But overall, each week it gets harder and harder to find a negative comment toward me. It's tough. We worked hard to, we went through them. All right. What do you got? Let's do it. Okay, man. Just to let you know, Splash Town is now our car dealership. At great times that petri dish growing up, maybe I ate some of your food.

Man, we're getting, so now this person is commenting because you and I were talking about water parks near San Antonio, and you used to work at Splashtown. Splash Town. And now it's a car dealership. It's amazing. You think you can still pee in your pants there? You go in there for like, oh, you're just standing there in your shorts and you start peeing while you're looking at a Honda, and the guy's like, what are you doing?

You're like, oh, this used to be Splash Town. This was a lazy river. And then he's like, my bad, what's it going to take for me to get you into a bathroom? He knows he does what's going on. Yeah. From water cremation episode. Somebody said, logo looks like a hamburger. The water cremation's logo looks like a hamburger.

Yeah, then somebody said, I said the same thing, L.O.L. And then the third person's like, I thought it was a shake shack logo. We respect his business. We think it's a great, great concept, great company. The logo might need a second go. because when I saw it, I thought it was umami burgers. It makes you hungry and then it's not what you want. I mean, I guess technically you can eat them.

Yeah. Or sprinkle them on your food. Well, is umami burger still in business? No. They went out of business. I think they're at one terminal at LAX. What? Yes.

I think they're a terminal one. I love umami burger. Well, we got to go to LAX to eat it now. They were great. They used to do a turkey burger with cubes of bacon inside of it. It was like an off-menu-menu-themed. Oh, I loved it. Man, that's a shame.

And they're buns. Their buns couldn't be beat. But the problem is America, just too morbidly obese, and those burgers look so small and fancy. Like, I don't want that. They didn't want it. That's a shame. All right, what else you got? Tosh is such a helicopter parent.

I'm not. I can see why I come across that way in the stories that I tell. The reality is I'm just always around. and I'm bored and I want to hang out with somebody. I'm more of a drone parent because, you know, I'm making obnoxious noise and nobody wants me there and every 15 to 20 minutes I need to take a nap and recharge. That sounds right. Gilly the Clown episode.

This dude rocks. Ha, ha, ha. When he dropped the F bomb right away, I knew he was going to be a great guest. A potty mouth clown never misses. You guys need to book him. Hey? You say, well, why don't you book them? I'll book them when appropriate. Right. You don't always mean. Or when horribly inappropriate. I'd like to book them. There you go. You think you could masturbate in front of a clown?

Yeah, I think I could. I can see that. No way. No way? You're challenging me. Do it. You got to hire. Book him. Book him. No, not him. Like a clown. No. Not him. Sure, we all could, in front of something, Jugs McGee. Well, yeah, that's what I was thinking. No, we're talking, we're talking to Gilly. We're doing it in front of Gilly. No, then no.

Okay. Oh, you're the one that was like defiant. I'm just saying I could, but I don't want to do it. Gillies my friend. What do you? You want a masturbating in front of friends. Oh. Strangers.

It's inappropriate. All right. What are you, Louie? Gilly, contact the show. Learn so much during this episode, L-O-L. It's nice. I mean, we really should reclassify this pod from political to educational. Yeah, people learn here.

Remember how great Tosh Point O was? Seems like a long time ago. Revision is history. We were never great. Okay? The show was fine. You were just younger and dumber. My water heater died and I couldn't afford to fix it for a month.

I hated the cold showers and I'm so grateful to have hot water again. See? We're not. that different. I too hate cold showers. Oh, I can really relate. Very relatable. Uh-huh. Which guests will get that tent, smiley face. Great question. I can't give it away. I should give it away that way when my kids inevitably like, when can we go camping again, I'll be like, oh, I don't have that tent anymore because there's no way I would re-buy another tent. You're not buying another tent. If I give it away, I won't have to do it again.

It's the end of camping. I'm keeping it. It packed very nicely. I'm going to be honest with you. That tent was $450. It's a nice tent. Right? That's a four-person tent that costs $450 for one night of use.

I got to use it again just to get my money's worth. The more you use it, the cheaper it was. Right. It's like a hotel. Eventually, it'll be like a Motel 6 with one of those honors cards where you're getting it for 40 bucks a night. This is fantastic. Here's who I used to be when it comes to hotels. I used to have

a Super 8 VIP card that like got me the room like on the first floor like right next to the office. The office. Yeah. Like apparently that was the one that you wanted. Because if you wanted to have that continental breakfast which they might have

put out some energy bars, it's an easy walk. I think it was just you wanted to get out of there real quick in the morning. Check out as quick. You just could run. But regardless, I used to have a lot of, my super eight value card so let's now oh I fucking get pissy at Pete when the Ritz Carlton or the four seasons doesn't have the right sweet I'm like oh you know what I don't care about sweets as much depends if my kids are with me as much as I care

about view I don't like to have a shitty view yeah in my hotel it makes me very depressed just like a nice hotel and then you open up the window and it's a parking garage Oh, how about when I'm in the tour bus and I wake up alone in it and I open the window and like we're underground in the back of some theater? I'm like, I'm pretty sure I'm breathing fumes. Oh, yeah, you are. I had blocked my whole life yet. I like hearing your ad reads. It's fucking weird.

This guy's listening to our ad reads. That's incredible. Now, if you subscribe to our Patreon page, you can hear some of the ad read outtakes. Oh, man. Those are good. Those are laugh out loud, hysterical. Don't tell the sponsors about those. No, they love it.

They've got a sense of humor. They know their products are shit. I'm teasing. If you don't get that, don't support the show. From your mother's episode, Mother's Day. She's very right about the commercials. How many billions does Daniel need? One.

Just one, please. One. That's how many billions I need. A single billion. If I had a billion dollars, oh, I would be so happy. Oh, it would be so happy, mother. That's it, man. All right, that's not so bad.

No, it's good. You're probably wondering why I'm wearing this drug rug. Yeah. I tell you why. I'm high as a kite right now. What? Mm-hmm. And today's guest can appreciate that.

Enjoy. I take dog nutrition seriously because I can't leave it up to Carl to do it. Your dog knows the difference between processed brown pellets and real food. Don't feed your dog crappy old kibble. Sundays for dogs is different. Founded by a veterinarian and a dog parent. Sundays starts with more than 80% of all natural meats and then add superfoods such as kale, ginger, and blueberries.

No fillers, no nutritional blends, no chemicals, just simple, complete nutrition. Carl, you hear this? Pizza dog Frank eats nothing but Sundays. and she couldn't be healthier. I didn't miss gender there. Frank is a girl, but that's another story. Pete, how much does Frank loves Sundays?

She loves that beef recipe. Hmm. Make the switch to Sundays. Go right to Sundaysfor Dogs.com slash Tosh and get 50% off your first order, or you can use code Tosh at checkout. That's 50% off for your first order at Sundaysfor Dogs.com slash Tosh.

Sundays for Dogs.com slash Tosh or use code Tosh at checkout. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack, hydration, and coffee sponsor. With over 20,000 five-star reviews and counting, more people than ever are fueling their busy lifestyles with IQ bars, brain and body boosting bars, hydration mixes, and mushroom coffees. Plant protein bars. Here's the flavors. chocolate sea salt, peanut butter cup, almond butter chip, chocolate mint chip, toasted coconut chip, lemon blueberry, banana nut, wild blueberry, and matcha chai. Here's my favorites.

In order, chocolate sea salt, peanut butter cup, chocolate mint chip. I like the banana nut. No, I don't like that one. I like toasted coconut chip. That one's, I like that one. And right now, IqBarr is offering our special podcast. Listeners, 20% off all IQ bar products, including the ultimate sampler pack, plus free shipping. To get your 20% off, text to $64,000. That's TOSH to 64,000. Message and data rates may apply.

See terms for details. Fellas, it's officially that time of the year where the fit matters a little more. You can't just hide behind hoodies and jackets anymore. People got to see what you're working with. That's why I'm a fan of GLD. I love to accessorize, and sometimes it doesn't take much. A clean chain, a bracelet, maybe a pendant, and suddenly the whole outfit looks intentional. You could be wearing a plain tea in shorts,

but throw on the right piece, and it looks like you actually know what you're doing. They've got chains, penance, bracelets, watches, plus official collabs with all your favorite sports leagues. For a limited time only, new customers are getting an insane deal. Use code Tosh to get ready, wait for it, 40% off at gld.com. That's 40% off with code Tosh at gldd.com. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them.

Please support our show and tell them our show sent you. It's time to lock in and upgrade your style this summer with GLD. My guest today is somehow still alive. He has spent over 10,000 hours in the air cheating death. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's hang glider, Joe. Joe?

First question, do you believe in ghosts? No, I don't. Not at all. Do you have a death wish? No, no, I don't have a death wish, but playing close to it can be fun sometimes. That's a nice answer. Mm-hmm. Where are you from?

I'm originally from Oregon, then Washington State, and then California, when I turned about nine years old, came down here. How old are you? I'm 75. And you're still hang gliding. Still hang gliding, me and my wife. Is there a camp when you're like, just in your head where you're like, I probably shouldn't do this anymore? You begin to wonder at my age, don't you?

Do you think it's coming up or no? You know, I'm negotiating with a mountain and we can't agree yet. So one of these days, one of us will win. You work out? No, my flying is my workout. That's what I say about a lot of the dumb stuff that I do. but my doctor says I need to actually start working out. My doctor says I do too.

But I'm one of those guys who never had to. I don't have to eat. I don't get fat. I don't get skinny and just everything. If I didn't eat, I wouldn't know it. It's weird. What did you weigh your senior year in high school? 138.

And what do you weigh today? 138. Yeah, and I understand it. Did you ever consider being a jockey? Yeah, put some wings on it. Then you'd be interested? Yeah. Was hang gliding one of the original extreme sports?

You know, we talk like it is, but, you know, they're worth skydiving before that and maybe scuba diving. Do you scuba diving? No, no. I'm afraid of the water. I'm afraid of being underwater. I'm not afraid of being underwater, but I don't, I have never scuba diving. And I have zero desire to do that. That does not interest me in any way.

I like the sights, but there's just a hidden phobia. And when was the first time you went hang gliding? First time I went was actually a day at a high school college buddy called me up and say, hey, remember your old Jim coach? Yeah, I remember him. He's going to go fly this big kite today. What do you do? Do you want to go watch?

I said, sure. He comes over and gets me. We'd get in a car. We drive off in a corner of the North Valley, getting this big field. I look around looking for somebody with a big old Japanese string kite or something. I can't find anybody in the field. But I look up on this mountain or this hill, it's about 150 foot hill in the distance. and there's a big orange thing, fabric of some kind.

I can't really see it's too far away. It looks like there's a guy standing near it, and next thing there's sky below it. Wow, that thing's in the air. And it's getting closer and bigger and closer and bigger. This thing I know it turns in, it lands right in front of me, and this little puff of wind hit me in the face, and I just said, wow, that guy must be James fucking Bond.

Yeah. You know, I could never do that, but that is cool. And 10 minutes later, he was shoving me down the hill on this thing, and I was sliding down the hill, skinning my knuckles and tearing my Levi's and big old smile on my face, you know. And you were just dragging? I mean,

well, you've got to run to take off and you generally run down a hill so they find a little slope if they don't want to kill you. How old were you at this point? Probably 25, 24. I like that you were... Actually, younger 23.

I like that you were so bored that you were willing to go with a friend to watch somebody fly a kite. I know. I mean, you wouldn't talk about... That's pretty pathetic, isn't it? Sad day. bad. But all right, turned out, well, now here are my attempts at flying as a child. I was always

fascinated by trying to fly. I once made a parachute. I was very young, okay? I made it out of strips of toilet paper and taped them together, tied the four corners to strings, and jumped off the roof of my house. That didn't work, obviously. Then I got a little bit older. I realized, What if I stood in a box, jumped off the roof of my house in the box? But right before I hit the ground, stepped out of the box. Cartoon logic. Right, cartoon logic. That was a horrible film.

And then the last thing, I think I was watching, like, the Tarzan Boy Show, and he had fabricated a airplane out of sticks, and he ran and he jumped and he hang glided with it, whatever. and I built a replica of this and I ran down a hill. In my head, I was like, it's going to work. It's just disaster. I should have waited until I got a little older or had the means, but I never had the means to attempt any of these things. With all those qualifications, I'm surprised you're not a hang glider.

Explain the basic mechanics of what you're doing up there. Hang glider is no different than a paper airplane. If you throw it, it flies, but it goes down, doesn't it? That's because it's heavier than the air around it. Now, if you take a tissue paper and drop it or a feather and drop it, it goes down too because gravity pulls it down. But what could you do to make that feather or that tissue paper go up? How about if you held that feather over a campfire?

And the feathers are trying to come down, but the warm air, the hot air is rising faster than the feather comes down. That's how the hang glider works. When we take off on the hang glider, we are descending like a parachute, but three times slower. We're descending very softly. But what are you doing the whole time? I'm strapped in, enjoying the ride, and telling it where to go with my body movements. It's like taking the wing walker on an airplane because there's a body going out on the left wing, makes the left wing heavy.

Left wing comes down, we go into a turn. Body wing walker walks to the front of the airplane, puts its weight in front of the wings. It's heavy, like standing in the front of canoe, the nose goes down and it accelerates. Well, I just have to pull my weight that way. Pull my weight forward. I dive. push my weight backwards, they slow down, put my weight left, I turn left, right? And you do a loop?

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Have you done loops? You're not certified for that. No, that's actually a lot of people do loops, but they violate all the safety standards of the sport. And I never took an interest in it. You never took an interest in. That's because when it was getting popular, everybody, and as I was growing in skill and experience, everybody I knew better than me that was doing loops was getting hurt.

or killed. How long will you take its nose dive it? Is that fun? Yeah, diving's fun. Sure, sure. You could spiral down, but that cuts into your total flight time because now you have to gain it back again. But in good surroundings and good places, you can find another updraft, which we call an elevator, you know. We're just looking for updrafts, elevators. We'll fly down and then we've got to find some lift because if we don't find it again, we go and land and everybody else gets to have fun and you don't. Any other guys you flew with in the 70s still alive? Anybody, you know, a lot or not, and that is scary.

Yeah, a lot are still alive, but most of them long since quit hang glidered. Are you going fast up there? Are you always just kind of against the wind and just... No, it seems slow when you're high, but anytime you get near the ground and something, it turns into fast pretty quick. Now, how safe were those original hang gliders? We used to pretend they were safe. You know, we really had ourselves convinced that if anything went wrong, it's going to be your fault.

And the reality is, no, they weren't very safe at all. They were some pretty crazy devices. And how high could those, could those, like, hit the off-draps? Yeah, the joke or the game we played was we just told ourselves, you don't want to fly any higher than you care to fall. Do you know about the 50-50 rule? No, tell me. I don't know if it's true or not.

I just read it one time and it stuck with me that the human body, 50% of the time, can survive a fall from 50 feet. Has anybody ever heard that? I've never heard that. I've heard it. See if that's a thing. The 50-50 rule of fall.

It's basically like if you fall out of your hotel room on the fifth floor, you've got a 50% chance of surviving it. That's a real thing. Thank you. That's true. My rule was a little different. My rule was if you weighed less than 140 pounds, you could survive it. Oh, yeah? But if you weighed more than that, you're going to slam. Does weight play a big issue, or do you do math on your bird?

No, no. Well, as far as flying weight doesn't play an issue because the glider you choose to fly is size to your weight. Oh, it is. Bigger the pilot, the bigger the glider. Do people call it a bird? No. Okay. I thought I was cool. I thought I was cool by doing that. No, you're a fool. Oh, right. Fair enough. Fair enough. I'll take that. I didn't know. I went for it. Don't do that. What's the ideal takeoff height for you? And how quickly can you find the updrafts? Are you just blindly looking for this stuff? We have a 3,500 foot mountain nearby. Okay. In the valley here, it's 2,200 feet above the ground. So 3,500 above the sea, but we're not near the seas. Oh, got you.

2200 feet. Landing there is two miles away. And if you put a student at the control, controls, he's going to land in 10 minutes. So hang gliders don't have motors, gravity pulls him right down to the earth, just pulls him slowly. So he's up for 10 minutes. Now, while he's flying around, he might be going through elevators of rising air all over. The ground's getting hot over here. That air rises and over here air is sinking.

And it's all invisible, so he can't see it. And if he did, he wouldn't know what to do with it. Put a good guy in that glider and he can spend eight, 10 hours in the air going up and down thousands of feet up and down, no motor. Eight to ten hours seems too long. Well, my longest flight is eight and a half hours. Is there a world record? Yeah, 30-some hours. Oh. But that was years ago,

and then I got to where, hey, I got a pee, is there potty breaks? And have you ever gone to the bathroom while you're up there? Be honest. That's probably the most dangerous, scary flight I've had was my potty brake hang gliding. It's hard to get it upside down. That's the real trick. Oh, it was horrible. It was horrible.

Oh, I shivered today at the thud. I'm at 18,000 feet in the Sierra's, and I'm trying to fly 200 miles. This is like big-time hang gliding, you know. And I'm entering some clouds and some rough air, and I've had to pee for the whole flight. Man, I got to go. You shouldn't hold it. You're going to get it. You're entering track infection. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but, no, I'm holding it. And eventually, I just can't. I got to pee. And I'm lying down with this harness. I've got to figure out how to do this, right? Now, harness goes down below my upper thighs. The harnesses is this big sheet,

like a catcher's vest right, goes all the way down. And I've got to figure out how to get around that and get my belt undone and get my pants unzipped and get out, right? And I can't get to the belt. I can't get the belt. I don't need the graphic, Joe. I stretch, well, you're stuck with it.

I stretch my pants down and I get underneath this harness. I blot myself out. And the next thing, I start. I start hitting all this turbulence. So you hit turbulence just like jets. Yeah, yeah. It's a bad, bad period.

I just want to get down. And it's frigging. 18,000 feet is way below zero. Uh-huh. And I'm trying to deal with that. And now my peckers get gold. Uh-huh. And so I figure, how do I do it?

So I start trying to get myself rearranged, and I can't. And I can't. No matter what. Now I'm panicking and I can't. All I can think of is, huh, you're going to be known as a guy who lost his dick hang gliding. That's going to be your, that's my scariest thing. Joe, did you ever consider just peeing in your pants?

Yeah, my partner did that. My partner did the same thing. It just seems way safer. He did that, but nobody would let him in the truck when they picked them up, so I made him drive back in them. Have you ever hit a bird? Or has a bird ever tried to attack you? Yeah.

Some words are protective of the. they're young. So certain times you're when they have young in the nest, like raptors, redtail hawks, eagles, stuff like that, you get near their nest, they'll come after you. I've been struck, and what they'll do is they'll come up behind you and get you in the eyeballs, they'll come down and strike your wing, and then they'll come back behind you, come down and strike your wing, and they got claws, and so they'll tear your fabric. Have you ever joined, like, a family of pelicans in flight? No, but we fly quite, a lot of the birds don't mind you fly. with them because they do the same thing you're trying to do only they do it better because they've

been doing it for millennium right so birds like eagles and hawks don't like to flap because they burn calories burn calories they have to hunt for food more for they're young so they prefer not to flap if they can yet they got to search for food so what they do is they flap when they need to just to get started and then they glide descend descend descend and find those invisible thermals and circle to go up. So we can't see these thermals. We want to find them. And so we quite often fly with Red Tail Hawks. And we've even flown with, locally, with one of the most endangered birds on the planet, which is called the California Condor. It's really cool because the wingspan on a condor is almost wall to wall. It's nine and a half feet, so it's

probably, okay. Nine and a half foot wingspan. When that bird comes up next to you, it's like, oh my God, that's a dinosaur. That is really, really cool. That is really cool. There's some cool stuff up there. When birds fly in a V, do you know why one side is always longer than the other? I don't know why.

Why one side is always longer? Yeah. Because there's more birds on that side. You just got got, Joe. I love it. You got me. There you go, Joe. You got that one.

I've told that joke to my kids so many times they never have ever laughed. I'm like, you don't get it. They're like, we get it, Dad. They're just angry. We just don't care. Your stupid joke. How much does today, how much does a good hang glider cost? $5 to $13,000. What's the best hang glider on the market cost? $25,000, but it's not something many people want. It would be like the, oh, it'd be like a Lamborghini. Would you want one? I'm not a Lamborghini guy. Yeah, you don't need one. Well, I, yeah, I just don't want one. What do you drive?

I have a Rivian pickup truck. Oh, at least it's a pickup truck. Yeah, see, I got one. But it's electric. Yeah, well, you know, I don't want to pump gas ever. And RJ is my buddy. Do the same, like your hill that you know it like the back of your hand. And are they called updrafts?

I'm like saying? Yeah, we call them thermals in this form. Are the thermals usually located in the same places that they were last time? That's a great question. That really is. Okay. Yes. Yeah, there's reasons the thermals are where they are.

Right. And those reasons don't change from hour to hour day to day. So you know where they are. So you could, in theory, have almost like a GPS app that's like, hey, there's normally a thermal here. My next, my follow. Doesn't mean it will be there, but normal. You got it right. So here's what I'm trying to create is what about like some type of slingshot mechanism or something on the ground.

where you're like right near one of your thermals and you just kind of get launched into it and up you go without having to go to the top of a mountain. Is that a possibility? I'm trying to create like a man-made version to launching you up. And maybe even a man-made thermal. Is there such a thing that we could do for the industry?

People have tried the man-made thermals, but without success. Okay. Set fields on fires and stuff like that. That seems like a... Not a very good idea. Are you telling me that you're responsible for the Wozley fire because I have a bone to pick with you. Do you have to get a license to a hang glide?

You don't have to, but it's extremely inconvenient if you don't because a few people are going to let you on their land if you're untrained and unlicensed and uninsured. I got a canyon in my backyard. Let's go, Ed. Let's go, Ed. What do you think of those ones on the beach? I've seen it maybe like a kitty hawk or something in North Carolina,

where it's got the big oversized air tires, and they basically let noobs just kind of run down a sandhill that's 20 feet down or something like that, and they let us try to hang glide. That is something, right? El Segundo's got it, too. They've got an El Segundo. El Segundo is my school.

That's what you're talking about is what I operated for years and years and years. I've since retired, but my old staff is running the school now. Yeah, it's a gas. That's acceptable? Any goofball for any reason can go down there and find themselves flying a hang glider without threat. Is that, there's no threat? No threat. There's no chance that all of a sudden a big gust of wind could.

Well, not in our case because we've got the best of all worlds. We've got a little gently sloped sand dune and the slope matches the flight path of the glider. We got soft sand, perfect gentle winds. And we use these giant gliders that allow the glider to get airborne at nearly a walking speed. So you don't have the anxiety of motion and speed. You're not going really fast, that running down a hill full of barbed wire and, you know, brambles. And the instructor just runs alongside you,

and he can put one hand on your body and maneuver your body as a pendulum, because that's how it's controlled by shifting your weight. And if you're doing everything well, like that skydiver, if you're doing everything well, he just leaves you alone, let you fly. If you do something wrong, he just steps in. So you're within his reach.

flying down a hill for 30 seconds and landing 100 yards away on the beach. Okay. Here's my question to you. And go with the absurdity of it. I'm being chased by, I don't care, bad people. It's going to end ugly. I have to run. I'm at the edge of a cliff.

There's a hang glider there waiting. I have zero experience, but certain death, if I stick around, I have to just go for it. What's the percentage that I survive this? I'd turn around and face my enemy first. That's not what I wanted to hear. I got no chance there. They're odd enough.

They just fly so differently that you're not going to be able to do it. Do you always have a follow truck? If you're going distance. Most commonly, you're flying around your mountain. You're landing where everybody lands. Everybody lands. you have a few beers and you'd chase each other around the sky for a while. You ever had some issues with drones?

No, no, no, no. I didn't know. Airplanes? Yeah. They get close to you ever? We're often above airplanes, yeah. Do you wave? You'd salute anything?

Everybody's got their own. I enjoy airplanes. I think it's cool. I think it's fun. I got my eyes open. They can get close. It doesn't bother me. But a lot of pilots.

What's considered close? Well, in the movie work, I could be, have my hang glided 10 feet off the wings of a helicopter, you know, philemy, and very few hand glided pilots want to do that. Does the FAA? Yep. They know what you're doing? Yeah, they're involved, but not what you'd call fully involved. They monitor anything that flies is under their control.

If it's in the air, the FAA controls it. They don't license it, but they give two pages of rules. That says you can't operate in ways that hurt other people. You can't fly in certain places where too many airplanes fly. So they restrict the danger. to others and allow us to endanger ourselves. Can you hang glide at night? You can, if you're willing to suffer the consequences of the law.

Let me rephrase that. Sure you can, because nobody's going to probably catch you. Yeah, but no, you can't legally, but yeah, people do. Have you ever thought about doing some heist? Seems like a hang glider would be good for that. Do you ever bring stuff with you? When I was surfing, I wanted to get a breakdown surfboard. I make them cut in half.

I wanted to put it on my ultralight and fly into Mexico. go where I get into places where nobody else can surf. But you know what? I just was too late. What about drug trafficking? Did you ever think about doing that? They do it, I'm sure. I'm sure they do.

It's true. There have been a hang glider pilots gone to jail in the old days for that. Do you tandem ever? Yeah, no, yeah. Could you take anybody with no experience just for a ride then? That is one of the things that the FAA does not allow. But yes, I can. I just can't market it as a ride.

All right. It can't be a right. So you come to me and say, Joe, I'd like to go for a ride. I said, I can't. But would you like to go for a lesson? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'd like to, what does that mean? But whatever you like.

I'm going to let you know right now. I'm a bad student. Would you like to learn a little bit? Would you like to just watch and learn by watching? So I could take you up and you could do nothing but enjoy it and watch. Or you could participate and start the learning. Where am I hanging? Am I next to you or underneath you?

You're next to me, side by side. How much weight can you actually hold? Tandum I can take up to about $2.50 as a palmer. Have you ever eyeballed a passenger and gone, ugh? Yeah, I don't want to have this conversation, but we're cutting it a bit close. Yeah, if you're smart, you just don't do it. Get theiritis. How much does your hang glider weigh?

I've got several, but as little as 50 pounds and as much as 75. Okay, that's not bad. That's acceptable. You get my age and you're carrying that goddamn thing on a car and take it off the car. No, I respect that. A 50-pound one is beginning to feel like 75. 50 to 75 pounds. All right.

And how long from taking it off the roof of your car to flight? How long does that take you to set one up? Well, if I were in a contest, it would be 15 minutes, but it's a half an hour. Are you doing checks every time? No, because you get into your routine, you get good at it, you get careless, so you learn to do a final check, which should cover all the foolishness. How many close calls have you had? more than I'd like to admit. And if you think back on them, does it get the blood going?

Like you're like, oh, man, that was bad. Yeah, it actually makes me more gracious, you know, more feeling like, why, you know, those stories when your buddy gets killed and you don't, you know, why me? You know, why do I deserve it? So I'd like people to think that, you know, I've never been hurt because I'm good, you know, I'm smarter than everybody else or I did better than everybody else. but that's not the truth at all. The truth is I made plenty of mistakes and just got lucky.

Talk to me about Red Bull. Do you like what they're doing with the sport? I do. I don't drink Red Bull. I've got an aversion to being used and spending a lot of money because of fashion, you know, all that crap, because it's the thing to do and following the crowd. But I really do support them because of what they're doing in sports. I like what they're doing in sports, too, but I don't understand how this is all based around a drink.

that I've never tasted. That tastes like crap. Oh, there's no chance I'm drinking Red Bull. Unless they sponsor the show. You sponsor the show, I'll chug it. I had a Red Bull shirt I was going to wear today, and it just had a stain on it. Have you ever been talked into competing in the Red Bull Flutog? No, I haven't been talked into.

I wanted to. Right. Okay, you've wanted to. Good. But now it's too late. No, it's not. It's you up there. It's too late for me to win.

because there was a point in time where the evolution of knowledge and Flutog was lagging because what wins in Flutog today are hang gliders. So now today I couldn't build one as good as they could but 10 years ago I could have. What about wingsuits?

Have you ever had a desire? Have you ever had even a slight desire to give a shot? That guy must be James Bond. That really does look cool and no, I could never do that. But wingsuits always end with your parachute, right? That's how they end. Yeah.

I mean, I watched the videos and the videos when they're going through canyons, I'm like, that's incredible. I don't know how they know that they're going to clear stuff, but it seems like they've got the math figured out. Yeah, they're actually my heroes. They're your heroes? Yeah, yeah, they're doing something I'm afraid of, yeah.

You would be afraid of it? Oh, it's good to know you have fears. I didn't know if you, I thought you might be like completely fearless when it comes to this. Do you have any other hoppies? No. I am one of those people who's wasted their life

and I know nothing else. but I know just about every damn thing about flying these things that one could know. When did you retire? I retired about five years ago. So now it's just purely recreational. But before they, you worked in the movies a lot as well for stunt. Got lucky living in Hollywood in the early days of a new sport when the stunt guys just wanted to get into it because they saw this as,

hey, another thing is going to be big and commercials and TV and films are going to have it. So they tried to get in. But they didn't have time for it. They're too busy with their other skills they had to keep up. So they dabbled in it, and then they started getting hurt. And that opened the door for somebody like me, because the producers would want to hire somebody, and the stunt guys would say,

you'd have to hire us because it's a union. You can't hire people outside of the union, right? And so they ended up doing a training short film. They said, okay, we'll do a test. we'll get the stunt guys to participate in this little make do film we'll get the hang gliders whoever wins gets to do it okay and so they did that and that's the poor stuntman just got hurt and injured and look foolish and it takes one stunt person to die on set to really zap the energy it it absolutely does it's it does and that very same film uh somebody got killed and they had to they had to sneak the director out of the kind of country. They had to fly him out on a charter. Do you hear that, Alec Baldwin? Just get him out of the country back in the day. Hey, talk about being on McGiver. And did you double for him after he constructed a glider from stuff that he found in a dumpster? Yes. What he did is he got sent to

some protector of the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, to pick up a satellite. And so he constructed a hang glider out of the satellite. And then all the bad guys were after him. So he had to get away, make a get away and take the satellite components. He had to build a hang glider. I love that show.

And I think the reason I loved McGiver is because he made cool things out of junk. And I grew up in a family where I never had stuff. So I was like, oh, this could be, this could be how I could get something cool. But here's where I'm bringing a full circle. Here in my neighborhood, there's a house. It's a Pacific Northwest-style home. And it was always one of my favorites to look at.

And I'm like, I love this house. And my friend goes, you know, that's the guy, the actor that played McGiver that lives there. And I'm like, are you kidding me? I love that house. I'm like, to know the cool shit that he built in there. We'll be right back. They say Southern California doesn't have seasons. Well, that's just not true. Okay, we've got summer. The days are a little more relaxed, and I find myself reaching for the same comfortable go anywhere pieces again and again.

That's why me and the boys here keep coming back to Quince. They focus on well-made essentials that naturally become those everyday staples you actually live in all season long. Quince's 100% European linen pants and shirts are breathable, easy to the same. throw on and the summer upgrade your rotation needs starting just $34 all of a sudden you look like you know you're a kingpin eddie what did you buy from quince got that short sleeve uh 100% linen shirt for the tour i wore it was so high it was nice eddie walking around linen he loves linen love linen all right make your summer wardrobe easier go to quince dot com slash tosh for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada

that's Q-U-I-N-C-E-com slash Tosh for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash Tosh. Everyone's on show gets a gift. Okay, and it's just stuff that I have at my house that I don't want. I just re-gift it. Okay? Oh, God. That's the show.

All right, that's the gig. Now, Joe, I have to ask you real quick, are you planning when this day inevitably comes? comes for all of us. Are you planning on being cremated? Don't answer. I've got an urn. Okay? This is from my buddy. He does water cremations. He gave me this urn. I'm like, I don't think I want it. I've decided. Anyway, it's nice, it's beautiful. I want you to have this urn. Okay? You do with it what you want. Now can I answer? What's that? We've got a memorial bench in our hang gliding flight park.

And there's already 12 people in it. great look at I'm going in there next nice put that on the desk I have to put that on the floor on the news please on the floor just drop that's your arm

Ben that is great I got my own memorial my my agent she's a witch I don't want to get into that right now but every year

she buys me a these Japanese money trees they're for good fortune good luck I don't believe in any of that stuff I just am like and I have

so many of them in my house. Anyway, I want you to have it wishing you good luck for as long as you want to be doing this. I can't tell if this is a joke or no. It's not a joke. It's for good luck. I know. This is cool. That's cool.

Very kind of you. You're welcome. Thank you. Then this, I always get these in my green room whenever I perform at altitude. They give you oxygen. Wow. Because one time. That's something I can use.

Right. Well, there you go. There's a can of oxygen. Do you ever get short of breath up there? You know, I'm scared to death of water, I told you. Uh-huh. And whenever I would have to do water stunts, I was a whining, sniveling bag of poop.

And I'd make the stunt guys be under water with cans of oxygen and safety knives and all that. So now I got my own can of oxygen. Yeah, sure. If you ever feeling woozy, you just give yourself a little hit. I got to spot my harness for this when I get above 14,000 feet. You said 18,000. That's the highest you've ever.

18's high as we're allowed to go by law. Okay, so you've been higher. Got it. Yeah. But how high will a thermal take you? You ever been up in an airliner and seeing clouds above you? Uh-huh. Okay, so thermals go up to the bases of those clouds.

We can get that high. Oh. We can get really frigging high. Yeah. That's beautiful up there, though. Uh-huh. Now you're kissing the sky. Pretty cold.

All right, here, please put that on the floor, your oxygen. What do you want to jump off of? What haven't you jumped off? What are your favorite places that you've got to hang glide and then, you know, maybe some bucket list places? Well, as far as where I have, Yosemite is just spectacular. Mm-hmm. And so are the Alps. And you're allowed in Yosemite?

We're the only flying machines allowed in Yosemite. Yeah. A special program established by the Park Service in the 70s and we're still doing it. And paragliders can't do it and ultralights can't do it. Airplanes can't take off and land there, but we can. So it's pretty cool. And then there's the Alps and Brazil. You know, Rio's jungle versus cities.

That's kind of neat and a lot of beautiful people and a lot of fun. What about a high rise? Have you ever gone off of one? Yeah, I have for stunt work, though. Only in stunt work. Okay. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm in vain.

Yeah, anything. I mean, when you're flying for a director, he needs you to, can you fly here? Can you fly here? And there are never places that hang gliders can fly. Well, that's the fun, creative part of that world for me other than teaching hang gliding is that I get to do things that generally, don't get to do, find a way to make it work. And so jumping in buildings are being pulled up behind a horse

or finding a way to get airborne in Japan and fly around a castle that's on a 600-foot hill and yet there's no hills above it to start from. So how do you get the hang glider up to fly around that castle, you know? So this is where the creative stuff comes in. Have you ever been pulled by a plane? Yeah, yeah. Oh, man, I'm starting to like this.

Now my head has been... Wait, first of all, Vegas. Have you ever gone off of a casino up there? No, there's a bit of a problem with the building thing, and that is technically in hang gliding, commercial operations are not legal. They're one of the few things you can't do in a hang glider. Got to be sport or recreation. Yet I've got hundreds of motion picture qualifications on my credit list,

and all of them are illegal. Every single one of them. The sphere, maybe that's a loophole because what is it really? No one knows. So when you're doing these things commercially, you're literally going in and just hoping the FAA doesn't find out about it and not telling them and they don't want to know. Mm-hmm. You know, so. And then again, if anybody ever did get hurt, you're going to jail.

What about temperature? Have you gotten soft down here in Southern California? Would you like to hang glide in Alaska or does that not interest you? No, actually, that's a good one. I'd like to go to Alaska and be helicoptered into the most remote location. with no roads and launch off a mountain there and see if I could get myself up and out of there. That would be fun. Of course, I'd have a safety crew.

Wouldn't it be great to be coming down, no thermals, and you'd see a bunch of grizzlies? And like, oh, this was a bad idea. This was a bad idea. I've had a few bad ideas. How long do you plan on doing this? And at what point do you walk away? I keep having that argument with, you know, the sky or the mountain, you know, we're in negotiations still. And I still think I'm pretty good at this.

And that leads me to do the things I've always done. And some of those things are pretty challenging. And so you begin to wonder, okay, Joe, when you better start slowing down at your age? You know, you're going to get hurt if you tried to do the things you can't do anymore. So I've tried to tailor that a little bit and harness that animal of, you know, challenge. And I think I can do this as long as I can keep walking, you know? I want to thank the godfather of Free Flight's Joe for being on the show.

Thanks a lot. All right, my friend. Thanks for having me. My pleasure. Pasha! Hey, I want to thank Joe for being on the show. That was nice. And believe it or not, he's on the roof right now, getting ready to run off and float his way home.

With all those gifts. Yeah. What a way to live your life. Yeah. Just one thermal after another. Head on over to our patreon.com slash toss show. Become a member and enjoy the perks of all the extra content. Any other perks?

Did they get anything else? They feel good about, you know. They ought to get some type of like memorabilia. Like a patch. A patch. So I can recognize them at live events. Right. Speaking of live events, come see us on tour.

My first farewell tour is on sale now. All over this great land. Mm-hmm. We have the Toshoshostore.com. You want to pick up some sweet, cool merch. Now, with no further ado, I give you. They love me, they love me not.

What do you got for me, Eddie? All right, Daniel, love the podcast. You should come back to Denver. When I was 14, my parents took me to see you in Denver, and the next day they told me they were getting a divorce. On second thought, maybe don't come to Denver. I remember that night. I made love to your mother.

I remember she was in a rush. She's like, they're in the car. Jesus. And I'm like, all right. Ah, memories. All right. Well, that was they love me or love me not? I don't know.

Skirts, it's kind of both sides there, but I would say I love you. That was a, uh, all right. So he loves me, but he doesn't want me to perform in Denver. All right, fine. I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I broke up their marriage. Yeah. But it was probably on the skids. Right.

You just gave it a nudge. Yeah, I just made love to his mom. Yeah. Well, they're in the car, apparently. Well, while they were in the car, sure. Yeah, like the show was over. The show was done? I didn't have a little.

much time. We leave right away normally. Yeah, I gotta go quick. All right, let's hear they love me not. Hey, Tosh, I know you know this, but you're an asshole.

You alienate half of your potential audience by calling us dumb for support Trump. You've done this in other episodes too, and I've rolled my eyes and continued to listen. No more, FY. No, no. No.

No. I'm not for everyone. Okay? if you don't want to listen to this podcast because your feelings got bruised because I teased you for supporting a pile of dog shit great I'm sure there's tons of other podcast with hysterical right-wing comics I've never heard of them but I'm sure they exist I'm going to tell you the same thing my mother used to say to me as a child why don't you go play in traffic you a whiny cunt See you next week