Blocks w/ Neal Brennan - Tony Hawk

Episode Date: September 28, 2023

Neal Brennan interviews Tony Hawk (Pro Skater) about the things that make him feel lonely, isolated, and like something's wrong - and how he is persevering despite these blocks. ---------------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Pro Skater 9:11 Determination 41:25 Saying No 49:55 Having Confidence 54:47 Being Present 59:47 Accepting Failure  1:04:49 Managing Time 1:08:28 What He’s Done 1:09:55 Movie of his Life ---------------------------------------------------------- https://nealbrennan.com for tickets to Neal's tour Brand New Neal Watch Neal Brennan: Blocks on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81036234 Theme music by Electric Guest (unreleased). Edited by Will Hagle ---------------------------------------------------------- Sponsors: GameTime App Code: BLOCKS for $20 off your first purchase www.ShipStation.com code NEAL for a free 60-day trial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seth and Riley's Garage Hard Lemonade, a delicious classic with a vibrant taste of fresh lemons. The perfect balance of sweet and sour with a crisp, zesty edge. Welcome to The Garage, the place of refreshing hard lemonade. Available at the LCBO. Must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. These are good blocks. I'm excited about this. Hey everyone, hi. It's's me your friend neil brennan this is a podcast called blocks where and by blocks it's a double entendre from my netflix special where i talked about things that make me feel

like something's wrong with me isolated alone in the world a reject and the blocks were physically represented in the it was a double on time it was pretty great it's on netflix go stream it and now we have other people come on and they tell me what their blocks are and as far as i understand we're healing the earth my guest today ladies and gentlemen is a long time acquaintance we would see each other we met in 2004 at the vmas in miami of course who can forget it everyone elseami of course you can forget it everyone else yeah well yeah who can forget it i forgot it for like 10 years um and uh it's tony hawk he's uh i was just asking you what you consider yourself now and you said professional skateboarder pro skater say it cool man don't say professional

skate you sound like a nerd say pro skater yeah that's the official i mean that's the official like if i'm filling out an insurance form professional skateboarder yes but if you're like smoking if you're buying weed other people know me as literally people know me as a video game some people yeah tony hawk's pro skater i am tony hawk pro skater yes you are yes you are but you sure as hell are and boy oh boy don't stop from the outside in i don't know who qualifies as a pro skater and who doesn't uh it's it's murky in skateboarding but officially if you are a pro skater that means you have a skateboard with your name on it that sounds like a low especially with

like it's a pretty i mean what screen printing is yes agreed agreed that it's a low bar and also it's odd because there are there are many skaters that have had great success, but they don't have a pro model, but they win huge events. They get good prize money, but in the eyes of the hardcore skate world, they're not truly pro. Like the guy just won a professional skateboard competition, but he's not pro

because he doesn't have a skateboard with a name on it. Couldn't that just be a choice though? Yes and no. It's never really a choice. Everyone wants that accolade so when the when the brand finally so there are guys that have won pro events sure and but no guys or girls yes no brand believes in them enough to pay them 50 grand it's not even the money it's just the it's the gesture there is there literally if you're a pro skater the the least amount of money you're going to make is from a professor from a skateboard model ah right so it's just the sales aren't there the the market's flooded your most your best bet of making a living is a shoe sponsor or clothing or energy drink

and you you've had all that with the exception of energy drinks yes i was gonna say what what Your best bet of making a living is a shoe sponsor or clothing or energy drink. And you've had all that? With the exception of energy drinks, yes. I was going to say, what are you swilling? Liquid death. Is that true? They sponsor you? Yeah.

I just did a Gatorade commercial, guys. They're not an official sponsor, but they paid me to direct the commercial. Starring Damian Lillard. It's about disappearance. And just like that, they're gone. One of the best drinks. Gatorade. What do people think of you within skating?

I said something to, we'll call him Jerry Seinfeld one time, where I said, people don't even realize how good you are because you're like, I said he's like Derek Jeter or Tom Brady, where you just get to like luminary stage and people don't even know how hard, how funny Jerry is, how, how good at baseball Jeter was. Cause they take it for granted. They just say, we're going to, you just become like,

like my homes at this point, it's getting there. I'm just like, Oh, it's fucking my home. It's great. It's great. I went through a phase of that,

especially in my earlier days, when I was established as a pro and winning events, where I was winning so consistently that it was more like people just expected that. And if I didn't win, then it was this huge knockdown. That must have been infuriating. So it was like if I got second place, I skated my best. Someone else skated better i was happy with my performance people like dude he lost he's losing it he's slipping that must have

been infuriating um it actually it it started to steer me away from competition because of that narrative and also the pressure for me to outdo myself every single time where I just was like, I don't, this is not even fun. This is, I, I, I skate cause it's fun. This has been sucking the fun out of it.

And I got to pull back. Every time you've gotten on a skateboard, what percentage of it in your life has been fun? It's always fun. Okay. So the, the, these competitions still fun,

still fun, but, but the pressure was starting to affect the fun factor to a degree that i actually had to i pulled out of competing for what year was this it was around 1990 91 you're and you're still young like you're i'm 20 yeah i'm 22 yeah i had to have this heart to heart with my small with with stacy peralta bones brigade and tell him i i can't and his answer was how do you expect to make a living because in those days there were no there's no youtube there's no social media um skating was based on it was was uh measured by competition Even the magazines weren't going to put you in,

they weren't even going to cover you if you weren't competing. So his answer to me was like, what do you think you're going to do? And I said, well, I don't know. We're going to shoot videos and I'll try to shoot photos with magazine photographers. He goes, they're not going to want to cover

what you're doing if you're not competing. I was like, ugh. Was he right? In a sense, yeah. So i pulled back from competing that year more just for mental health and there was no resource there's no resource for that right well back then yeah and so i just kind of pulled back i kind of re re-energize my skating by learning new techniques and getting a little more loose with my consistency. So it was more like, I don't care if I don't make everything. I just want to figure out new techniques and evolve my style.

And that liberated me from this constant perfect record. And it allowed me to come back to skating in competition with that attitude. Your dad was like sort of driving you in some ways? No, my dad helped organize events and that got to be tricky. This is in the years prior to that. This is all in this documentary yeah that came out last year that all happened in the years prior to to me kind of burning out by the time that i felt that way about competing my dad had sort of uh he had removed himself from

the the organization so he was just getting older and and little did we know he was starting to get sick. So he pulled out. I stopped competing. But when I came back to competition, I had this renewed vigor that was like, oh, I'm not stuck with the winning streak mentality. I can take chances. And this is way more fun. And it was, it was way more like, my skating actually improved greatly i won plenty of events didn't win plenty of other people still go like bro you fell off on that one it wasn't like that because they could see that i was more carefree i wasn't so conservative with my tricks and my style i was just letting it all hang out and um the irony of that is when i did come back to competition is right

when skating started dying so i was like what happened to the crowds yeah you know what i mean and where what happened to the opportunity that was what i was really surprised by in the documentary was watching the sort of drop i didn't know it wasn't pop. It always just kind of seemed popular from the outside in as like having a cursory. But also in your, I would think in your circles to sort of outcast underground. Yeah. It was like skating.

You just saw, you saw it in the streets. You saw it in New York, New York and LA. Yeah. And so you were living in a world where it didn't seem like it went away, but in rural America and in mainstream coverage, it was non-existent. I have a very broad question for you.

Why are you so fucking good? I know that sounds like it sounds stupid, but when you look back on your, what you've accomplished as a skater and a person, what are the great parts that made you great? And what are the bad parts that make you, that made you great? I think my fierce determination slash stubbornness that I will try something endlessly to figure it out to the point where- Way beyond like what a normal beyond exhaustion beyond boredom beyond belief i mean some people would just be like you're not gonna ever do that you've

been trying that for so long and then at some point i figure it out and when i and it used to be when i would figure it out i had it and then i could do it again and just keep doing it nowadays i mean yes my age is a factor but but nowadays tricks are so complicated and so technical that you're lucky to get this new one once and get it on video and be done with it so that's kind of the the marketplace is like just do you only need to do it once it's not like yes and no even even in my psyche i'm like i can't go through that again i haven't see that what i'm what i'm trying to say is tricks have become so technical that my technique and my approach to them doesn't change and i still only make one out of a hundred or whatever it is so there's nothing learned in that process it's more like one of these is going

to work. I hope my foot isn't right. There must be learning up to a point, right? There is learning up to a point. And some people can take these crazy super tech tricks and do them more consistently. But just in terms of what I'm trying to accomplish these days, like I said, I'm just happy to get one under my feet, get it documented, and never visit it again.

The tenacity, is that learned or that's just you are kind of just i was just like that yeah just obsessed and stubborn i just wouldn't give up on stuff i mean to the point where i was a problem to my parents because i was relentless and if i want to do something i want to do do it. And I didn't care about, you know, if it inconvenienced them or not. And do you find that when other people are being impossibly stubborn, you're like, can't really argue with it. Yeah. Well, I, you know, watch what you wish for. I have plenty of children that show some of the same traits.

And do you quietly like go, I get it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that there's a detriment to the to it not even like the what it does socially or whatever i'm talking about is there a downside to your well there's a downside to being so committed especially nowadays with with what skateboarding has become in terms of risk factor that there have been times when I had to like pull, one of my kids, he had no, he had no sense of mortality.

He had no, he had no concern for his wellbeing. And there were times I just had to pull him away from things. Yeah. Because it was like, this is beyond your skillset and you aren't going to quit until we take you out on a stretcher. So, you know, I had to step in as a parent figure and say this is done we're not doing this anymore and would they eventually side with you

no i mean it was kicking screaming it was like but when then would they go like a year later be like you're right i don't know if he's actually had that if he's had that um perspective yet is it skating skating yeahating. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know another stuff too. I mean, he was,

he was really just the wild child. So you just didn't care about anything else and you just did it over. And that's what I always say to people is like, Hey, you want to be great. Just don't care about anything else. Yeah. Obviously.

And now this, I don't want to discount talent you have to have talent i agree with you there but if you had seen me skate when i first started there is no way you thought oh that guy's got some natural talent like he's just got it i was super awkward and clunky and i got hurt a lot and it was and i didn't have the strength i didn't have the strength. I didn't have the style. I just was obsessed. And what was it about it that obsessed you? Well, beyond the skating itself,

because skating felt like it was this sort of blank canvas of you could try anything, you could do anything, and maybe it's never been done. And there's no rules. And I didn't have to listen to a coach. And I didn't have to practice to a coach. And I didn't have to practice certain hour. I didn't have to practice certain techniques. I could just do it however I wanted. I was still welcomed in the community. But beyond that, the community was

so fascinating to me because it was a bunch of unique people and from all walks of life. And it was like, no one cared about your background your your race your socioeconomics it was just more like oh that guy rips yeah and that's how you were judged and so i was like i wanted to and you like that as like a subcult as like that's a yeah and also there was like there was also this renegade attitude that was like we do this because we love it there's no end game no one's making money and the music was cool and the the clothes were cool and the graphics were cool and you know i was when i first got into it i was 10 years old and then by the time i was like 11 and 12 it became my identity i could not even connect with my schoolmates

because they weren't because they just were like what are you talking about you know i'm talking about music and bands they don't talk about i'm talking about still going to the skate park they're like you still skate like yeah grow out of it like it's a yo-yo yeah and did you ever did you feel like i i guess i'm just stuck with this kind of weird thing or i didn't i didn't feel like i lost you didn't no yeah no because No, because it gave me so much in terms of my sense of self-confidence and identity that I didn't need to be accepted by high school.

Yeah. I mean, my first year of high school, I hid my skateboard in the bushes before class because if they saw you with a skateboard, I was already bullied because I was small and I looked like a skater. But if i was carrying a skateboard i was marked like it was the furthest thing from cool you could do it's like such a hilarious back to the future thing like who's that the fucking kid tony hawk he thinks skating is gonna be something and they couldn't

identify by my name it was just like skater, skater. That was it. That's what I get here in the hallways. And then I was like, oh. That's why I still call you that. That's why I yell that on the street. And then eventually it started to pick up speed and popularity while I was in high school. Then I was a pro skater in high school, right?

I'm 14. And that's kind of cool? No. Didn't matter. I was a ghost school. Then I was a pro skater in high school, right? I'm 14. And that's kind of cool? No. Didn't matter. I was a ghost in the hallways. But by then I had sort of resigned from even thinking I'm going to be part of this collective of high school, whatever, popularity. So I just was a ghost in the hallways.

And so at some point they knew Tony Hawk went to their school, but no one could pick me out of a lineup. That's funny. But they knew there was like a famous kid or whatever.er yeah whatever that meant and this is in san diego in san diego yeah and like where it it seems like well that would be like the epicenter yeah and even there it's like no no and there was a pro surfer that went to our school he was he was revered he was the man and he didn't he wouldn't acknowledge him no he was cool he was cool with me but but it was you know i mean that's just that's that's just how different it was and

that's how different it was in a skate surf culture center epicenter yeah i mean if you're elsewhere in the country good luck yeah trying to skate that well the thing i like about you and skating as a it's all so metaphorical where there's almost no bad lessons to you i mean there are obviously like downsides to it but but you liked this thing it made total sense to you and you stuck with it when it wasn't popular and then it just got popular and you were i don't think you were weirded did it exceed how popular you thought it would get oh every time yeah yeah okay so it it did every time you were like all right i thought it should be more popular but this is a little nuts yeah but i think what what i was lucky in that I had the audacity of youth on my side in that I didn't think I was choosing a career. I was 14. I was getting checks for sometimes $5, sometimes $100

for board royalties. So that didn't seem like that was something that was going to have longevity, but I could do it until I reached an age of responsibility or that I graduated or whatever it was. By the time I graduated, it had taken off like back to the future featured skateboarding. That was a huge boost to skating at the time. And then all of a sudden I'm on tour. Like I'm out of high school. I was out of high school. My parents were, were pressuring me to go to college and i got uh i got a part on gleaming the cube yep as an actor and a skater so i was out of high school living renting an apartment north hollywood on a movie set like living the dream that i never imagined could happen so that's kind of the the trajectory and then all of a sudden we're on tour for two months at a time traveling the world and people are autographs and there's girls and it was you know all that all

those things were were they they didn't seem like that was ever going to happen there was no one had ever lived that no one had ever aspired to that because you didn't have anyone to emulate. And what do you think of it looking back? I can't believe I maintained. Like, I can't believe I maintained the same mindset. It's hard to believe that I didn't have more severe injuries doing all that day after day. If you got injured, would you still go to the park? Always. Yeah.

And just watch? No, or just... Skate just less dangerously. Yeah, skate with limitations. Yeah. Well, this is a long time after, but I was on tour, this is about 12 years ago or so. And on one of the first stops of the tour, I took a bad fall.

It was super windy at the place we went. So it actually caught my board. I didn't realize it. Took a bad fall. I separated my shoulder. You can see how this shoulder drops right here. We're on tour. We got, I mean, it was like a band.

We got all these shows set. So I had to go two weeks and only use this hand. And was it reset, the shoulder? It shoulder it never it just it was separated so it didn't require surgery okay but it dropped and so i could i had no strength in it so i couldn't grab my skateboard or use it you know use it for like hand plants things like that just stuff that you take for granted and so it was kind of like it was as if i had my my arm strapped to my chest the entire two weeks and you did like do more or less the same show? Yeah, I just had to adjust.

But I'm just saying that's the mindset that I grew up with because I just didn't want to stop skating. Now I'm in this position where the show must go on. Yeah. And my name is at the top billing of this tour. Got to make it work. What do you make of it in terms of i don't want to say destiny because it's probably too heavy a word but what do you make of it in terms of

being the video game guy and being the the you were the you were tarzan i remember reading like they based the the car the animation of which I thought, did you sue them? No, no, no. That's a weird thing where you could have sued them. No, no, no, no. Well, that's a long, complicated story. I didn't sue them at all. Okay.

I got to do the commercial for the video release of Tarzan. Cool, Dad, but can you do it in a loincloth? Right. Look it up. I actually remember. My oldest son's in it. He's 30 now, but he was a little little he was a child then cool dad the animated disney film tarzan they the animator said they based his body i'll tell you what i'll tell you what they did on a skater clever marketing it was clever

marketing what they did was if you watch it they actually patterned it after an inline skater okay watching him slide on the on the branches and things they they used inline skating for that like rollerblading yeah right and then when they asked me to do the commercial they said well it was it was skating it's based on we'll just say it was it was your skating that's funny okay sure so it wasn't even so the thing i that it was based on your body's totally it works right yeah made up stock with me that story the story. Made up, stuck with me. That story resonated. Hey, I was just stoked that they asked me.

Of course. You know, to do it. And then I got to go to the premiere, which was super cool. Great. Elton John played. Come on. What do you want?

It was fun. I remember going to the premiere because it was on, I forgot what theater it is, but it's on- Hollywood? El Capitan? What's that?

El Capitan, that one? El Capitan, yeah. So it was at El Capitan. And I showed up wearing a suit because I thought I'm at a Hollywood premiere. And I remember my handler or the person who got me there was like, oh, well, I guess a skater can dress up it made me feel so strange yeah like no go go get

oh this isn't okay i thought this is what i had to do i thought i was supposed to play the game no you're supposed to be cool you're supposed to bring indie cred to there just look like a dirt bag walking in but you know what i mean like you so you were what i'll tell you is you're talking about the video game and all that just the whole the whole thing, looking back on your life, you must go like, boy, this is pretty wild. Yes, absolutely. And there were times when there was right place, right time. But I lived so much of right place, wrong time. Do you know what I mean?

Where people are like, oh, you got so lucky. I'm like i i struggled for a long time well that's and i was skating through and through even to no accolades to no money you know what i mean so so yeah i did get lucky in the sense that i was around to do the video game but i had been hustling for years before that trying to do video games actually i don't even think that you were trying to pitch a video game yeah oh wow i was for about three years before what became tony ox pro skater i was with a pc programmer and we were pitching a skateboard game to different uh publishers and console

manufacturers would you bring a board to the pitch oh that's a good question i feel like i did but probably just for like they didn't know there were no takers no one how did was tony hot was the the pro skater video game did they have low expectations when they released it yes and i'm assuming it exceeded it by a hundredfold yeah it they they could tell uh really close to the launch that they had something special because the reviews were coming in you know they would do yeah they would they would leak it to um publishers and then these reviews are coming in that were just stellar great and they started talking about a sequel like a week after the release well that the thing that i like about the documentary

is i didn't know that you were like went broke at one but it wasn't broke like you were blowing the money right it was just no no no it was i mean i i was i i was blowing it when i was making it uh but i did save enough of it that you know i had a bit of a safety net yeah but then at some point that safety net started eroding and. And we had to downsize. And I actually borrowed money. The only time I ever borrowed money from my parents was in those years. And I borrowed money from them to buy a video editing setup. Because I knew how to do that.

Yeah. And I had a computer that I could do all the graphics and effects with running, like literally running tape through the processor. And then I started doing that as a side hustle. Like as a selling, basically like Bones Brigade, your own Bones Brigade videos. Not mine, but like having people come to my house with their footage and i would arrange it all you were just a video editor video editor yeah like for for the better about a year um and you know it like bar mitzvahs did you do stuff that wasn't skating what i actually ironically did it for a video game company one of them nec yeah do you remember turbo graphics nox? No. Well, anyway,

I did a thing for a handheld TurboGrafx machine. I put it together for NEC. What do you like about Lords of Thunder? The lyrics. The lyrics? Huh? And were there people that were like, I don't care that you were a skater. I need you to

move that shot. I got lucky that a skater worked at the corporate office. Said, hey, my friend Tony could do this for a skater. I need you to move that shot. I got lucky that a skater worked at the corporate office. Okay. Said, hey, my friend Tony could do this for a lot cheaper. That's so funny. That's how it worked. And then the other videos I did were for skate brands, other competing skate brands.

But I needed the money. That's what I like about the story is that you didn't really, you just wanted to skate. Yeah. And it didn't matter if it was popular or if it was a video game or whatever. It's just like, I just like skating. I'm going to let the world figure out

how much they want to reward a skater for that. Well, when I was doing all that, like the video editing, that was allowing me to skate. Yeah. So that was fine. Yeah. To me, you know what I mean?

It wasn't like I was sitting there white knuckling and go, God, I got of this life it was like well i can go skate later today or i can go skate in the morning and what stories do you find yourself imparting to your kids the most about your life like like you have like when i did nobody i think it's more about their youth than anything. You know, their years, maybe they don't remember so much. And it was like, oh, we did this and this. You know, like my son Riley, when he was born, things were rough.

He's the 30-year-old? Pretty bleak, yeah. Cool, dad. And so when I tell him about stories of stuff that we did, like I couldn't really afford childcare. and his mom was working a lot. And so, uh, when I would go travel, I just had to take him. at little clothing and skate shops in Japan. Where I'm talking about like, you know, Japan is just everything's,

there's no room, right? So a skate shop is just- They don't have enough room. There make more rooms coming though because they've stopped fucking. Oh, okay, good. And they don't, there's just a lot of available property in Japan. Okay, well, finally there's room for skate parks.

Enter promo code Neil. If you go to japan okay well finally there's room for skate park enter promo code neil if you go to japan dot uh something i don't know what the i can't remember jp dot jp there we go that's a guy who likes uh japanese clothing jp danny and danny sellers of course but i so i'm doing it like in these little you know on the second story on the second floor there's we're all picturing shops yep right racks of clothes they move the racks floor. There's a little skate shops, right? Racks of clothes. They move the racks of clothes. They put up little skate ramps so that when you go up it, your head hits the ceiling

and they're like, okay, perform. So I'm doing that for- You know what this reminds me of? Don't you- But in the meanwhile, I have to take care of my child. He's like three at the time. So I set him up in the corner of the skate shop

with his new Power Ranger toys that I bought him that day to bribe him. In Japan, that's where you go to Japan. To stay busy, yeah. And it's like, okay, Riley, I'm just, half hour, that's it. And he's just like, okay. So it was, those are the stories I tell him.

But I'm saying, I'm not talking about their lives. I'm talking about like what, when people complain, your story is such a weird, it like i can't help it well i think that by now they've they've you know they were they saw the documentary they were in it um they know most of my stories like that um i think that that gave them a better sense of how much effort it took to get here you know what i mean like i think that that at some point and a lot of people think that they're just like oh he he was in the x games and he made 900 then he got famous then he got a video game yeah you know what i mean like well yeah those those things happen but there was a lot of stuff in between that also had to happen

keith richards wrote a autobiography i'm listening to it on tape because i refuse to read and or on audiobook but he says like rolling stone stadiums he goes the whole time i'm just thinking about riffs just thinking about riffs and that's how i feel when i'm with somebody like you you're just thinking about fucking when i get oh yeah all day yeah all day long jerry samuels thinking about jokes tom brady's thinking about just like you you're inclined to be that way and then you harness your entire life into that and it's got huge rewards on the other side as far as that category goes yes and no on the rewards to me the reward is the is the sense of accomplishment that i get from doing these tricks which is which is the dragon i've been chasing since i was 11 when i made up my first trick that no one cared about

but gave me something yeah special so that's, for me, that's the reward. Sure, there are other residual awards that are like- Monetary or whatever, yeah. Monetary or, oh, maybe I can use that clip for this project and that, but that's not the directive. With that in mind, how does that affect your inner monologue? If you know that what you just said the satisfaction

of like tony you're a guy that if you set your mind to it you'd accomplish it does it affect your behavior or how you feel about yourself not as much different you wish it would don't you wish it could be that clear like no you're great you're great. You can, but you're still like, you're a fucking idiot. Yeah, but I would say, like if I came back from skating and had failed a trick the entire time and not gotten it, even up to five to 10 years ago, my day was ruined. I can't snap out of it.

Like, ugh, you know? And especially like my wife and my family, like, really? Like a skate trick? That's, we all have to suffer through. Nowadays, I can let it go. How did that happen? I finally just kind of got a sense of priorities. You know, I was able to keep, not compartmentalize, but just keep it separate and and know that i can

come back to it it's okay and it doesn't mean everything here's the question are you worse at skating because of it no really no i'm worse at skating because i broke my leg because of your yeah my physical limitations now um but no i'm not at all all. In fact, I would say before I broke my leg, I was in one of my most creative streaks. Of your life? Of my life. 48 or whatever. Well, because I was able to channel my creativity

to a more low impact style of skating. So it wasn't about the big spins or the big big errors and stuff like that it was more highly technical board maneuvering you know shove its flips uh doing things but then coming in backwards and all of a sudden i just opened up all these new doorways and then i was just banging out new tricks left and right and and it's not it's it's weird because it's like it's it's kind of like a juggler that finds some crazy new technique.

You're not going to notice it, right? Only a hardcore juggling crowd is going to understand the nuances of what he's doing. And so it was a limited audience for how I shifted, but it made me super happy. I have two questions and then we're going to get in some blocks. Do you think you're

overrated underrated or properly rated uh i don't i guess i don't think about my rating or do you think you get the right amount of respect do you think most people speak to you in the correct way i think that it all evens out there are plenty plenty of people that will say, he's the most overrated skater. He doesn't speak for us. I'm a street skater. I hop fences. I skate handrails. You know, he's wearing pads

and doing hand plants from 1980. Like that doesn't resonate with me. Other people will say like, oh, he did all these new moves and created a bunch of skate tricks and was helpful to getting skate parks made and video games and bringing other people into it so those no those two ends of the spectrum cancel each other out so i guess i would just say i'm right okay no my second question is if do you

ever want to go into a place like supreme like like a store, like a high status sort of street wear, skate culture brand? Don't you ever want to walk into the store and go, give me fucking everything? I don't. No, no, no. You know, I'm fucking Tony Hawk. Give me everything you have. Give me your entire inventory. I have a van out front.

I deserve it. I did this kind of. Yeah, I know. I don't want to do that. Okay. But I do go to Supreme because my friends work there and they do let me go get stuff. Yeah. But I mostly go there because they have a skateboard.

I know. That's what made me think of it. Yeah. Do they have one in the new one on Sunset? They do. Yeah. That one's bigger. Is it really?

Yeah. In fact, I skated it before it was officially approved as a structure. And I posted a photo of it. And I got every friend of mine that works at Supreme, including in New York, calling me that day. Please take that photo down. Interesting. You're going to get us in so much trouble. And you did.

Oh, yeah. I did. Yeah. Well, I thought you were punk rock. I thought you were punk you guys. I looked at my missed calls and I was like, okay, you get Supreme, Supreme, something's up. I think it's probably that photo.

Yep. Yep. All right. Let's do some Tony Hawk blocks. You know how doing anything is hard and it's a lot of logistics and planning and prep and tactics and plans like doing anything, doing this podcast. I got to book the thing and I got to do the stuff and I got to do the ads and

the, and now this time of year, it's the calm before the holiday storm, but you can prepare your e-commerce business for the holiday rush now just by using ShipStation. At one point I had some shirts made, right? This is kind of one of, this isn't the exact one, but the, the, it was this, they have pockets. All my shirts have pockets in it, right? Pretty cool. Good one, Neil. And so I had some made, they're called the Neil Brennan shirt. My friend built by Wendy, Wendy Mullen sold them on her website. Then she needed the space in her wear, whatever. So I now have a bunch of these shirts, which I do intend to sell. And this is going to motivate me to use ShipStation to sell the remaining inventory of the shirts.

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I would go see Ice Cube. Ice Cube's got a lot of hits. A guy like Ice Cube, a guy like Busta Rhymes has a lot of hits. Do I think Ice Cube would like me personally? I don't, but I don't need him. I don't need, we're not going to interact. I'm just going to go watch his show and it'll be great. There's an Ohana Fest, which feels like something The Rock would say. It's The Killers, Haim, and Father John Misty. Haim, it feels like if you date one of the Haim girls, you're dating all of them. Am I wrong in saying that?

This is all, I personalize all these people. I like Haim. I like Father John Misty. I like The Killers. Not even gonna lie. Who else? Let's do one more. Pete Davidson coming.

He's gonna be at the Grove. I wonder if I'll hear from him. Pete's a good boy. And, uh, he knows he, I taught him everything he knows about the ladies. He's using the Neil Brennan system and it is working. It's like the, in, in, uh, saving private Ryan where Tom Hanks goes earn this. That's how I feel with Pete. Pete, in Saving Private Ryan, where Tom Hanks goes, earn this. That's how I feel with Pete. Pete, when it comes to girls, earn this. Don't, take the lessons.

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because I had a family to provide for that when things started to get very successful, how could I ever say no to anything? I was scrambling to get anything offered to me throughout those years. Scarcity mindset. Yeah, and at some point I realized you can say no, you can have more agency over your time and it will allow you to spend more time with your family.

But I didn't learn that till much later. your family was gone not gone no but fractured for sure and now you like you have priorities and you just go like i'm much better at it did you was there a bottom um i think at some point i got caught up in events that just weren't even skate related and that's when i had to make those adjustments. Cause it was like, why are you going there? How long have you been with your second wife? Well,

we've been together 10 years, over 10 years, actually. Did she put her foot down or the wife before that put her foot down? Uh, well, there was just always my, my issue was my,

my obsession and my singular focus on skating and that definitely wrecked a lot of my relationships, several. But as I got older and as I saw kind of, I think I just saw it finally from an outside perspective, I was like, why going to that? What, why is that even important?

You know, that's not even, there's nothing, there's no benefit to that. What's that? What, what, what,

what, what, what, why did, why would you go? Meaning like when you really interrogated it. I got caught up in being someone that, that would get invited to stuff.

Do you know when you're on those sort of publicity, publicist lists? I'm very low on them but yes okay but at some point i was there i was in the pocket yeah and it was like oh going to that like where we met yeah video music awards 2004 i don't forever party why do i have to be there yeah of course i'm going yeah that's the biggest that's the coolest thing that's gonna happen is it cool then i'm gonna fucking beat it yeah yeah and and so i got caught up in the frenzy of that and at some point i kind of lost myself to all of these other events and it was like you're not even spending time you're not even skating and those two things like not

seeing my family not skating were enough to send me to figure it out. Were you like drinking a lot? What were you doing? Probably more than usual. Yeah. Because, because I didn't, I wasn't making time for skating. So I, I wasn't worried about the after effects or what have you.

I didn't go crazy. Did you think I don't really care about skating or you were like, I don't need to skate like 40 hours a week. I can skate like 20. Yeah. Well, it was more, it was more like what,

there is no great project that I'm working on that I need to be skating full time. But then at some point I realized that is what gives me the most happiness and not this other stuff. My family, of course, but, but also skating is what keeps me centered. And so then I just leaned into just keep skating. Like, let's try some new tricks.

It was like 2012-ish is when I kind of emerged back as a skater. And I actually put out a video part. And I remember that that caused some waves. Not a lot, but in the skate industry, like, Tony Hawk's like in his 40s, and he just put out a video part and i remember that that caused some waves not a lot but in the skate industry like tony acts like in his 40s and he just put out a new video like what's going on yeah it's like well that's what i'm focusing on there's no one can make you stop right i mean that's the thing is no there's no like hey you can't if you're the best skater at 40 it for you know vert shit whatever like they're not going to stop

you right you can just no anyone can anyone sure sure but but i think i i have a a louder megaphone in a lot of ways so if i am doing something you know people the skate industry at least will know about it yeah it's not going to fly under the radar really i guess my point is it was all the door never closed the door never closed did it stay open for you longer or was it just a matter of ability if i had put out a half-assed video it probably would have got panned i don't think you know what i mean like yeah i had to walk the walk and so i'm sure there are a lot of skaters that were in my position or their age or whatever and thought, I'm not going to put out something progressive. So I'm not going to be out there. Yeah.

And I think that the delicate line for me is when to not quit, but when to not be on display. And I'm coming to that probably sooner than I thought because of my injury and because of my progress. So I accept that. I had a good run. Is your leg worse now? Like your leg is, obviously you broke the femur. It was pretty severe. No, it's more of my body just doesn't bend or move the way it used to because of all the atrophy from my months of recovery. Just from that one injury basically well i i had a false start on my recovery so for the first seven months my bone never actually connected back to itself and then it started moving further away so it was actually

like this by the eighth month i had right two femurs um because i wouldn't stay off it it's my fault oh was it really it wasn't like the doctor no no no it was it was totally my fault i got back on skating too soon i was putting too much uh too much impact on it early on did it hurt when you did it hurt all the time and you just ignored it just ignored it because i i was used to pushing through injuries but at some point at some point especially within like the six and seven month it just used to pushing through injuries. But at some point, especially within like the sixth and seventh month, it just hurt to walk through an airport. So I knew there was something wrong with that. And also I had the benefit, not the benefit, but the coincidence

of one of my best friends who was also my age, broke his femur four months after me. And by my eighth month of recovery, he was walking better better than me and he was starting to skate and he wasn't having a problem skating and i was like okay i'm something's wrong here yeah so there's your there's that hard-headedness fucking you basically your own your own tenacity yeah yeah so so when i did come back from it i still have all these kind of issues to work through and there are certain things that i would take for granted in my skating that that are way more challenging for me now like some i've just given up on so with the saying no and not i guess you won't say no to yourself either in a weird way uh yeah yeah that's probably the the one

the one that lingers and did you all right so you you feel like you you've fucked up some relationships in life are the relationships that you're still trying to make better i'm always trying to be closer to my kids and are some of them more receptive than others yeah but also just based on location yeah between my wife and i we have we have six kids five boys all out of the house um Two are still in college. One lives in Florida. Two live in LA. One's in Boulder. So just the sheer geography of it is hard to be close.

But like say with the 30-year-old, if you feel like you weren't present, were you able to say like, hey? Yes. And you feel like you did it in a way that was satisfying for both people? Yes, I think so yes come on out son

I definitely had that conversation and it was like real regret and real like I'm so yeah and also just that I was so

hyper focused on this career did you go into it having expectations from them would you like I always feel like you know when you apologize

and you like and then I need them to accept it oh or were you like no i didn't no i wasn't looking for some specific response so it was just pure response was more like i always knew i could rely on you oh and that i mean what gift yeah and you're oh, I didn't need to apologize for shit. Then forget it. You want to eat something? There's a flight later. I'm going to get out of Boulder.

That's very funny. Okay, number two. Surprise and shock on this one. One of Tony Hawk's blocks is having confidence. Yeah. Which is a shock. Although not really. It always was in my life.

And saying like, I'm able, I'm capable of doing this. And it wasn't until I started skating and started doing really advanced moves that I thought I would only be able to dream of is when I was able to overcome that issue and also to redirect it to other parts of my life. Okay. So that was a block for sure. Like I'm a good skater, I'm probably a cool guy, whatever. If I just work on this, for instance, I do speaking gigs. First time I did it, I was terrified. And I had I do I do speaking gigs first time I did it I was terrified

and I had no I didn't know what I didn't even know like how to how to close a loop or arc a story and and I did it and it felt okay and then I just kept doing it and now I I can approach a crowd of thousands with confidence that I'm gonna tell a an engaging story and that they're going to be entertained. Go ahead. Entertain. No, give me a little bit. You want the 45 minute one? No, no.

Inspire me. No, go ahead. You're an inspiring guy. Or for instance, I was just, we were just X Games. X Games happened to venture recently. I don't know when this is airing, but summer 2023. And I had, I used to do commentary for X Games in the mid-2000s. X Games was shifting.

It morphed. It changed. And I stopped doing it. And then they were trying to kind of bring it back to its roots this time. So they got me back. They got Salema Masakela, who was the voice of X Games all through the years, back. My friend Jason Ellis, who you just met. Yep.

And we came back and we realized like, oh, we are good at this. Announcing? You know what I mean? Like we had this. We were doing it. We became one of the standards for people to try to reach through these other years. And then when we got back to it, it was like, oh, we got this. Yeah.

And it was that confidence so you is it a block in any so it was one it was yeah i mean that you're saying a block it was a block that i had to overcome and you overcame it by uh mastering one thing yep and realizing like no i couldn't if i just apply that to other things and i did the same thing with with just my my life and my priorities is you have the discipline to learn these impossibly hard maneuvers you must have the discipline to figure out your life and make the priorities straight yeah and how long did that take it took a while to get some of those tricks when i really when i really focused on it present when i really focused on it i would say you know within

within the first year i knew that i had a much better approach to my time and my kids and where it was innate it became innate did you like it that's the and and that's because i woke up like yeah good day like i made some good choices and had had a good um time with my family my wife my kids or whatever it was and it wasn't like you are good no i like this you weren't forcing yourself into a square hole of like no no i this is for me this is my new life and but i like that idea of extrapolating one thing into more it's all i had i mean it's the one experience such a good figuring something out that i was like okay you figured this thing out that seemed impossible when you first started everything's impossible when you first started and you just go like,

dude, like, no, just keep going. How many hours a week in your life? Like what was the most skating you were doing hours per week? And then what is it now? Uh,

the most would have been probably my senior year of high school because I was able to get out early because i had already had the credits so i got out of school at 11 30 um during my senior year straight to the skate park until they closed at 9 p.m so that's about i was there i was like eight to nine hours every day 18 eight to nine eight to nine or but not skating the whole time, hanging out, playing arcade games, whatever. Yeah. But doing a lot of skating, hours, hours of skating. So that's 40 hours a week.

That's a job. And then nowadays, I have to plan my skating around life, around kids. But I would say it's like two hours a day, three to four days a week. That's still a lot. It's still a lot.

Number three, being present. I have so many distractions and obligations that sometimes it's hard for me to let all that go and not have it still in the back of my mind. Like, oh, I got gotta remember to reply to that. And I gotta, and, and it means social media. Yeah. Uh,

definitely accelerates all that. Um, but just in, in the quiet moments of just being home, like, Oh kids, let's talk. And sometimes it's hard,

man. When you see you have kids and trying to extrapolate. It's so boring, but kids, my God, it's more trying to extrapolate information boring but kids my god it's more trying to pull info from them well because they're i feel like an interrogator and they're boys too so it's like what boys yeah and my and my daughter too she goes through it too she's 15 oh all right yeah but it's just like i feel like interrogator like what's going on what do you want you know what we did what how is that who's who's there what'd you see what do you guys do

you ever want to be a parent the way our parents were parents just like once a month just be like yeah let's turn the clock back let's do this 1979 style and i'm gonna treat you like like i'm like this is a prison you should be seen and not heard. Yes. Yeah. My God, they had us by the balls. I saw someone talking about Gen X recently, and they said, the news would have to remind you that you had kids. Like, it's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your kids are?

It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are? Absolutely. And then the parents would be like, wait, oh, maybe i don't wait do it yeah i can't remember who did that joke that's yeah that's absolutely right yeah i remember listening to that one night and the person said uh it's 10 o'clock do you know where your children are and then there was a beat and he goes hmm and i just always and i think it was

just a one offer that i happen to hear one night he threw a hmm and i i'll never forget it it's 40 years later i'm still like what was that um yeah i was i was a last key kid i had support of my parents but i was last key kid but benefits independent sure yeah you were making a better living than they were by the age of 14 uh No, not till like I was 16, 17. Oh, then you started fucking really rubbing it in. My defense of not being present, and again, as much as I believe in all the mental health stuff that I talk about, there is an upside to bad mental health. There just is.

You can accomplish a lot you can a you can start doing comedy but you can just you know i don't the most successful people i know are not the mentally healthiest people i know um just fyi like there is something about being i'm not saying everyone should be preoccupied but but what you're the idea of being present i think can be i can only be so present it can turn to you just coddle and you're you're smothering yeah of your kids especially and that that can go bad because then they don't know how to function on their own so there's there's there there. So there's a healthy balance there somewhere. Like where you want to be like,

no, I don't know, figure it out. Well, I mean, I have this one interaction with one of my kids. Who we won't name. Like a year ago that I remember kind of summed it up where he said, how come you don't buy this hot sauce or this specific hot sauce?

And I was like, you have transportation, your own transportation, you have money saved, you know where the grocery store is. Why don't you go buy it? You're wearing a wife beater somehow. I'll tell you something like you've taken your belt off. No, no, it was just more like I came to this realization like you are a functioning

yeah adult like did you make them work at it what's that you make your kids work um they they do but like when they were in high school and stuff would you make uh yeah no i mean just like summer internships and things like that yeah yeah but they but they all they are all none of them were trust funding their way through life that all that money's gone we made sure of it oh yeah that's that's just long gone yeah don't when you look up my net worth that's just yeah that's like there's so much bad info out there but yeah the thing about being some people are so in the moment you ever be with someone who's so in the moment that they're fucking so pitifully boring there's like eyes on you can you fucking yeah hit say something back don't just actively listen yeah

and hold space for me let's get hit the ball back and forth yes i don't mind if you kind of disengage to think of what you're gonna say for a second and then come back hear me out and then the thing yeah my point is being present could be uh everything everything within moderation um this is a good one and a bad one accepting failure yeah um i well i learned early on to accept failure especially in my skating because i was i did so poorly competing every time or just when you first started first started and you're still kind of that kid and it would go it would it would fluctuate I would do well say at a park that I knew like you know my home park obviously that was in the dock right yeah but then I go other

places and I couldn't do all the same tricks and then I made it my mission to make sure to go practice elsewhere get out of my comfort zone and figure that stuff out and i eventually did um but i learned a lot through those years of of feeling i mean my first my first uh skate event that i ever competed in i'll never forget i asked the because they didn't say that they only said the top 10 or whatever it was you know and i was i was in the 1a division, 11 and under, right? There was 2A, 12 to 14, 3A. Like there were so many divisions and there was like a hundred kids in mine.

And so I went to the register, registration. I said, yeah, can you tell me what place I got? Like, oh yeah, honey, what's your name? So Tony Hawk and she flips the first page. There's like 20 names on the second page. can you tell me what place i got like oh yeah honey what's your name it's a tony hawk and they she flips the first page there's like 20 names on the second page third page she gets to the last page i don't see it she's like oh honey i'm sorry what do you mean she goes well you got and she points it second to last i think the last guy may not have actually competed it was the fucking loser who came in last?

He probably didn't even skate. He just registered and got hurt. Who knows? Anyway, I remember that so vividly because I was just like, oh, I got to figure this out. But through my years- Well, what's funny is and you're still the same person.

You're still that kid who finished second last. Sure, yeah. And I don't want to feel that disappointment. But I accepted much more than I used to and I can go on with my day. Yeah. kid sure yeah and i don't want to feel that disappointment yeah but but i accept it much more than i used to and i can go on with my day yeah i mean i know people that are like very obsessed uh somebody i know was like obsessed with being number one and i sent him a trophy for ninth place like here you're still you're in ninth place you're still lovable you're still good but he's ninth like you don't have to finish first in everything.

Right, right. Yeah. Again, a lot of upside to that in terms of not accepting failure. That's how you get good is you're just obsessive. Bouncing back. Yeah. Because I don't accept failure and then just go crawl my hole. I'm like, I'm going to get better at that.

Do you consider that negative at all? No. Do you consider that negative at all? No, only if it detracts from, yes, my family time or if it becomes dangerous. And that's where, you know, that's kind of the era that I'm living in now where, like, don't obsess on some move that could take you out if it goes bad yeah and you know those those are the heavy conversations i have with my wife these days for sure every day no no no but but every once in a while something will come up like why do

you have to go do that what you know what you should do why i'm not i'm not good at that so you're gonna play golf you should get a set of golf clubs. What's that? I'm going to play golf. Get some golf clubs. Oh, yeah, right. And then be like, we want to golf, honey. And then, why are you bringing elbow pads?

Whatever. This is weird. This course is weird. Yeah, people hit foul balls. Yeah, it's like people, it's not called foul balls. It's errant shots. You're going to need to get up to date.

Are you golfing? I used to. Not anymore. It's too boring. I'll leave it to Nate Bargatze and Santino. I guess it sounds like you found some balance in life. Yeah. It took much later than I should have, but yes.

Yes. But again, if you were always there for the kid, as we found out, he could always rely on you. I was there in terms of I could provide and I could support, but, but in a lot of times I was just gone for weeks, months at a time. The kid fucking saw Japan.

I'm so sick of these kids complaining. That did. Yeah. I will say, especially if you have young kids, do not be afraid to travel with them. Yes. It'll be a challenge.

It's hard when, especially when they're babies and whatnot, but it sets them up for being patient and being prepared to travel later on and you don't want to have them experience that for the first time later on it's way too hard later on being like 15 or yeah or even i would say even like before they're six oh god so being getting out there so they understand just waiting in patient. So they understand that. Just waiting in line. And also they understand that different cultures,

different vibes. Yeah. You know, like there is a truth to being ugly American where you're just like, this is weird, I can't. Not for me. You're the ugly American. Pretty as a picture. Foreigners love me.

They often, people often say I seem European. That's what they tell me guys i it's their words not mine number five managing time yeah um i'm i'm much better at that that's for sure i used to be well i used to be bad at managing time because i was i was skating endlessly and i would get stuck just skating and it was like you missed this or this dinner or this you know what i mean yeah i was trying to do something new i mean at one point i had a my friend bucky lasik is also pro there was a time in our life where our significant others were calling themselves skate widows. Yeah. Yeah. I want to defend you guys. But not just that. Also chasing other opportunities and events and parties and all that.

Opportunities is a nice way to put it. That's a nice euphemism. Well, sometimes they're opportunities. Sometimes they were also laced with with other auxiliary events and stuff certainly yes that events that same weekend i could stay in probably go yeah yeah they're gonna need me yeah it sounds like i mean this is the kind of message of the documentary too but you were you were kind of a i don't want to say selfish because i don't you were obsessed and dedicated to a thing

it's definitely there was there was yes selfishness in that for sure because it was more to see my own success as opposed to seeing my my family's flourishing flourishing yes do you see as much as you don't do that anymore you're more balanced you see the appeal of it and you see the sort of the worth of it oh yeah i mean it's just so much more fulfilling absolutely just a quiet night at home and then so you generally like it more because right now like it's summertime our kids right some of our kids are home for the summer it's just noise in our house you know there's always something going on doors are slamming and people are going coming and going and we're just like hanging out watching our

favorite show and it's awesome and that's because we're we're available to them that's as gratifying as skating yes yeah and you say that genuinely yeah yeah yeah would you have believed that 20 years ago that you would ever feel that way i don't think i could have considered that i would ever be so idle idle from like like wait i'm just gonna be i'm gonna be in in escondido for two weeks straight go skate well not escondido but uh or or just be skating and then like well then there's something else going on and we're going to this or i want to i'm going to go surfing now i'm gonna you know and i was always kind of like i'm just going with with the the with the flow or going with whatever my friends are doing yeah and stuff like that like

the surf is good well i'm there going surfing yeah like who cares what other plans were made i feel like there's merit to new tony and old tony i hope so i don't mean like i do feel it just feels you didn't want it i don't want you to totally abandon yourself it's like that guy was a selfish asshole it's like no that guy was a glorious uh athlete to watch and And it's like, there's a lot of worth to it. And obviously. Well, I've held on.

I just like to think that I've held on to enough of that. Yeah, I agree. That I can go and be effective and be relevant in what I do. And then go home to a relatively quiet family life that feels innate and normal.

Okay, so here's my final two questions. What have you done that was very helpful in terms of like your own getting over your issues, especially with the relationship stuff or just in life? I leaned- Whether it's 12 step programs or just therapy or- I leaned into professional help. Got it. Very much so.

Therapy? At first it was like, yeah, at first it was like, I don't even know how to function here. I don't know how to convey what I'm feeling or thinking. And then at some point things started to, the layers were peeled back and it was like oh yes this is how it should be and like you understood where you got your value system from yeah yeah yeah for sure yeah how long did you do that for uh well intensely for a few weeks

um and then very regularly once or twice a week after that. And now I just check in. Great. And your better husband, father? You'd have to ask my wife that, but I think so, yes. She's coming. She's coming. She's not. She hates being on camera.

She did not want to be in the documentary. I'll tell you that. She came off great. No, I know that. But she's just not. She's not a public person. I get it. Yeah.

It's so weird i'm kidding to not want to be on camera what a weird impulse uh what is she what is she of humility oh no she's just private i got it uh movie of your life who plays you what's the arc uh and then do video game i'm kidding um what's the i don't know who plays me wow it can be anybody it would have been um anthony michael hall in his weird science days sure sure sure sure because i definitely identified with yeah with him and and breakfast club you know him like Like he was character actor. He broke out of it, but back then that was the pocket.

What would be the arc? I think the arc would be finding a passion that gives you a sense of self and that suddenly becomes successful beyond your wildest dreams and finding center in that chaos and continuing to do what you love through it. That's the best arc I can explain to you. And accepting, I think more like accepting my,

I didn't choose it, but the role that was kind of opposed on me to be an advocate for skating, to be some sort of spokesperson for skating. I fully accept that. I said on your podcast, you're the Moses of skating. But it wasn't, you know, that's not what I set out to do, nor do I tend to claim to speak for the hardcore skater that lives in an inner city that has a totally different life experience. But I can advocate for them to have a place to skate. And I know that my voice could resonate further than most and that it can affect change. And so I fully embrace that and i use it but also i want i want to be fair and to represent skating for its edgy elements for the hardcore elements you know yeah i appreciate that people want to go find handrails at public libraries if you need to smoke a little

meth i could knock yourself tony's not going to stand in your way that's part of it yeah i'm more advocating for the skating aspect yeah but what i'm saying whatever you need to do before pre-game um that's cool man i mean and you are i don't know uh like the what the if anyone has anything negative to say about you in terms of your ambassadorship but you're a good advocate because you're great at it like i can't but again i guess but skating's so fucking hard yeah it kind of doesn't matter where you're doing it what your skin color it's like it's just hard and everyone gets the same basic feeling from growing up as a skater in the time frame that i did i understand i i was marginalized just based on the fact that i skated you as a skater in the time frame that i did i understand i i was marginalized

just based on the fact that i skated you were a skater you were a skater yes but i but i so i i do feel like a kinderance to others who feel marginalized especially in the skating world where it's just like we're all doing this like everyone's on the same page so don't you know don't stereotype. Don't dismiss anyone. We're all in this together. Do you have like a corporate, is that like a line of criticism toward you or something?

Like that you're corporate? No, no, no. I'm just saying like that I feel strongly about it. But I can, you know, on the outside, like I'm a 55-year-old white dude. You know? You could pass for Mexican though. You know what I mean?

With the, with you got the cholo shirt, you're getting summer. It's Brown. You got this, you got to pull up socks. You see what I'm higher. The socks,

the down on the food. You know what I mean? That that's a, that's a, what's his name? What's his name? Yeah. That's right.

I like that dude. That shit's funny. That fucking Edgar haircut thing is such a good bit i've never heard of it i don't know it's so goddamn funny go to follow foos gone wild um on uh on instagram all the socials uh i had a great time talking to you i hope you i hope you said something you don't normally say. And I probably did. Yeah. Good. Do I regret it?

Not yet. Tony Hawk. What a great time. Thank you. Good to see you. Yeah. Pleasure. All you have to do is open, open up your hand My man