Tosh Show - My New Mechanic - Tony Angelo

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

Daniel sits down with Tony Angelo, a former professional drift racer and TV personality, to learn everything he can about the sport, how to restore old hot rods, and whether or not Tony can help him out with a personal passion project. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, the time has finally come. This week, starting October 7th through October 11th, that's Monday through Friday everybody, we are revealing the iconic 400. Yes, Bo and Yang and I famously missed our 400th episode here on Los Cocheristas, but we are ready to reveal the iconic 400. Who is on the list? Does it matter? No.

Will it be fun? Yeah, there might even be a surprise or two in there. So listen carefully Listen to lost culture East us on will ferrell's big money players network on the I heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts Hey, I'm Jackie Thomas the host of a brand new black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or

wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Hey, it's Mike and Ian. We're the hosts of How to Do Everything from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Each week we take your questions and find someone much smarter than us to answer them. Questions like, how do you survive the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can.

Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast on iHeartRadio. How many times should you be dead? Me, a lot of times for sure. I was like, oh, I'll never see 30. Like there's just no chance. And then I'm like, oh, now I'm 30. I gotta like try to do something with this time that's left. So here we are.

I hope you say it every decade, I'll never see 50. I'll never see 60. I'll never see 60. I'm still going. Tosh Show. Tosh Show. Tosh Show. Tosh Show.

Hey y'all, it's me, Daniel Tosh, and welcome to the Queer Country Hour, where every week we take country music and flip it. How you doing, Eddie? I'm doing pretty good, Daniel. Oh no, Eddie. Don't, don't you do it. That's not, it's wrong coming from you. Do any character.

Because you can't, we don't see your face, so we can't tell the tone necessarily. Eddie, I got a question for you. Do any character. Because you can't, we don't see your face so we can't tell the tone necessarily. Eddie, I got a question for you. Sure. You uh, how often or first first question, do you ever google yourself? I mean every once in a while yeah. You like to read what people are writing? I mean not so much. Oh man you're missing out. It's what I do all day long. Yeah, not so much. Oh man, you're missing out. It's what I do all day long. All day long. I'm just Googling myself.

I, oh, you know, I got a few burner accounts. I go to the comedy blogs and I just try to, Hey, you know, that'll be talking about somebody's new special. I'll be, Oh, not as good as Daniel Tosh. I always do that. It's tricky. Oh man. Well, Eddie, now I know that you have created a Google test for me, an autofill little test.

Let's go ahead and let's see if you can stump me. I'm going to read you some prompts and you guess the autofill. Okay, so this is just things that you typed in with my name and I have to finish out the search. Yep. All right, let's go. First one, did Daniel Tosh give away three million dollars to underprivileged children? No, I'm not seeing that. Okay, the reason you're not seeing is because I haven't done it yet. Okay.

That will probably pop to the top. But once, if we start spreading the word and people start searching, then that's all that matters. Then I don't actually have to give it away. It's true. No, well, all right, did Daniel Tosh, all right, what's the first auto fill? First one is retire. Yes, yes, I did retire.

All right, what else? Did Daniel Tosh's house burn down? That's the second one? That's the second one. Did Daniel Tosh's house burn down? That happened. Actually, you know, two properties, but let's not get into that. All right. Number three, go to jail.

Did Daniel Tosh... you're saying that's the third search when people say did Daniel Tosh. The third search is did I go to jail? Why would have I gone to jail? I'm a saint. First of all, I give away millions of dollars. Kids got all that money. Is there any more? One more. Create Brickleberry. Did Daniel Tosh create Brickleberry, the animated show that ran on Comedy Central for three and a half years? No. That was created by Waco and Roger. But they had tried to sell the show to Fox and Fox didn't pass on it or something so they brought me in because I had some pull over

Comedy Central and I forced the people at Comedy Central to air the show. So no, did I create it? No. Did I get it on the air? Yes. Without me, it wouldn't have gotten on the air. And I said to them, I will not do any voices on the show. And they said, well, we're not going to put it on the air

unless you do the voice. And I said, all right, I will. All right, next one. OK. Was Daniel Tosh. Was Daniel Tosh caught giving away millions of dollars to underprivileged children? Is that the first result?

Still not there. Huh. OK, go ahead. Was Daniel Tosh in The Love Guru? Yeah, I was. Two days. By the way, go ahead. Was Daniel Tosh in The Love Guru? Mmm, yeah I was. Two days. By the way, as I recall the movie that killed Mike Myers' career, when I showed up on set of The Love Guru, the first thing they said to me, the director walked over to me and

goes, why did we cast him? He doesn't look like he would be a cowboy at all. And he just walked away. Like just complete asshole thing. I didn't care. I was like, whatever. Yeah, that was nice. I also would like to point out my manager,

Chrissy Smith, how horribly she dropped the ball. She sent me the script and said, oh, they're doing a bunch of comics in this movie and they wanted you to be in it. And I said, I read it, it's awful. And she said, no, no, you don't get it. Mike Myers, it's Austin Powers, it's Shrek, blah, blah, all his movies work. And I was like, whatever, this is horrible. So it's good to know that my instinct was that it was horrible.

And then I still did it. I hope that doesn't burn any bridges for me in future work. Anyway, was Daniel Tosh in The Love Guru? That's the number one result. Okay. Number two, married? Was I married? No, I'm still married. I've only been married once. I got engaged twice, but I'm not gonna talk about my first engagement that happened, you know, 30 years ago. Alright, I'll tell you about it.

Yeah, it's just, no, it's a depressing story. Was Daniel Tosh in a Taco Bell commercial? Campaign? I was like Pete Davidson before Pete Davidson, you know. Used to bang all the hotties, then sell tacos. You know, Taco Bell, I'm gonna tell you the real story on Taco Bell. So I did an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman and his company, Worldwide Pants, gave me a development deal. This is in 2001. Taco Bell had had me as their spokesperson I replaced the Chihuahua the campaign didn't do that well they paid me around a half a million dollars every day I

shot a commercial I think they had me for six hours and then after six hours they had to pay me like thirty thousand dollars for every hour past that and the very first day we started to go over the shoot and they came to me and said hey can you turn a blind eye and let us not pay this penalty? And I was like, I guess. I was new to the business. I was like, yeah, yeah.

Day two, they tried it again. I said, no, I don't think so. And we went three hours over and I was watching a Dolphins game, like in a hotel room, getting paid $30,000 an hour to watch my Dolphins lose. Best game I think I've ever watched. Yeah. Some of the commercials didn't even air

Like I shot a bunch and some of them didn't air Hmm, whatever Was Daniel Tosh on Seinfeld? Oh The number five result was Daniel Tosh born in Germany. Yep. Now is born in Germany Why would you love why would you write? Why would you search was Daniel Tosh born in Germany. Yep. Now is born in Germany. Why would you love? Why would you write? Why would you search was Daniel Tosh born in Germany? Why wouldn't you like where was Daniel Tosh born? Yeah, whatever Next one is Daniel Tosh still planning on giving millions of dollars to underprivileged children. Nope Is Daniel Tosh married? Yep. Is Daniel Tosh a liberal? That's the second result. Yep. Is Daniel Tosh a liberal? Ugh!

No, don't paint me with that brush. I'm a fiscal conservative that loves abortion. What's the third result? Is Daniel Tosh conservative? Ah, there you go. Of course I'm conservative. You know, you have to know my roots. I come from a good family.

Sure, I pretend to be liberal from time to time, but deep down, oh, nothing but elephants. Fourth one is, is Daniel Tosh touring? Yes. That's how you would, that's how you find out. When you just type in, I don't even want, I don't even want to tell those people how to get tickets to see me perform live because I don't want them there. I don't want someone to tell those people how to get tickets to see me perform live because I don't want them there.

I don't want someone to come see me live. It's like I need to know are you still touring? All right, this is boring. I got the last one. Who is Daniel Tosh interviewing today? Number one result my favorite grease monkey. Enjoy. Hey everybody the time has finally come. My favorite grease monkey. Enjoy. Hey, everybody. The time has finally come. This week, starting Monday, October 7th, going daily through Friday, October 11th,

Bowen Yang and I, Matt Rogers, are unveiling the iconic 400. Yes, these are the top 400 people in all of culture, and we're unveiling all of them. Number 372, Nancy Kerrigan. Why? We will never really know. Why?

We have worked tirelessly on this list. I'm Michael Bhabaro. Once you hear, I'm Michael Bhabaro, you know exactly who is talking. And we really think it's going to resonate. Cristiano! She is not a Christian! Don't!

Happily flying a pride flag. Also, there might be a little bit of a surprise or two in there, so listen carefully. Hint, hint, Friday. Listen to Lost Culture East us on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacquees Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series,

Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of black literature. I'm Jacquees Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Black Lit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Black Lit on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, it's Mike and Ian. We're the hosts of How to Do Everything from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Each week we take your questions and find someone much smarter than us to answer them. Questions like, how do you survive the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast on iHeartRadio. My guest today came here on his own, down the only road he's ever known, the PCH.

Like the drifter that he was, he was born to walk walk alone even though he has three children But he's made up his mind and he's not wasting no more time Please welcome drift racer mechanic the former host of hot rod garage Tony Holy cow. Hey all that because the word drifter was in it that you don't have a lot to choose from when you're going White snake. Are you a fan? Oh big time big time. Didn't they have a horrific fire? It wasn't something wasn't it was a white snake fire right? Great White. Great White. That was Great White. No it was Great White. Fuck those guys. Do you believe in ghosts? No. Maybe? I don't know. I'm from a very old part of the country. So you're from Philly. Yes sir. Eddie, big Philly guy back there. Why does Philadelphia have the worst people on the planet? Take your time.

Uh, just full stop disagree. Uh, you know, I think they get a bad rap. I think that it's the complete opposite of the West Coast. I, when I lived here for nine years or so, I had the worst culture shock. You could have dropped me in like Nairobi and I probably would have gotten along better. My brain didn't work here because people here,

I feel like are kind of nice to your face and sort of manipulative and sort of rough and mean, like not to your face. And Philadelphia is the opposite. Philadelphia, I believe people are rough and rugged and can be a little bit nasty, but they're all trying to be good people if that makes sense. All right. Let me stop you right there. I have personally heard that about the fake niceness of Los Angeles my whole life. And here's what I say to that. Good.

You mean you're nice to my face? That's when I want you to be nice. As opposed to aggressive. Like I'd much rather somebody just say, hey, how's it going? And then walk away and then tell their significant other, I think he's a piece of shit. That doesn't affect me, you're gone.

That's fair. That's where I stand. Were you always interested in cars as a kid? Pretty much, yeah. I liked cars, but I never learned how to work on them. It's my father's fault. But I had go-karts. Oh, cool.

I had a Honda Civic. That's right in line. That's in the world. An SI. Oh, that's hot. Yeah, that's a piece of hardware right there. Please explain how professional drift racing even works for those of us who just learned while reading this question that professional drift racing was even a thing. Yeah, it's basically a cool looking cool contest in your car.

It's not necessarily a race for time. It's definitely not a race for time. The cars are incredibly fast. They're making usually a thousand horsepower. But the idea is there's three major components. It's like, you know, style, line and angle. Style is like how impactful it is visually, how over the top it looks. Line is like the judges, there's three, there's a panel of judges. It's judged.

It's judged, yeah. It's tough. You're not wrong. It's tough because everyone is incredibly good now and the difference between winning and losing is really hard to decipher. And people like myself, if we're watching it, incredibly good now, and the difference between winning and losing is really hard to decipher. And people like myself, if we're watching it, I'm not going to know the difference between why a judge scored blank versus blank.

Exactly. So they'll tell you where to be on the course, and then they'll judge you on how well you did with that, and then angle is like how much the car is sideways. But it's all judged, and I think that's one of the limiting factors. It's really hard for the layman to walk up and go, that was better than that. When's it gonna get in the Olympics? I don't know.

Oh, I don't know. If we could get it in 2028 in LA. Yeah. Since professional drift racing was geared toward judges, did you try to be extra reckless for the judges? Oh yeah, absolutely. Especially in mezzo-American style is like super over-the-top smoky reckless The judge should go like you know when you when you throw it into that first turn there should be like oh is he gonna?

Make it moment always rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive rear-wheel drive always you didn't think I was gonna ask that did you know? Well, I know I know how to peel out. Yeah, of course. I got an e30. Yeah, you do. Oh Good car. That's a good car good car man. All right It was a drifting invented in I'm just gonna say Japan. Yeah, Japan it was I mean a million, you know boomers want to tell you like what we did in our pickup trucks in on dirt roads Where I'm from and we're like, yes The difference is that these guys kind of like really focused on sliding around on back mountain roads in Japan. Everyone in America grew up going straight drag racing.

Japan has tons of turns and mountain roads and their cars are smaller, they handle better. So what they tried to do was just start racing up and down the mountain and people would gather and watch and they realized that if they like hung the tail out, they get a big response and the crowd people would hoot and holler and get stoked on it. So then they were like, well, fuck trying to go fast. Let's just slide these things around. And it became sort of like an instant, like intense subculture of racing, like amateur stuff, illegal at night and in the mountains of Japan.

And one of the dudes, this guy Keiichi Tsuchiya evolved and developed into a real racing driver. Uh, and they were, he was racing a Corolla, which is a little rear wheel drive 80s sport car. It's not a regular Corolla by any means. Anyway, he was out in a field of other Corollas racing in a very serious race. And he had just not the car.

It was not fast. It wasn't competitive at all. And he decided to just start hanging it out in the turns. And people went insane. And they were like, what is this? And he's like, this is what we do, where I'm from, in the mountains. And then after that, immediately,

all the Japanese magazines picked up on it. They started having these little Ike-Ten events and these little drifting-specific events. And that was it. That was probably, I think, early 90s. They brought a couple things over to the States in the late 90s, and then a few years later, we sort of started the first.

When was the first time you actually were in a drift race? How old were you? I was probably 22. What year? Early thousands. Mm-hmm. How old were you when you responded to the Craigslist ad that John and Dylan were looking for a roommate?

28, I think. John and Dylan, they run this show. Dylan usually fucks it up. You guys all lived together, like 16 of you. Yeah, basically I was leaving a total desire. I'd moved to LA and when I started racing, we like lived in garages and got our girlfriends to pay rent if that was like a good year for you

or something and then you wind up back in the garage because it didn't work out. And so I lived in this house in La Cunha, nothing worked in the house. Like you turn the faucet on, it went into the dirt below the room somehow. It was a mess. It was a disaster.

One or two guys lived in the garage. We're just building drift cars and living like wild squirrels more or less. And that eventually got shut down because they were going to develop the land. And I needed a place to live. And I just found a Craigslist ad. I don't even remember what it said, but it was like, oh, we're in mid city.

We're looking for a roommate. There's like a little cubby hole in our attic. We're trying to get a couple hundred bucks rent for it. And I was like, really needed a place to go. So met with those guys, Dylan and John, it was like a fleet of them. There were so many people. They did a thing I've never seen in my life. So the average Los Angeles dream is like you get off the proverbial bus with your $300

and a twinkle in your eye. These dudes brought everyone they'd ever met. It was like they're childhood best friends and guys they knew from college. There was like 14 of them. So they had this like whole little mini society and they put a little panel together to see if I could go live there. I think John was a resounding yes right after that. He told me later.

Oh, he couldn't be more excited that you're here. He's just all week. Oh man, I can't wait for Tony. You'll never meet someone more interesting. I'm like, fuck Tony, is what I started saying toward the end of the week. Yeah. Were you a professional drift racer before you moved in with them? Yes. Yeah. So- So that lets you know all you need to know about how much money-

Much money, yes. Is in professional drift racing That's true, especially then you know, too We were like four years into having an American pro series at that point The only thing I was good at was like building the car and driving it the business side We just came from like being regular kids who are interested in this random thing to being like go run a go run the like A racing program and get sponsors and we were excited. Anything we thought early on in drifting, we were like, we're gonna be pro drifters.

And then we're basically in like the early days of like what's gonna be the new, you know, Formula One. Like we were like, there's no limit to how big this is gonna get. We're gonna be household names. Or like, it's gonna help grow the sport. And it's grown slow, steady growth over however many years. But we were definitely pumped.

You had the mindset of being on the ground floor that I'm gonna be a part of greatness. When I was a kid, I one time was like, I'm gonna start playing paddle ball, you know, on the beach where you just hit the ball back and forth. I was like, I'm gonna take that to the next level and make it a professional sport. And I was into it for like three weeks, I think.

I was like, that's fucking stupid. Pickle ball's like, that's like one shade off a pickleball. I know, I didn't have the foresight to stick it out. What's the most, the highest you were ever ranked at the end of a season? You called a season in trip? At the end of the season. Probably in the high teens.

And how many racers are there? When I was racing, there would be like usually 70 or 80 licensed racers. All right, so you made it to the high teens. Yeah, yeah, we did pretty well. That's exciting. You were 15th best in the world at something. Pretty close, I would think, at some point.

Like, that's so impressive. I mean, people always think, like, you have to be number one and stuff to impress me. No, no, high teens. 15 will get you there. High teens that I'm impressed. Yeah, cool. What sets the number one drift guy apart from number 15?

Consistency, usually having a really good car. It's a tough sport if you don't have as much car as you need. Talk about the finances between number one and number 15. I stopped drift racing in 2015 or so. But basically, cars are $400,000, $500,000, and it takes about that much to run them, like in a number one kind of team. How many tires do you go through?

Hundreds a year for sure. Hundreds a year? Yeah, yeah. You rotate them? Uh, they, not really. No. No, you don't. You get about 2,000 feet out of a set of rear tires. You change your own oil in all your cars? Me? Not all the time.

No. You ever like drop your car off to get serviced? Uh, stuff we don't want to do, yeah. I have like a buddy who has a shop right in town, and I'm like, do this thing I don't feel like doing, or have time to do. Be honest, what effect did the Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift have on you being interested in this career?

Oh, I was way pre-Tokyo Drift. One of my cars is in Tokyo Drift. One of my competition cars. Now that one had the Inbred guy starring it instead of beautiful Paul Walker. Is that science fact? Now that one had the inbred guy starring it instead of beautiful Paul Walker Am I wrong? Is that science fact? Something was off about him and I'm like they replaced Paul Walker the most beautiful man I'd ever seen

With this guy had a lisp I believe and then and Vin Diesel's not in that movie either Which is or maybe he made a cameo at the end But that was both Paul and Vin were like were, we're above Fast and the Furious, and then all of a sudden, like, you know. Yeah, everybody came back, no, yeah. You ever race for pink slips in your entire life? No, looks fun, though. You have a dumb NOS button in your car?

No, I have a couple cars. You've never had one? I've had nitros on cars, but we have it run in a very sophisticated way, where the computer says, oh, there's this much throttle, and you're at this much boost level, turn the nitros on on kind of thing. See, because what I've always learned is you should press it second. Yes, you don't want to do it too early, right? That's the thing.

If I've learned anything, where are you at on EVs drifting? I don't mind EVs nearly as much as a lot of people in the aftermarket automotive racing community do. Are they too heavy to drift? They're just boring. I mean, they are not too heavy to drift. They did have a, Chevy had an electric Camaro a couple years ago, they couldn't really dial it in. But it's definitely a challenge. I'm not, I don't think you should have them

in the same class or together or anything like that. Uh-huh, it's kinda like transgender. I'm not answering whatever comes to your mind next. By the way, what do you guys think of street takeovers? Oh, hate them. I mean, it's just a disaster waiting to happen. Let me tell you something. I'm driving down the PCH with my brand new firstborn son. I hate this already. My wife is driving, okay? So you should triple hate it now.

Okay? I'm not one of these guys that's so progressive that when my wife gets in the driver's seat I don't immediately go oh fuck. Yeah, I do. I'm like goddamn it. Today's the day Like anyway, so she's driving all of a sudden. We're on the PCH right in front of Neptune's net Which so we're almost leaving LA County getting into Ventura County and I go Hit the brakes honey hit it and kids just start running into the street, stop both lanes of the PCH Highway, both lanes. And so we're the front car. You got the best seat in the house.

Okay. Okay. But I'm a newborn dad, so I'm a little bit nervous and I've got her behind the wheel of a G-Wagon. So I'm just waiting for her to mow people over. And all of a sudden they start,, and I go, just go. She's like, what? I go, just go, go. And-

Did she go? To the right, off-road. This is a truck, this thing can do anything. Whatever. Get off the road. I don't want them to swipe us. That was my thing. Anyway, that was the closest I've ever been.

I was so nervous. So full circle, Neptune's Net is heavily featured in the Fast and Furious, and that's why they did it there Oh, they wanted to recreate it. It's like a big it's like, you know It's like a pilgrimage you make if you come to the West Coast with cars So we were always goofing around there's always dudes on Harley's ripping wheelies right there And I'm gonna give you one more full circle Fast and the Furious moment and it's it's almost sounds like I'm making this up Years later. I'm in an electric Rivian with my son and we pull up to the

light at Pepperdine on PCH next to a Ferrari with a hot chick in the passenger seat, just like that scene where Paul and Vin were like, he doesn't know what's in this Honda Civic. We got a hundred thousand under the hood, whatever he says. I remember the movie. And I go, I tell my son, I go, buddy, this is not right, but we've got a racist fucking. Like, listen, you don't know, but there's history here. We have, we're reliving a scene now. If Paul Walker was alive and he saw a pickup truck doing zero to 60 in under three seconds,

he would lose his mind. That's true. So we did it. You did, you smoked that Ferrari? No, we didn't smoke it. No, we didn't smoke them. But we were next to them. For the first 60, and then I said, that's it.

That's all we raised. We raised to 60, and that's it. Like a responsible dad. God damn it. You ever drift with any of your girls in the backseat? I have not done that yet. My girls are five, my twins are five, and my oldest is eight.

We're getting very close. I've taken them out in some fast cars. Just so that some- Strap them in and slide. Yeah, we will. Soon enough. John told me he went with you to Brazil. Is that where you were said, John?

No, no, Panama. Panama, went to Panama. And then he's like, this was back when you were racing. And he said, it's like, you guys were like the Beatles. And I'm like, were they? Were they really like the Beatles? Could you walk down the street and actually be recognized by people?

Not really. You know, it's such a focused little community, especially drifting stuff. But in the community. Oh, for sure. It was fun? Yeah, super fun. Were you a monster?

I was a complete dickhead, like, until I was 29 years old. I was like, why won't sponsors come back after this year? And then I'm like, oh, because I kicked the windows out of the rental car and threw a bunch of headrests out on the highway. Because we were moron. Like I was, I went- I'm not mad at that behavior.

That's when you should be a moron. Oh, I was a complete jackass. You raced cars in your 20s. Yeah, the thing that happened was we were regular kids. We're like, drifting is this random cool thing we like to do. And two years later, they're like, you're the pro drifter, you guys are like in the pro series and we had no money.

Like, it's also the weirdest thing where we were sleeping on a couch or like literally in a garage two weeks out of the month. And then one weekend, you're like with your team in your suit, and there's like no end to the bar tab and you can do whatever. And you're 26 and you're in some new town. So we were, I was the worst offender for sure. Similar. I wasn't a monster in my twenties. I graduated college and got a TV show in South beach, Miami,

interviewing hot girls on the beach. Okay. So I'm going to be a monster. We rented, we had production minivans. And so me and my friends, I, you know, I would drive one of them the other were driving and the rule was whoever was in the back yeah wasn't allowed to hit their brakes under no circumstance. So we just slid the car on the front would just constantly just slam on the brakes and you just ram them. But that's good clean fun. It's good clean fun.

Oh, it's good clean fun. Can you drift any vehicle? Kind of. It's tough to like really navigate through a series of turns, but like you could slide just about anything around. Golf cart? Yeah, I've tried it for sure. Have you tried it on a real golf course?

Yeah, for sure. But it's slick. It'll go. Yeah, it'll go. Yeah. It'll go. Once it's wet, all bets are off. Absolutely. Do you know that more people die in golf carts at racetracks than racing cars? No.

Yeah. Isn't that wild? Well, I just, I'm guessing. Because they're wicked, wicked dangerous. I'm guessing there's way more people in golf carts than there are racing cars. Maybe. You ever been seriously injured in an accident? Nothing terrible.

I've crashed a lot of cars. I've only flipped one How many rolls did you do just one just a half just a flop? Yeah, it's not even a full roll I know have you ever seen a car just plow into a group of people not a people no What about you ever you ever hang your edge too close to a cliff like on Mulholland up there so I did I put a tire off on Pikes Peak in Colorado. One time I took my father-in-law, I said, hey, you want to go do, we were in Tahoe. There's a church parking lot nearby and there's fresh snow. I go, you want to go do donuts? And he goes, he's from Florida. He goes, you know, I've never done a donut before.

And I said, watch this. And we went over there and we started spinning donuts. And as soon as we pulled out and left he goes that was very enjoyable He sounds great you ever raced in snow, yeah a little bit. What's that like? I've done ice drag racing in Wisconsin. That was incredible on like a frozen lake. Mm-hmm This is like very low buck like DIY vibes They just wanted to keep racing and they have like three months out of the year There's no snow on the ground. So they just wanted to keep racing and they have like three months out of the year there's no snow on the ground. So they just took their cars,

they ran a million drywall screws through the tires and sealed them up and they race them straight on a frozen lake and they hook up super hard. Like they accelerate as hard as they basically would normally would. You can't steer them because the fronts don't have studs in them. And you just hold on and hope for the best.

And it's wicked fun, that was super fun. You ever consider doing the Cannonball run? Not really. The Cannonball stuff, I think, is super reckless. I don't, you know, I'm like, oh man. Yeah, but did you hear that all the records were shattered during COVID? Yeah, they just like, imagine my,

this is how obsessed and singular vision car dudes are. The world is falling apart. There's so much uncertainty. Can we get toilet paper? Is the water gonna keep running? Are billions of people gonna die? Early days, we had no, it was Bedlam. This guy's out there tuning up his radar detector.

He's filling the gas up. It's like, I'm gonna show those idiots. And then they're trying to avoid it, say it doesn't count because it was COVID and people weren't supposed to be on the freeways, but they destroyed the records. After retiring from drifting, you hosted a show on Motor Trend called Hot Rod Garage, where you brought old beaters back to life.

What was it like transitioning to on camera? I'd read this article that was written, I thought it was really interesting. It said, it's like 2010, it was like Ken Block, Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are America's most popular racing drivers and they don't win shit. And it was like, oh, that's because they're they're doing so much outside of this. They're on camera. They're doing these like groundbreaking YouTube videos, like all this stuff. One of them was a hot girl. Yeah, one of them was a

hot girl. So yeah, I was like, I want to focus like I think video is my next step. I grew up doing hot rods before drifting. So I did kind of have the chops and knew what I was talking about, but it was definitely a moment of like, who is this import idiot dude who we've only ever seen drive Mazdas and Toyotas now telling me what to do with my old Chevy. But after about a year, a couple things fell into place

and we started kind of taking off. And those diehard loyal fans are just so opinionated. Oh yeah, big time. Big time. Now, would you rather push a Ford than drive a Chevy Oh yeah, big time. Big time. Now would you rather push a Ford than drive a Chevy? No, probably not. Okay. No.

You hosted the show for six seasons. Did Chris McCarthy fire you and destroy hundreds of families that depended on your show to continue for five more seasons because you had a contract and you had just signed it? That's about my show. Oh, I get it. Yeah, no, that didn't happen. I just left my show because I want to be home more.

Good for you. Yeah, thanks. You did six seasons. How many episodes did you do? We would do, I think I did 95 or something. How many cars did you build there? A lot, we'd build five cars a year or something. Did you actually do the build

or was it like once the camera's cut, did you guys bring in the crew from? No, it was just us. So it was me and my buddy Lucky who became the co-host. He was originally a little bit off-camera wrench guy, and I kind of got hired on to do this show with David Freiberger. He hosts Roadkill, their biggest sort of show at the time. David just went off and did another thing, and they're like, well, you're just going to do it by yourself. And it's pretty tough to... I don't know if you've ever hosted a show by yourself, it's pretty hard. So I tried doing that for like a season,

it was kind of wonky, and then we're like, well, Lucky's here and he's this old, smart-ass, kind of like grizzled, awesome dude who's working on the cars anyway, like let's just bring him in. And people really responded to it. So after, you know, five years or so, we'd really built something pretty cool

and it was just us doing the car stuff. And then you just walked away from it and you said, I'm gonna do the exact same show, but slightly different on YouTube. Yeah, sorta. I know. It seems like a genius move. Right?

Yeah. When I was at Harajaraj, I was picking out the cars that I decided what projects we would do. I'd write all the outlines, I would get all the parts either ordered or make the list of the parts ordered. We'd shoot the show. I'd host it. And then I was involved in editing. I would go through the cuts. I'm like, you guys taught me how to do all this stuff. I'm just going to go do it over here. I never learned how to do any of that stuff. But I said, why not instead of, you know,

paying 50 people to do the show, why don't I just pick three of the people that can do most of it? Yeah. And of it, and then Dylan. And Dylan too, that's good. And let's make a run at it. Where are you at on an exhibit? You ever met him? Never. Did you enjoy Pimp My Ride? Oh yeah, it's like a, just such a realistic,

incredible way to modify cars. I just felt like I would be furious if that's what they did to my car. I agree, and you know that even if you weren't, three weeks later All that stuff's falling apart There's no way you can put TVs inside the spokes your wheels and like have a car that works the time crunch It was all kids. It was like hey kid. Does your car suck well now it sucks with an aquarium in it

Yeah, and he's like what I just want to get to college yeah, but you have an aquarium in your car. That's pretty fucking cool What's the build you're most proud of that you've ever done? Probably my kids. I feel like god damn it I said I wasn't gonna cry during this interview Um, I have a 55 Chevy with a legit NASCAR motor in it makes 811 naturally aspirated 9,000 rpm horsepower That's pretty fun. We're doing right now Like it in 2003 was on the NASCAR Cup Circuit so they gave me on the history of it like Jimmy Johnson had a couple top 10 finishes in it. I'm just tooling it around the back roads in Pennsylvania. You just sell all your uh are you allowed to? Yeah I mean I own all the stuff now so we can sell you know we have a

disclaimer you have to sign. That says you will die. You will definitely die in this if you do anything stupid. What's the most money you've put into a car before? Well, my I still have my pro drift car that might be 200,000 or so. Uh-huh. Oh man in time and you know parts Oh time I'd love to see that line item Does it infuriate you when people refer to themselves as tinkers when talking about cars? Tinker. I'm just a tinker. Yeah, that sounds like you should maybe have to stay 500 feet from a school or something.

It's not a good look. It is a gross word. It's like trousers or squirrel or something. Why does squirrel get... The word squirrel, it's just a bad sound. How many cars have you had in your life? Oh, probably 130. That's awesome.. Maybe I think I have 20 now. Where do you garage all these things? well, so I'm back in Pennsylvania full-time YouTube show my stay tuned show and

We're working on one or two, maybe three at a time So I rent like a warehouse besides that Dominic Toretto once said, without family you've got nothing. Talk about leaving your show in LA and moving back to Pennsylvania to live next to your ex-wife and kids because of one Vin Diesel quote. I think he hit it right on the head. You know, Vin is a modern prophet and you know he's dead-on. It's you know family is everything and you know you can't get disrespected in front is a modern prophet. And he's dead on. Family is everything. And you can't get disrespected in front of your family,

either. That's another thing. Oh, is he big on that, too? Yeah, that's the other guy. But basically, yeah, it's the best. I live like four miles away, and I see my kids constantly. It's awesome. I have them a ton, and I feel like I'm very involved.

And my Stay Tuned YouTube channel has been growing and growing. So it feels like I kind of did a pretty able to... My stay tuned YouTube channel has been like growing and growing. So it feels like I kind of did a pretty decent thing. Now, you miss LA at all? A little bit, here and there. It was, you know, it's LA. It's fun, but it's tough to get around and it's tough to be here. And, you know, we wanted to be back home by family to help with the kids and stuff.

Sure. Now you're forced to though. Oh, yeah. You got no choice for... That's it. How many more years? 12? Yeah, more. You got no choice for it. That's it. How many more years? Twelve? Yeah, more.

You live on an apple farm in Pennsylvania. What type of apples are your favorite? I bought recently pretty close to my ex so I could be close to the girls. It's not a farm, it's a little farmlet we'll call it. It's smallish. But yeah, I have an orchard with different, the apples were new to this whole thing. Do you know what your favorite apple is is I'm a honey crisp honey crisp But those feel like they were made in space right like nothing grows out of the ground that God tastes that sugary

Oh, you made a pie yet with your apples not yet. It's just we're just getting to our first apple season When's Apple season fall? Mm-hmm. I knew that pears are rocking now though pears are now. Yeah, I'll send you I don't want them Uh, you know how long pears are. Pairs are now? Yeah, I'll send you some pairs. I don't want them. Okay. You know how long pairs are good for? Like six minutes. Yeah. It's like, good God, to get a good pair. Oh, that was good. Uh-oh, now by the end of it, it's like not good.

And then the next one, yeah, it just melts in your hand, yeah. That's true. Talk a little about your time doing stunt work in LA. Uh, just when I came, when I decided I was done with Drift Racing, we'd had like that crazy polar vortex over like two summers. It was miserable winters in Philly. And I wanted to get into the screen actors decided I was done with thrift... It's really a fun job.

If you're good at it, it seems a little bit like the Wild West. Like, every time I've gone out, and I've gotten just, like, regularly, like, picked in casting, I'm like, oh, I can do all these things with the car. Like, they give you a real strong once-over, they want to see you do it. It's like, you know, you're a struggling actor, you're gonna write, oh, yeah, I could do juggling,

I can ride a unicycle and whatever. I can, of course, I can do precision driving. I've been in a parking lot at home. So you've never done non-driving stunt work oh yeah, I could do juggling, I can ride a unicycle, and whatever, of course I can do precision driving. I've been in a parking lot at home. So you've never done non-driving stunt work? No, I don't do that. I've got buddies that do it. That are like, oh, I'm gonna just

jump out of this building on fire, and I'm like, good luck with that. Well, have you been in cars where they want them on fire? I haven't. But most of the stuff I've done has been sort of centered around racing or sliding cars around. But yeah, they're like, oh, I'm gonna to take this motorcycle, I'm going to crash it, and then I'll probably wind up in the street or through this window.

And I'm like, cool, that's cool, man. I will watch that from home for sure. I mean, that part of it seems amazing. I don't like all the safety speeches and debriefings. It just takes so long. Yeah, it's like, we get it. Why does it feel like you guys are the stunt people? Just do it. Yeah. Go have your, can't you guys just do it? We get it. Why does it feel like you guys, you guys are the stunt people, just do it.

Yeah. Go have your meeting and then let's go. Yeah. Hurt yourself. Yeah, or don't. Or don't. Yeah. I mean, listen, I don't know if Alec Baldwin's in the area, let's have the meeting, but if not, let's uh, let's speed this up a bit. Everyone's on the show gets a gift. It's just stuff from my house that I want to get rid of. Okay. One of my old plates. Oh nice. I need you. I'll take that. You got to put it in a garage somewhere. I have those. Um, this, this, I took it for my kid this morning because they were, I was like, I'm so sick of you using like a robot voice talking to me and I'm giving away, so this is for your daughters. Awesome. Thank you. You get it off the desk. Just throw it on the floor. All this on the floor. That's fine. Everybody that works in a garage needs rags.

Yeah. Right? Absolutely. So I'm giving you all of my back stock of Tosh.0 wardrobe. Yeah? Yeah. So you'll have-

Oh my God. You're gonna have thousands and thousands of t-shirts. Oh. Everything that was Tosh.0. Oh, this is awesome. But now they're rags. Cause I think what better home than all my old Tosh.0 stuff.

I'll just make Stone wear these in the background. You give them to workers. You give them free shirts. I love it. Oh, it's gonna be the best. Thank you. We took a plane here, so this is super convenient. No, no, I'll ship it for you.

I'll ship it for you. And then I have one more gift for you that I just know that you're gonna appreciate. A project. Yes. Don't you love a project? Yeah, it's kind of my thing. Okay, I have a 1969 or 1970 Subaru Samba 360 van.

I don't know if you're familiar with the van. Yeah, a little bit. I've heard about this a little bit. The first thing I want you to do is figure out what year it is. I don't know how to do stuff. Is it like written on there somewhere? Is there like a number on it? On the car? Usually, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So let's find out what year it is. The reason I liked it is because it's a, you know, it's so tiny.

Oh, wow. Yeah, that is incredible. That's a whole car right there. Right? But it comes up to your nipples. Very little. You could say chest, but sure. You have a high nipple, maybe. I don't know. Very high nipples. So I got it.

It was a display in like a dealership in Utah or something like that. It doesn't have brakes right now. It has an e-brake. I think the engine can run. Now, can you fix a micro car like that? Probably. Because I'm going to tell you you what I wanna use it for.

I wanna make it a volunteer school bus in my neighborhood for some of the elementary kids. I don't think that's a thing. No, no, no, it is. I'm just gonna pick up my, I'm just gonna take my son and his friends. And his, okay, sure. Just to kindergarten.

With the parents' consent. Yes. Oh, got it. Oh, for sure. Well, I'm gonna let him know the brakes work. I'm gonna say, Tony took care of the brakes. So there's nothing on the line with this project. There is a one, there's one big hill that it. Oh for sure. I'm gonna let him know the brakes work. Yeah I'm gonna say Tony took the other brain on the line with us There is a one there's one big hill that it goes down every day. So I will need the brakes to work Okay, but I also don't want it to be I don't want to I don't want an aquarium in it

Yeah, don't surprise all we do is aquariums surprise me with an aquarium Okay, no, but I can you make do an episode on stay tuned on this on this car? Absolutely to be clear. I've never worked on a classic Subaru. So let's give it a crack I don't mind paying anything that you tell me to pay Okay, as long as you promise that you're not fucking me over deal. That's a deal That's literally if I could just if I could just have that assurance like I know it with you is fine In the in that business in this world, that's the problem. Yeah, it's a little murky.

By the way, should the back wheels be like this? I don't know yet, probably not. We'll look at it. I think with micro cars like those BMW Isetas, I think they are kind of. It depends on the suspension type, but Volkswagen bugs do it. It just depends on how they're put together.

I also noticed when it was coming off the flatbed, the gas started pouring out the back. Yeah, that's not a good sign. I didn't know it was gas until I tasted it. That's how I go about life. I'm like, what is this? Coffee mug? Yeah, it's a coffee mug.

You ever siphon gas? Yeah, it's gross. I've never actually successfully pulled it off. I think I've attempted it, and I was like, it's not coming. You're gonna wind up with a mouthful of gas if you do it, right? Which is not something you ever really want to say you do. Yeah, it's awful. Oh Here's something I'll be honest about it's always funny when you talk to like like a car person in this day in a 2024 I Secretly now it's not a secret because I'm talking in a microphone,

feel like I'm less of a man than you. Because I don't know anything about cars. So it's like, I'm like, ah. And also I feel if I'm hanging out with like say a fighter and I'm like, oh, he's so much stronger than me, I'm less of a man than him. Yeah. The thing is- That's all true.

100%. Yeah. I believe you. That's the case. Yeah, yeah. You nailed it. Yeah. The thing is. That's all true. 100%. Yeah. I believe you. You nailed it. I just don't care. Also like fast runners too. No, I'm pretty quick.

Guys that can dunk. I think I could still dunk if I tried. If I spent, give me six months. When I turn 50, I'm gonna dunk one more time on 10 foot. Really? Yeah. All right, I'll be there. I'm tall.

Yeah, you are tall. And I've got a jump. I've got some spring. What's it called? Twitch? I still got a little Twitch left. A fast Twitch. Mm-hmm. Tony, thank you for being on the show. All the best. Yeah. And I'll see you in my garage. Alright, thanks for having me. This is awesome. Thank you. Yeah. You got big mitts. Jesus. How do you fit those in such tight quarters? In cars? One of the guys that works with us has little surgeon hands. So if I can't do it, I'll be like, ugh. I'm like, Barb.

Bring in the girly, man. Hey, everybody. The time has finally come. This week, starting Monday, October 7, going daily through Friday, October 11, Bowen Yang and I, Matt Rogers, are unveiling the iconic 400. Yes, these are the top 400 people in all of culture and we're unveiling all of them. Number 372, Nancy Kerrigan. Why? We will never really know.

Why? We have worked tirelessly on this list. I'm Michael Bobaro. Once you hear I'm Michael Bobaro, you know exactly who is talking. And we really think it's gonna resonate. Me, Christian! No! She is not a Christian! Don't worry, he's not! Happily flying a pride flag.

Also, there might be a little bit of a surprise or two in there, so listen carefully. Hint, hint, Friday. Listen to Las Culturas on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jack Pease Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of black literature. I'm Jack Pease Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me in a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts

dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audio books while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture.

Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Black Lit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Black Lit on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Mike and Ian. We're the hosts of How to Do Everything

from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Each week we take your questions and find someone much smarter than us to answer them. Questions like, how do you survive the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast on iHeartRadio.

Pasha! I wanna thank Tony for being a guest on the show, and I also wanna thank him for taking my broken 360 Subaru. He took it from this interview around one o'clock in the afternoon by 2.30. Here it is up on a lift. Six hours later, he's driving it. Now in this video, I would like to point out that I don't see him stop.

And that was the biggest issue. There were no breaks whatsoever in that van. So I'm hoping he either ran out of gas or he fixed the brakes. But that was really nice of him. Him and Lucky, Tony and Lucky, you just go over there to their YouTube channel. And I'm sure they'll fix your car Just you know what just drop your car off You find Tony you go to his Apple orchard you drop off your car leave the keys in it and a note what he needs

To do you don't even need the note. He'll figure it out guy can do anything. Geez. It's such a man I got some plugs boys wear pink comm we gotta start selling more of that stuff. I gotta get rid of it Okay, it's filling up my basement eddygosling.com. Check out his tour dates. Check out my tour come see us in New Orleans Come see us in Hawaii. We got to bring one of our fans with us to Hawaii. What do you think Carl? You ready for the best segment? You know what it's called? Ready that catchy title free plug hit the free plug music You know what it's called ready that catchy title free plug hit the free plug music Whoa, we finally got music, you know, we need a sponsor for the free plug, you know, then it would pay for itself

That doesn't make any sense. All right this week's free plug October 12th the town of Pilsen, Kansas population wait for it, 62. That seems like a sad, sad job. Having to adjust that number occasionally. They're celebrating 150 years. They got their anniversary coming up. They got a full day of activities planned for the kids. There's going to be a bounce house, sack race, cornhole, and face painting. The whole family can participate in the parade.

They got a tractor pull and a trap shoot. They got polka dance featuring the Mark Valdell Orchestra. Oh, that's who you want. You know, spend the money, get Mark Valdell's orchestra there. Man, that's a hell of a schedule for such a small town. Probably be some visitors over from Marin County coming over to that. Maybe as far as Hillsboro. I don't know.

Carl, you're not interested in this? I might be underselling it. I don't know. Wait, the day kicks off at 8 a.m. It's going to be over on the former ball diamond. Is that just a baseball field? Yeah, the former baseball field. Oh, geez. Well, you guys know where it is over in Pilsen, the former ball diamond. Most of the day's events will be at the surrounding community

center, which is the former Pilsen grade school. Everything is former. This is sad. As we all know, the school's closed. Oh, okay. The Pilsen kids now attend the Century School District. Oh, okay. All right. Anyway, I'm sorry I can't be there, but it sounds like a hoot. We'll see you guys next week. Hey, everybody.

The time has finally come. This week, starting October 7th through October 11th. That's a Monday through Friday everybody We are revealing the iconic 400. Yes, Bo and Yang and I famously missed our 400th episode here on Lost Culture East Us But we are ready to reveal the iconic 400. Who is on the list? Does it matter? No, will it be fun? Yeah, there might even be a surprise or two in there, so listen carefully. Listen to Lost Culture East us on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacquelys Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit,

the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Hey, it's Mike and Ian. We're the hosts of How to Do Everything from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Each week, we take your questions and find someone much smarter than us to answer them.

Questions like, how do you survive the Bermuda Triangle? How do you find a date inside the Bermuda Triangle? We can't help you, but we will find someone who can. Listen to the How to Do Everything podcast on iHeartRadio.