Whiskey Ginger with Andrew Santino - Paul Rodriguez

Episode Date: November 23, 2018

Santino sits with skateboarding superstar Paul Rodriguez (P-Rod) and chat about growing up with a famous father and how skating and comedy aren’t so far apart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In here, we pour whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey. You're that creature in the ginger beard. Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse. Gingers are pugilistic. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the horse. Gingers are hell no. This whiskey is excellent.

Ginger. I like gingers. Welcome to Whiskey Ginger My guest today is Paul Rodriguez International superstar skateboarder One of my favorite people on earth I told you I say that for all my guests But I say it because I fucking mean it Cheers brother

Thank you for coming to Whiskey Ginger Legit The reason that we know each other This is a comedian Pro skateboarder crossover. Your world and our world intersect because your dad is a stand-up comic. Yeah.

And you like comedians just fine. I respect the craft, man. Right? Yeah. I respect the craft so much. It's incredible. Well, I mean, and you being a world-renowned skateboarder.

And I was saying to you before you've reinvented who you are in the game over the years which i think a lot of skaters that stay along that stay in it a long time they get the they get the chance to do that over and over over again i think the best guys have to because you have to change with the times that's like you know we have to do the same shit right with any i was going to say with anything to stay to stay good longevity yeah to stay good and stay in it. And, you know, like I told you before, you're one of the top 30 most influential skaters of all time,

and I believe that. You know, I believe that you got signed young, right? You got signed when you were how old? Well, I guess to Nike, when I got signed, I was 19. Yeah, that's crazy, man. Yeah. That's crazy. And then you opened up Primitive, which is your own brand yes right yeah and uh we just celebrated our 10th year anniversary

in august yeah that's dope congratulations thank you you should be sending me more primitive stuff than dude i don't even know why we're talking about it now i got your address now okay though too late coming you can't stop it well they don't let me sleep here this is just temporary well somebody's got to be here to pick it up yeah yeah i'll have one i'll have one of the interns do that so you um you know you you grew up in in new stand-up comedy which is so wild to me and why we did this show together for go 90 for a second you were a guest on this show that i did you were nice enough to do that you grew up with you know your father who paul rodriguez for people that don't know is his father same. Same name, different cat.

He is so big in the stand-up comedy world, so well-respected, such a legend in our game. You grew up around stand-up comics in your life as a kid. It was so common for you, right? Yeah, man. Especially when I was real young, I didn't grasp the significance. I knew that I was real selfish at the young age because i just anytime he would take me anywhere people would crowd around him and and like we would go eat food and the uh the servers from the kitchen would always come out and just stand at the table and

talk with him or we would go to disneyland we can never get to i would be so frustrated by this because he took all your time i took all your. It took all my time with him Which was already limited. Yeah, it's hard but now getting older and having not quite the notoriety he had but like Similar like I realized how much I picked up and learned from him how he treated people how I acted with people who came up To him so much of that was just subconsciously absorbed at a young age. That's wild which was handy well, that's wild which like came in handy well that's crazy because it must hit this threshold where you became famous quote unquote whatever people's label wants to be of that well known and while he's famous there must have been this kind of

crossing over of like people saw you and him and knew both of you yeah oh that's a trip right it's super trip especially now because like i'm a little older in the skate game. So it's like multiple generations. So many people come to me like, hey, I love you, and my parents love your dad. Oh, that's cool. It's just like such a combined thing. Your generational satisfaction, that's huge, man. Did your grandpa do anything dope too?

My grandpa, he was a dope dude, but nothing like on a fame level. He wasn't professional and famous and none of that stuff. No, but he was a slick dude, man. uh on a fame level he wasn't professional and famous and no but he was he was a slick dude man he was a funny what'd your grandpa do what's the lineage of your family well they were migrant farm workers from what i know straight from mexico immigrated when my dad was a baby uh migrant farm workers going from town during the whole like cesar chavez type era and all that like uh they moved to LA? Moved to LA where my dad ended up growing up in Compton. His formative years were in Compton. So they were there forever until my dad finally ended up making some money. And then he moved them up north to a city called Dinuba, which is kind of by Fresno.

I never heard of that in my life. Dinuba? Dinuba. It's just a farming town. California has a huge chunk of like farmland people don't know when you drive from like la to san francisco there's so much farmland and they all got weird ass names yeah dinuba dinuba to larry to larry yeah there's just two cats named larry just go over here and to larry man don't fuck around that's where 2 chain got his name

from that's too larry yeah 2 chain took that shit from 2 larry 2 larry larry squared yeah and all and and there's so much dead land up there that people don't know about this all farmland so they moved up there and then when did they come to la la they came to la no they're still there oh really my dad still owns all his brothers and sisters are up there still live on that same property he bought in the early 80s from my grandparents because you know my grandpa was a migrant farm worker for so many years yeah my dad made some money he said you know what dad fuck that i'm buying you your own farm oh that's cool you can have your own that's like the dream is to be able to buy yourself buy your parents something when you make it our generation though

is so fucking impossible now because everything's so expensive i couldn't even i couldn't even buy my parents a condo in la right so buy him buy them a one bed, one bath. Especially in LA. Yeah, it's ridiculous. Property tax. But that was like the old American dream is like, I can make my parents retire. I have no hope of that whatsoever because I know how insane that would be. I don't have that kind of cash ever coming in. My parents better keep their ass working.

That's right. Back to the work. Back to the work because I'm not writing that check. No chance. So they own that. And then does your dad live in LA now or no? Yeah, he lives in okay so he still lives here yeah he still lives here but he owns all that land up north he owns it's about 40 acres up north yeah what got you now i want to kind of like get into the to the skate brain of you as a kid like what was the first what was the first notion you had or who's the first person that you saw that were

like i want to skate so bad i want to be like that or I want to do that. Who was that? So this is about a year and a half before I actually really started skating. I was in the grocery store with my mother. This was 1994. How old were you in 94? I was nine years old. Nine, okay. Yeah.

So I was in the grocery store with my mom and we went by the magazine section and it was a Thrasher magazine. And it was Mike Carroll on the cover. i believe he was doing a kickflip uh i forget exactly somewhere up north san francisco area and he had won skater of the year that year oh wow and for some reason just like that the photo of the kickflip just to me was just like stood out how do they do that yeah i had to know so i just asked my mom if she can buy me that magazine and so i just i sat there and i just looked through it i didn't know i didn't know what trick was what i didn't know anything i just thought it was the coolest stuff and then there was the ads for all the different skate companies and the graphics were so amazing and

i was just like kind of really into it and i think that's where the seed really got planted right in thresher magazine for people that don't know thresher magazine one of the most popular I think that's where the seed really got planted. Right. In Thrasher Magazine. Yeah. For people that don't know, Thrasher Magazine, one of the most popular skateboarding magazines of all time was, I mean, we all had it. I mean, everybody now knows. Everybody sees the Thrasher shirts everywhere. Huge. Yeah.

Well, it's almost become like a subculture of itself. Even if people don't really know what that was or represented, Thrasher is just like the symbolism is big. It's like this kind of grimy skate rat culture thing that people associate but when i was a kid it was like the ultimate dreamscape because you would want you would see these huge spreads um of people doing tricks and it was it was just so it was just unbelievably hard to aspire to even do any of that shit for me because i was dog shit at skateboarding it was terrible well i think i

got it i think i got a heel flip out and i was like that's it i could retire that you did one in my house i did a heel flip at your house that's right it's exactly that's the only shit that's right i'm sticking to it i can still do a fucking heel flip but um but it was such an iconic magazine that just kind of what the image driven was so so tantalizing as a kid to be like i wish i could do all this shit and it was it was almost a dare. It was almost like, can you, I dare you to try to do this shit.

Right. I dare you to try to get good enough to try any of this stuff, which was, you know, incredible. I understand how you get lost away in that something at nine years old. And you're like, I want to do that real,

real bad. Yeah. I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. And still like, I didn't actually start skating for another two and a half, three years. Did your mom get you a board? Did you ask for a skateboard for Christmas or something? I didn't at that skating for another two and a half, three years. Did your mom get you a board? Did you ask for a skateboard for Christmas or something like that?

No, I didn't at that point. At that point, I just kept going about my normal. At that point, I was really into playing guitar. I wanted to be in a band. I wanted to be like Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain. I want to have a sick band. Yeah. Yeah.

What would your band, what would the name would have been? We were called Zenith. Oh, you had one? Yeah. Zenith. After the TV. After the TV? You could get sued by the TV company? Yeah. Zenith? After the TV. After the TV?

You could get sued by the TV company. I was RCA, my band was called RCA, man. But you, obviously, when you started skating, that became like your life, right? That became like your love. That was everything. That's everything I've ever talked to any pro skater. They say the moment that they started, that was it.

It was like, everything changed. Every hour of the day was dedicated to it now did you you were you a school skipper and shit or did you stay in school and do the right thing you know what i'm such a um i dude i'm just like i was just such i never got in trouble i was just you were a good kid narrow kid dude like it was the opposite that was such a piece of shit i was such a punk dude like what was the opposite that was such a piece of shit i was such a punk dude like as an adult i kind of envy not having somewhat of a rebellious phase and i envy i never not once ditched school i was so terrified like you never ditched school once i didn't ditch school but is it because the wrath of your dad do you think like dad no my dad my see i didn't see my dad often enough that now as an adult my theory is when i did see him he maybe felt subconsciously like guilty for not seeing me as much i could do you got away with murder murder and he would not

say shit yeah my mom would you know i was with her every day so she was forming me um so but i am a high school dropout oh you are i am so it's like but i was not a good student like i didn't get good grades but but I never ditched school. When did you drop out? I dropped out when I was 17 because I had turned professional. Oh, your sophomore year in high school? Is that what it is? So.

Junior. Yes and no. So when I went to high school, in ninth grade, I went to high school. And then in 10th grade, I started going to high school. But I became an amateur skateboarder like a couple months into tenth grade. And I finally wore my mom down and begged her, like, can I please get home studies? Can I please get home studies? If you give me home studies, I can skate more.

I can get better. I can turn pro faster. I just, I was honored every day. And she believed in you. Yes. And then finally finally she's like she saw i got like a real sponsor right and she was like okay okay so then that was when i was about 16 i went to homeschool about a year and then when i when i was 17 i became professional

started making my own money right my mom wanted to move i actually moved her to a place was paying her bills you set up your parent your mom my mom yeah i stayed in the house i grew up in because i didn't want to leave i loved the house my dad owned the house so he let me stay there i moved my mom out oh wow her rent so now i'm 17 i'm on my own a house full of just my friends moved in just skaters just partying yeah well no at that age it was just skate party you were keeping it you get you no one was drinking okay not yet not yet at that point and so uh so then i was 17 i'm pro my mom i'm paying my mom's bills i'm like fuck this who's gonna hold me accountable i'm not going to school no more so i just stopped going home studies and you know my my mom you know she would guilt trip me i'm sorry mom

like you know this is what i want to do like trust me i'm gonna do great at this right and my dad you know she would call my dad and bitch him out. Like, you got to talk to your son. He's not going to school. And my dad, he was a college dropout. He's a guy following his dreams. And I had him locked in. So he would, son, you know, your mom, I think you should really go to school.

What are you going to do if, you know, the skateboard thing doesn't work? I was like, what did you tell your parents? You know, that you're going to tell jokes for a living. You know, these are people who don't even know english farmers migrant farm workers people that work with their hands and you're like i'm just gonna go tell dick jokes yeah so i was like so he had i had him cornered yeah yeah he had nothing yeah he had nothing on you it's always good to have leverage on your parents kids know that if you ever want to if you ever really want something just get some leverage on mom and dad so he couldn't i mean did you ever get your ged

did you ever go back no never yeah and you leverage on mom and dad. So he couldn't, I mean, did you ever get your GED? Did you ever go back? No, never. Yeah, and you're doing just fine. Not that this is a lesson learned, but it's so funny. No, I wouldn't encourage that for everyone. It worked for you. Yes, it worked for me.

And the moral of it is like, I'm sure you feel this. When you know, you know. When you feel it, you feel it. Oh, dude, yeah. I went to college out of guilt. I just felt like I should have. I was just just like i'm supposed to be here doing this thing society brainwashes you like it has to be this yeah they made me feel like i was supposed to do it but i mean i do this for a living so it's got i mean like i fuck around for a living i mean i have to use my brain obviously but it's like but i nothing that i learned in school other than people skills

other than interpersonal communication i mean i fucking algebra i dude i still math science was like somewhat interesting to me but i was like i don't know man science was pretty cool actually it was cool but i didn't want to be judged about how much i knew about no no no that should be school should be how much do you know and you're like not a lot they're like that's all right but do you like it like yeah i like some of it yeah but but you know for you you dropped out because it was a it was a necessity like you had to tour you had to be on the road you had to be doing stuff i mean i didn't have to like my other friends my age and other guys who i had met through the skate circuit my age who were also making their way into pros a lot of them still went to school and graduated and did all that

oh damn but dude i just it wasn't for you it just was not for me who were other pros that you came up with as a kid that you kind of saw your way in with? Yeah, Mikey Taylor. Mike Taylor, yeah. Justin Case, Kevin Long, Spanky. Spanky Long, right. Who else did we, Torrey Pudwell. It's funny for me to know all these names because I was so, like I loved it so much.

When I was a kid, Tom Penny was like the coolest guy who I think ever existed. He's my hero still. Yeah, he was the coolest. A lot of people don't know who he is. i was talking to these guys here at the studio and they were like never heard of him ever that breaks my heart well it's also because they're a lot younger the generational thing i don't think they would have i don't think a lot of people in the young 20s would know who that is you know no absolutely i but i remember that flip board so vividly the cheech and chong yeah man it was so cool it was like the cartoon the cartoonishness

of it was so cool looking and the mushroom the Tom Penney mushroom board all that stuff was so like embedded into the psyche of my brain of what was cool about skateboarding that I think I'll take that with me forever I think it influences everything I do today even if I don't realize it but the taste and style of things I like today are almost always based on skate culture when I was a kid because all that shit was all I used to love it was all i focused on it was everything i like i loved i loved everything about it so it's so funny because it just has bled its way into other things that i do now that i'm getting older but yeah tom tom to me tom penny was one of the coolest people i'd ever seen we were talking about guys that i love today um and the dynamics of what people can do today tech wise

was always it's so so crazy compared to what people used to do when i was a kid it's light years oh yeah nobody nobody was rodney mullen was like the most tech dude i've ever seen yeah but that's also because it was such a specific genre of tech you know but now you know you know chris haslam to me is like one of those dudes that i think is is just like absurdly good incredibly gifted incredibly creative yeah yeah his brain works different right his brain really works different like i get really jealous of people with that kind of creative brain because i'm kind of like a really plain and simple kind of thing but like he really thinks outside of the box there's like uh richie jackson's another yeah i'm not sure if you're familiar but he's in my mind he's like the most creative dude in skateboarding of course day one rodney of course

because he invented everything he's thomas edison of skateboard yeah he really is even still he puts up today for day one day one song still does videos today 100 of stuff that i i'm still mind blown a while on instagram every day he like puts something new up and he skates every day and tries to put like, it's fascinating to follow, man. Because I've never seen someone, that would be like a comedian like me putting up a joke every other day or so.

A brand new joke that I crafted and put it out there. And we do do shit like that. But it takes such unbelievable, had to have that propensity to like, bang, bang, bang, everything like go, go, go, go, go and never stop. And the crazy part about it is Daewon is at least 43. He's 106.

Yeah. By the way, just quick side note. I have a great grandma who's still alive who is 106. Shut up. Right now, dead serious. What is it? So if it's black doesn't crack, what's brown? Just brown doesn't go down?

Is that what it is? Oh, I like that. Brown does not go down. Brown don't frown. Brown don't frown. Brown don't go down. Black crack what's brown just brown doesn't go down is that what it is oh i like that brown does not go down don't frown brown don't frown brown don't go down black don't crack but brown don't go down yeah and white is um tight white's in trouble okay white's white's and white's fucked what are you white you're fucked you know so some a couple of the guys that you came up with now are a lot of those guys are still doing it still doing their thing and still still skating and still in the scene and you came up with now, a lot of those guys are still doing it, still doing their thing, and still skating and still in the scene. And you've seen the scene change now too.

There's so many young guys. I remember watching when they were like skate rats in the scene, like young guys, like Naija. And now he's a grown man. Right now he's the king. But it's so funny to, I remember when he was like the young kid on,

Yeah. On Element. And he was this, and to watch him at competitions or stuff or on TV, I was like, look at how tiny this little, this cool little dude is.

His hair was bigger than him. Yeah, it was, dude. He had those huge dreads. And then now he's, I mean, I don't know, I don't know how else to say it. I follow him online too. He's just amazing. He's legit. Yeah, he is. I mean, I don't know how else to say it. I follow him online too. He's legit.

I mean, it's cool to watch people grow in your industry because I think everyone likes to step outside of their own industry. Like, I love comedy. I love stand-up. But I love things like that, divulging into those worlds because it's, you know, it's so interesting and it's so not me. You know, it takes me away from my world when I pop in a skate video. I mean, that's how I feel about your world. Yeah, it's so interesting it's so not me you know it takes me away from my world when i pop an escape video i mean that's how i feel about your world yeah it's wild right especially i had to i had the privilege of like seeing it from the inside you know to a degree but like never actually being

able to quite do it but like i just i appreciate the hell out of it who did you kick who did you who did you appreciate who did you not know to appreciate when you were a kid that you got to kick it with it now Now you're older. You're like, holy shit. He used to come around. I used to see him with my dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, my dad used to take me to the old comic reliefs.

So I got to hang with Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg. Damn. And those in that era. And I'm just a little dude. You didn't comprehend any of it? No. No. No.

I just knew that i had access to all the vip areas and like they were busy doing their thing and so i got to hang out and cause trouble and nobody would do anything to me about it you know like who was the coolest to you when you were a kid do you remember someone that was that was really cool to you mr t mr t was the coolest he was super cool uh i have this memory it It was, I think it was 1988 Christmas parade that they have every year, the KTLA 5 at that time. It was KTLA 5 or whatever. And it was Christmas parade one year. And I remember my dad was doing interviews and stuff.

And I was at the little table they had us with. And Mr. T was at our table. Right. And him and my dad were cool. And I remember I was like four or five. And I was like, I got to go to the bathroom. Mom, I got to go to the bathroom. So bad.

And Mr. T was just like, come on, little man. I'll take you. He picked me up, put me over his shoulders. I'm sitting on his mountain of gold chains. You got to sit on fucking Mr. T's shoulders? Yeah. I'm sitting on his mountain of gold chains. And he's walking me to the bathroom.

And I'll never forget. This is when Full House was popping, right? Right. And I was watching it every TGIF thank god it's friday yeah man and i remember i saw um um i forget her name now but stephanie tanner right and i was on mr t shoulders and i was like hi stephanie like we must have been like the same age and she just looked at me like a weirdo like i'm on a huge cool black dude yeah so he took me over there he brought me down he's like run in there little man do your business and i do your business yeah do your business paul yeah i got you little man it went to the restaurant i came out picked me

right back up took me back to my mom i was like this mr t was so cool too when we were kids he was like 18 he had his car to everything like i mean i remember that like crystal clear yeah mr t any were there any comics that you remember that you liked when you were a kid uh stand-ups i mean yeah like that i like being around yeah i remember um margaret cho margaret cho she always was so cool when i was a little dude and like she was just always like oh you're so cute was her and your dad close who was your dad closest to, I guess? It's hard to say, dude, because. We kind of all move in silence.

Comics are all kind of. Yeah, there's the dark side to comedy, man. Well, come on, man. There's a lot of singular beasts in comedy, you know. There was only so close I could get at a certain age. Right. Because it's just like, no, kids can't be around us and things. Because, you know, there's that lifestyle that comes along with it, which is cool.

I get it now. And at the time, I just so, I just, I'm trying to think, man, I'll probably be fucking somewhere later tonight. In the car. Damn it. I should have said this. You know who I should have said? I should have told that crazy story. Did you ever get involved?

Like, did he ever have, like, parties where you got to go see what was going on with him and a bunch of other comics and fucking around? As I got a little older, he took me around like at the laugh factory like i know jamie masada since i was a little kid and like um i got to go hang out with him paul mooney uh plenty of times i got mooney's cool man yeah man he was he's a cool cool dude um but your dad from what it sounds like your dad kind of kept you a little bit at bay from that world because yeah you know it's just not a place for kids well people don't yeah yeah people don't really understand it's like it's kind of kept you a little bit at bay from that world because you know it's just not a place for kids well people don't yeah yeah people don't really understand it's like it's kind it can be a dark place but it can also be like a really fun light-hearted place but it's just such a it's just such a club it's such it's like uh it's like a fraternity or or uh any kind of group that gets

together the comics have this very um tight-knit thing that you know i think jerry seinfeld i think it was jerry seinfeld i'm gonna misquote and whatever but i think he said something along the lines of um i don't care where i am in the world um if i meet another comedian i'm i automatically have a connection to them i don't care who they are i don't care what their material is but that's true right it's got to be true in your industry you if you see another dude relate to that who's you know you go to sweden or something and you're like some dude's like yo i'm pro here yeah i'm pro here i'm a pro skater down the street and i see skaters driving down the street i'm like it's just like yeah your ears perk up your your sensor comes out and you're just like your skates skate spidey

senses exactly and so it's just yeah it's just a brotherhood so now you can't skate for people that don't know at the moment you tore your acl tore your ACL and almost ruined your MCL, right? Yeah, my MCL was hanging on by a thread. Tore my ACL, both meniscuses. Damn. Yeah. All my meniscuses are gone. That's Tracy Morgan.

Your meniscuses are gone. One of the greats. Oh, he's the best. Yeah, man. So they put pins in your leg? No, thank God. I'm very blessed. No metal?

No, no metal. That's only, I think, if you break bones. So I just tore ligaments. Well, because usually people break and tear. I mean, it depends on how bad the injury is. Yeah, for sure. So for me, it just like my knee just popped out, popped back in. Ah, fuck.

And so the ligaments tore. I did this back June 9th or June 10th, sorry. And I went, got an MRI immediately the next day. Thank God. Shout out to BDX and Dr. Eddie. Thank you, guys. There you go. Got me an MRI the next day.

I went and saw my surgeon the day after that. He was like, so here's what happened. We call this the terrible triad, MCL, ACL, meniscus. But the MCL was still hanging on by a thread and the mcl is on the inside of the leg so it gets a lot of good blood flow so he was like before we go into surgery i want to give you some time and let this mcl heal because i think it can heal on its own without surgery that's crazy the body is fucking insane yeah that it just like it's the body's like i got it i'll do i'll do the best i can yeah so i just he kept my leg locked straight for like three weeks wouldn't let me bend it

because he wanted to heal up nice and tight and then every month every week thereafter 20 degrees i had to bend it until i can get full flexion nuts and so and then i was working i was walking around i was doing everything fine uh but it was about four months until I finally got surgery because I had to heal. So I got surgery October 9th. So today is actually six weeks from surgery. I've been off my crutches for two weeks. I got a brand new ACL. My meniscus on the outside actually ended up healing itself. It was the one that was completely torn and ended up scarring and healing itself. The one on the inside, he did a small little stitch on that just still had a little tear in it right um so and you're now you're back close i'll be back man you were

skating outside but uh we probably uh that was my first time pushing it was not a good idea really felt so good that was the first time you ever went back on a board since you've been injured no so about one week before surgery um and i had been walking around for about two months, squatting, like pretty good amount of weight. Everything was good, just not twisting. But one week before surgery, I was in New York, and I borrowed a friend's board, and I just popped two ollies, and they felt completely fine, completely normal. You were good?

It felt good. Would you say you were in a bar? No, no, no. I popped his board. Oh, I thought you said I was in a bar in New York. No, I was in New York. A friend of mine, I got his board oh i thought you said i was in a bar in new york i was in new york a friend of mine i got his board i popped two ollies uh not molly's ollies and molly ollie molly ollie and there's a song good they felt really good it was good yeah i just know that

like you know one wrong move and it's all gone well when when can you be fully back back on a skateboard from surgery the doc said it'll take about nine months but i'm really going at it very aggressively i'm my goal is i'm not going to be stupid and not listen to doctor my goal is to see if i can shave it down to like seven yeah just as like a goal i feel like doctors give uh give a lot of conservative goals because so you can smash them you know you're like he'll never walk again and they're like he did he's like i know dude i was just saying that shit to give him inspiration i feel like she's really cool i feel like they do that shit when they're like he'll never live through this and he did and he does so they can go he lived dude we didn't think he would live i think part of it is just them hyping up the negatives so you're like i'm gonna

i'm gonna fight through it and they're like i know that's why i told you to do that as if doctors weren't heroes enough no they are they are they are so so you so you plan to be back back in full effect what time next year like skating again goal yeah april may like under a year mark right you just want to kick yeah you want to if i can beat a year then i'm stoked but if not if he doesn't give me the okay i'm not going to be stupid and force it. No, don't do that. But it's just a fun goal to have. So every day when I go hit the gym and I go hit physical therapy, in my mind, I'm going in with a real sense of purpose.

How many dudes that skate are lifting weights and are heavy in physical activity? A little more now. Not too many. There's that stigma of like fuck it dude like what the fuck are you what are you like a real athlete like yeah but that's but that's i feel like all that shit is changing now oh i mean because like i think people don't know like like pro golfers dude for every pro golfer now they're all in the gym when it got yoked and all of a sudden everybody was like well they all wanted to do that yeah well because all that stuff

come every muscle comes into play so the longer you want to live in a sport the more you have to work out i don't care what the sport is and you know golf had this goofy stigma it was like oh it's all you know you could be fat you could be unathletic drink beer right hit some balls you're good yeah the joe schmoe could do that but not if you want to last you know 25 years exactly and like if you look at like for instance we talked about niger a little bit ago if you look at the shit he's doing bro if like if your body isn't in shape and you take one of those slams you're gonna shatter apart yeah you're done your your body has to be able like before even before i was injured i'd been working out almost 10 years now i worked out i didn't really like promote it a lot right like now i am because that's the only thing i can do i can't put up

skate videos very often so like that's the only thing i could do to stay relevant on social media these days just put my workouts like oh coming back soon but it's also telling people like this is what it takes to get back to the place that you you like me at you know i mean people don't respect that's hard that's a hard thing to respect and understand like like comics don't want to show us working out sets every night but we do we call it working out that's what we say you know but we have to go every fucking night and work out and if you don't it shows and it's so funny because you know if we did show fans that some people might like it but i don't think people understand that the behind the scenes work that goes into it's kind of like you if you if you if you've got a trick and you pick a spot and you've got your mindset

on it there's so much work that goes into hitting a trick, right. That I think people just think, don't you just go and do it? And you're like, Oh, there's so many other elements to it. Like the,

the weekend warriors who are like, Hey Bill, we're going to go skate the park on Saturday. Like, yeah, maybe they do. Right. You know what I mean?

But like anybody at an elite level, no matter what, no matter how, especially in show business, no matter how much they make you think that they're out of it or not focused like that's the mastery of it like oh yeah like that's the amazingness of is like no dude every bit of it is planned thought out strategize whatever you want to say like every bit like especially nowadays like when i film tricks and they end up

being tricks that i put out like in a video part or whatever, it's like every one of those tricks I write down in a list and I'm visualizing it. And I go back multiple times until I finally get it. But you have to, right? Yeah. Otherwise you're going to eat shit. At least for me. I can't speak for everybody, but like for me, it just takes, it takes that. It takes that kind of work.

Yeah. It's got to be different for everybody. Who has the weirdest process that you know that's a pro skater that does like that? You know, like, for example, like. Tori. Tori Pudwell? Yeah. What does he do that's so odd?

Or what is his process like? Dude, he's just a savant. Like. Does he map it out? Does he physically draw tricks? Like, do you physically draw tricks? No. No.

I do. I write them down. And, like, I'll picture it, and I'll think of, like, the perfect spot for it. But Torrey, man, he is one of the most gifted people ever. Like, he's literally, like, he'll just, like, he reminds me of Fast Times at Richmond High. What's the, not Matthew Broderick. Matt McConaughey?

No, like, yo, sir, like, if it's our piece. Oh, Sean Penn. Yeah, Sean Penn. He reminds me of that character like a spicoli there you go yeah here and i this is not like i love you too this is not me like me it just like in a good way that he can just be so like out of it and carefree and then all of a sudden like right when you when you hang out with him like you forget that he's so good because like'll just be kind of forgetful or just kind of out of it. And then all of a sudden you take him to the spot and he just blows your mind. And I admire that ability. For me, I have to know, what spot are we going to?

Okay, do I have anything for that? I don't know. Does he have a drink or anything like that before he skates? No, no, no. Like some guys some guys when i was a kid i don't know if people do it anymore either but there would be dudes that'd be liquored up they'd be stoned and then we go skate the piss drunks yeah yeah yeah crew not not for me personally and not too many people like before you skate that's that's that's rough i mean i'm

sure there's people who do it but like there's got to be the elite guys not no that's rough. I mean, I'm sure there's people who do it. There's got to be. But the elite guys, nah. No, that's what I mean. At least not in my opinion. Not the guys who are really like... The dudes that are rippers aren't doing that shit. There's just no way.

After they get the trick, yes. Yeah, a different time. Party your face off. But beforehand, nah. It's like, you know, that's your high. Do you remember the first time? I like to ask all my guests. Do you remember the first time you got to ask last ask all my guests?

Do you remember the first time you got drunk? Do you remember what it was? Vividly? I was 18. Yeah. Where was it? At my house. Like your childhood home?

Yeah. But at this time I was living on my own. I moved out. Yeah. Yeah. Parents gone. My friend, Jeremy Rogers. I don't know if you ever run into him out here, but he's a wild. I see him all the time, dude.

I actually see him on Fairfax. He's got crazy tattoos. Dude, you got to bring him in here but he's a while i see him all the time dude i actually see him on fairfax he's got crazy tattoos dude you got to bring him in here he'll give you the most he was one of those dudes i remember he used to have zero tattoos yeah he was like a skinny little dude on what video i watched him on i can't remember what what video he was on the um coliseum video the pj lad wonderful yeah wonderful horrible life that's exactly right and he was like super super skinny he had his shirt off and they were they were fucking with him in this hotel room yeah and then it was like cut to i he was he's like tatted out it was like it was like this huge personality change i mean i don't know the dude personally but it was wild to watch when he was just this young kind of like young young skate kid and then grew up into a man got developed his own

style his own ways and all that stuff he's still skating right a little here and there but dude i i would encourage you to invite him onto this all right he is one of the most outrageous and unique individuals you will ever meet i can't even explain you got to link us up i easy yeah and dude i love this guy he's my brother but um like it's it's interesting hearing your outside uh view of him like he was a skinny kid and all of a sudden he was because to me like knowing him and seeing his evolution it all the dots all connected he's always been wild carefree don't give a damn about nothing well we can't see that from the a lot of us i mean i don't know that inside you know that thing so like you never really get to see you never really get to see the the full development of what they're up to because

you're only given so much so wait you were at uh you were at your house you were 18 he was he there yeah so he was living with me at the time okay and then um him another friend of mine dan abadi we were all about 18 at this time and I was still like, I was still Mr. Like focus straight and narrow, straight and narrow. And they went, they were, the big thing at that time was going to house parties, right? Going to house party, going to house for every weekend. They're going to house party. Paul, just come, just come.

And then one night they came back from a house party. I guess the cops came, shut it down, whatever. They came back early. I'm still up watching TV at the house. They all come in. They're all kind of drunk. They bring home a few Coors Lights. And just like, just here, just drink it, dude.

Like, whatever. What does it matter? So I end up popping a Coors Light, drinking it and drinking it. And then all of a sudden it's like truth serum. I'm just like all this stuff that I don't know if i was holding it in or whatever just blurting it out like hey you know what fuck you i'm just like just saying wild shit i'm getting on the phone i'm calling people way you know just drunk dialing and just having a blast and uh yeah that was the first thing so you got part you got wasted with some buddies yeah just at the house yeah that's nice

come back from a party. No puke. You didn't puke. No, not that time. No. Not that time. Not yet. Let me throw some names out to you and you tell me what they mean to you or what's going on or that kind of thing.

Mark Appleyard. I love him. We came up same generation, same similar time. Is he still? Posture is what I think. Posture. That's what you think great posture his back is so straight when he skates it's like his upper body is so still and calm and his legs just do all the work and it's just like so he's really so his up top is really stiff

isn't that isn't that really hard to do though hell yeah he's got the best like a lot of people are hunched over right he's missed like the best posture i've ever stevie williams uh just a smooth dude smooth yeah one of the smoothest of all time smooth motherfucker was like butter i remember watching those videos i was like this cat is just so like just a smooth g brandon biebel funny as fuck yeah i love biebel man he is a funny a funny fucking dude. Who would you say is your best friend in skating? In skateboarding? Yeah. Or your closest, whatever that means.

Yeah, it's between Mikey Taylor and Jeremy Rogers. Those are my, like, they're my brothers. That's family. And you've known them for the longest? Forever. I know Mikey since, I think we first met back in 99, so almost 20 years. How tall is he, 6'4"? Nah, he's like 6'1". Oh, I thought he was tall. He always 20 years. How tall is he, 6'4"? Nah, he's like 6'1".

Oh, I thought he was tall. He always looked tall. How tall are you? 6'1". Yeah, I would say he's similar to your size. He always looked tall every time I saw him on videos. Because he's skinny. Skinny, yeah, he's lanky.

He's lanky, for sure. He's got a lot of leverage. He's got no back fat. No. Yeah, he's got no back fat. Maybe now that he's like, you know, dad mode, business mode. Well, you're dad mode, but you're still in shape? Yeah, I guess.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, I just. You got one kid? I do. One kid. That's right. She'll be 10 next month.

What? She's tripping me out. Damn, dude. I can't believe I have a human who's going to be a decade. 10-year-old daughter at the house. Yeah. Is she getting to a point when she's got an attitude a little bit? Is she getting like, because the teen years are coming.

You know, girls in the teen years are like, you're fucked, man. Oh, I guilt trip her about that all the time. Like, I'll watch one day. You know, I'm going to walk in. You're going to have a friend over. You're going to be like, dad, get out of here. Like, leave us alone. Like, no, that'll never happen.

Yes, it will. I love you. I'm like, yeah, well, I'll guilt her now, you know. Yeah, it's coming, dude. Be prepped for that. Attitude, not so much, really. She's so well behaved. It's crazy. Like, I don't understand because I wasn't a big disciplinary figure or anything for that. Attitude, not so much really. She's so well behaved. It's crazy.

I don't understand because I wasn't a big disciplinary figure or anything like that. But I asked her to do something one time. She does it. She does it and it's crazy. You're nice now on camera, but we know he hits her and shit like that. No. Get over here. Whoop that ass.

Dude, that was my childhood. That's why it's funny. I hope I don't infuse that. It's like, man, my parents, man, they put the hurt down if you fucked around. It was like you were going to get it. But also because I was a punk-ass kid. Dude, I was a punk. I did everything I could do to get into trouble because I wanted it.

It was almost like I knew what was coming, you know? Where do you think that stems from? I don't know, man. But, you know, like being a comedian, we're attention-seeking whores. I mean, all we want is love and attention, and we want people to like us and like the way we think and i think that's such a that's such a uh a thing that comics deal with and i you know it's not like it's from um you know daddy wasn't there type of shit you know like a lot of daddy issue shit or nothing like that that wasn't that wasn't it for me i think it was more like i just loved rebellion i love being a

contrarian i think that's in your blood to go against the grains of anything. I'll argue something even when I know I'm wrong. Just because I'm like, fuck it. Just for the sport of it. Yeah, fuck it. Why not? Just start some shit. But I think that's in your blood.

I think it's a personality trait that you can't get away from. I think it was something that was always a part of me was like, I just want to go again. I was anti-authority. I hated authority. I always wanted to go against authority i never liked being told what to do it's still you know it's so funny you think you grow out of shit sometimes dude i'm the same guy i'm the same guy i was when i was a teenager i don't like to be told shit by other adults you know the reason to become an adult and to go make

money and do your own thing was that no one could tell you what the fuck to do that to me was like i want to be successful as shit so no one can say shit yeah i can do my own thing i'll go buy my own stuff i'll go eat where i want to go live where i want that to me was like what drove me to to be kind of who i am it was it was the chemical makeup but i don't know man i was a i was a punk kid just because it it was so much fun fucking shit up it was just so much fun and i ran around with a bunch of people that were always up to no good it was a bunch of you know of course i was a typical 90s kid you know i was an 80s baby 90s kid it was like you know skate rat kids getting in trouble stealing shit yeah uh we used to hang out behind this um white hen pantry was an old it

was kind of like a 7-eleven okay and we just kick it behind there and you know someone who always like would have a cigarette you know like someone have one cigarette we'd share you know what i mean somehow we were able to get a lucy somehow or like someone had beer that their that they their dad left in the garage and they were able to snake that away but it was warm you know we drink like piss warm beer share a cigarette and we thought we were the coolest motherfuckers on earth. See, I had my first experience with booze and all that shit when I was like 14. I don't know, 13, 14.

Just because I was a little – I wanted it. I mean, most people I know as well. I was late with all this shit. Well, you were probably the right time. I was probably more like – I mean, I was still 18. I was still underage, but it was like – Yeah, but I think that's around the time –

I would say the majority – I was just ready young to just get into trouble i remember smoking pot out of pop cans and shit behind tennis courts and shit i did do that at 12 you smoked pot at 12 from peer pressured one time peer pressure and i felt the most guiltiest feeling i could ever feel did you ever smoke pot again or no? I would say I did, yes. Do you still smoke pot? Well, it's legal now. It is. Oh, dude, you're fine.

You're political. I smoked pot all when it wasn't legal too. I didn't give a fuck. I didn't do that. No. Only that one time at 12. Only that one time. After that, when they passed the law.

Okay. I smoked pot for, I smoked pot now for 20 years. That's crazy, huh? Isn't it crazy how time flies like that? Well, it's a little sad to say it like that when I'm like 20 years I smoked pot. Yeah, but I smoked pot when I was 14, 15

was like the first time I smoked pot. And I don't say I was never a pothead. I hated pot culture. I never liked hippie shit. I was never into tie dye or any of that bullshit. Yeah, that wasn't me man But I love to get high And go do shit

I love to get high And go skate I love to get high And go You know Go do something Active with my friends Jon Stewart right

In Half Bake On weed On weed man Yeah You know what's dope On weed Yeah I was into doing shit And now

Now I smoke pot Once in a while When I When I want to It's not. You got it out of your system. Yeah, man. Dude, I did really.

You know what's funny is I partied so hard in high school that college was a joke. Like people would rage and they would get hurt, dude. They would get, you know, they go to the hospital because they get too fucked up or people puke and too drunk. I had my times of puking. But like my party shit was way more rare because in high school is when i got all that shit out like that's i tried everything in high school you know right most people to get to college and they're like we're at college you know i can do mushrooms yeah yeah i was like dude i already have done it a bunch it's so much fun but i think i was more calm in college because i was a good

student in college which was crazy that's cool i was good in high school i was mediocre at best dude yeah but that's just because you didn't give a shit like yeah that's cool i was good in high school i was mediocre at best dude yeah but that's just because you didn't give a shit like yeah that's what i noticed about comedians comedians are real smart man you guys are smart not all of us man you guys are smart motherfuckers i think i think i think a lot of i think a lot of comedians are smarter than people think um and i think there's a small percentage of comedians who are brilliant and people wouldn't know. You know? I would say.

But when I say brilliant, I mean. You know more. Someone would surprise you, I guess I'm saying. There was this guy named Greg Giraldo who passed away. He's one of my favorite comics of all time. He was a genius. Great roaster. Harvard, man.

Harvard. And you look at this guy who doesn't fit that archetype of harvard but he was he was a brilliant brilliant writer and i think he was became a lawyer like harvard law became a lawyer and then quit because he was like fuck this yeah but are there dudes in skate culture that are smarter than you think 100 there's a lot of dudes because because right like you know there's a generation that isn't really around anymore but there used to be when we were kids everyone you know older older people were always like fucking skateboarder dumb shit idiots smaller percentage of genius skateboarders than there are genius comedians yeah no you're

giving them credit but maybe mark suits you i don't know if you're familiar with him he's on your stripes over there uh he's he's like genuinely genius oh he is for real for real mark suits you suits you yeah amazing awesome incredible skateboarder but like super book nerd like bookworm like right really going to college where's he from uh he's san jose oh yeah he's california guy yeah and um are the best skaters in the world roddy mullen genius right I've heard that crazy like mathematician are the best skaters in the world from California yes and no I mean Koston's from California so yeah

we have that you're from California bro yeah but dude you know I'm not allowed to get in that conversation I know I know I know I know

Koston but then you have like Tom Penny who's the Michael Jordan of skateboarding to you Koston 100% will be forever 100% right. Who's the Michael Jordan of skateboarding to you? Koston, 100%. Will be forever.

100%. Right. And who's the Scotty Pippen? Who's the assist guy? Who's like the second in running that doesn't get as much shine but is so, so dope? Who's that guy? I don't want this to, if he ever hears it, I don't want this to come across as like a diss or a negative thing because he's super great. I would say he got his shine in his day,

but to this day, to me, Ronnie Krieger is somebody who is so amazing that... Never made it to the level of Koston. He did, but also Koston's still there as an elder statesman. Right. But also, like, like, Costin's still there as, like, an elder statesman. Right. Krieger,

like, only the real skate enthusiasts know who he is. Know. Right. Which, that's hugely respected. Right, we call that comics comics in our world. Right. There's a lot of comics comics.

Right, he's a skater skater. Like, a lot of comics comics are people that are so famous in the comic world, but pop culturally, people don't know who they are. Oh, there's tons of those guys in skating for sure. And I wouldn't mind being any of those people. You know, I don't, I wouldn't mind getting to the level of being a true comics comic would be such a cool thing, you know?

Like, I don't think it's, I don't think it matters if you go commercial or not. I just think if you stick to what you're doing and you're dope, it just so happens that some guys tend to just cement themselves as for sure comics comics or skaters skaters like there's like for instance in my opinion like when you're talking about actors you got guys like uh daniel day lewis i would think he's like an actor's act oh for sure i mean but he's also he is also commercially huge huge but you're right you're right you're right you're right at the end of the day he's like right he's an actor's actor well totally because he gives a fuck about that and really nothing else. Yeah.

He cares so much about it that it kind of supersedes any of the fame shit, right? The fame shit kind of goes by the wayside. He doesn't give a fuck about being famous. Because that's going to be there anyway. As long as he's a great actor, that's going to be there. Right, right, right. Or good at anything. You'll get recognized. Nobody's not going to put him in a movie.

If he calls up and says, hey, I want to be in your movie, nobody's going to say no. It'd be so funny if they did another Disney movie and he's like, I want to do in your movie. Nobody's not going to say, nobody's going to say no. It'd be so funny if they did, you know, like another Disney movie, and he's like, I want to do it. And they're like, are you sure? He's like, this is my future now, man. I'm doing Disney, I'm doing Pixar now. Yeah. They're like, all right, you're in.

He might have, he might already have. I don't know enough about the motherfucker, but he probably has. I just know he's a chameleon who, like, has quit. He's quit now. I think he said he was done. That's what actors, actors do. Yeah, they quit. That's what actors actors do that's yeah they quit that's what dude i'll never quit i'll never quit doing comedy and acting they'd have

to kick me out i need it i don't know what the fuck i always said if you when you stop skating when you're done when it's all over what is it you want to do what do you think your retirement phase because like i'm a little shy and embarrassed but i would like to be an actor would you i've been going to acting class and studying for the last two years. Do you tell your boys that skate that? Yeah. They all know? Sometimes I like to say things to hold myself accountable.

You know what I mean? I'm not going to say, I'm going to be an actor. But of course I want to be an actor. And I'll get nervous and shy about saying it. But at the same time, I'll make myself say it because I I want it to like hold me you have acted though you have a film that's out yeah I have done some you did a film that you put together not me Deardick Rob oh Rob Deardick did it that's right that's right that's right what was it called it's called Street Dreams but that was before I really had acting aspirations yeah but but that but you did it I

did do it that was like he wrote that part for me. He said, hey, I got this. Here you go. Are you still cool with Rob? Yeah. I love Rob. He's one of my favorite people. See, he's like one of those dudes that's like such a commercial success.

He's fucking made so much different thing. He made so many different things, not just in the skate world, but in this kind of like pop cultural youth world, you know, with Robin Bigg and the Fantasy Factory and all that stuff was like, it was bigger pop cultural youth world you know with robin big and the fantasy factor and all that stuff was like it was bigger than skateboarding you know yeah which is a trip i think there's only a few guys every generation that kind of transcend to that point you know bam was that guy too totally which is why actually now that i think about it where i got that of like saying it like about telling people like i want to be an actor. Because I remember Rob, when we were doing Street Dreams, he was already a famous skateboarder,

but that's when he was writing and pitching. But people don't understand is like, Rob is the mastermind behind Rob. Like he's not like, oh, like managers here, like, oh, he's a talent, don't worry, we'll take care of the business. Rob is the businessman. He does all of it. The visionary, everything. and so like at that time he had met big and made big famous in skateboarding

before the show how the hell what was he he was was he just it was really a security security guard that's what i thought big as his security guard so when they would go on dc tours and do big demos big would be their security guard and the kids loved him. And so then he really wrote, developed everything, Robin Big, and he went and pitched everything. Wow. And I remember always around that time,

he would always be saying like, if someone asked him like, Rob, how's it going? What you been up to? Like, you know, just trying to be rich and famous, you know, just out here trying to get rich and famous.

At least he's being honest, right? He was just straight up about it, like pitching this show. I want money and success. And it worked. Dude, it worked dude he put it out to the world and it fucking worked yeah i mean he definitely put the work in as well yeah i just always remember that was his slogan you know just trying to get rich and famous but like no shame in your game being honest and especially in a world like skateboarding you're not allowed to say you want to be great or you're not you're not allowed to say you want to be it's like look down upon yeah it's like the fuck do you just do the sketch well that's kind of like of course we fucking love

it right but how much more would we love if we were rich and famous exactly that's well that's the same thing in our world you know comics have this thing where um well the words uh the phrase selling out is such a bullshit phrase i get that all all day long. Well, here's what doesn't make sense about selling out. What people don't understand is like when someone says to me, this doesn't happen anymore now. But when I was young and first moved out here, friends would joke around because you're in your young 20s and they're like, you're going to fucking sell out, dude.

And in your brain, you're like, that sounds negative because it is negative. There's negative connotation. But you're like, I don't know. What does that even mean? Does that mean I'm going to – would I do a commercial? Would I do something that isn't perfectly my brand? I mean, yeah.

I'm hoping to do all the things that represent me. But that's insane to think that you're always going to be who you are all the time and never compromise. People do it. People pull it off. And those are like the like out of this world. It's real hard to do. Incredible. It's real fucking hard to do, dude.

No doubt about it. It's a real hard. I mean, you know, there's a lot of Bill Hicks is a famous comedic legend. And Bill used to shit on everybody who did commercial work you know and bill died young but i'd like to think that if he stuck around even he would be subjected to commercialism it's hard you know because that's a hard thing to get away from like i remember mitch hedberg oh i was gonna ask you about him thank you for bringing yeah i was gonna ask you back well he's such a comedian's comedian oh my god he's like the he's he's probably the love he is probably the uh

you know the the pinnacle he is the he is the peak of comedians comedians he's the ultimate comedian's comedian i don't think there's ever been anybody like him is my stupid opinion but i just think like to me he was the ultimate like his comedy just about comedy brilliant but even he right even he somebody who you would never assume he did like episodes of that 70 show right and and and and someone can cheaply go he's fucking selling out it's like no he's just trying to make a living doing what he's great at yeah is that the worst crime in the world like just uh last week i did a post where i was like promoting a mcrib on McDonald's for Uber Eats

on my Instagram. Do you eat McRibs? Yeah. Um, but like, dude, as long as you're self-aware, I think it doesn't really matter. I got hit up and they were just like, yeah, for 30 seconds of your time, we'll give you this. Sure. I'm like, come on.

I'm hurt. I can't skate right now i can't go do other ways of i got a family to feed i got a 10 year old and i think people don't understand that too it's like people also got to make a living yeah like like you need to tell me i could sit on my couch for 30 seconds press send on my phone and you're going to give me what yeah it's hard to say no dude but listen right like i get it you know like i don't want to sell out into certain degrees i don't want to do things that i absolutely i would never do something i'm absolutely against you know i'm not going to promote something i can't stand yeah but like

at some at some points like you know if mcdonald's is like santino will you do this funny campaign for me real quick yeah i'm like yeah man i've eaten that shit before michael jordan pushed mcdonald's for the longest right yeah the best basketball player of all time but that's the thing about something about the biggest pro athletes

in the world they could push anything and for some reason nobody cares LeBron James pushes Kia's yeah man think he's driving a Kia fuck no

fuck no Kia fuck no ever ever ever ever ever ever nobody cares nah so like in my mind I'm like

putting myself as like you know what i'm like um i don't even know what the word i'm a i don't want to say martyr but i'm like i'm like the first indian over the hill for the skateboarders like i'm the first dude like motherfucking michael jordan used to promote mcdonald like i'm doing this and you guys are gonna thank me later like yeah well listen everybody everyone at some point needs to be attached to branding of some kind to get more notoriety more 100 success i mean that's just how it goes not everyone has to do everything and i should be clear but that there's people that will go their whole careers without any sort of compromise and good for them but like i feel like in my career or in my my lifetime in this business the one thing I've learned is if it's fun and I enjoy it, I'm going to do it.

100%. I got tired as a youth. When you're young, when you're in your 20s, you're like, fuck that shit. Fuck that shit. Yeah. But then you get older and you're like, I don't know, man. Am I going to have a good time or I'm going to make this a good time? Then what's the harm?

What's the harm what's the negative you know yeah and in my opinion a sellout the definition for sell in my opinion is like are you gonna do something that's against your morals right you're yeah you're yeah right exactly are you gonna like like are you gonna like sell out a family member or like are you gonna you know hurt a friend because of this like to me in that situation are you gonna do something that's against your like soul that's selling out you know that's that's fucked up because and maybe i'm just doing this to justify it in my own head to be okay with it but it's like at the end of the day like anything i've ever promoted like

prior to ever getting paid by these people i've been been a consumer. Have I ever eaten McDonald's in my life before asking to promote it? Of course. Of course. Please. Did I ever drink Mountain Dew in my life before I ever got sponsored by it? Yeah. Yeah. How about Target?

Did I ever shop at Target before? I'm about to go to Target after this interview. Of course. So it's like, you know, in my mind, it's like, these are all Nike. Did I ever wear Nikes beforehand? Like, who did? It's just like, I just put it in my mind. Like, I've been a consumer of these products since my whole life.

So it's not time I get my money back. Yeah, man. I bought, you know how much money I spent on Nikes as a kid? Holy shit. Now it's time for them to kick back. These are fresh, too. The off-whites are real nice. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I don't know who sent it to me somebody at sports where's lately just

cool stuff's been um what's i show you i'm 10 i'm a 12 if they send you 12s you just let me know i will let you just let me know i'm hoping still to get a growth spurt and yeah i get those get to the to the 12th i got these are big clod hoppers on i got 13s on because they the way that adidas makes boosts is crazy you know what's so funny, though, is I used to be such a Nike cat, and then now I'm whatever I like. I used to be like I love Nike. I used to not wear other shoe brands. I don't give a shit.

If I like it, I'm like, I like the way it looks and feels. That's all that matters to me. That's so cool. I mean, I don't have a sponsor, man. I don't have someone telling me what I can and can't wear. No, that's so cool because I was just about to say i can't even remember what that feels like yeah you have to wear nike yeah luckily i'm stoked yeah well nike's a dope brand yeah i'm excited about it but but it but you don't you don't you can't wear this like just

to walk in the mall and just walk in store and be like i'm gonna wear this i'm gonna wear that right on that and you just wear what they send you most of the time most of the time i mean you know i still try to like you can't be caught in some adidas slides huh no dude come on i wouldn't do that no i wouldn't do that like it has been long enough to where i'm like i have loyalty like i have how long have you been you've been repped by nike when you were 19? Yeah, going on 15 years almost. Isn't that crazy, man? Yeah. That's wild.

I can't believe that. Now, what do they do? Do they give you lifetime contracts? I wish, man. I didn't get the LeBron contract, but I came on right after LeBron. Yeah, come on, Nike. Buck up. Yeah.

So wait, what do they do? Do they sign you? Because I don't know. Like shoe deals for skaters, did they sign you to a five-year deal or a three-year deal or something five-year deal the first deal they signed me to was five years um and then and then what was the next one after that the next one was uh five as well and then uh we went to four and then i want to say four five my current current deal is a four-year deal i'm like halfway through it right now. So hopefully they'll want to keep me. Will you do it again?

You'll do Nike again? Of course. Yeah. If another company comes calling with better opportunities, is it an easy jump? I'm a businessman, of course. Yeah, yeah. But I've got so much history there. Like that's never what I don't want to ever, you know.

Did you, I remember seeing P-Rod as a nickname for you, kind of being branded. Did you brand it or did someone brand it for you? I kind of did it, I'll be honest with you. I remember exactly when it happened. So you remember those old shows on MTV called MTV Diary where they would follow? Oh, yeah, yeah oh yeah yeah yeah yeah

it was like a documentary style yeah yeah and i was watching it was of j-lo and i saw j-lo my man wants if you're the male j-lo i was like oh wow how would that work with my name p-rod and i was like ah that's funny p-rod because you know i was probably like 13 13 like thinking like a kid p-rod and uh and so like i remember one time we i was on city stars and um i was for some reason i was late to the trip they were in vancouver and i showed up late and when i got to the hotel i was like yo p-rod's here like that i just said it and it stuck and then they were like laughing they called me it but i remember at one time we were doing a signing at some skate shop in a mall. And a kid actually called me that.

I was like, wait. I asked, how did you know that? He's like, what do you mean? That's what everyone calls you. And I had no idea how it got out of our circle. So you had put it out and it kind of slowly just trickled its way into the culture. Yeah, because when I was young, I was like, I really wanted a nickname. Because I was friends with Spanky.

And I was like, that's such a fucking cool name like spanky like i want a nickname well it's also hard because you you had your old man's name you and your dad shared a name that was tough you don't want to be a junior being a junior is hard at the same time like my generation like in skating like nobody knew my dad was like of my age oh they nobody knew they didn't know even though at the time when you were young, he was famous famous. Well, when I was really young, yes. Your dad's peak of his fame in the sense of like on a large scale was when you were, what, like? Ten. Ten.

Right. Because he's still so well respected and famous. And that's not to take credit away from him now. I'm just saying. No, everybody has their peaks. When he blew. Like I remember him being such a massive name you know paul rodriguez was such a like a it was a it was such a big name as a kid because i was such a fan of comedy when i was a kid i mean those are the two things i loved i think was i mean i guess i love basketball

comedy and skateboarding and it was so he was so instrumental in like this that era he was such one of like those big kind of i didn't realize until i got older like what he did for like uh mexicans i was just gonna say for for for the latin community of comedy he was kind of the he was the first indian over the hill he was one of them you're thinking freddie prince yeah freddie prince freddie prince yeah That was my dad's hero. Idol, right? Yeah, Freddie Prinze. Because Freddie Prinze was, you know, he was a comic from the 70s, and he died very young.

Yeah. And he was kind of like the instrumental movement for any Latin market. There was really nobody else like him at all. And he kind of opened a bunch of different doors for young um latin comics to like you know start to get in my dad's like that's my dad's tom penny yeah right right right right that's his tom penny wow yeah it's like and i trip out because like like it's so funny i wish i was like a lot tighter with him to like ask him because like yeah like but is any ask him so much is any son really tight tight with their dad i think sons and dads have this thing that's like,

yeah. Yeah. Daughter, dad, different story. Yeah. But like me and my old man, like,

you know, yeah. You know, as much as you need to know about your dad. I think that's, that's a generation thing too. It's a good, it's good and bad.

Yeah. But like, I remember maybe it's my, maybe like a year ago now, but I posted this picture that I saw of my dad and sam kinnison at the uh at the uh at the mid-sea shores at the comedy comedy store yeah and um him and him and sam kinnison together and sam kinnison like my dad was leaning over into sam's ear and i texted him the photo like dad please tell me what you guys are talking about he was like i don't know that's

all that's all i got i'm like thanks pops that's it like just in that i was like they had to be talking something fucking epic working some jokes out like some bits like hey sam what do you think about this bit idea i have just i don't know no he's whispering he's like how old do you think that gorilla's out there in the crowd and the same thing happened to me uh years ago when was really young and I got a chance to hang out with Ronnie Krieger. Oh, yeah? There was some footage of him at the end of this video. The Trilogy, him and Tom Penny were standing talking to each other.

Same shit. I was like, hey, Ronnie, remember that part in the credits of Trilogy? Uh-huh. Like, you and Tom, you guys are skating in that session? Uh-huh. I was like, what were you guys talking about? I don't know. Like, for them, it's just like, it was just a moment.

Like, come on, man. Anything? Give me anything. I don't. Dude, that one skit you did where you just walked up naked to that house. In the hood. In the hood. Oh, my God.

I'm like, this dude wants to die right now. What is he doing i did i sold cocoa butter naked door to door i put that video up it's on my instagram too yeah dude that was crazy too that was like for this pilot presentation that we were putting together i was probably 24 i don't know i was i was hungry literally it was broken i hung i was starving but we shot that thing because we were shooting this presentation and somehow you know they were like i bet you know you won't you won't sell cocoa butter in the hood naked and i was like i will i will if you really want me to do it and they were like all right let's let's do it so we got this dude called the mayor of the block who

was kind of like the cat that holds down the neighborhood and make sure yeah yeah yeah yeah so we got him to make sure that you know nobody well we got him to make sure that there was no like there wasn't any gangs in the in like in on the block that day which is crazy it's so it's so funny people don't know like gangs move gangs move like chess pieces you know like they move they strategically are here it's not like all day long they're out popping off and like gangs gangs are so coordinated and organized i mean it's organized crime but it's like i think people just overlook the fact that these people aren't willy-nilly doing crazy shit a lot of times everything's planned and coordinated it's like war it's like the civil war you know what i mean it's like they weren't attacking all

day that's their craft and that's that's what they do do that's what the fucking best that so they would hold them down. He made sure that there was no one on the block that day and made sure there was no kids. And yeah, dude. And then he laughed his ass off. He laughed his fucking ass. He sat in the back of the van and lost it.

He was like, white boy, you crazy as a motherfucker, man. You funny, but you fucking, you crazy. I'm going to get, this is bad. He kept calling me. He kept, and this is, come on, man. You know, this isn't me, but he kept calling me retarded over and over he every i mean he was white boy retarded you retarded white i was like okay bro i get it i get it but he kept saying that because he couldn't believe that i did it i mean i couldn't believe i did it after the fact yeah

but it was so dumb so wild but yeah but dude shows. I did a lot of crazy hidden camera shit. But see, that's why you deserve everything you got, man. Because you're willing to go that extra mile. I don't think I would ever do some dumb shit like that again. But when I was a kid, I was like, I was just trying to feel out. I was trying to feel out my comedic distance. Yeah, thresholds. Like how far could I go to get a laugh?

You know, the funny thing was a lot of stuff we didn't show was people laughing at my naked ass. You know that like we showed that clip because it was intense. It was hilarious. But there was you know there was a lot of brothers making fun of me and shit. It was so funny. It was like you know you're like look Ron Howard butt naked in a neighborhood. You know that like that stuff that was funny. But they wanted the reaction that we got.

Oh look at the Opie's ass. Hey there go Opie's ass. Yeah. But I mean, you know, like I think like we were saying in the beginning, it's like the only way to continue to stay in something is to grow and change and be good. That's the beauty of being in the performance arts, the live art, the giving art, or whatever that is of being like, I'll make some shit and I hope you like it. Because you do of being like i'll make some shit and i hope you like it because you do the same shit you make some shit you hope someone likes it yeah but at

least in skateboarding like you have that bar where it's like if i do this trick i know this is gonna fuck them up yeah yeah yeah well that's like me dude if i know if i put some shit together that's hilarious i know what's gonna happen i know i'm gonna get what i want out of it but it takes so much to like really really fine-tune something because you know yeah because i mean i've just seen it all with my father's like he'll have an idea and the first time he tries it it might not go over well which which to me have you watched it have you watched him do jokes that don't do well yeah oh yeah you've watched him start off start off stuff yeah for sure and and to me like that shows uh the toughness is like he'll start off with an idea that doesn't go well but in his mind he knows it's a good idea it just wasn't it's not there yet together properly same thing is trying to try yeah and

then so he'll do it again and again and again until finally he's like oh wait here it goes it clicked right and you're like there it goes and then it fucking people that's the same shit when you skate right yeah that's something just clicks yeah and it's just like it's just what you're taking slam after slam after slam but you're like i know this is something to it i know this is possible you can tell i know what's the hardest trick that you've never landed is there one for you no there's. But what's the one that you're like, God, I can't believe I haven't gotten that? And I want it. There's this rail summer 2017 that I wanted to crook nollie heel flip out that I know I can do it, but I was being such a pussy because I get a little scared with rails.

And I got really close to it. You get scared riding a skateboard on a handrail? I mean, come on, man. Of course. holy shit. But it's not even like what kids today skate, like considered like a big rail. It's just like, in my world, I'm like embarrassed to be afraid of this rail.

Oh, I still think it's all insane to me. But I would like to, like especially since I've been hurt and it's actually put me in more of a grateful place and made me realize how like, kind of not ungrateful I've been hurt and it's actually made put me in more of a grateful place and made me realize how like kind of not ungrateful I've been like it made me realize like wow there's certain things you were taking for granted that you didn't even know that you didn't even think you were taking for granted but now that you're hurt and like you felt what it's like you can't even walk now you're like oh shit well when I get better man I need to take advantage of this this this

and this and this right and so like in my mind i'm like picturing myself going back and getting it um that i wanted to get probably by the time i'm back skating again it'll be two years before so damn yeah when you go back to that rail let's go i'm gonna come with you dude i'm gonna watch you do it i want to film i'm gonna film me and watch you do it you walk through that area naked that area naked, and I'll do the trick. We'll both conquer our feet. Deal, bro. Deal. Deal.

We'll do it. We'll do it. Well, dude, I appreciate you doing this. Thank you. This is fantastic. I can't wait for you to get healthy again and start skating again. Hey, man, thank you for even thinking of me to come on here. Of course, bro.

Appreciate you. Thank you. We're out. Appreciate it. Whisk, whisk, whiskey, whiskey. You are that creature in the ginger beard. Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse.

Gingers are pugilist. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the horse. Gingers are hell no. This whiskey is excellent. Ginger. I like gingers.