Hi, I’m Tony Hawk, pro skater, and this is my last meal. Every person has exactly two things in common. We all gotta eat, and we’re all gonna die. Today’s guest is podcast host, philanthropist, ten time X Games gold medalist, and the inventor of more than a hundred tricks on a skateboard. Everybody, please welcome a guy that looks suspiciously like Tony Hawk. I’ve heard that, but you’re the first today. Hey, great to meet you. You have normal people who get mistaken for celebrities. And then here you are, a celebrity that gets mistaken for normal people. Why do you think that happens so much? My best answer is that people have me in this sort of time capsule of our video game height, which is, you know, the two thousands. I was in my thirties, and they don’t expect this face to get old, because it’s immortalized in a video game. Like, it’s just stuck there. So I see it happen all the time with the look, and they’re just like, it can’t be him, because he’s old. And it’s like, that’s what happens when time passes. I can’t do anything about it. I think the other misconception is that I’m trying to be recognized. I’m not. I’m just sharing the interactions. It happens way more than I share. You know, people think I make it up. Yeah. Like, just follow me around for a day. You’ll see it happen. I always thought you were embellishing, and I owe you an apology, because it happened to me. On August third, twenty seventeen, I was at the Caffé Bene on Wilshire Boulevard, and I was literally there. I rode my little Sector Nine short board there. I played thousands of hours of your video game. I was like, this could never happen to me. And then I saw a dude that looked like Tony Hawk. And I tweeted at Caffé Bene on Wilshire. Can’t tell if it’s Tony Hawk or just a white guy. And you responded. It was both. It can happen to anyone out there. See? I mean, even that. Like, I don’t. No offense, but I don’t even remember that one, because that one just happened sort of in a distance. Yep. There was one time my wife and I were on a plane, and at least three people that walked by on the aisle, we already seated was like, hey, anyone ever tell you you look like Tony Hawk? Get the hell outta here. I look at her, and she’s like, you did this. Have you ever thought about your last meal before? Yeah, I mean, I guess we all have that weird, whatever. You’re on death row or you just know everything’s gonna end. How often do you think about death in general? I try not to, just because, you know, you can dwell on it and you can drive yourself crazy. And I think I just try to live life like, these could be our last days and enjoy them as best you can. You know? Not, like, damn the torpedoes and let’s go crazy. It’s just more like, let’s enjoy every moment as much as possible. Well, hey, man, I hope this last meal doesn’t actually kill you today. We got a lot of food to get to. You ready to eat? Yeah. That was ominous. Tony, for the first course of your final meal, we have the three rolled tacos with guac. We got the barbecue plate inspired by The Barbecue Pit in San Diego with the fries, the beans, and then the brisket. So this man is Logan Sandoval of Zef BBQ, the best pit master in Los Angeles. And he will be carving our brisket fresh today. Amazing. Thank you. Logan, please, we can pass our plates back to you if you’d like the ceremonial carving of the brisket. Absolutely. Tell me about The Barbecue Pit in San Diego. So. Mister Hawk. Thank you. It was one of my dad’s favorites. My dad loved a bargain. He was a child of the depression. My mom, too. They were always trying to save money, and he just loved that you could get a plate like this, a sandwich, or just sliced brisket. I don’t know how much it was, but it was super cheap. And so that just became like, that was the standard of barbecue to me because that’s where my dad took me, and it stayed open. My daughter started doing theater a lot at this place in Spring Valley, which is deep San Diego. And so my reward for driving her through five o’clock traffic in San Diego is to drop her off there and go get a sandwich at The Barbecue Pit. Everybody needs a little treat, man. Dig in. This looks amazing. God, I’m so stoked for this. How was that? My guy. It’s amazing. Thank you very much. Wow, what a start. Logan, I appreciate you, man. Absolutely, man. I’m gonna go slice the rest of this up for you guys. We’ll see you next time, all right. I wanna talk about your podcast, Hawk versus Wolf. Keep eating. Just, just, I’ll gab away. Hawk versus Wolf, you host it with Jason Ellis, who was on the Bones Brigade with you way back in the eighties. You’ve known him for damn near forty years. He’s sort of this incredible foil to you on the podcast. He’s big, brash, curses a lot, but he was also kind of a foil to you in the skating world, he was a big part of your super social, but you kind of kept to yourself. Does any part of you regret not being more social and not living in the moment more during your early competition days? Sure. I think when I look back, especially when people are digging up old videos of our events and things, there was so much camaraderie and there was so much excitement, and I was so hyper focused on my own performance, and so I just had blinders on the whole time. And when I look back and people talk about moments and things, I’m like, sometimes I just don’t remember any of it because I really wasn’t there mentally in terms of the party and the socialization. So, yes, but at the same time, maybe that’s what it took to get as far as I did. I think now I have the, I think the peace of mind and the comfort to be able to really just enjoy what’s happening instead of being stuck in like, oh, this is it. I gotta go big, I gotta go hard, I gotta do the gnarly stuff. I just came back from Paris, from the Olympics, and I just got to be there to enjoy the moment. And I got this sort of golden pass to be able to skate the course before anyone else got there. And that’s just crazy, you know, that’s like, that’s, to me, better than getting a qualification to compete. Like, I get to go in the side door, skate the park before anyone else, shoot video, talk to people. And then when the time came for the event, I just was a fan. Yeah. And so I’m just, I’m enjoying the ride way more. I mean, a lot of people would say, like, oh, you’re just doing side quests now. And sure. But it’s also like, because you’ve built up so much of that sweat equity through the years, the way that Jason talks about you is almost like you’re skateboard Jesus. Where Jason was like, we needed Tony to stay pure and stay focused on the competition because if he partied his talents away, he never would’ve landed the nine hundred, the video game never would have came out. And then schmucks like Jason never could have had a fifteen year career in radio, his words, paraphrased. Okay, well. Did you feel any of that pressure or were you just trying to land one trick at a time? You know, Jason was definitely, he was a hardcore partier in the days of competing, so. But I always found something really sweet and funny about him. And we connected on different levels than, like, the people he was partying with or than people who were I guess, more straight edge, and they would see him as like, oh, that guy’s just out of the control, but. So he and I connected, I think, through the years. I feel like we compliment each other, and, you know, we both have our different viewpoints, and his are always really funny. I think Jason would have made it regardless of me, let’s put it that way, but I’m thankful to be along for the ride. And I think at some point in the last fifteen years or so, I did feel a responsibility to skateboarding in general, where, yeah, I’m definitely an aging skater and whatnot, but it seems like I’m the guy that the bigger, the, whatever, the mainstream news wants to talk to every once in a while. And if I can, at the very least, represent skateboarding in a positive light, that’s the best message I could send to people. Yeah. Is that, yeah, skateboarding is a healthy activity. It’s for everyone, and it can teach you a lot about self confidence, your approach to life, the value of never giving up. And if that’s my job, I’ll take it. And I think at some point, I just kind of embrace that. But in no way do I self proclaim to be the oracle of skateboarding. You literally introduced yourself to me as the oracle of skateboarding. You said, hi, I’m Tony Hawk, the oracle of skateboarding. Yeah. And I was like, this guy really looks like Tony Hawk. Exactly. Tell me about the rolled tacos with guac. Because this is the most San Diego thing possible. When I was really little, my mom worked at a high school that my oldest siblings went to, and right across the street from Kearny Mesa was Roberto’s, and I got rolled tacos, because they’d look easier to eat. And it was like, I remember thinking, like, oh, this is the meal I want, whenever I come here. So, you know, it’s seventies. Like, you. You’re just with your parents. Yeah. No phones, nothing to do. Right. So instead of sitting in the car, she would give me five dollars, or whatever it was, two dollars probably, and, like, go to Roberto’s. And I was just like, yes. And I remember walking, like, walking across the street by myself. I was probably seven or eight. Yeah. And getting rolled tacos and just like, that was my big treat. Oh, yeah, man Lots of stuff right there. I wanna talk to you about getting bullied in high school for skating. Because you’ll say that skating is a haven for misfits. I mean, that’s something that’s been true for forever. But even when you became a pro skateboarder, it sounded like you were bullied by the current skate establishment. Going up against people throwing beer cans at you, Thrasher magazine crapping on you when you were a teen, a skater named Duane Peters spit on your skateboard. What did it feel like to sort of have that haven from bullying, and then it just come full circle back to bullying? Because I chose to skate. I was considered an outcast and a nerd in school because it was like skating had already grown its course as far as kids my age were concerned. Pretty much like the yo-yo or the frisbee or Pogs. You know what I mean? It was just more like, you’re still doing that? Haven’t you grown out of it? I was eleven. That’s wild. So I found no comrades in my school for skating. So to say, okay, I want. This is the thing I love doing. So when I really leaned into skating, I was at the park after school until they closed, almost every day. And then as I started to sort of get some chops and skating and get some skills, my style of skating was disliked because I was small and more mechanical with my movements. I wasn’t. I didn’t flow, I didn’t look cool because I was just trying to learn tricks. That’s all I. That’s what got. That’s what. Like, that was my dragon I was chasing. Yeah. I love learning tricks. As I started rising the ranks, I got more hassled. Because it was like, it was like, oh, he’s just a circus skater. That is what they wrote about me in Thrasher. He does circus tricks. Okay, if that’s what you wanna call them. But I just didn’t have the strength or the flow to do it any other way. And also, you were a literal child. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but it was seventies. Like, no one was safe. It was a pro-bullying time. Yeah. Yes, yes. They were empowered. It just made me resilient because it was like, I’m not going to quit doing this just because I’m getting hassled, harassed for my style. It provides too much to me. Just in terms of enjoyment. Yeah. Also though, like, knowing how much you still ride for the general world of skateboarding, you’ve literally, you know, funded more than a thousand skateparks being built for millions of kids. The fact that you, like, never dished that bullying back because there’s a great scene in Until The Wheels Fall Off where your dad had just passed away. And Duane Peters is at a competition and he’s literally saying to people, he’s glad your dad died. You come up to him, ask to talk off camera, and he thought that you were gonna rip into him, but instead, you just gave him sincere condolences because his own child had just died. What was it like for you to not sort of give that same cruelty back? I never felt vindictive. I felt like my success as a skater is my best revenge, if there is any. But I never felt like the whole idea of that I gotta make things even. I never fell in line with that way of thinking, so, you know, what could I? It would just be. It would be so petty to be bitter at that point, like, I’ve had unparalleled success. I never imagined I’d be able to make a living skating, and then suddenly, I was making a living that I never imagined I’d be able to make anywhere. And to have that, I’m only thankful for it, and all that stuff. What doesn’t kill us makes it stronger. I don’t condone bullying, you know? I don’t wish people to be in this position. But the way that I navigated it probably made me stronger in the end. And, really, the most difficulty I had was kind of being at the top. That was the hardest part for me, because it was just like I didn’t. There was just pressure, and I totally understand what all these Olympians go through and the mental health challenges and crisis and expectation. Even though I was doing a sport that no one was really paying attention to, I felt that. Yeah. And I felt it from my peers, I felt it from my sponsors. I felt it from the judges. Yeah, it was weird. I guess I was sort of the guinea pig of all that in terms of, for skateboarding. And all you got out of it was a fantastic life, and career, and this last meal. Oh, are you kidding? Food that is. Everything else is incidental. Good food, that is the joy of what I do. I mean, that is one of the joys. The fact that we can eat the finest food or just get a table at the good restaurants, those are the perks. Hey, man, well, you ready to eat some more food? All right, Tony, for course number two, we got the black snapper sashimi from Sushi Zo with a little bit of truffle salt finish on top. We got the spicy rock shrimp tempura from Matsuhisa, and then we have the pork tonkatsu from Katsukura, in Tokyo, with all the accoutrements. Homemade spicy katsu sauce. Please, man, dig in. Tell me about Katsukura in Tokyo. Well, the first time I went to Japan, I was fourteen, and I was there on a show called basically, Wonder Children. And so they had me skating, and everything was just magical to me. Like, you know, I had never been to Japan. I love technology. All of a sudden, it was like, oh, the technology is so far ahead of us. I love the culture. And then I ended up loving the food. And one of the places I went to was. I don’t know if it was Katsukura, that trip, but they had tonkatsu, and when you have legit tonkatsu from Japan, it’s just a whole different level. And then Sushi Zo is just one of our favorite LA sushi places. Yeah, I mean, please, tell us if it all tastes right. We did actually get this from Sushi Zo, we had to call in some favors. Okay. Yeah. Man. What a treat that is. And that’s an appetizer. That’s wild. Man, dig into the fried stuff. It’s gonna get soggy. We can’t let that happen. Tonkatsu sauce is one of the greatest things on Earth, by the way. It’s like a plum sauce, right? We blended, like, five different fruits. We had Chinese dates in there. We had dried plums. I wanna go back to when you were a kid, because you talk about getting this extreme dopamine rush and wanting to chase that all the time. You said that you were a really difficult kid. You wouldn’t stop bothering your mom. You were getting in trouble in school. You tested at a hundred and forty-four IQ and were put in the gifted and talented education program. A lot of people, I ain’t no doctor, would look at you and say, like, oh, that’s like classic signs of neurodivergence. Did you ever seek a diagnosis? No, but I didn’t grow up in the era of doing that. Yeah. There weren’t Tiktokers saying that these are all the signs of X? No. And all I remember is, my friends, the diagnosis was, you’re hyperactive. Yeah. Okay? You’re right. I’m hyperactive. Like, I want to keep doing stuff. I feel like I was able to direct my energies to something healthy and something that definitely benefited me physically and emotionally. I don’t think I would have wanted it, you know? And maybe that’s not the healthiest approach, but it got me through. You talk about practicing tricks for days and days on end, and you’re so tortured by it that by the time you finally land it, there’s no joy. It’s just relief. It seems like the nine hundred is one of the first times that you showed just outward, unbridled joy. At some point in my life, I had written it off is just not possible for me. Yeah. I mean, I saw other skaters getting close, and close enough. Was it Tas? Tas Pappas, Danny Way, Rob ‘Sluggo’ Boyce, Giorgio Zattoni. There were a bunch of people that were really close to it. Yeah. And it got to the point where I really tried to land it. I thought I had every piece of that puzzle, and I ended up falling forward into the flat bottom of a ramp and breaking my rib. And that moment kind of shifted my approach. Because it was just like you had it, and you’re gonna get hurt. But just the commitment of a nine hundred, the first time you try it is so terrifying, because once you start spinning, you just have no idea where you are until. Until either your body or your board or your head hits the wall. When that event came around, the ninety-nine X games, I had no intention of trying it. Because I had already written it off. And then halfway into the event, I did the exact trick I came to do, which was my best trick at the time, the varial seven twenty. And then I made it. And Dave Duncan, who we widely considered the voice of skateboarding, he was on the mic for the live crowd at the X games, and he’s like, let’s see one of them nine hundreds, because he just was kind of like. He knew I’d been trying it, and he saw me at other events trying it, and I was like, dude, don’t put me on the spot. And then I thought, okay, I’ll spin one for the crowd just to show you what it looks like, because I wasn’t afraid to spin it at that point in my life. I was afraid to commit to it. And then as I started spinning it, and as I started, my speed was consistent. My height was consistent. My spin was consistent. It was like, oh, if I’m ever gonna try to make it again, this is the time. I honestly didn’t think it was gonna be on air. I didn’t think that. I didn’t think it would count for the event. That time was up. Yeah. You know? So it was more just like I was obsessed with it, you know, I was possessed with it. Yeah. And so when I made it, what you saw was just utter relief. Are you kidding me? You know? And it wasn’t like, oh, I’ve unlocked it. It was like, oh, I finally did it. I’ll never have to do it again. Yeah. You at some point stepped away from competition. You said the pressure had gotten too much. Tell me how important it was to have such a grounding, Zen, Yoda like figure who quotes Nietzsche like Rodney Mullen in your life. He really is the godfather of modern skateboarding. He also has this very Zen approach to what he does, because he was just. He was leap years ahead of everyone. But he also knows the high pressure of being at the top of your game and the top competitor. And so when I went through my sort of. I don’t know what you’d call it. Would you call it a depression? Yeah, I think so. I think it was a depression. It was also just. It was just crushing. It was like I. The fun of skating and the reason I did it was just pulled away from me because suddenly it was just more about my competition ranking and the expectations from the outside world, as opposed to my own enjoyment. And it all became very robotic. Rodney lost one competition in his life. Unbelievable. And so to have him to talk to when I was going through that was life changing, because he said, look, you just gotta let go of this idea of perfection, and you gotta find the enjoyment. You can’t quit. That was his best advice. Like, you can’t quit skating. You just have to redirect your energies and enjoy it and take chances. And so I went back to competition with that attitude, just like, okay, I’m gonna try the hardest stuff. And sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but I learned to enjoy the process a lot more. Yeah. Incredible, man. Tony, you ready to get to course number three? Okay. Yes. Yeah. I’m gonna take one more bite. Tony, for course number three, we got the Chinese chicken salad from Chin Chin, and then we have these spaghetti bolognese from Chateau Marmont here. Yeah. This is Tony’s, like, bougie, nineties LA. This is wild. Yeah. I feel a little pretentious with this, but, wow. Well, basically, we were shooting main video, The Search For Animal Chin on the Bones Brigade. We were staying in LA, actually, at the Best Western on Sunset Boulevard. Fancy. Because it was near Stacy Peralta’s house, and he would take us to Chin Chin’s for lunch. And that was the craze of those days, was the Chinese chicken salad, Chin chins. I mean, this is like nineteen eighty-six. Yeah. And it just. This taste reminds me of that time. It’s always consistent. And so whenever I’m in that area of Hollywood, I stop by Chin Chin’s and get a chicken salad to go. Yeah, this is a staple of my diet since, well, for the last thirty, forty years. The spaghetti at Chateau Marmont? Yeah, well, I love Chateau Marmont. Staying there, it’s just kind of a sanctuary of. For whatever reason, they just nailed spaghetti bolognese. Like, I can’t say it’s because of, it’s there. They just like, this is it. This is the standard of which all those should be measured, I believe. Dig in. I can’t wait to try this. This does look really proper, though. Yeah. I mean, I don’t even look at the menu in Chateau. That’s it. That’s it, man. I believe you actually got this from Chateau Marmont, am I correct? We did, correct. I’m not used to doing this with a fork, but, go for it. We can get you chopsticks, man. That dressing. This tastes like archetypal. This tastes like the chicken salad that everyone else based all of their chicken salads off of, because they did. I believe they did. Tony, you got the twenty-fifth anniversary of Tony Hawk Pro Skater coming out. Can you tell me what it felt like the first time you picked up that controller and skated around as Bruce Willis with a pistol strapped to his back? You’ve done your research. Before I signed on with Activision, I was months, maybe even like a year before that, I was pitching a skate game with a PC programmer to console manufacturers and publishers and just came up against no interest. In fact, some people were actually scoffing that we would even consider making a skateboarding game. I think one quote was, skateboarding isn’t even popular. Why would we make a video game with skateboarding? Why were so many people such assholes to you? Have you thought about that? I don’t know, but that company made more pinball games than video games. I’m not gonna get into it. Anyway, he gave up. I was still down to do whatever, but. But because I had been attending all those meetings, my name was kind of in the ether of video games. And then within a year, I got a call from Activision, and they said, hey, we heard you’re trying to do a skate game. I was like, well, kinda. And they said, we are doing a skate game, and we’d love for you to come see what it’s about. And they had just finished a game called Apocalypse, featuring Bruce Willis, like, voice and likeness, which is one of the first times anyone had done that. It didn’t do well, but the engine was perfect for skateboarding. So when I went to Activision the first time, they handed me a controller, and I’m playing as Bruce Willis skating through a wasteland. And immediately I was doing ollies and kickflips, like, intuitively. Oh, wow. Because the button settings just seemed so natural. I mean, left is literally kickflip. Your foot’s going left on the board. Yeah, and just in each button, though, this is a grab, this is a grind. This is a flip trick. But the basics were there and the motion was there. And I was like, this is the funnest thing I’ve ever played with skateboarding. And I was a connoisseur of skate games, like from, Seven Twenty arcade game, to Skate or Die on Nintendo 64, California Games. You know, anything that had any kind of skating in it, I would eat it up. And they were all mediocre at best. Skate or Die was pretty sick. I remember when I first held it and I was just like, this is it. This game is what skaters will like. Yeah. And that was pretty much my only goal with it was like, I’m gonna make a game that a hardcore skateboarder will want to go buy a console to play. You got the twenty-fifth anniversary coming up of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. What’s next for the franchise? I wish I could tell you more, but I can tell you that I have talked to Activision again, which is insanely exciting. Get out of town. The boys are back. We’re working on something. Can you give me? That is the first time I’ve said anything publicly. Contact lenses that I’m going to put in, they’re going to make me skate? Okay, I can’t give any detail, but it won’t be that. Okay, that’s a good detail. We can keep putting it out there like that. Yeah. But I think it will be something the fans will truly appreciate. I’m a fan, so I’m appreciated. Can I pre-order it with you? I’ll Venmo you whatever right now. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Perfect. Sure. Suckers. How much did the reception to that game exceed your expectations? Everything exceeded my expectations. It still exceeds my expectations. I mean, that game is a reason people still know my name. I’ll never forget. I was in Vegas. I was walking through a casino, and this woman’s like, hey, you’re Tony Hawk. Yeah. My son thinks that you’re named after the video game. Yeah. And I was like, that works for me. Just let him think that. Does he like the game? I’m proud to be associated with it. And to this day, twenty-five years later, people credit the game with getting them into skating, getting them into a certain kind of music. And I just feel lucky to have my name associated with that. Four days ago at a bar in Hermosa beach, I saw three of the original members of Suicidal Tendencies play. And I realized the first time I heard them was Cyco Vision in the Tony Hawk series. Oh, yeah. So it’s something, no, it has stayed with my life in such a massive way. Well, just doing the game, I wanted it to be authentic, and so I wanted to bring the soundtrack of my early days of skating to that, which was actually kind of the easiest part, because it was like Suicidal Tendencies. Possessed to Skate, like, they wrote a song called Possessed to Skate. If there’s one band that we should have in here, it’s them. Right? But also going back to Dead Kennedys, and Primus, and Black Flag, and, you know, I got to bring all that with me because that was the soundtrack to my skating youth. I couldn’t believe that, that people discovered Dead Kennedys because of me. I say that’s wild. And Police Truck. And that got me into Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death, and, yep. No, I followed that exact route. Tony, in some way, this does seem all preordained and pre-written. I think Jason’s right, that you are skateboard Jesus. But also with that, there comes, like, the sacrificial element. Right? Because you said that fame is the worst drug and that you didn’t really wish for any of this. And you said you became a person that you didn’t really like. You weren’t being the best husband, you weren’t being the best father. You said you used the discipline that you learned from skateboarding to actually turn it inward on yourself. Did you find that you had the same success at being able to change yourself like you did changing your skateboard tricks? Yeah. I feel like I’ve finally figured out the healthiest balance of professional and personal life and being much more vulnerable, much more open. And much more intimate. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I definitely feel like I’m the best version of me that I’ve ever been. And, you know, that might sound self-indulgent, but that’s just the truth. And my wife can certainly attest to that. It just took me way too long to make that realization. Yeah. Like I, you know, I should of. I should have learned that a long, long time ago. But I was just, I was shot out of a cannon, and all of a sudden, the sky was no longer the limit, and it was like, everything, you know, everything’s for the taking, because this, this, this. And it was just like I got lost in it. Yeah. I’m no longer lost in it, and I’m just thankful. I’m thankful that I survived it. Yeah. And it seems like you came out the other side better. To quote Rodney Mullen, quoting Nietzsche, a man who climbs a mountain is left only with lightning. Yeah, that’s true. Yeah. Tony, for the final course, of your final meal, we got the tres leches cake here, and then we have an affogato with vanilla bean gelato in there. Wow. Tres leches has become one of my favorite desserts because there’s a restaurant Called Quiero. That’s Peruvian, and they make this tres leches. My wife pretty much gets that for my birthday every year. A full cake. A full, full sheet. Is it a sheet? Oh, yeah. I feel like tres leches, les leches? Cuatros leches always come in a big ass sheet. Also, wet bread is my single favorite food group of all time. Wow. Yep. You said it. I didn’t say it. This I got. First time in Paris, I took my kids to a Häagen-Dazs, and I see this one item, it’s like affogato. I was like, espresso and ice cream? Like, it was just like all the, you know, the stars were aligning. I was like, that is amazing. And then I got one, and it’s like the dessert look for everywhere now. I love that. Are you a caffeine fiend? Yeah. Well, hey, man. This is survival. Daddy needs his medicine. Don’t look at me. I can’t drink it unless it’s at the end, because you need that ratio of ice cream to espresso. I like a food that sort of morphs and changes with time. You know what I mean? Oh, my God. It’s so great. I wanna talk about your dad real quick, because your dad was obviously did a ton for you in your life, and then obviously did a ton for the sport of skateboarding. But you said that he was never really able to fully emote, even when you tried to sort of really reach out to him in a vulnerable place. Has that experience changed the way that you parent your own kids? Do you try and be more emotional with them? Oh, for sure. I think. Especially in the last ten years, more than ever. But my dad was. He was, like I said, child of Depression. He was a pilot in World War Two. He had a rough upbringing, and so he just wasn’t able to really connect in those ways. And his version of being a parent or supportive parent was to support everything you did. Yeah. As more of a facilitator. And so that was the example I knew. So for my kids, like, oh, I just want them to. I’ll give them rides to do their things and do this. But it was just more like, you got to connect emotionally. And so I’ve definitely learned to do that. And it’s sort of the antithesis of how my dad did it, but my dad was supportive, so it’s a weird thing to say. Like, I didn’t get that much love. I was like, but he was extremely supportive, and that’s how he showed it. But there’s kind of difference between that supportive love and then something that actually teaches you what, like, real emotional intimacy and vulnerability is. Yeah, and so, you know, I’m just thankful that it wasn’t too late for me. Yeah. Really. I would say the last ten to fifteen years is when I’ve made much better connections with my kids, even though they’re older now. But I know that they see it and they appreciate it. It’s funny that your career has been defined by learning literal new tricks, and then now it seems like you’re realizing it’s not too late to learn the figurative new tricks to actually benefit your life. Sure. You talked about changing your relationship to skateboarding. You had the traumatic injury in twenty twenty-two where you broke your femur, and then you. That was doing a McTwist, right? You’d done it ten thousand times plus in your entire career. And then you said that you hated the fact that you had to do it again. What was that, like, compulsion like that you had to do it again? Because certainly you didn’t have to. Oh, no, I had to. You had to? Yeah. What was it that drove you like that? I had to beat it. Yeah. I just. I had to overcome it. That’s it. If it was a trick I’d only done once or twice in my life that I got so hurt on, I would be happy to let it go. But it was a trick that I took for granted. In fact, I took it so for granted that and found out. Sorry. But most people, when they around him, find out they don’t break their femur. And, I mean, that’s an interesting thing, right? But that’s what I’m saying is, I took it for granted that I just thought it was easy in any situation. I was not feeling on point that day. Yeah. But McTwist. I gotta McTwist, you know? I don’t have enough speed? I can pull out a, you know? I can squat it out. Like, there was just so many things going against me. And then it all came to a crashing halt, like, literally, me sliding through the flat bottom with my leg pointing the other direction. It was like, oh, I just really blew it completely. As I started getting better and getting more confident and getting speed, I knew that there was just this. And my wife kind of knew it, too, even though she wasn’t as supportive, that I’m gonna get back to doing that trick, or at least to do it, to have some closure. I had to have closure. But it, you know, definitely led to some difficult conversations, especially with my wife, who saw, who went through it with me. And it’s just like, why? That was the hard conversation. It was like, I just have to. And so when I did do it, actually, someone made a documentary on this, and he is just now finishing it and pitching it, but he was the only one there. He was filming it, when I came back to do a five forty. He was the only one there besides my wife, because I knew that I couldn’t get hurt again in front of my wife. Damn. I mean, that’s adding real stakes to it. No, it was adding certainty to it. Most people don’t have that relationship to certainty, but. But that’s what I’m saying. That’s the mindset. That’s what I’m trying to explain it, the best I can is, like, I knew if she was there, there’s no way I’m gonna get hurt. I’d be in so much trouble. And I was worried about being. I was more worried about being not in her good graces than I was about injuring my body. I guess that’s probably where it is. It’s like, I would much rather be in pain than to have my wife upset with me. Yeah. I mean, honestly, no, that’s beautiful. And that does seem like that’s a. That’s the big shift in your sort of priority, right, is having her? Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Are you more afraid of dying or never being able to skate again? I feel like if I just. If I can’t experience skateboarding and you can take that in any context, that that would be a slow death. Yep. And experiencing doesn’t necessarily mean actively doing it. If I can stand on a skateboard and move, that is skating to me, or if I can be involved in what’s going on, because this is, like, the golden era of skateboarding. You know? It’s the most inclusive, the most available, accessible sport. If you go to a skate park right now, there’s probably one nearby, which is crazy to say just that sentence in itself, given, you know, what it was like when I was a kid. And thanks to you, there’s one nearby. Well, whatever I could do to help. But if you go to a skate park right now, there are people of all ages, of all genders, of all skill levels, top pros, absolute beginners, all encouraging each other to skate. And it’s gonna be crowded. Like, there’s no other sport like that, you know, there just isn’t. And I’m just coming off the heels of Paris, and you saw top competitors cheering each other on, holding each other up after the runs. That just doesn’t exist anywhere. Like, skating is truly unique, and I think it’s so special. So that’s why, if you’re telling me, you know, you’re asking me what would be worse, it would be worse that I wasn’t associated with skating. That would be the worst thing. Yeah. It does feel like it’s come to this big, full circle moment with you, at the Olympics especially. Are you gonna come out of retirement for the twenty twenty-eight games? Come on. You got one run. Twenty twenty-one, you had a dream about a trick and you just hopped in the X Games’s Best Trick comp. Twenty twenty-eight’s not too late, Tony. Okay, let’s put this in real perspective. If they advert skating to the Olympics, which I, absolutely, they should. Hello? Anyone listening from the IOC, World Skate. Vert is a unique discipline. We’re looking at park skating, which is amazing. The most anyone has spun in a park event is a five forty. People are doing ten eighty’s on vert ramp. That’s twice as many spins. Right? It would just be. It would add a whole new acrobatic element to it. So I think there should be vert skating, like, there’s half pipe snowboarding. Yeah. They should have vert skating in the Olympics. So if they were to actually expedite it, get it in LA, twenty-eight, which would be perfect. Dogtown, hi. I’d be sixty, so, no. All right. I’m competing for Tony. Can you teach me how to drop in? Last time I dropped in on a seven foot quarter, I got a concussion. Do you think I got what it takes? That’s a real story. That’s probably not the best pitch. Well, you know, what do you think happens when you die? I think. Your guess is as good as any. Your spirit can live on, and that could take all kinds of different manifestations. You know? If just your spirit, of your approach to life, your contributions, you know? They can resonate. Yeah. You can start a revolution without even realizing it. Do you think you’ve started a revolution? You seem like you don’t want to take credit for it. No, but I. Jason Ellis really wants you to get. I’m thankful I was part of it. Yeah. It’s still happening. It still is. When I win gold in LA twenty twenty-eight, you’re gonna see, and I’m gonna do it to spite Tony Hawk. You won’t teach me. I gotta get another. Here’s the thing. Burnquist said he’s down. I wouldn’t even wanna qualify for skating in twenty-eight games because there are so many other amazing skateboarders that are, that are contemporary, that are doing progressive tricks, modern tricks, stuff that I never even thought of or could do ever. They deserve that space. They deserve that limelight. You know me as, just because I was there from the beginning, that’s not enough. I’ll take you on the sidelines commentating. Tony, you ready to get in the lightning round? Sure. Is there actually lightning? Oh, I thought we were waiting for lightning. You’re skateboard Jesus, man. Who’s the one person dead or alive, you’d want to share your actual last meal with? My dad, because he passed away shortly after the very first X Games. And to him, that was the biggest skateboarding could possibly get is to be on ESPN. And if he could see what’s happening now, he would be out of his mind excited. It’s just you two at The Barbecue Pit. What song do you want to be played at your funeral? Ceremony by New Order. That was our wedding dance song and ceremony. It’s perfect still. Which Tony Hawk Pro Skater game had the best soundtrack? There is a correct answer. Oh, okay. Well, if I had to base it on what was the soundtrack, the foundation to us doing more soundtracks and having expectations, it would be number two. That is the correct answer, actually. What’s your biggest fear? My biggest fear is the safety of my kids. If not you, what other skater do you think could have had their name attached to the video game series? There’s just a. Rodney, Cab. If it had been an earlier era, Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva. I feel like Rodney Mullen Pro Skater would have just been a lot of rainforest sounds, and I would have really loved that. What was the hardest goodbye you’ve ever had to say? Probably my mom. Because she was in the latest stages of Alzheimer’s dementia, and I just knew the last time I saw her, I knew I wasn’t gonna see her again. Yeah. Was the teen who threw an empty Arizona Iced Tea can at me while yelling, die, mongo scum, while I was just skating in peace, justified? That happened to you? Was he justified? Yeah. No. Thank you. And pushing mongo is not a crime. Of course not. And people who push mongo should be respected. If you’re on a skateboard, that’s respectable to me. Tony, that’s the nicest thing. I don’t care how you get on the skateboard. I would suggest. Go ahead. Suggest learning how to push the other way, only because it benefits you to be ready for what’s coming easier, because you’re pushing with your front foot. You have to set your front foot in place, and then you have to readjust your back foot. There’s like an extra step there that you don’t need. That was much nicer than throwing an Arizona Iced Tea can at me. There you go. See, he was not justified. It’s not justified. I would have written all that and then thrown it back at him. If only you were there. I think it was probably in K town the day that I saw you, actually. Finally, Tony, are you happy? I’m happy. Yeah. This is amazing. I’m living the dream. Are you kidding me? I just got to eat all my favorite dishes and talk about skateboarding and my family. I love that. What more is there? I’m happy that I got to do all those things except talk about your family as well. Anyways. I’m gonna finish this affogato. Do it, dude. Rip the affogato. Tony, if you want to deliver your last words to that camera right there. Skate or die. Hell, yes. Tony Hawk, everybody. Thank you. Give it up for him. Everybody, make sure you check out Hawk versus Wolf. Keep a lookout for the new Activision Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise. This is gonna. I can’t believe you just said that out loud. Yeah, does that? I’ve been holding onto that for a little while. Feels good to let it out, man. Yeah. Thank you so much, man. This meant a lot to me. I mean, growing up as a little skate rat. Appreciate it. This absolutely rules. Catching mongo is okay, and I think that’s what we can all learn. It’s okay, but there’s better ways. I think it could be a big show to the mongo community right now, Tony, if you skated mongo away from here. Well, you can’t have it all. Thanks, you guys. Do a kickflip. We all got to eat, and we’re all going to die, but in the meantime, you can wear our Last Meals Hoodie, available now at mythical.com