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Smart less. I hit really hard. Now, I had a safer landing, but I'm dropping from like 80ft in the air. So I hit and I knocked the wind out of myself and I didn't have a real concussion, but, like, I hit and I closed my eyes and when I woke up, someone had pooped in my pants and it wasn't me. And all my friends were magically just. They were there so fast.

Just follow me because I have no idea what I'm doing.

Okay. Love that.

Hello, my name is Johnny Knoxville.

My name is Elna Baker and this is.

Pretty sure I can fly a show about people with more balls than a bowling alley. And today we're going to talk to Travis Pastrana.

I had so much fun talking to Travis Pastrana, I really couldn't. My jaw was open for most of the interview.

Yeah, first of all, he shows up with a broken hand that's on par. And, you know, do we say Travis? Greatest freestyle motocross riders ever can do anything on a motorcycles driven NASCAR. Anything with a steering wheel or handlebars. He's amazing. At first person to do a double backflip on a motorcycle, which was breathtaking.

I jumped out of a airplane without a parachute, jumped over the Grand Canyon. I mean, he's like, I think, at least in my life, the biggest daredevil I've ever spoken to.

Yeah, he's. He's amazing. And, you know, I first met Travis when I. I think when I produce, we produce nitro circus, the tv show. And when we're together, we just, you know, hang out and have fun. So I never really got to talk to him about his career or I never really did a deep dive into it before now. And, wow, did I learn some things.

I'm laughing because I know some of the things you learned.

Some things you can't unhear now.

Yes.

Yes.

Shall we move on to the interview so the audience won't be able to unhear them?

Have you ever felt like escaping to your own desert island? Well, that's exactly what Jane, Phil and their three kids did when they traded their english home for a tropical island they bought online. But paradise has its secrets, and family life is about to take a terrifying turn.

You don't fire at people in that area without some kind of consequence. And he said, yes, ma'am, he's dead. There's pure cold blooded terror running through me.

From wondery, I'm Alice Levine, and this is the price of paradise, the real life story of an island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption and murder. Search and follow. The price of paradise. Now to listen to the full trailer.

Ladies and gentlemen, Travis Pastrana.

I don't know, just when you said, hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville. I just got chills. I don't know. It's cool. I've known you for a bit, but it's still. That's my childhood right there.

Oh, well.

Well, not to make you feel old, you know.

You son of a bitch.

If you're wondering why Knoxville sounds a little tinny right now, it's cause we fucked up the mic and it will be moved closer in just a few minutes. Bear with us. It's our first episode now.

Oh, Elna. Travis.

Travis.

Hi, Travis.

Hello, Elna. How are you?

I'm good. I'm very excited. I feel like I don't know anything about any of the things you've done. So I like imagining that this interview is like, I'm sitting next to a guy on an airplane who I think is a normal person, and I'm like, tell me about your life. And then you say the craziest things on airplanes.

Now I just go with, what street bike? Tommy always says. I'm like, oh, I'm just out here. First construction. That stops the conversation. I hang sheet rock. We're good.

But you were just telling me before we started recording, I said, hold it for the show. An injury you suffered recently.

What was it? No, it was interesting because it was right as your last jackass came out and I jumped off of a building with a parachute, was supposed to land to start this car video we were doing where I'd, like, land right next to the. Where they parallel parked my car, or where they valid my car. And I was going to, like, just land next to it and jump in. Well, I landed next to it, but I landed very hard. I broke my back, my pelvis, shattered pelvis, internal bleeding, and broke my urethra, which we had a thing that happened.

You guys can bond over this.

I was supposed to be, like, in bed, and it was the last day that. That the movie was going to be out, and I was like, I have. I had to see jackass forever in the theater. So I got my wheelchair and we took all of. It's funny because all of my friends are all have girls about the same age as my girls at the time were seven and nine years old. And we all went, and one of the guys was on crutches. One of the guys had a sling. We had a bad off. Winner. That. And we all go walking into jackass with a bunch of our little daughters and all. Everyone just looking at us like, yeah, that seems about right for what's happening here.

That's some crew right there.

So this man actually peed on me from a few seats back. He had a long catheter.

Accidentally.

Accidentally? Over two rows of seats, man.

Seats.

Wait, no, no, no. What happened? How do you accidentally pee on someone?

Well, I had a catheter, and I could take my bag off my leg and open the bottom and it would squirt pee. And I accidentally did that to Travis.

Accidentally. Of course.

Where were you?

I don't know. In a van.

We were in a van. Yeah. But he squirted over a people to get. Doesn't really matter. But I had a really cool system where I just had a tube that went straight to the bladder so I didn't have to worry about doing the catheter thing. So.

So how many times have you. You broke your. Tore your urethra or broke your penis?

So I've broken my penis three times, but that was the first time that I had a tore your urethra.

So for counting me, you've injured five penises.

Wait, you're responsible for.

Well, two penises five times.

That's not a good stat. That's a terrible stat.

Wait, Travis, you're responsible for injuring Johnny's dick?

Yes.

Yeah, I blame Travis.

How come?

The irony of this whole thing was this man actually, I always thought he just pretended to not be able to ride motorcycles and vehicles and that it was like, oh, he's probably really pretty good. But, you know, he just said no. He's like, literally the worst person I've ever seen on a dirt bike. And I'm sorry, I mean, with all due respect. So we have to jumpstart him. Cause he's like, he doesn't know how to work the clutch. So we put him in second gear on a 250. Like a motorcycle that it's for professionals. Like, it's a very highly modified, very, very fast two stroke racing machine. The takeoff is 20 foot tall, the landing is 40ft tall. He's never even ridden a bike like this. So we push start him. Cause he can't figure out how to take off.

And you assume just cause he's saying yes, he knows how to do it.

No, no, we knew at this point he had no idea what he was doing. But it was soft. It was like, you know, it was a soft dirt. It was like a mud pile for lack of, like a mulch pile.

Yeah.

And I'm like, look, you hit it as fast as the bike will go, just twist your right throttle all the way, and you should be around the landing. You know, you're probably gonna get hurt. And he's like, as long as I don't break my dick, I'll be good. I said that. Literally said this.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

Dude, Tremaine has to have at some point. And it was funny because it was, like, forecasting exactly what happened.

Hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville, and I'm about.

To backflip this bike.

Man.

I just saw the bike. I was going up, and I saw the bike. I was like, that's probably coming down.

I didn't realize it's coming down.

Fucking ball.

Oh.

Oh, yeah. I feel great.

Felt like I was pissing my pants, but I realized this is blood, and I'm afraid to really look. Why couldn't I got a broken arm or leg or, like, broken cogno. I got blood shooting out my pee pee. The only thing I'm worried about. That's so good. Oh, God. Like, I feel like we need to back up just because you have done so much. You're one of the greatest, most famous motorcycle riders ever. But how many disciplines have have you conquered?

I signed up on a whim for the Daytona 500, was able to qualify. I was the second of the qualifier to Jimmy Johnson, who's, you know, won seven NASCAR cup championships. I felt pretty good about that. And I was on the last lap. I was running 9th with it, with a chance to make a kind of a top three. I mean, we were. We were rolling on the top, and then I ran out of talent, and I took out my team owner and my teammate, and probably the only chance I ever get. I got 11th, though. I felt pretty good, man. That's great. Hey. So I was. I told my wife, I'm like, we're gonna lose a lot of money. I'm probably not gonna qualify. Like, we raised some sponsorship. I'm like, I don't belong there. I'm not good enough to be there. But we got a good car and good everything. Well, so I'm running 11th. You know what 11th place pays the Daytona 500? What? $550,000.

What?

Yeah. I didn't lose money. I was so fucked. I mean, I didn't make much, but I spent about, you know, about that.

So NASCAR, motorcycles, rally speedboat racing or something.

So I won the world championship. In offshore powerboat racing, which is like 160 miles an hour offshore. Two years ago, eleven x games gold medals, five Us rally championships. I got fifth in the monster Jam world finals, which is. I had my friend qualified monster truck for like three years of work. He finally made it to the world finals in Vegas, and then I threw him out. You were part of that. Thanks for the help when we had the MTV show. Yeah. So it's been a fun ride for sure.

And does it just piss everyone off when you enter a whole new field that you're trying, that you are amazing at it? What does it do to these people who've been doing this their whole life?

There's no such thing as an overnight success. And it does take. I mean, so usually by the time you get to where you're trying to go, even though the media and the fans always think, oh, you just jump in. Yeah, it must be easier. Whatever. It's a lifetime of work and preparation and surrounding yourself with the right people. I'm talking when we do nitro cross, which is a kind of sport we just started, that's like motocross with a roll cage. The entire field is within three tenths of a second. We have thousand horsepower cars, two mile tracks, and if you're outside of a half of a second a lap off, or you're outside of a 10th of a second per lap, that you're different, like, from one lap to the next, you're not competitive. So, I mean, it's driving every single day. And even though I'm not driving maybe NASCAR, every day I'm in a vehicle, whether it's a field car demolition derby at Hubert Rowland's house in Tennessee, or, you know, driving jet boats or offshore power boats, I'm driving something all the time. And always at the end of the day, I do better.

At the sports where you can take risk to make a gain in speed motocross, you could just shift up a gear wheelie into a set of whoops. You can make up 2 seconds. NASCar, you can only lose time, really. You're not going to make up any time. You got to be perfect for, you know, 500 miles. You got to be perfect every single turn. You can't make any mistakes to the end. And that's. I'm not going to lie. I'll never be a NASCAR champion. I could spend every day my entire life. I'm just not that type of driver or f one or open wheel, really.

So I watched your documentary last night, and I teared up in like three or four places just from, you know, your mom and dad. That's one of the things that choked me up. Your father, who's a tough marine, and. And. And he's talking about how he just mortgaged his house to, like and keep you on a motorcycle. And then when they did all, they mortgaged it as far as they could. He went to his brothers and said, and they said, it's okay. You can take some of the business money and put towards your career. And that really choked me up.

So my dad was in the military. He was a marine. My grandfather was golden gloves. He was in the navy. My mom's father was also in the navy. So it's a lot of military. My best friend ended up joining the SeALs and was east coast seal team for forever. And so think about that kind of upbringing. And my uncle was quarterback for Denver Broncos. All my other cousins kind of come from a big family. My dad was one of nine, so they always beat me up all the time. I was the runt of the family, but I realized I was really durable, so my mom was really, you know, all about that. It's good. My dad was always. He was the dad that had slow down on your pipboard as long as I tried. He didn't want me to take extra chances. He didn't. He was for as tough as he was. He never cared if I won. He just cared that I put everything I had into it. So when I was in fourth grade, for example, he goes, I really wanted to go down to Florida for the winter. We live in Maryland.

Florida was where all the best riders were. And I'm like, dad, I'm the best at the end of summer, you know, 2nd, 3rd grade. But by the time spring starts, all the other kids are so much better. Cause they're homeschooled. And he's like, you'll never be homeschooled. But, okay, if you get up and you run 1 mile, I don't care if you're sick, have the flu. I don't care if it's snowing. I don't care if it's 100 degrees. You run 1 mile before you go to school every single day. You stay on the honor roll. Cause that's what you're, you know, so mom's happy, right? And, you know, and you ask me to go ride your dirt bike every single day, no matter. I don't care if there's birthday parties or whatever, every single day. And do this for the year, and we'll homeschool you and we'll start going to Florida and that stuff. So held through with that. And my dad was that guy that was like, man, I hoped every day that I'd come around the corner and you'd just be sitting on the side, you know, like, not doing your run or wouldn't get on a roller.

Not that I was smart. I just really wanted to ride dirt bikes. Yeah.

That discipline that your father. I guess your father had it, and it's instilled in you because that. I mean, for a kid, that's. That's huge. But you just loved it.

I just wanted to ride my dirt bike. Who.

Who was your hero growing up?

So. Matt Hoffman. All time hero. I know you. You and Matt.

Me, too.

Yeah, he's. Matt was the guy that, before there was any money, before there was any fame, when every teacher and parent was telling their kids, don't waste your time on bicycles, he was the one going bigger, pushing further, doing stuff for no other reason than he wanted to see how high he could fly.

Yeah.

How many flips he could do, how many. He loved riding his bicycle more than any human on the face of the earth.

I feel like kids are born with an innate fearlessness, but then they're socialized, and their parents are like, don't do that. No, wait. Be careful. And then they start to become more fearful. And in your family, it's the opposite. There's this video clip of you in a bobcat, and you're two years old. No business riding a bobcat by yourself. And you slam into a wall and knock it over, and your dad is delighted.

Yay. Travis. What happened to that wall? Who did? My cat did. Was that a good job or a bad job? Good job.

Like, he's so proud. Proud of you.

He was laughing so much.

Yeah.

So my dad. Family run construction company. Real small driveways. Not big business, not big money, nothing. You know, they made 45, 50,000 a year, but they were off work every day when their kids got off school. And they picked us up from school, and we went and we rode motorcycles and go karts, and they built and they hooked the 5 hp Briggs of Stratton up to whatever they welded together in the shop, and we would, you know, basically play polo on dirt bikes with. With soccer balls. And it was just. The family was all about work hard, play hard, get up early, get your work done, and then have fun with the family. And for me, it was interesting because I never knew we didn't have that much money, because they. They built everything they made. You know, we just. If something broke you fixed it. It was a really cool way to grow up and around, you know, a bunch of very tough boys in general. I wasn't until I married my wife and then had two girls that I had any idea what the other side of the world looked like.

So, like, how old were you? Started riding a motorcycle and at what age did you. And they realized that you're gifted.

So every mom thinks that their kid is the next Babe Ruth or whatever sport. You're Jordan or whatever. And my dad was always like, you, you never make it. He told me every day.

Really?

He's like, you'll never make it. He goes, but you work hard in.

The team, sports or on the motorcycle, anything.

All right?

He's constantly challenging you.

Well, he even said, my uncle Alan, as was always his, he's like, look, my dad thought his brother was probably the greatest athlete that ever came out of Maryland. Obviously, family always thinks that. And that was his older brother somebody looked up to. But he goes, he's still teaching health and football and lacrosse at a community college, making very little money and working construction with us in the summer until the day that he passed away here recently. But he never. Dad's like, he was a great athlete in conventional sports. He's like, these sports don't even really exist. Like, action sports was just kind of starting, like, freestyle. When I was 14, we did the first ever freestyle competition. So the sports that I were in didn't. There wasn't, like, money to be made. So he's like, look, as long as this is helping you not do drugs, do get, you know, focused on what you're doing, working out, he goes, I will give every second of my life. I will work everything. All your uncles will basically take pay cuts to be able to pay for gas, for us to get down to Florida. We're gonna make this work, but not because we expect you to do anything.

Just because this is gonna help build character and teach you discipline. And that was always his kind of thing. And then the X Games came out.

That's so loving. Like, you're so lucky. What an amazing father.

Oh, he's a complete asshole, too, don't get me wrong. Yeah, I loved it. And to be fair, I gotta give credit where credit's due. My mom was the one that was telling dad, it's like he's special. He's got something. No, but my mom was really good, and she was kind of my agent, and she helped get sponsorship, and she made. And so I ended up graduating high school. She said I couldn't turn pro until I graduated high school. So I graduated at 15. I actually signed my pro contract. I had a shattered pelvis, broken back and everything, and I was in a wheelchair, and she went out and she negotiated the contracts with Suzuki and everything. It wasn't a big contract, but she got me the rides that I needed to be able to get to where I was. So it was mom that really believed in me. Sure.

Yeah. It was a total two hander. And you just referenced breaking your pelvis. That's one of the times you almost bought it, right. Well, is that when your spine separated your spine?

I didn't go fast enough on a jump, landed short. And basically your back's connected with si joints, so your spine comes down. I didn't actually break my spine, but it basically shot, for lack of better term, it went kind of out, like almost out my butt, basically because my pelvis shattered, so the spine just went down.

And can people. I mean, do people die from that? That seems.

I was the third known case in medical history to have this and not bleed out. So I made medical journals and stuff, which was not really where I wanted to be at 14. Actually my 15th birthday. Happy birthday. So I bled two thirds of my blood volume over a certain the next week or so. And every time I woke up, I pass up. I woke up, I pass out. So I finally woke up. I was in a different state. I was actually out in LA. Doctor Joel Mata was one of the few surgeons that kind of took it on, basically fused everything together. I don't remember anything. I was just going in and out of consciousness, basically. Well, I learned something there. I learned that I can only take a certain amount of pain before you pass out. And I took the most amount of pain I could ever possibly. Someone that's tougher than me can take more pain physically. That's all the pain I can take before your body just shuts down. So you've been there, I'm sure, but I just. The biggest thing from that, that I remember is my mom. So I woke up.

My parents weren't with me.

And you're 1414?

Yeah. Well, 15th birthday. The 15th? Yeah. So just turned 15 while I was in the hospital. But I woke up and my mom was there and she was just here. She had just a wreck and she hadn't slept in a couple days. And I was like, oh, hey, like, how long until I can get back on the bike? And I just remember laughing. She's like, the first thing you say is not, I love you, mom. Thanks for being here, it's like, literally, wake up. Oh, I didn't make the jump. Huh? How long until I can ride again? She's like, what? Like, what is wrong with you? Are you sure this is what you want to do? And she just laughs, and she's like, well, I'm not going to. If this is the thing where you're in the most pain of your life, near death experience and you want to do this so bad, she's like, how, as a mom, despite my maternal instincts, can I take away this thing from you? And I appreciate that every day.

What? Like, what kind of. What's the running list on? Like, surgeries, concussions, broken bones? Do you even know what? Before we get into that, you want.

To hold this hand up to the camera? Oh. So should this be in a cast? Kind of. But then I couldn't race this weekend, so the swelling's gone down a lot. I did. It's a little over a week ago, but no, I broke. Just like the opposite of boxer fractures. Just. Anyway, I ran out of town again. Dirt bikes are the devil.

You're very on brand. You've arrived very on brand.

Yeah.

I'm getting a knee replacement. I get a knee replacement this year, then hopefully next year I'll get a left hip replacement. I don't really have time to do them both at the same time, but I'm getting older. I'm falling apart. I want to become the bionic man.

But you've been falling apart since you were a teenager.

That is accurate. The doctor's like, look, at 40. He goes, if you're really good to this, your knee is going to last 25, 30 years. He goes, if you keep doing what you're doing, it'll last 15. He goes, that puts you at 55 with the second knee. The second replacement's not as good. The third replacement, we really don't even know what that's like. He's like, you have to make this decision now. So I went and I said, okay, I've got three tricks that I really want to do that no one's done. I know I'm 40, but gosh dang it, I can still do what these young kids are doing, and I can do something cooler. And as it turns out, I'm old. That was not able to do what I wanted to do. I got it around a couple of times, so an airbag. So I proved that something that everyone told me was impossible is, what is.

It that you were trying to do?

So we set up this ramp, and I put a I ran it like a lift, basically, and. Cause I've flipped so many times in, like, WHOOP sections, like, where they have a bunch of, like, bumps and you go across the tops of them, and if your front tire misses a WHOOP, you do a front flip. I'm like, what if I do a backflip and set a WHOOP like a. Basically a WHOOP section 50ft in the air, right?

Great idea.

And instead of crashing upside down into the ground, the ground's 50ft below me. So I'll do a backflip.

Yeah.

Tag a WHOOP 50ft in the air and I'll front flip safely to the ground. And one time it worked to the airbag. Unfortunately, another time it did not.

And, you know, and that's what happened to your hand.

Broken. But I was going to get a cast. It was super swollen. Like, hey, come back in a couple days. And then I thought, you know what? I got to race this weekend. And frankly, a cast is going to hinder my ability to move. And I'm getting a knee replacement surgery. I'm going to be out for, like, two months anyway. If it doesn't heal correctly over the next two weeks or I re break it during the race, I can just go in and get that done while I'm under. Two for one.

You see how that is, Elna, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Logic.

No, it sounds like logic.

With Travis Pastrana.

Imaginative. Like, even the way you came up with this stunt, you're like, okay, I'm flying in the air. I could try. Is it an imaginative process for you coming up with these things?

Here's what's really interesting. Like, I do a lot of stuff. Like, I wanted to do this two flips with a full twist. And we already have everything we need. So nitro Circus goes, okay, we can give you $400,000 budget for this film and we built these ramps and all these airbags. But I spent quite a bit over, like, $1.2 million knowing that I only got 400,000. And after I've already spent that much, I was like, I can do this trick. So I was out there. The whole video's done filming. We're already like, we've spent the kids college fund. Like, we're way in. We know we're not getting any more out of this. And I'm like, all right, I'm gonna do a trick that's never been done. And my wife's like, what? Like, at this point, mid thirties, she's like, you've got nothing to prove. You've got nothing to win if you do this. You know how much money you get? Nothing. Nobody even cares. So I go up the first time and I land, and I've told this story a couple times, despite my best judgment, and I hit really hard. Now I had a safer landing.

It was like a bag underneath a plastic surface, but I'm dropping from, like 80ft in the air. So I hit, and I knocked the wind out of myself and I didn't have a real concussion, but, like, I hit and I closed my eyes, and when I woke up, someone had pooped in my pants, and it wasn't me. And all my friends were magically just. They were there so fast. And my wife's just looking at me. She's like, are you. You okay? I'm like, yeah. She's like, okay, you're done. And I was like, no, I can do it. And then everyone's like, you're gonna clean. Like, it wasn't a little bit of poop. I feel I told this story too many times. I feel bad.

You should always tell this story.

Oh, my gosh. But. So I'm sitting there in my poo pants.

Mind your own business.

And I'm a little dizzy, and I'm getting more and more sore as, like, the seconds go by, and I'm like, all right, I'm gonna do it. And everyone's like, well, go change your pants. At least, like, scoop out the poop from your underwear. And I'm like, if I don't go right back up there, I'm not gonna do it. And I crashed. The next time, I didn't commit, and I crashed.

Oh, wait, you kept the poop pants on.

I did. If I went up to the house and changed the poop pants, if I got ungeared, that trick was never gonna get done. I would have gone to my hot tub, I would have sat there, I would have opened up a beer and been like, you know what? It's been a good ride.

But I was like, you, sir, are a hero.

Well, it sucks. So now. But this is where it gets better. So I land the next time, and I just located my shoulder and my buddy puts it back in. And that guy happened to be. So he was an olympian, where as a. So trevor jacob, as a joke goes, to try to qualify for olympics. He was amazing half pipe snowboarder. And trevor looked at me, he's like, like, are you going to shit or get off the pot? And I looked at him, and all my friends were like, my wife's like, tell him not to do it. My mother in law comes around back. Now my kids are out there. I'm like, oh, God. Like, I don't want to, like, get hurt in front of. All right. You know, everything. And everyone's like, trevor, what are you saying? He's like, it's a double cork ten.

He's like, wait, does he say this before or after you've already said, I.

Have poop in my pants and I've dislocated. Now he's put my shoulder back in after having it dislocated. And I'm sitting there and everyone's like, you get no. Like, there's no reason to do this. The movie's done. You've already spent triple what it's gonna make. You're. Now you're sitting in your poop pants about trying this thing again where you might kill yourself. And Trevor's like, do it. He's like, but you can't look. He's like, you keep spotting the landing when you're 70ft in the air, and I'm looking to see where I am. He's like, you know where you are, but if you spot the landing, it stops the momentum. He's like, you're going to need every bit of everything. He goes, just keep. Just close your eyes and feel it. I'm like, that's your advice? He's like, 100%. It'll work. But you can't hesitate. You can't. If you spot the landing, if you look to see where you're going, if you try to check up or you're going to end up on the same spot you've done the last two times. So I went and I just. I hucked and I spun and I rode out of it.

Wow.

Wow. With poop pants. With poop pants. That's a little extra cushion now.

I feel like I need to applaud.

Gosh, I need to stop telling that story. I'm so sorry.

No, I don't think so. I think that's a humdinger.

Yeah.

Those pants must have been a hot mess when you peeled them off.

Yeah, straight to the garbage.

Oh, my God.

And do you have any, like, ritual that you do that, like, helps you feel like you're gonna be okay? Like, are you just like, this is. I'm just doing it, and if I'm not okay, I'm not okay. Like, I feel like some people have, like, routines or, like, you know, dumbo with a feather. They have these, like, superstitions. Do you have anything like that?

Yeah. Practice. Oh, hello, bucket.

That's my dog, bucket. She's just kinda. Just jumping all over.

Trapped.

Buckley's got a broken hand. Hi, baby. Hello.

All right. What's up, dog? I know. Good girl. I'm sorry. Where were you?

Elna?

Everyone's afraid of the unknown. I'm not afraid of getting hurt at this point in my life. Risk to reward has changed. When you're at X Games and the beginning of your career and you know, there's a chance that something really bad could happen, but it's your one opportunity to make a living doing what you love to do. Things are a little different than, hey, like, had a good career, you know, we're in a good spot with nitro circus where, like, my job is now safety. It's about bringing up the next generation and trying to help more kids from all over the world have a chance to do what they love to do and to chase their dreams. And that's exciting for the next generation to continue loving racing. So all of that kind of aside. Yeah. It's just, for me, the biggest thing is just that, just to have, you know, to actually, I completely forgot where we're going. Maybe the concussions are kicking in.

I did, too. I was like, I don't know what was happening.

What was the question again? Can we take this part out?

Oh, boy.

I get up on tangents too long sometimes. I forgot what was. I do have something I was getting at there. I forgot, though. Yeah. I feel like this is gonna happen a lot more in this interview between the two of us here.

You know, I never talked about any of this with you because we just get together and we talk about what we've done, but I never talked about, like, the moment before with you. And it doesn't, it doesn't appear here how much fear, if any, are you experiencing?

Fear for me is when you decide to do it. So another thing that my dad had always said instilled in me, my dad was really simple. He goes, work hard, have respect, give respect. And if you say you're going to do something, do it. Those were the three pillars. If you stuck to that, you could do no wrong. But when you go out and you say you're gonna do something for me, that was the commitment. There was no choice after that. I remember when I was ten years old and I told guy Cooper, like, the first time that I met my hero, and I was one up to him, like, I'm gonna do the jump that no one else is doing. And I was ten, like, no one's doing it on, like, the. I'm on a. Well, it was 112 cc, like a modified 80. And he's like, okay, I'll watch. And I knew I wasn't gonna make it from the time I. And I went for it, and I held it wide open, and I landed. My dad was so bummed because, you know, we're basically getting money from the family to be able to go to this event, this national championship out in Ponca City, Oklahoma.

I land short. Thank goodness. My bike imploded. Like, the front tire collapsed, the forks bent, the handlebars went down, the triple clamps broke off, and I caught the tire with my chest, and, like, yeah, I mean, it hurt. I had black eyes and sore chest, but, like, I was fine. But my bike, like, it was a $2,000 bike to get, and my dad's like, oh, we're. We're done. Like, that. That's. That's it. And I. He was laughing, though. He was like, right? He kind of half pissed, half laughing. He's like, what are you. Like, why? What were you. I was like. I said I was gonna do it, and he just gave me a hug. He's like, well, there you go. Don't. Don't ever say you don't do something you can't do. That's a good life lesson.

When you decide to commit and, like, the ten minutes before a stunt, are you experiencing fear or you just bury it?

No. Once you decide to do a stunt for me, it's like, you know, when you. When I decided I was getting married, like, that was the moment. That was like, that.

That's his stunt.

It's the same thing. Like, hey, I don't know, Lucy, we're.

Gonna cut that out.

I mean, that's, like, for most. Most people, they cry when they're, you know, at their wedding or whatever. Like, that was my moment. Like, okay, am I going to do this one girl for the rest of my life? I'm like, I love her. Like, I'm in. Okay. Nerves were gone after that. We're good. So similar. Sorry not to go. Sorry. Lindsey, I love you so much.

Dig your way out of this.

I'm not. I can't. She knows me. He'll be all right. But when I say, okay, I'm gonna go jump out of a plane without a parachute, and you go, okay, we're gonna do it. That's the scary moment. But I actually. When I jumped out, I kind of had that giddy feeling, like, I was actually kind of excited. Like, I wasn't just nervous. It was, like, actually happy. Yeah. And I thought of something that Matt Hoffman had told me a couple years before that we were at the edge of the Grand Canyon, and he's, like, crawling up to it. I'm like, Matt, you literally are. You're the craziest person I've ever met. You jump out of anything. You skydive, you do the. He's like, oh, no, I'm not afraid of looking over the edge. I'm afraid that I'm going to get so excited, I'll jump.

Oh.

And I was like. He goes, I can't get there until I have a parachute on. I just, I get too excited. I thought, man, that guy's actually insane. And then as I jumped out, I thought I could totally see where he came from. This is so fun what happens to you because you keep putting yourself in.

These situations right before.

I just try to, like, I'll be.

I will get frightened a few days before, like, thinking, oh, this could go wrong. This could go wrong. But as I get closer to doing the stunt, I just calm down, and then it's like I wake up that morning and want to be doing that stunt. Like, I can't wait to get there to do it. And it just becomes an excitement and.

Anticipation is the greatest moment. Just before you do the stunt or just after.

Good question.

Well, it's two different things. It's. My adrenaline is going spiking in both situations, but afterwards, and I'll do a call back to what Colonel John stepp called because he did these major studies on deceleration, putting himself in the line of fire, and he called it survivor's euphoria. Afterwards, just the, the glee and happiness that overwhelms you after you, like, after, in your case, after you land something. In my case, after I don't land something, that you're not hurt too bad? Yeah, if I'm. Yeah, well, yeah, even if I'm hurt, if I'm awake, which eventually I'll become awake, you know, and I'm moving, I'm, you know, no matter what's broke, you're happy because you just pulled it off.

So many people are afraid to try something, and I usually look at the worst case scenario, right. But I'm like, what are you actually afraid of? And most people will be like, oh, if I don't do it, I might break my arm. And you're like, ant, like, is. Is that that bad? Yeah. I mean, just a. Yeah, I don't.

I don't that really I mean, that doesn't register for you. It doesn't register for me. I don't care if I break an arm or a leg. You just want to do it, you know, you just want to do it for whatever deficient reason in your. In my personality that makes me want to do it. I just want to do it and see how it goes. And I want to watch the footage afterwards, so.

Yeah, I mean, that's like being wired. The absolute opposite of all humans. Yeah, it really is.

It's. What? Why the dodo bird's not still around. But, hey, we're still here, guys. Knoxville's still here. I'm still here. Hoffman's still here. Gotta live forever. Oh, my God. At X Games, Los Angeles, 2006, Travis Pastrana was looking to become the first person to land a double backflip in competition. Pastrana often referred to it as his most dangerous trick.

Listen up, ladies and gentlemen, loosely quoting Travis. If I land crash at the bottom, I'm done. If I crash up here at the top, there's a better possibility of survival, and I'm okay with that. So, Travis Pastrana, it is time for history. If you are not standing up at home, I would get off the couch. Every rider in the house is watching. The world is watching as Travis Pastrana. Everybody in this house is now standing up and cheering on the 199. Go, Travis.

Can you tell me the story of the double backflip? Cause that, to me, was also. I mean, I got chills in that moment in the movie, but I would love to hear you tell me the story.

There's very few times in your life where something that means so much to you means so much to a group around you, and even more rare that it means that much to the world. I still have people tell me almost once a week, I get someone that still remembers where they were at that moment. My grandma and all her friends watch it. It's live on tv. My mom was crying cause she had known that I'm about 75% into the foam pit. But if it comes around short, there's a really good chance of a broken neck or paralyzed or. It was a really cool thing.

And even up until you did it, it seemed like, was it really like, I don't know if I'm gonna go through with it or not.

And the reason we were just explaining, you always say, I'm in or I'm out. The reason this was such a tough decision for me, and I think the reason that it got built up more was because I was on the fence on this. I have an opportunity to go out there and try a trick that I've been working for for three, four years, but I'm sitting third, so I'm like, if I don't do a double backflip, I still get a medal.

Yeah.

I still get paid.

Yeah.

Which is gonna really help everything else that I've been putting into rally. And is my goal to be a freestyle motocross rider, or is my goal to continue on in action sports and to have a career that's going to expand, hopefully longer? And it worked out in rally. And I said, you know what? I'm both said, I'm going to land this trick. And went out there and decided, like, literally last second, played rock, paper, scissors with my redneck friend Hubert.

Wait, the deciding factor was a rock, paper, scissors. Oh, my God.

Came down to that right before I went up there. Hubert. We went, rock, paper, scissors. I gave thumbs up to basically Sal and the guys, and they're like, all right. They raised the ramp, and no one.

Has ever done this before.

At that time, I had done it to a sand pile in a controlled environment. That was a big step up. So if you came up short or didn't make it, it sucked, but it was right.

Yeah, it was a hard surface that day.

Right. I was just blue groove. It was pretty much worst case scenario for me. We took the ramp that was already existing and then raised it on two by fours and, like, it looked like something we built in our backyard for, like, you know, when we were five years old. And it's like, you know, my dad's out there, like, strapping the ramp down and trying to get it so it doesn't move because the ramp falls over, then I'm definitely going to keep so.

And so you're up there and you're about to go.

Yeah. It was one of the coolest experiences ever got up there, and the guy that drops me in, he gave me a thumbs up. He said, it's on you. Take your time. And I looked around, and every single person was on their feet. Entire sold out Staples center, all of my heroes. You had Kevin Robinson, you had Chad Keggy. They were holding hands. I had Brian Deegan. All the militia was all down there looking. You know, it was one of the coolest experiences. And I just. I remember inside my helmet, smiling. And when I dropped in, everything kind of went to slow motion. Usually you get a slow motion if anyone's crashed a car or been in a really bad, like, where you think everything's going bad. I've never had slow motion where I took off. And I can remember the smells. I can remember the sounds. I can remember everything was so vivid. And, you know, I came around on the first pole and I checked the landing, and I remember thinking, as Trevor Jacobs said later, he's like, oh, you can't check. And I'm like, oh, no. Now I'm short. And I whip my head back and I see the lights.

So when you practice this trick, you know, in the foam pit, you have, you know, you got the. The sky above you and the ground, but on this day, you've got blinding lights where you can't see anything straight ahead of you. And then below you is kind of dark. And I just remember, kind of just smiling again. I'm like, well, I'm all in. I can't. I can't get out of this now. And I came around and, like, literally hit. Couldn't have hit better. And I was just like, what the heck just happened? I dropped down and dropped the bike, and I run up, and the first person there was just some drunk guy out of the stands that just overpowered the security and gave me a big hug up top. Like, I don't even know you. Yes. Let's go.

Oh, my word. Are you kidding me? How many times can you find the holy grail in one building? A double backflip from. From Travis Pastrana.

So that was pretty cool.

I was at home watching it live, and it was like I had tears going down my cheeks like the end of old Yeller. Cause it was such an amazing moment and so memorable. Yeah, I was blown away. You think that's the biggest moment of.

Your career or moment that the world.

Felt what I felt before we let you go. Jeff Tremaine, my partner in jackass, and he helped produce nitro. We had the honor of helping to produce nitro. Circus. Asked me to. He said there was a story about when you guys went to your favorite sushi restaurant. What is that story? Is it one you can tell?

Not really.

Okay, well, then we'll save that for another time.

This would be one of those stories that I would happily tell you, and then my mom would be watching the podcast and be like, like, what did your mom tell you? You're acting.

Oh, you were acting ugly on tv.

Yeah, I think. I mean, I thought it was fun at the moment. It was great. And around the people we were around, it was good. But I feel like to tell the. I've already told some ugly stories, some acting ugly stories on this podcast. I think we're good there. But thank you, Jeff, for bringing it up.

Oh, yeah. You're a mom has dealt with enough raising you, so let's not put her through anymore. But, I mean, it's so good to see you. It's been a couple years since I've seen you, and I just. I love you so much. You mean the world to me, and thank you for coming.

Thank you so much. I truly appreciate PJ. And so you can use this or not, but it's. There's very few people in this world that you see, not often. When something happens in our group, good or bad, you've always taken the time to reach out. And for me and for all of us that have looked up to all of you guys, for you to do that means the absolute world to me. And definitely, it's something that we've tried to emulate, and I appreciate you always. Actually, the heart and the caring has meant a lot to our group over the years.

Well, I mean, I love everyone in your group. You know, it's pretty hard not to. How can you not love street bike Tommy?

Impossible.

You have anything else? Elena, just.

Thank you. Oh, my God. It's so cool to hear these stories and just meet a person who's literally flown through the air like you're describing. I mean, I just.

It's.

It's so remarkable and brave and fascinating. So thank you.

The difference between bravery and stupidity, it's the outcome.

Pretty sure I can fly. As a production of smartless media, campsite media, and amplify pictures, it's hosted by me, Elna Baker, with Johnny Knoxville. That sentence doesn't even make fucking sense. Our senior producer and showrunner is Rajeev Gola. The associate producer is Morgan Jaffe. Rhymes with Daffy. Sound mixing by Blake Rook. Sound design and theme music by Mark McAdam. Our executive producers are Josh Dean and Mark McAdam. I don't think I've even met them. The executive producer producers at Smartless Media are Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and, time permitting, Richard Corson. Bernie Kaminsky is the head of production for Smartless Media. That's when he sobers up. The associate producer for Smartless is Matty McCann. At Campside Media, the executive producers are Josh Dean, Matt Scheer, Vanessa. Holy fuck. Gregor Iodis. Motherfucker. And at Amplify, the executive producers are Joe Louis, Rachel Agabiene. That rolls off the tongue, and Colin Miller. Brian Donohoe is amplify's associate producer. I'm sure you guys are all fucking wondering about that, and thanks for listening. We'll see you next week. Home run.

Smart glass.

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