- Hello, I'm Gav. - I'm Dan.
Welcome to "The Super Slow Show."
- We've got a lot on this set. - We do.
You know what we don't have?
- What? - A phat skate ramp.
- Very true. - Let's go.
All right.
Dan, as someone who's always been terrible at skating,
I've always been blown away
by the split-second tech and finesse
- of pulling off a trick. - Yeah, absolutely.
I used to actually skateboard.
Best trick I ever did was a varial kick flip.
I think I did it once, maybe twice.
My best trick was an attempted kick flip
into a testicle smash.
Oh, yeah. I was good at that one.
I was really good at that one.
- Quite frequently. - Yeah, absolutely.
Today, in order to help us fulfill our goal
of filming a pro skater in super slow motion,
we're joined by Tony Hawk.
That's a weird thing to say, isn't it?
I can't believe it.
- Hey. - Hey.
It's Tony Hawk.
Personally, you're probably the main reason
why I started skateboarding when I was a kid.
It's also the main reason why I ended up with loads of bruises
and cuts and scrapes and,
uh, sort of testicle smashes and things.
Oh, I was gonna say, the bruises make you look cool, but I don't know about--
I don't wanna be responsible for the other things.
So you're welcome and I'm sorry.
And for me, you're the main reason
I stayed up till 2:00 a.m. playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
- Oh, thank you very much. - So, appreciate that as well.
You didn't got bruised doing that, though.
Uh, no, not as many bruises, but just crap homework.
Yeah.
So if you were going to do a trick
that lends itself well to slow motion,
what do you think it would be?
Well, I think it should be something
where the board flips in the air.
And I have an idea of this one trick.
I learned it a long time ago.
But it's basically a heel flip,
and then I do a body varial,
which means that my board stays in the same space,
and my body turns 180,
and then I catch it and come back in.
Um, these days you'd call it
a heelflip sex-change melon grab.
So hopefully today, using our 4K cameras,
we'll get it at a thousand frames a second,
and then we can all watch it back together.
I hope I can make one for you.
I've only done a few in my life.
All right, well, good luck, and we'll get out of your way then.
- All right. - Yeah, absolutely.
Here he goes.
So close.
I could feel it come into my hand
- and then bounce away. - That was really close.
I wonder if he gets really annoyed.
I feel like it's more annoying
'cause you got to walk all the way around and come up the steps.
- Yeah, yeah. - Ahh, all those steps again.
- So close. - In the hand the whole way.
He's gotta go up the ramp at really high speed,
turn around, catch the board in the right position,
put it back where it needs to be, and then land it.
That's like... ( scoffs )
If someone was telling me what to do
and I was writing it down, I'd be like,
- "You want what now?" - Yeah. Yeah.
- Wait, wait. - Next one.
Aah!
- Oh! - So close.
I got it, though.
- I got it. - Gav: He's got this.
I've never believed in someone more
than I believe in Tony Hawk
- in this this moment. - Brilliant, yeah.
- Yeah! - I did it.
- Well done. - That was class.
- That was mint. - Thanks, you guys.
- Thank you. - Nice one.
- Class. - I don't get that one very often, so, yeah.
- You happy with that, yeah? - Yeah, I'm glad to do it for you guys.
First time I ever did that trick was 1990,
and I've done it only, like, a dozen or so times since then.
- I feel special. - I feel really honored
that you did that in front of our Phantoms.
So why don't we go and take a look at that
in slow motion, see what it looks like like?
That sounds good.
Dan: Do you know how fast you're going at this point?
I'm not sure. I think we timed it once
at somewhere between 15 and 20 maybe?
The hardest part there is that I can't really see it when I catch it.
Gav: Hmm.
You're so high up in the air as well there,
even from the-- from the ramp.
You've got-- you've got not much time
to get the board back into the correct place.
This is fascinating where it hits on here.
You're just looking at the coping the whole time.
- Like, aiming. - Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's the spot.
That's-- That's where it's all gonna happen.
Yeah.
What would you say the ratio of failures to successes is?
Because you're going for big...
- Yeah. - ...stunts there.
I've spent hundreds of tries just to get one.
Wow.
Dan: The wind is, like, even going in your shirt.
- You were going that fast. - That's great.
Tony: That trick right there, I do a 180,
and the board, it's flipping straight up and down.
Dan: That's the body varial part.
Tony: That's the body varial part, yeah.
- Gav: That's a great shot. - Dan: That's wicked.
Tony: Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Yeah!
Well, thank you so much for putting your body through that for us.
We've got you a-- a lab coat.
Oh, really!
Not the most practical skateboarding gear.
- Oh, cool. - I assume they're very easy skate with on.
I don't have to do that trick in this, do I?
No, you can just reserve that
for just scientific experiments at home.
- Thank you very much. - That was the next part of the video.
( whispering )
My kids are going to be so jealous.
They're already jealous that I'm here with you guys
'cause they're in school,
but now that I've got an official jacket...
Literally everyone I know
is going to be more jealous that I'm here with you.
Come on!
Thank you very much for watching that video,
and big thanks to Tony Hawk for joining us.
Feel free to subscribe to The Slow Mo Guys,
and we'll see you in the next episode
of "The Super Slow Show."
That was a damn fun day.
- Hello. Gav here. - I'm Dan.
Click here to watch Dan get slammed by pro wrestlers.
I have no memory of that.
You may have landed on your head just a bit.
Is that why I woke up in the woods?
No comment.