DAN MEYER: We're stuck in traffic.
I just want to go to the Monster Truck show.
But we're stuck in traffic.
I don't think they're going to wait for us.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAN MEYER: My name is Dan Meyer.
I live and work in Brooklyn, New York.
I'm good friends with the producer of
the "On Acid" series.
And he asked me if I would like to do an episode at a
monster truck rally.
This is "Monster Trucks on Acid." I've never been to one
of these things.
-I'm really jealous.
I wish I was--
DAN MEYER: What are you doing back there?
-We're just switching seats.
DAN MEYER: What the hell?
-Switch.
DAN MEYER: Man, you guys got three different
kinds of pants on.
-Three different kinds of people on this.
DAN MEYER: That's so much fabric.
That's so much--
there's a lot of fabric back there.
We were driving from New York to Hartford, Connecticut, to
the Monster Truck rally.
Oh.
Yeah, this is pretty good serious stuff.
So this was the first time I'd done liquid LSD.
Before, it had always been paper.
I took two hits thinking that my tolerance to psychedelia
was pretty high.
Like my body feels very strange.
The back of my--
like, I feel like there's something inside my head that
wants to come out.
DAN MEYER: I do think I maybe underestimated
the strength of it.
I need a moment.
By the time I got there, I was already fully in the throes of
an acid high.
[SIGH]
I need to take a second.
OK.
Hold on.
Let's come over here for a second.
I got a guy with a camera behind me following me--
Glen, can you stop for a second--
as if I was a host of a news program.
-And rolling.
DAN MEYER: I'm in Hartford, Connecticut.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAN MEYER: Oh no.
We're in Hartford, Connecticut, home of
apparently car culture, it seems like.
-Whoo!
DAN MEYER: We're going to watch some
Monster Trucks on acid.
Our media host--
she had been calling and texting us to make sure we
were going to be there.
I think she was expecting some sort of normal media
group to show up.
She handed me a release form to sign.
And I didn't even know how to write my name.
Can you just vouch for me that this is OK?
I guess I have to.
And I couldn't obviously read it.
And I'm asking the guys I'm with to read this for me.
Did I sign that OK?
-Yeah, you did.
DAN MEYER: She wasn't sure I was the host at first.
I did some research.
I started to figure out who's who.
But it's tough, you know?
-There's a lot of them.
People go crazy.
And the music is the duh duh duh duh duh.
And the crowd-- they always put the lights out and it
lights up--
DAN MEYER: She didn't know I was on acid at all.
And I was trying not to let her figure it out.
Thank you.
-Tickets.
Give me the ticket.
DAN MEYER: I obviously could have.
No one told me I shouldn't.
But I just-- seemed like the right thing to do
was to not tell her.
Because I figured that would probably give her the creeps.
So that was like an element of secrecy that I'm not really
used to that we had to maintain.
Where are the judges?
-[INAUDIBLE].
PA ANNOUNCER: Monster Jam drivers.
DAN MEYER: And then all of a sudden, we hear the noise the
first time.
[TRUCK ENGINE REVVING]
DAN MEYER: It's just this extremely abrasive noise, that
just shakes you to the bone.
Just ripping.
This is like, OK, here it is.
Bam.
You're fucking high as a kite.
The tire tracks in the dirt, when they would turn, they
would create a spiral into the earth.
And I was just staring at that.
And then like light was coming in and out of it.
And then you'd be ripped back to reality when the
cars would jump off.
[CROWD CHEERS]
DAN MEYER: At this point, I'm losing track of reality.
I'm holding on to my sanity.
And there's this truck, it's supposed to be
like a school bus.
And I'm just completely bewildered as to what is the
point of all this.
Like who are these people that have come here?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAN MEYER: And then there's a truck that looked exactly like
a dog, named the Rottweiler Mutt.
It's got dog ears.
It's got the face of a dog.
It's got a tongue.
And that's just strange enough.
It was hot.
The air is just thick with exhaust and dust that's
being kicked up.
I'm by myself just losing it.
That was when I would say I was tripping balls.
I just wanted out.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAN MEYER: I'm completely overwhelmed.
DAN MEYER: And I had to put on this front, like I was a host
of something.
I've never hosted anything before.
I need someone to tell me who to talk to.
I can't make decisions right now.
And these guys are all just telling me to do stuff.
-OK, sure.
Why don't you get that plugged in?
DAN MEYER: They've just handed me this.
When they handed me the microphone, I didn't know what
the hell to do with it.
Grave Digger, you said, is who you like to see.
But who do you got--
I don't know if you--
You know, I wanted to have interview
questions to ask people.
But it was impossible for me to talk to anybody.
Yup.
Well.
Excuse me.
-How are you?
DAN MEYER: What are you guys making?
-Snow cones.
DAN MEYER: Can I talk to you about it?
-Sure.
DAN MEYER: I was terrified of everyone.
Nobody looked normal to me.
I don't know anything about this world.
Different creatures, gigantic beasts-- this is just--
I can't explain this.
I can't explain it.
And I'm like, I can't talk right now, guys.
Sorry.
Like I know I'm supposed to be talking.
But I can't.
I've got my notepad.
And that's when I realized how high I still was.
It smells really bad.
You guys keep forgetting what is going on in
my head right now.
-Just go with it.
DAN MEYER: It's like, you keep acting like it's normal, Dave.
It works for everyone.
But I'm like--
I just literally want out.
I'm finished.
I'm like, OK.
We've seen it.
We've done it.
I've been here.
I've done that.
But she's telling us that we've got to wait.
Because we're going to interview one of the drivers.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
DAN MEYER: I had a few words with the producer.
I need help coming up with questions for this guy.
I don't know what I'm going to ask this driver.
How do you feel the show went?
DAN MEYER: I'm not going to ask them if
they're bummed to lose.
DAN MEYER: We're late to the interview.
I was terrified.
The thought of having to interview a truck driver at
this point was so upsetting to me, I was sweating.
I was so upset.
As I rush in to interview this guy who I think hates me--
He's ready.
And then the driver was standing behind the table.
And it would have only made sense for me to go around the
table and probably sit down with him.
And sir, what is your name?
PAT SUMMA: I'm Pat Summa.
DAN MEYER: And your truck is?
PAT SUMMA: Thrasher.
DAN MEYER: Thrasher.
And you're from?
But instead, the thought of that is too
bewildering for me.
So I just say, fuck it.
I'm going to just interview him from across the table.
I look over, and every one of my crew is not even watching.
Because apparently, it's so awkward that they don't even
want to watch.
If you rank this on a scale of 1 to 10--
this weekend-- what would you say it would come in at?
PAT SUMMA: Oh, definitely 10.
DAN MEYER: Yeah?
I don't remember one word of the conversation.
And I was actually just paranoid, at that point, that
the truck driver was going to kill me.
I was pretty paranoid the whole night.
It was nice to meet you.
Have a good trip back home.
DAN MEYER: That's funny.
-Got to drive it over to the parking lot and--
DAN MEYER: Yeah.
I kind of turned to like her, a lot.
-You guys coming?
Come on in.
We're going downstairs to where there's some fresh air.
-That's always a good thing.
DAN MEYER: She takes us out into this cold garage.
And I don't know where we're going.
Can we just get a shot when we go over there real quick?
And then, we start walking by all the crashed cars.
Which is still my favorite zone.
Because it was peaceful and kind of beautiful.
-The reason they are all these bright colors, is so
they can see them.
Sometimes they're blue.
Sometimes they're--
DAN MEYER: Oh, so the drivers can see them better.
-The drivers can see them when they're sitting up behind
those chassis.
DAN MEYER: A few of my friends have asked me if it was fun.
I wouldn't use the word "fun" at all.
I would say it was challenging and difficult.
DAN MEYER: I mean, I sort of look at it as an
accomplishment.
But in the most pointless sense of the term.
Like, there was no point to it.
The point was accomplishment.
That's a good area though, right?
-Oh yeah.
DAN MEYER: It's not just me.
-That is.
DAN MEYER: That's my favorite area so far.
I could just hang out here all day.
Thank you, sir.
-Thank you.
DAN MEYER: [COUGHING]
-Not good?
DAN MEYER: We'll talk about it later.
[LAUGHS]
What are they doing in there?
Aw.
I just want to get the fuck out of here.