Adult Swim: Celeb-Nerdy with Steve-O

Hey people, get with the times: It's the '90s, which means nerds aren't just folks slamming Mountain Dew in their parents' basement and playing homebrewed adventures of tabletop RPGs. (Although those folks are definitely still nerds.) Now that we're entering the late '90s as a progressive society, it turns out that, yes, celebrities can be nerds, too. Did we just make you spit out your Mountain Dew?

Now that we've expanded your mind, wrap it around this tightly like a drum: Steve-O, of Jackass fame, has a huge nerdy hard-on for the Hackey Sack. Why this wasn't covered extensively in this year's autobiography Professional Idiot: A Memoir or his recent stand-up tour is beyond us, but, hey, he talks about it a lot here, which is good, because that's what we wanted to interview him about, anyway.

Tim and Eric Present Hackey Sack Extreme

When did you get started with Hackey Sack?

I really got into it right when I left the University of Miami. It was 1993 and I had failed out of the University of Miami, I had been kicked out of the dorms, and I was physically leaving as it all took place. I flunked out every possible way that I could. This other guy I knew was dropping out as well, and he had this van. He was driving from Miami to northern California to try and get a job at a ski resort so he could snowboard for the summer. I thought that was pretty bitchin', so I was like, "Okay, cool, I'll go with you."

I get in the van with this guy and I remember we headed out to drive across country and I had this Hackey Sack. I remember trying to kick it and learn how to kick it because, like, when we got out of the van I wanted to shake my legs or whatever, you know? So that was when I started. It's something that takes quite a bit of work.

World Footbag Championships 2009

So anyway we went to California. It wasn't snowing. We wound up going from there to Colorado and I still didn't get a job. So then I went down to Texas and had the government test drugs on me for money. Really creepy, f***ed up drugs for pigs and cows. That was pretty gnarly, man. I made, like, $2,000 for taking these f****ed-up drugs. When I ran out of money I had like, $40 left or something. Then I was f***ing following the Grateful Dead for an entire summer. That was when Hackey Sacking really became a big f***ing deal. That was the summer of 1994.

“I remember getting out of that wheelchair and really, really kicking the Hackey Sack in a big way to build up my muscle.”

Do you feel like Hackey Sacking helped you find direction during that time of your life?

It didn't help me find direction. I was getting hurt a lot, mostly when I was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. But also I was getting injured skateboarding. I was pursuing a sponsorship as a skateboarder. I had a sponsor at one point. That was another thing where Hackey Sacking came in pretty big, when I was nursing myself back to health. I'd have, like, different injuries. There was one point where I really got hurt quite badly and had two operations on my leg and literally was confined to a wheelchair for a month or two. I remember getting out of that wheelchair and really, really kicking the Hackey Sack in a big way to build up my muscle.

So it was like physical therapy for you?

Yeah, physical therapy, big time. I remember getting up out of this wheelchair I was using for a couple months there, and I was kicking the Hackey Sack, and of course within a week I threw myself off a balcony and landed on my face on the concrete below. [Laughs.] I broke my cheekbone and seven teeth. I had ten stitches in my chin, a concussion, and a broken wrist. All in the same fall.

Steve-O Skates

Yeesh.

Yeah. That kinda put the Hackey Sack aside for a bit. These days, man, at this point today, I'm really, really health conscious and s***. I'm as passionate about doing stupid s*** as I ever have been in my entire life, but at the same time my health is really important to me. I spent so much time really, really living almost like the most unhealthy lifestyle. I'm doing catch-up work now to try to compensate. So I'm 100 percent vegan, I really try to eat mostly organic, raw food, and obviously I work hard to maintain my sobriety. I've been clean and sober now for three and a half years.

“If you see me in an airport, I'm pretty much kicking my Hackey Sacks and trying to set new records.”

Congratulations.

Thanks. My diet and my exercise is really pretty crucial. I f***ing hate the idea of jogging and f***ing gyms and all that. [Yawns.] I don't dig that s***. So I carry a Hackey Sack in my pocket. If you see me in an airport, I'm pretty much kicking my Hackey Sacks and trying to set new records. My record for a while there was 322 kicks in a row without dropping it. That's what makes it really enjoyable: Putting on my headphones, I start kicking it, and I count. It really f***ing gets my blood flowing, big time, man.

So it's like physical therapy and cardio?

Yeah, big time, man. That's the other pisser, for whoever has to sit next to me on the plane: By the time I get on the plane, I'm f***ing drenched in sweat and stink. [Laughs.] My socks are all wet and f***ing sweaty and stink like s***. I make myself a really un-enjoyable passenger to sit next to on the plane. That's my purpose with it. That's kind of the mark of a good workout, when you're sweaty.

I know [when] I shattered my record of 202 kicks in a row, but right when I was doing that, this f***ing awesome song came on my iPod and I stopped counting. I was so into the tune, and sweating the kicking, that I was going nuts with it. But then I get a little self-conscious. I like different things, like, I'm working on getting past 100 kicks with no shoes on. Kicking with no shoes on, Hackey Sack with no shoes, is so much harder. I've gotten past 65 a bunch of times, but I can't quite reach 70. I want to get into triple digits kicking with no shoes on. Like, my right leg is more coordinated than my left leg so a lot of the time I just straight kick with nothing but my left leg. [Laughs.] I've gotten over 80 with just strictly nothing but my left leg. [Laughs.] I think that qualifies me as kinda like a f***ing nerd. That's not even getting into the stalls and the tricks. I'm a f***ing weirdo when it comes to that s***, too.

“So, my leg's out, up in the air at the level of my butt, upside-down, where I'm holding the Hackey Sack on the sole of my shoe.”

Let's get into that, then. What trick are you the most proud of mastering?

Ah, man. I'll catch it on the top of my foot and then I'll f***ing move it to the side of my foot, and then from the side of my foot, I'll pop it up and catch it on the sole of my foot. So, my leg's out, up in the air at the level of my butt, upside-down, where I'm holding the Hackey Sack on the sole of my shoe. I'll hold it like that for a second and then I'll pop it up off the sole of my shoe, and then I'll catch it in the back of my knee and once I have it caught in the back of my knee, swing my leg up in a circular motion, release it, and do a Saran Wrap move where it pops out of my knee and I do a whole circle around the son of a bitch with my whole leg. Then I'll kick it up from the bottom. I don't even know what you would call that, but it's a pretty major sequence of bitchin' Hackey Sack tricks.

What music do you listen to while you're kicking around?

My favorite album for Hackey Sacking is The Real Thing by Faith No More. [Laughs.] Yeah, it's intense.

Faith No More - Epic

How do Deadheads who Hackey Sack differ from other people who Hackey Sack? Is there a difference?

Not necessarily. There are people who consider themselves professional Hackey Sackers. There literally are. If anybody ever looks up "professional Hackey Sacking" on YouTube, it's out of control. I'm no where near like those people. Those people are nuts. It's f***ing nuts, man. At any show there would be people like that. But generally, man, there are Hackey Sack circles all over the Grateful Dead parking lots, man. For people who are slacker-hippies with nothing but time to kill and nothing to do, it's a big pastime.

But I'm just not that good, really. When it comes to the tricks, I'm only really good at tricks with my right leg. I'm a really lopsided Hackey Sacker.