The Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1477 - Tony Hawk

Tony Hawk is a professional skateboarder, actor, stuntman, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse.

Joe RoganhostTony HawkguestJamie Vernonhost

May 19, 20201h 42mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Tony Hawk on Skating’s Evolution, Longevity, Risk, and Staying True

Tony Hawk discusses how skateboarding evolved from a simple transportation toy into a global culture and Olympic sport, recounting its history from Dogtown pools to street skating and the X Games era.
He shares his personal trajectory from teenage pro and 80s star, through the early 90s collapse of vert skating and financial hardship, to renewed fame via the X Games and his landmark video game.
The conversation explores physical risk and longevity—concussions, broken bones, training, and recovery—and how he’s adapted his skating style at 52 while largely ignoring traditional strength and conditioning.
They also touch on skatepark advocacy, COVID-era life, media criticism, and the deeper meaning of skateboarding as art, community, and a viable life path, not just a sport.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Adapt your craft as the environment and industry change.

When vert skating fell out of favor and parks closed, Tony shifted toward street, exhibitions, video editing, and eventually capitalized on new platforms like the X Games and his video game, rather than quitting the culture entirely.

Longevity requires evolving how you perform, not just how often.

Hawk has shifted from massive, high-impact airs to more technical, lower-impact vert tricks, allowing him to keep progressing creatively into his 50s while reducing the chance of catastrophic injuries.

Community infrastructure can transform a ‘frivolous’ hobby into public good.

Through his foundation, Hawk has helped fund over 900 public skateparks, arguing that they combat obesity, build community, and give misfit kids a positive outlet, reframing skating as preventative health and social support.

Ignore purist gatekeeping when you’re genuinely innovating.

Early on, established skaters accused Hawk of “cheating” for using ollies into airs and called his tricks circus-like, but he stayed with his approach until it became the new standard, showing that criticism often follows innovation.

In high-risk pursuits, proactively manage brain and body health.

After numerous concussions and knockouts, Hawk sought genetic testing for CTE risk, uses supplements, and consciously avoids the kinds of tricks that previously caused bad head injuries, instead of pretending the risks don’t exist.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

At this point, the skateboard is kind of an extension of my body.

— Tony Hawk

I knew I wouldn’t quit skating because I just loved it. When I started, no one could be rich or famous from skating.

— Tony Hawk

By building those skateparks, you are preventing cancer, you’re preventing obesity.

— Lance Armstrong (as recounted by Tony Hawk)

Skateboarding is like this art form to me, where there’s this blank canvas and it’s just like, ‘Go. Make it your own.’

— Tony Hawk

I’m just so thankful that I still get to do this for a living… it’s beyond any dream I could have ever imagined, and it’s all because I just kept skating.

— Tony Hawk

Evolution and history of skateboarding (pools, street, vert, X Games, Olympics)Tony Hawk’s career arc: early fame, collapse, reinvention, video game eraRisk, injury, concussions, and longevity in extreme sportsTraining, recovery, and the debate over conditioning for older athletesSkateparks, youth culture, and the Tony Hawk Foundation’s impactCOVID-19, public policy reactions, and lifestyle changesIdentity, criticism, “selling out,” and skateboarding as art versus sport

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