Jack Black is well known for his comedy, music, and successful acting career. But does he skateboard?
Though Jack Black skated throughout his teenage years, he’s acknowledged that he wasn’t very good. His friendship with skating legend Tony Hawk has prompted the release of a couple of YouTube videos in which Black displays his skating ability, and plays Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video games.
Read on to learn more about Black’s skating exploits and his friendship with Tony Hawk.
Teenage Skater Boy
Jack has many talents, but skateboarding isn’t up there as one of his top skills. In the words of one YouTuber, “he also, kind of skates” adding “he’s definitely not that good”.
Though his skills aren’t overly impressive, he’s extremely enthusiastic and his generally hilarious personality has helped him to meet some of the skating world’s elite.
As for his talents, Jack Black said in a video on his YouTube channel, after watching his son do some impressive tricks, “I skated all through my teenage years, and I was never able to do an Ollie”.
Described as a “fundamental” and “the basis for many other more complicated tricks”, an ‘ollie’ is a foundational skateboarding trick in which skater and board jump into the air so that the board sticks to the skater’s feet, without the use of hands.
Though he can’t do an ‘ollie’ and his skills definitely aren’t the best, Black is comfortable enough with his lack of technique that he’s played a part in circulating clips of himself falling over whilst skating, on the internet.
Clearly, Black doesn’t skate because he’s any good. He skates because he loves it and he even has a mini half-pipe in his home backyard, allowing him to practise whenever he wants.
He also made a cameo appearance in skate film ‘Pretty Sweet’, which no doubt came about because of his skating interest.
Friendship with Tony Hawk
Jack Black’s skating skills have come under increased scrutiny since he struck up a friendship with professional skateboarder Tony Hawk.
Tony interviewed Black back in 2012 for his Demolition Radio station, which seems to be one of their earliest meetings. They’ve continued to feature each other on their various channels ever since.
Striking up a friendship through the connection between Jack Black’s band ‘Tenacious D’ and the skating community, Jack and Tony seem to get along pretty well.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2
Tony has featured on Black’s YouTube gaming channel a couple of times. In one video, shot at his home, Black jokingly tries to give Tony some skating tips, before falling over whilst Tony looks on laughing.
In the same video Black refers to Tony as “a living legend” and “the best of all times”, before they settle down to play one of Tony’s video games. His skating video game franchise has been enormously popular, and Black shows he somewhat knows what he’s doing virtually, if not physically.
In a video Black released on May 12, 2020, Black gets the chance to try the newest Tony Hawk skating game, ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2’. Hotly anticipated, the game is played by Tony, Jack, and Jack’s kids, who are better than him.
Black gets some video game skating tips from Tony himself and Jack says in return that he’s “very impressed with the manuals”.
Black’s appearance in the video has caused some fans of both the game and Black to speculate about whether he’ll feature in any future games. Gaming fanatics will have to stay tuned.
Watch Jack Black show off his skateboarding skills with Tony Hawk in the YouTube video below.
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