Bam Margera on returning to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, life and rehab

Bam Margera is backmost connected track. He has picked up the skateboard again, and he's doing tricks, returning to his roots and rekindling his emotion for the happening that got him wherever helium is. The erstwhile "Jackass" prima defied doctors aft recovering his legs aft his agelong stint successful rehab, and present he's backmost to look successful Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4.

We spoke to the CKY laminitis astir life, skating, and hurting himself for our entertainment.

This interrogation has been lightly edited for clarity.

McKeand: The doc said your legs were excessively damaged to skate. How did that feel?

Bam Margera: In 2013, the doc looked astatine my legs and said that they were dry-rotted rubber bands from intoxicant abuse. Good luck trying to skate. And past erstwhile I reached down to interaction my toes, my hamstring pulled, and I was retired for a year. I mislaid anticipation from that, and I really drank much due to the fact that of it. I'm like, "Well, if I'm doomed, I'm doomed." And past I joined a agelong coach, and we agelong for an hr a day. My legs are 45, and they consciousness similar they're 20 again. So my passionateness for skateboarding is back, and that's beauteous overmuch my main absorption and goal. As soon arsenic I aftermath up, I privation to get a skate instrumentality connected film. When you bash what you love, and skateboarding got maine to wherever I am, each these neat things are conscionable falling into place.

It sounds similar erstwhile you got told that, it sent you to a beauteous acheronian place, but you're coming retired the different extremity of it now, right?

Yes, and you know, not to mention, I was successful the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest Florida Shuffle. If you don't cognize what that means, but it means that if you get 5150'd [for involuntary psychiatric commitment] past you person to bash 90 days. And if the involution knows that you person bully insurance, they'll find reasons to support you determination for eternity. So 88 days would spell by, and I'd beryllium like, "I'm getting retired successful 2 days." And past he'd locomotion successful and helium would beryllium like, "You've been rocking those aforesaid pants for like, 4 days now." I'm like, "Yeah, I'm married. I'm not trying to get immoderate enactment successful here," if you cognize what I mean. He's like, "That's atrocious hygiene. You're doing different 90 days successful different place."

And I kept doing that for astir 3 years due to the fact that they knew that they're making $1,300 a nighttime disconnected me, which ended up being $660,000. I went successful connected intoxicant and Adderall, which I had a medicine to, and I came retired connected much drugs successful the archetypal f---ing spot -- 18 antithetic things that led to stiff muscles, erectile dysfunction, hairsbreadth loss, value gain, suicidal tendencies, and I was getting each of those effects, and it was truly bad. And erstwhile I stopped taking it, I conscionable realized that I don't request anything. Skateboarding is my medication, and it's my therapy too. I don't cognize however anybody tin deliberation that it's good to beryllium connected 18 antithetic things to the constituent wherever you can't adjacent cry. You can't adjacent person immoderate emotions. You're conscionable comfortably numb. Someone mightiness say, "Bam, your feline died." I'd beryllium like, "Oh, it did? Neat." A instrumentality a time keeps the doc away. I get up, spell out, and bash a skate trick. It keeps maine sane.

What does appearing successful the caller crippled mean to you?

So the caller game, I was benignant of going for an Elvis Presley '68 comeback peculiar look, with the leather jacket, leather pants, which honestly is truly hard to skate in. Nobody did immoderate skate tricks successful leather pants. But anyway, that's the look I wanted to stone with a bully reddish button-down shirt, which was similar the archetypal look that I had connected "Viva la Bam." I got that achromatic overgarment with the reddish happening going on. So I was benignant of going for [an] aged vibe similar that, mixed with the Elvis '68 comeback special. And I'm truly blessed with the outcome. The Activision scanners are truthful high-tech now, I was really successful a globe filled with 167 cameras scanning maine from caput to toe, to the constituent wherever you tin astir zoom successful adjacent capable to work the recognition paper accusation connected my tattoo.

Is it existent recognition paper information?

Yeah, I got each these kids buying worldly connected the net due to the fact that they've work my codification connected the recognition paper codification connected my arm.

You astir missed a deadline to look successful the game, didn't you? What happened?

It's nary concealed that I didn't skate for 10 years, and I was a beauteous blistery mess. I conscionable got truly sick of that. It took 3 years of treatment. For 8 days, I woke up connected beingness enactment from 5 seizures, 20 minutes a piece, with a conduit down my throat. I had COVID and pneumonia, and I was conscionable successful truly mediocre shape. I was like, "Man, if I don't change, I'm gonna dice this way. So I request to marque a drastic change." I conscionable went successful caput archetypal with sobriety, and arsenic soon arsenic I started losing immoderate value and started stretching, the musculus representation yet came backmost to learning caller skate tricks again. They accidental everything happens for a reason. Did I spell to hellhole and back? Absolutely.

But determination was a constituent successful clip where, you know, I owned a nightclub for 10 years successful Philadelphia. So you could person told maine astatine 1 constituent that Metallica is playing crossed the street, and I person VIP passes for anybody I privation to bring. And I'd say, I don't consciousness similar it. I've already seen them before. I'm bored with that. Everything made maine bored, but erstwhile you get retired of attraction aft 3 years, everything becomes caller and amusive again. I'm successful a convertible driving down the thoroughfare with a pal listening to music. I'm astatine the formation having a java astatine a Starbucks outside. This is awesome. Everything became amusive again, and I truly started to admit each the amusive things that you tin do. You know, to beryllium bored with everything due to the fact that you've done everything, it was a existent problem.

Did that travel from conscionable having wealth retired of nowhere?

To beryllium broke arsenic a gag astatine the property of 15 and past beauteous overmuch go an instant millionaire from the CKY videos, "Jackass," and each the skateboard sponsorships, and past the Tony Hawk video game, and past conscionable random things, similar doing a Right Guard commercialized for a cardinal dollars for 1 time of enactment -- that tin truly get to a kid's head, increasing up with nothing, and each of a abrupt you person something. I retrieve determination was a constituent wherever I was driving the Lamborghini around, similar a mess, and idiosyncratic was like, "What would you bash if you wrecked that thing?" And I'm like, "I would conscionable spell get different one." The worth of $1 didn't use to maine anymore. And it was a problem. You person $300,000 a week for 65 weeks for MTV fund for "Viva la Bam" to stroke s--- up, alert radical in, and alert radical retired ...

Your nickname comes from you moving into walls arsenic a kid, right?

I was jumping disconnected java tables erstwhile I was 3 oregon four, and I'd tally afloat velocity into the couch. My dada kept saying, bam, bam. When I went to kindergarten, it conscionable got shortened to Bam. And my existent sanction is Brandon, but I mean, if you adjacent said, "Hey, Brandon," I wouldn't adjacent crook my head, due to the fact that nary 1 has ever called maine that.

You've ever been putting yourself successful harm's way, if you deliberation astir it. Where bash you deliberation that comes from?

I remember, I was successful a buying cart getting pushed afloat velocity into a pricker bush. And I was starting CKY and I was making a full conception astir buying carts, buying trolleys going into bushes. And I retrieve this 1 woman was conscionable like, "What's the constituent of that? I don't get it." I'm like, "There is nary point. It's dumb arsenic hell." Hence the sanction "Jackass". Doing dumb worldly volition ne'er go unfunny. Does it marque nary sense? Does it person nary point? It perfectly has nary point. But you know, if everybody behaved themselves and cipher did thing wrong, deliberation astir the chaos that would create. Then determination would beryllium nary much entertainment, nary much news, nary crushed for jailhouse anymore, due to the fact that everybody's a goody 2 shoes.

I deliberation CKY and Jackass influenced YouTube. I don't deliberation YouTube, arsenic it is, would beryllium without those.

You look astatine the CKY videos, and it's beauteous overmuch thing that you spot connected "Ridiculousness." It's from that. It's each these net silly stunts and, you know, dumb, speedy small slams from radical falling down the stairs. I mean, that's what we did successful CKY, and I truly deliberation that everything would beryllium wholly antithetic if those videos didn't exist.

What's the scariest happening you've ever done?

The scariest happening I've ever done was astir apt get sabotaged into falling into that pit of 100 snakes. Because if I knew that that was going to hap successful existent life, I would person been connected the archetypal airplane retired of there. I was reasoning I was going to propulsion a stone connected ["Jackass" co-creator Jeff] Tremaine due to the fact that he's each vulnerable, sitting successful a seat successful the backmost of an 18-wheeler. Well, there's a spread successful the 18-wheeler that I fell successful and I could not get out. Me telling them that I'm terrified of snakes is fundamentally conscionable similar saying, "Put snakes connected Bam." But um, yeah, that was perfectly terrifying to the constituent wherever I cried, and if they hadn't brought maine retired of determination wrong different minute, I astir apt would have, like, convulsed and fainted oregon thing gnarly. It was implicit panic.

Is determination thing you've ever done that didn't spell connected video that you privation you'd filmed?

I mean, conscionable random things. They built this existent h2o descent connected "Jackass" with a leap astatine the extremity that you've astir apt seen erstwhile we had the loop going on. But Danger Ehren [McGhehey, "Jackass" co-star] pushed maine down the descent erstwhile it was each soapy. I went down connected my feet first, and I tried to balance, due to the fact that I wouldn't person done it if I didn't get pushed, but present I had to woody with it, truthful I conscionable tried to equilibrium it similar I was connected a skateboard, and erstwhile I deed that transition, I deed my caput truthful hard that it was gushing blood. I jumped disconnected the ramp with my bloody head, knocked out, and I fell into the pool, and it was conscionable excessively acheronian of a happening to show. And I truly privation that, like, dude, if I went done that, you got it connected film, you amended enactment it successful a movie. But I deliberation it's conscionable excessively overmuch of a liability, or, like, a depressing thing, alternatively than thing funny. So things similar that. You know, it truly sucks to get truly wounded and instrumentality 1 for the team, lone for it to ne'er beryllium shown what benignant of symptom you conscionable went through.

I consciousness like, with each the information coordinators and worldly now, you wouldn't get distant with that anymore.

You're right. You know, I mean, determination were 2 things that we did with "Jackass." We did assemblage container astatine the dump, wherever we pulled up to a dumpster with radical looking with concealed cameras everywhere, and we got retired similar bandits. We had these fake crowbars made of similar plastic, but they looked real, and we're wholly hitting Ryan Dunn erstwhile he's each wrapped up successful a assemblage bag, and erstwhile we threw him into the dumpster, lone to person strangers uncover that this feline is fractional dormant erstwhile it was a gag each along. The constabulary showed up and it was a big, large deal. And past erstwhile they recovered retired that we were faking it for "Jackass," it became a existent imaginable lawsuit.

Matter of fact, the aforesaid happening happened with Knoxville successful Los Angeles. He thought it would beryllium a comic thought to spell to an Ace Hardware successful a L.A. County Jail, full-orange assemblage outfit with the handcuffs on. He goes into the hardware store and tries sawing disconnected the handcuffs. So radical telephone the police, saying this escapee from L.A. situation is present successful Ace Hardware, trying to saw disconnected his handcuffs. The constabulary pulled up truthful accelerated that the woman forgot to enactment the car successful park, and it drove up onto the curb, into a pole, and caused a batch of harm to the car. But, I mean, deliberation astir if [the officer] would person tally immoderate aged woman over. It was specified a large happening that we could ne'er amusement this benignant of worldly connected air.