This Past Weekend: #636 with Jason Momoa (Transcript)

Trying to get in-state tuition. Trying to postpone college as much as possible.

THEO VON: Trying to postpone it or stay in it?

JASON MOMOA: Well, just trying to get in-state tuition so I could do wildlife biology there. But I went to school. It’s weird because when I was in Iowa, I did marine biology. They have a place called Central Campus where all these different schools would go into Des Moines and you would learn marine biology.

And I’d have a shark tank set up. I had my own eel. And you’d learn about all these different things. And I always wanted to be a marine biologist. And we’d spend our spring breaks down on the Keys. So we get in the yellow bus, go all the way down from f*ing Iowa all the way down to the Keys.

THEO VON: That’s so far.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. And we studied with scientists. But I did that two years, get credit for college. And then I was going to go over summertime, I was like, I’ll go to Hawaii since I’m Hawaiian. Maybe I’ll get a better deal going to college. And TV show came.

THEO VON: That was it.

JASON MOMOA: And I was just surfing with my family and a pretty big surf family, so we—and then a show came and I ended up getting it. It changed everything. 19.

THEO VON: And you were working, so—but they had the—oh, my God, that’s him.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Dude, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t what?

THEO VON: Get some lotion out to rub on the picture. Have some respect, guys. Dude, that’s wild that you got to live.

JASON MOMOA: 19, man. That was crazy. My job before that was busting tables. Yeah. Working in the surf shop.

Bussing Tables and Climbing Dirtbag Days

THEO VON: I bus tables, bro. I was one of the first busters to ever use creatine in Arizona, south of Phoenix. I was one of the best busboys there was, I think for probably about a two and a half year period.

JASON MOMOA: So you went to Arizona?

THEO VON: I went to University of Arizona for one year, and then I went to some other schools. But, dude, I was—oh, I was so good at busting tables, man.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Well, I would take all the food because I worked at a really nice, nice restaurant.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: And we were all my buddies that lived together, a bunch of climbing dirtbags. And I bring this nice pasta home because, you know, if the couple didn’t look too sus and they left their stuff—

THEO VON: Yes.

JASON MOMOA: You know, you just box that in and bring it home. And so I always had the best restaurants, pasta, dude.

THEO VON: I worked at a place called Dakota’s Wine and Feed. And the guy there was this perverted manager who would kind of teach us how to do oral sex on women, but just in conversation. Anyway, that guy was a complete pervert. But I will—not in person, not with a real woman. Just—he would tell us young kids how to do it and stuff, and we didn’t know what was going on.

Dude, I remember when he would talk about it, all the pimples on my face would explode at once. But anyway, that was beside the point. But they had very nice food there. And I remember if I’d see a couple, if they use their knife, that to me was like, oh, they’re fancy. I can eat off of their plate. Yes.

So if the knife was dirty, I would definitely take a little bit of that. Some cured ham or some specialty meats on there. And I get a stack of some special sandwiches made of all types of stuff. Yeah, man, it was nice. That’s back feeding the homies. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: And back then, it’s like, when you’re at your mom’s house, your first time out, you’re like, orange juice was like champagne. If someone had orange juice, I was like, oh, my God, I haven’t had orange juice. And fing—because it all went to beer and fing booze.

THEO VON: Yeah, right.

JASON MOMOA: Milk. Never saw it again. You left mom’s house? I f* milk. And then it was basically water, beer. My dad still kind of had to pay child support, so that was like, that paid rent. And I could just save enough bus and tables.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Where I could work just Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I go rock climbing and snowboarding. So it’d be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I come back. So I had four—I had a little plan, you know.

THEO VON: And were you with a certain group of friends from growing up, or was it just—is it still a core group, or was it just guys?

JASON MOMOA: There’s one guy. I didn’t have too many friends growing up, and I mean, I had friends, but the true buddies, they’re in my neighborhood, but they stayed there. There’s one guy, he is my best friend, is today Godfather. My kids. He went out to Colorado first, so he was one year older. And then I went out there to be with him. And he’s my best—yeah, he’s my best bud. So it was just us running amok.

THEO VON: So much fun. Colorado is so awesome.

JASON MOMOA: It is. It was good.

THEO VON: God, I love being out there. Is that the altitude always gets me so much, dude. I get affected pretty easily by the environment.

JASON MOMOA: It’s got to be hard for you to go from Nashville to here because it gets dry. I just came from New Zealand right now, and last night I’m like, I felt sorry for my lady because I’m just up wheezing right out.

THEO VON: Just shedding a f*ing bed.

JASON MOMOA: I mean, it’s summer down there.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: You know what I mean?

THEO VON: Yeah.

New Zealand and Meeting Israel Adesanya

THEO VON: Dude. New Zealand is a—dude. I met people, anyone. I’m like, what are you talking about? You’re not using any letters. They have people there. It’s like—

JASON MOMOA: I think that’s Australians, but yeah.

THEO VON: Oh, we went to New Zealand. We had some shows down in Auckland. And we met Pete. It was just any—we met guys who—it was like they had a sentence stuck in them. They just couldn’t get it out of them no matter what. The people there that talked were just—anyway, it was just some of the craziest lingo I’d ever heard. But one of the most beautiful places we went to. We got to meet Israel Adesanya down there. Because he lives there.

JASON MOMOA: Stylebender.

Ozone Layer and Beach Safety

THEO VON: Yep. And they were super nice to us whenever we went over there. But we went to the beach one day and they said you can only be outside of the beach for a certain amount of time because they don’t have that much marine layer or they—

JASON MOMOA: Don’t have the ozone.

THEO VON: Ozone layer.

JASON MOMOA: Get fried, dude.

THEO VON: I was like, it’s so beautiful, but you got to go back inside.

JASON MOMOA: I know it never told me to go back inside, but I mean, yeah, if you’re sitting out there, you’re going to feel it. Like you just feel yourself cooking.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Like, yeah.

THEO VON: Yeah. Well, at a certain point, you should go in, I think.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, you definitely should.

THEO VON: Or just stay out there and grill, maybe.

From Des Moines to Hawaii

THEO VON: So you went from Des Moines Community College, DMACC.

JASON MOMOA: Yep.

THEO VON: And then you ended up over in Colorado?

JASON MOMOA: Yep, I’m in Colorado. And then went to Hawaii to get to, just to kind of be with my father, get to know him better.

THEO VON: And was he cool?

JASON MOMOA: My dad’s great. My dad’s awesome. But just, I’d go there when I was young, like 8, 9, 10. Like, basically when I was young enough to comprehend and bright enough to be with my mom. And then I’d go until, like, high school years. We had probably a bit of a falling out. So I didn’t go too much. And maybe my sophomore, junior, senior year.

So once I was like, I’m going to go back, be with dad, bury the hatchet and see if I can get into college over there. And then, like I said, show came and changed my life. And then kind of tried to tell my mom, like, I’m on this show. And she’s like, “What are you talking about?” My mom’s in the same house I was raised in.

THEO VON: Wow. She’s like, “What are you doing? Are you doing something with Satan?”

JASON MOMOA: I know. She’s like, “You’re on Baywatch?” I was like, “Mom, it’s not what you think. It’s like, a whole different spin on it.”

THEO VON: They’re in Hawaii.

JASON MOMOA: It’s not. And she’s like, “What?”

THEO VON: It’s a whole different spin during Hawaii.

JASON MOMOA: I know. I mean, Hasselhoff wasn’t really on anymore, but they’re trying to change it up. So anyways, and then I spent the next 30 years digging myself out of that hole.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Cheers to that. Here we are now.

Family Heritage and Hawaiian Culture

THEO VON: And so, so your mom is a white woman, and your father is more Islander.

JASON MOMOA: My dad’s Hawaiian. Yeah. And my mom is basically German, Irish.

THEO VON: Is there a lot of beef between Hawaiians in Hawaii of, like, the, are there different kind of sects of, like, S-E-C-T-S of Hawaiians, like, different kind of like, or is it, if you’re a Hawaiian, you’re Hawaiian?

JASON MOMOA: I mean, that’s a good question. I wouldn’t say it’s like sects, definitely. Back in the day, there was different islands, were different kings until it was united by Kamehameha. But not everyone loved Kamehameha. You could have been with Kahikili, could have been different. You could have been with different islands, and that obviously, to unite them, your family could have been murdered.

So I don’t think everyone sees eye to eye. But having said that, like, we are, since we are a part of America now, like, I think all those generations, our culture and our language was completely removed from us, like most indigenous races, and really trying to get it back. And I don’t necessarily think there’s, like, sects to it.

THEO VON: Right.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: Not like, so people aren’t like that tribal. I mean, the tribal—

JASON MOMOA: I’ll tell you what. Not as much as, like, if you were compared to New Zealand, where there’s, I don’t, don’t quote me, but there’s 200 plus different Iwis, different tribes in Marae, so—

THEO VON: Oh, yeah, I’m missing Iwis everywhere. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Whereas the south island, there’s one like Ngāi Tahu is just one tribe on the South Island. The north island has many. So it definitely has to go through a lot more if you’re trying to agree on certain things. Like, it’s got to go through more people.

The Waterman Legacy

THEO VON: Got it. And did your dad have a, like, is he like, they’re a very Hawaiian kind of guy.

JASON MOMOA: Very much so. I mean, in the sense of like—

THEO VON: Because there’s so much pride in that culture. It’s such a unique culture.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. I come from the west side of Oahu. My dad lives in Nanakuli. Most of my family’s like Nanakuli, Waianae and then Makaha, and that whole west side is called Hawaiian Homestead Land. This is like our reservation kind of esque kind of thing. And so, but my father’s very much a waterman. And in that sense.

THEO VON: What does that mean? He likes to be out in the water or is that a specific job?

JASON MOMOA: Riggers, paddling, surfing. He was a coach. And I mean just any a waterman, as in knowledge of sailing, knowledge of anything out there.

THEO VON: And you’re Aquaman, which is crazy.

JASON MOMOA: Which is crazy.

THEO VON: That’s crazy.

JASON MOMOA: It is. And I’ve always wanted to, my family’s very much, some of the last living legends of surfing or of waterman is like, my great uncle is Buffalo Keaulana.

THEO VON: Bring him up, see if we can get a gander at him.

JASON MOMOA: Buffalo Keaulana. And Brian Keaulana is an amazing waterman too, who’s my cousin and Rusty’s a four time world champion. So I just come from a very, the Keaulana’s, bro, suckle buff.

THEO VON: Hell yeah, dude.

JASON MOMOA: Beautiful wine, man. Yeah.

THEO VON: Yeah. I think I’ve seen him on the pictures of the bronzer at the tanning salon as well. I think I’ll just say, I’ll just say this. They’re using his name, image and likeness over there. I think I’ll say that. It’s Suntan City. I’ll say that. Dude, that’s awesome. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I always wanted to, yeah, be with him, but that’s kind of, that’s the family.

THEO VON: And he still lives over there.

JASON MOMOA: He does, yeah.

THEO VON: Wow. Oh, that’s beautiful, man. Yeah. I just want to, do Hawaiians feel like, it seems to me like Hawaiians always feel like a responsibility to uphold their culture kind of. Or that they’re Hawaiian. Like, they, like, there just seems to be, like, a certain, like, level of respect that they carry about themselves with that.

JASON MOMOA: I think that’s true. I think there’s a lot of things that have happened to our, to our people that have, it’s been very challenging, and what’s happened and getting our identity back, getting our culture back and our language back. So there’s, I’m sure there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of things. Yeah, there’s a lot of, lot of terror and trauma that’s happened to the Hawaiian islands. There’s a lot.

THEO VON: Yeah. I think when you have something beautiful, people want it.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, absolutely.

Near-Drowning Experiences

THEO VON: It’s so nice over there. Dude, I even remember one time I was drowning over there, and I remember being like, “Where else am I going to drown?” Like, it was so nice. I remember looking back at the shoreline. Literally, I was snorkeling, and I wasn’t doing well. I was losing. And I remember looking back at the shoreline, and I thought I was going to drown, and I was like, “What, dude? Where else you going to drown?”

You know? You going to drown in a Hampton Inn pool somewhere, like, outside of Jacksonville or something? No, dude. This is where you do it. And so there was almost this crazy moment of peace with just how beautiful it was there. It’s a really special place.

JASON MOMOA: Where were you at when you were drowning, man?

THEO VON: I was off of, I was in Maui.

JASON MOMOA: Was there waves? Is it just because of deep water?

THEO VON: There were waves, but it was, like—

JASON MOMOA: Got a little too carried away. And you got too far out, maybe.

THEO VON: Yeah, I went snorkeling, and it was by myself. And that idea, huh?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. It’s bad to do anything. Yeah. Go in the water and do that by yourself.

THEO VON: Yeah. And that’s what I realized. It was kind of fun. And I remember I got out there a little bit, and I was like, “Oh, man.” And then, and then I would see the fish, but then the water would go down, and I would just be, like, almost like, like trying to, like, not get on the coral or whatever. Like, being like that.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: And then we’ll go back. It was just like, so it just, it just got super scary and further and further out, and I started getting really, really spooked.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, well, there’s just different rips, too.

THEO VON: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I caught, I caught a bad rip, I think.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Every surfer, everyone drowns.

THEO VON: Have you ever been into drowning before out there?

JASON MOMOA: Very much so.

THEO VON: No way. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I’ve drowned. And it’s just, I mean, it’s a beautiful teacher, man. The ocean’s a, I mean, she’s ultimate teacher. So it sucks. Drowning sucks.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: No way about it.

THEO VON: Yeah. Yeah. All right.

Quitting Smoking After Drowning

JASON MOMOA: You just see your slow death. It sucks. Everything flashes in. Can’t move your arms anymore and you’re going down and can’t breathe. That’s when I used to smoke a lot. I smoked cigars still, but it took me a while to get back to it. But I used to smoke like two packs a day. I was pretty, just love, love, love. Like roll up and then I tried to slow down. I’d be like, roll a pouch and then I’d burn a pouch in a day.

THEO VON: Just, just roll them yourself.

JASON MOMOA: Just loves tobacco and—

THEO VON: Dmn. I can’t believe, I believe I was a dmn smoker. That’s inspiring, actually. Dude, you can do anything, people.

JASON MOMOA: And that was the hard one to quit. I mean, that’s, fair share of smoking was, I couldn’t stop for my family. And then when I drowned, something took my breath. I came out of that water and that thing died. And I mean, I tried really hard to stop many times, and I came out and if I tried to smoke, I’d vomit. Like, it might, that part of me just died because it took my breath and I had to go through it.

And then the reason I didn’t, I got saved is I actually hit the outer reef because I was over a half mile offshore.

THEO VON: It’s just—

JASON MOMOA: There’s two reefs. I was on the outer reef of Maui, and it was doing some coast paddling. And I hit the, I hit the reef and it just touched my toe and, and I just bubbled down, grabbed the reef and just jumped up and then hit another wave. And I just held onto the reef and waited. And I was out there for a while.

THEO VON: D*ng. Who rescued you?

JASON MOMOA: I was with Laird. I was out surfing with Laird and—

THEO VON: I saw him once at a Whole Foods.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, it sounds on point.

THEO VON: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

JASON MOMOA: But, yeah, and Dave Coloma and my friend Joe Flanagan.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: But it was, my leash snapped and I was stuck out in the middle of the ocean, so it was just very windy and took the board and it was gone, so—

THEO VON: And smoking was done for you.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Never, never, never smoked again.

THEO VON: D*mn.

JASON MOMOA: Look at you guys over here. Just type quick and get it up. Boom, boom, boom.

THEO VON: Yeah. I was looking at your new film. It’s called the Wrecking Crew.

JASON MOMOA: I’m excited for you to see it. It’s funny, I thought—

THEO VON: Oh, you did?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: Oh, thank you.

The Wrecking Crew and Hawaiian Storytelling

THEO VON: I’ve seen it. Dude, I know. The premiere was last night, so sorry I missed that. No, I saw it on my computer. They sent me a screener of it. Yeah, dude, it’s great. And it’s so beautiful. It’s so nice to be able to. You feel like you’re in Hawaii for a while.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. You know, it’s just the movies we grew up with, right? Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, all these things. Buddy cop movies.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I did a TV show with David Batista. He played my brother in See on Apple.

THEO VON: Oh, yeah. And he plays your brother in the Wrecking Crew.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Yeah. And we just were really, got really close. And it’s like, you know, in this business, when you meet somebody really, like, you’re like, oh, we should, in the next one, it’d be fun to do a comedy instead of covered in blood and us beating each other.

And so we, I had this pitch to him, and I had, now it’s been for two decades. One of the first things I ever wrote as a pitch, fake it and told him. And the next day he just posted it and put it out there. Went viral.

THEO VON: And what about you guys doing it together?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. And then attached David Leitch to it and like, and basically, like, this is what we’re doing. Do you like it? And everyone freaked out. And my agents call me going, like, what are we doing?

And, like, the next morning, I’m like, Dave, I didn’t even know that Dave would do that. And Dave just, like, just did it. Like, you know, me and you were doing, you know, Twins, you know, I mean, it’s just, they just put it out there.

THEO VON: And fraternal twins, too. Yeah. And people are like, I don’t know.

JASON MOMOA: I don’t know.

THEO VON: People are like, this is like, before and after.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. And so anyways, and our showrunner, Jonathan Tropper ended up writing it and, yeah, it’s just, it’s just a fun movie, though, where we want to, I want to laugh a little more and it’ll make you, you know, make you cry. Working out the family trauma, you know, that kind of stuff.

THEO VON: Yeah, it’s never too, yeah, yeah. There’s some sweet stuff in it. The action is really great. I loved it. I mean, it’s just, it’s a nice easy, it’s an easy movie to watch, and it’s just super enjoyable. And it’s beautifully shot. It’s just like, and it’s just in Hawaii. Just like, oh, if you can’t afford to take your wife to Hawaii, take her to see this movie.

JASON MOMOA: That’s the best pitch.

THEO VON: It’s not bad.

JASON MOMOA: You spent too much money this weekend. Can’t quite take her on vacation. The Wrecking Crew. You’re welcome. Look, Jason Momoa. Thanks, bro.

THEO VON: Just put a little cocoa butter on her arms and take her to see the Wrecking Crew. Just tell her it’s the same thing, okay? You got to tell her it’s the same thing, man.

Was there ever a movie role where you liked it so much or the environment that you were at? You liked so much that you’re like, I wish I could stay here. I wish this was my life, kind of.

Chief of War and Honoring Hawaiian Culture

JASON MOMOA: That’s interesting question. Where you just want to stay in that time period, in that place.

THEO VON: Yeah. Or even as that person, even.

JASON MOMOA: I don’t think I’ve, you know, I did this show, Chief of War, that came out last year, and I think it was really cool because it’s all about—

THEO VON: It’s on Apple TV.

JASON MOMOA: It’s all about Hawaii. Yeah. It’s like when they’re uniting the kingdoms. But it would have been really beautiful to be in Hawaii before the white man arrived and just kind of see that time and place and, you know, see what our people were like, our ancestors.

It was so special to make that show. And because, you know, you grow up in Iowa and you watch, like, Last of the Mohicans and then Braveheart, and you see all these things like, oh, I would love to see my culture. You watch it. I love samurai movies or Native American movies, and all we had was paintings.

You know, my grandparents, they’ve never seen a movie with us wearing all the regalia, like, and going into the big battles with no metal. So it’s just, I mean, it’s just brutal battles. The UFC to the next level.

THEO VON: Yeah. Before they had it.

JASON MOMOA: F*ing shark teeth, dude. Yeah. Like, you’re ripping each other apart. So just imagining that or seeing a movie on that scale. It took me a long time to make that show because, you know.

THEO VON: Oh, yeah, that’s beautiful. And also has a gay Mardi Gras vibe as well. I’ll say that. But that’s outside, and that’s just a joke. I think it’s very beautiful that you get to even envision something like this. That’s crazy, dude.

JASON MOMOA: Oh, man.

THEO VON: It’s crazy to even get to see moments like that, like, even just like on a movie set or something like that. It must be so bizarre to see moments like that.

JASON MOMOA: You’ve seen this, you should see like just the trailers or something, you know, when you, you know, we have some spare time. It’s pretty, it’s pretty wild. The fight scenes in this are pretty wild.

THEO VON: That’s amazing.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Anyway, so that was a, that was the first thing I ever created, so co-creator and produced it, co-wrote it and directed like the finale and started it. So that was like my big, that’s my, that’s my letter. Yeah. It’s my baby. They’re my people.

THEO VON: Oh, that’s beautiful, dude. And was it, was it something? Was that special to your dad or special to, like, some of your friends and family from home?

JASON MOMOA: I think everyone. Because you have to, all the people I was, when I was 19, I hired on Baywatch to like makeup artists to craft services to your drivers. They knew me when I was 19. I’m coming back at 45 at the time, 44.

And coming back and making something like doing Baywatch, which is kind of s*, and then coming back and doing something that’s about our people. Yeah, that’s a real big honor, man. For sure. It’s like, I mean, that’s my ultimate goal. I’m kind of done now.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I’m just going to do fun. Punch it. And I want to do comedy. Like we’re doing Minecraft with Jack Black again.

THEO VON: Oh, nice.

JASON MOMOA: Excited to do that. Thanks, buddy. Sorry about that.

THEO VON: You’re good, man. When you were doing that show, did you go to parts of the island and learn stuff about Hawaii that you didn’t know before?

JASON MOMOA: Yes, yes. But also, like, got to go and just scout and go to places I’ve never been, meet uncles and aunties and people who are just know so much about our culture. Like, we had to—

THEO VON: Yes.

JASON MOMOA: Had to learn, you know, we had to do it all. We did it in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.

THEO VON: So you did it in where?

JASON MOMOA: ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. So we did it in our, in our, in our native language. Yeah. So all the other characters in here, I’d say half of the cast, it’s all Polynesia.

So you got to understand, like, there’s, there’s, there’s Māori, New Zealand, there’s Samoan, there’s, there’s Tongan, there’s, there might have been some Tahitian, but like all of us and Kanaka Maoli, which is us. All these different people who had different, their own languages, they had to learn this ancient language.

So, like everyone in there doing that is like, it’s hard. It was the hardest for me, but I thought it would have been a lot easier, but it was very challenging for me.

Polynesian Culture and Future Projects

THEO VON: Yeah, The Tongans are tough, huh?

JASON MOMOA: Samoans and Tongans are, yeah, they’re all tough.

THEO VON: Who’s the toughest one, though?

JASON MOMOA: I mean, I wouldn’t f* with a Tongan.

THEO VON: Bring up a Tongan.

JASON MOMOA: I wouldn’t f* with Samoan. Like, I’m good.

THEO VON: Pull up a pair of Tongans. I heard you should never have just one.

JASON MOMOA: I mean, look at that guy over there. That, I mean, yeah, there you go. Click on that one. That guy on the right.

THEO VON: Oh, my God. That guy is doing something different, huh?

JASON MOMOA: You know what? We’re all aloha, so it’s nice we don’t have to f* around to get in the fight with the Tongan.

THEO VON: Yeah, no, I’m never going to.

JASON MOMOA: But that’s why Polynesians in general, man, they’re just like, oh, it’s such a different breed, dude.

THEO VON: You know, I like Filipinos. They’re kind of like the comfortable Polynesians, you know?

JASON MOMOA: There you go. Yeah.

THEO VON: And they’re the smiling people, you know?

JASON MOMOA: They are.

THEO VON: And they’re the last people that most people see before they die because a lot of them work in hospice care, which is crazy when you think about that. Imagine you’re laying there and you open up a little, and it’s just some Filipinos, dude. And they’re just singing something nice to you.

JASON MOMOA: I mean, it sounds nice.

THEO VON: That’s a portable Hawaii, dude.

JASON MOMOA: I just hope my kids are there and they’re looking after me. I’m going to put that s on them. You put me in a home, I’m going to haunt your a. I’m going to fing haunt your a. You put me in a home, dude, I’m going to have my fans break me out.

THEO VON: You think he’d be a good ghost, though?

JASON MOMOA: Dude, there’s another script right there. Me and you old. We’ll just do all the old makeup.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Just us and our dying ages in a nursing home.

THEO VON: Yeah. Our fans break us out, and they break aside. And then what? I don’t know.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, we go to a Comic-Con for, like, the old time days and you interview them all.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: We do, like, the Hangover. We live all the good times.

Making Movies and Staying Grounded

THEO VON: Yeah. Tom’s just like the Hangover. At least we’ll go see it, man. Me and David Spade made a movie actually, that’s going to come in like two months.

JASON MOMOA: Shut up.

THEO VON: Yeah, we wrote it, funded it, everything.

JASON MOMOA: I love David Spade.

THEO VON: Oh, he’s the best dude. Yeah, so I’m excited about that.

JASON MOMOA: Tommy Boy. One of my favorites.

THEO VON: Oh, that was one of the best ever. Was there. That’s just an old time buddy or you just were like.

THEO VON: Yeah, he and I became friends like four years ago, five years ago. And we became really close friends. And then we started. We had kind of an idea and when he started writing and it took like a year and then we decided to just self fund it and it’s like a four million dollar budget, I think. And then we got. I think we got one investor and. Yeah. And we made it. We started in like 23 days.

JASON MOMOA: Wonderful. What’s this called?

THEO VON: It was exciting. It’s called Busboys. It’s about two guys who aren’t doing that good and one of them loses his girlfriend to a waiter at a restaurant. And so we figure if we can become waiters, then everything will be great.

JASON MOMOA: That’s why you’re so good at being a busboy. You’re talking about like what we were talking about, like, oh, I can. Professional busboys. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

THEO VON: I channeled. This wasn’t. Yeah. People like, this is just whimsical. What are you guys doing now that this is in me, b*h. You feel me? So yeah, I definitely channeled that. And David was a busboy too, in Arizona as well when he was growing up.

JASON MOMOA: They wouldn’t make me a waiter. That was my last job. Yeah, I was bus boy at two places.

THEO VON: I could see that.

JASON MOMOA: I think they wouldn’t let me. They’re just trying to hold me down.

THEO VON: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, dude, there’s a glass ceiling.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Never made waiter.

THEO VON: Yeah, it’s everywhere.

JASON MOMOA: F* waiters. Bus boys are dope, dude. Bus boys are dope.

THEO VON: Bus boys are dope.

JASON MOMOA: They’re always the coolest. They’re going to have the drugs. They’re going to have all. They’re know where the s*’s at.

THEO VON: They’re going to have the drugs, they’re going to.

JASON MOMOA: Have the brick waitresses, you know, I mean like Bus boys are dope.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Who can get extra button with the dishwasher, like, you know, I mean.

THEO VON: Yeah. Who’s Got extra butter? The Bus Boys for sure.

JASON MOMOA: I love salt and pepper. Guess who’s got that. Yeah, yeah, let’s go see your waiter do that now. They’re all making more money than you.

THEO VON: Yeah, they’re off counting. They’re usually counting their money.

JASON MOMOA: Sharing their tips is what they’re not doing.

THEO VON: S*, homie. That’s what they’re doing, dude. And who’s got the extra salt? You know what?

JASON MOMOA: I’m going to tip my waitress less and I’m going to slip my busboy more. I haven’t been doing that. I said, where’s the fing bus boy at? I’m going to throw him. I’m going to throw the homies or Hometz. Some fing loot started at the bottom.

THEO VON: It’s all happened because of Reagan, because of trickle down economics. Who started trickle down economics? Bring that up. It was Reagan, wasn’t it? Give it to the waiters, they’ll give it to the busboys. That’s not helping. I was just at the nurses strike. The largest nurses strike in New York City history is going on right now.

JASON MOMOA: Right now.

THEO VON: And I just came from it a little while ago, and it was awesome. I like strikes because it’s like being in a parade kind of. Because I’m from. Because I’m from New Orleans. So it’s like, you’re definitely partying at a band out there. Yeah, but it’s the largest nurses strike that’s ever happened in New York City. It’s going on right now.

JASON MOMOA: Oh, my goodness.

THEO VON: See, you can play that real. There you go. Play it right there.

JASON MOMOA: They’re from New Orleans.

THEO VON: The band was pretty good. They played. Actually. They did Abbey Road. They did a whole album.

JASON MOMOA: Really.

THEO VON: Which I thought was impressive. Dude. Even that one where it’s like, bang, bang, “Maxwell Silver Hammer Came down upon His Head.” Yeah, they even played that one. And they only had three instruments. But, yeah, I loved it. I really enjoyed that. My sister’s a nurse. So I was like, oh, this is going on, dude. I’m out there now.

Did I think I would meet some hot nurses? Yeah, but a lot of them are men these days, which doesn’t mean they can’t be hot. But, you know, I had a different bedside manner in mind, you know. So anyway, moving on. Jason, you pervert.

So, yeah. Do you get to points in your career because it is interesting to. to hear you say where you feel like you have some personal achievement or some personal success or something, where you kind of feel like, okay, I’m okay, you know? Does that make any sense to you? Kind of. Because we’re all trying to climb. We’re all trying to, like, everyone’s trying to feel like, you know, we all want to feel some sort of. A lot of people want to feel some sort of success. Right? I mean, I noticed in a moment, like, what makes me feel like, okay, I’m okay for me, you know?

Finding Happiness and Purpose

JASON MOMOA: Oh, I mean, it’s a. It’s a very calm. It’s a complex. I mean, there’s many things I’m going through, and maybe that’s just my age or like, you know, I’ve been, like you were saying, trying to accomplish. Get to a certain place and just because you. Just. Because even in those. In those worst times and like, maybe not doing the things I really truly want to be doing, but I’m doing it to put food on the table.

And then I get to the place where I’m actually like, wow, I’m producing, writing, doing all these things, and this is my dream come true. Why am I. Why was I happier when I was in the f*ing hole? Why was I happier back then? Is it just because it’s nostalgic? Is it. I mean, why was it because I’m still hunting, I’m hungry.

I mean, I got to this place where I considered, like, well, I don’t have any more per se dreams as an actor. Like, I never thought I’d get this far in the first place. You know what I mean? The biggest dream to me is so, like, make a TV show or movie for my people. Make a real, true, authentic Hawaiian story. Like, I did that and the comic book I always read when I was a kid. Well, I’m f*ing playing him.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Like, the video game that I’m fing loved. I’m fing playing him, too. And it’s like, all these things are great, and then sometimes you’re. You. It’s. But you’re not. Why do you not feel.

THEO VON: Does that happen, you think, even, like, in career, like, you had such a great career. Does it happen even in careers like yours? Like, do you think that’s just a human thing? I guess. I guess it’s just a human thing. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. But I just, like. I just try to have gratitude in all of it, man. Because, you know, I have so many friends that are maybe could be ill, sick, dying, and just so. I mean, I’m kind of the kind of person, like, pretty high energy, and I’m really, really generally happy. Like, I’m like, Christmas morning, every morning, I’m pretty f*ing happy. I don’t need coffee. I’m Jazzed.

THEO VON: Dang.

JASON MOMOA: And so I love, I love morning. I love being up and I, I don’t necessarily sleep that much, so I’ll probably die earlier. Yeah. But my days are filled.

THEO VON: Yeah, they’re going to be filled with freaking Filipinos as well, dude. That’s for sure. If this is the rate you’re going to be.

JASON MOMOA: But I just, I can’t sit still. And I, I think if I don’t have those things, I was pretty self destructive if I wasn’t creating and constantly doing stuff. So I think that’s what gives me like, I don’t necessarily think there’s. I measure it by. Oh, because I’m in this movie or this and this and that. I’m actually like, there’s these little smaller things that I love doing.

THEO VON: Staying busy.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. But it’s like the things I really truly love. Like I’m an environmentalist at heart, so there’s, you know, I work as much as I can with different just it’s all the things that. The little small things that probably no one gives a s* about that I give about. And it’s like trying to do those things that I really love. And it’s not about being necessarily seen, but it’s trying to help in certain things that I love and care about.

THEO VON: Yeah. Do you think like a lot of that stuff comes back to you more like once you’ve kind of gotten to a certain level or once you kind of. Because life just kind of gets busy. Like in your 30s and 40s, life gets busy. Right. And especially if you have a busy career like yours or a career. We have to travel a lot and it’s. And it varies from place to place, location to location.

I find that it, like it just gets, it gets hard to focus on some of the smaller things that are more important to me sometimes. Is it easier, do you feel like it’s easier now in your career to be able to have more time for those types of things?

JASON MOMOA: I don’t have any time for those things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a hard time saying no. So I say yes to everything. And I’m like, I have. I work a lot. So if someone comes in and I’m fully loaded, I’m like, yeah, I can’t not say yes. And so I don’t know. Here’s the thing. I’m doing everything I love to do.

Finding Purpose Beyond Work

THEO VON: Right.

JASON MOMOA: So I don’t ever think of it as work. I’m just doing things I love to do. And so that’s maybe the biggest honor of it all. And I think, I mean, that’s why I want my kids now. They look at me, they’re like, oh, my dad does what he loves to do. Which maybe I didn’t. Earlier in my life, it was just like, make sure I can put. It was very worrisome earlier because, like I said, I wasn’t on the best shows.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. It’s more survival. People are like, oh, why don’t you go do that movie? Or that movie? I’m like, I didn’t have an agent. I couldn’t be called. Like, I couldn’t get those things. And so now I’m in a good place, but I’m like, oh, I’m making up for lost time. I’m like, there’s so many things I want to do in this life, and so it’s a bit crammed in, but I’m in. I’ve. I’m kind of doing everything I love.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I wouldn’t say I’m taking care of myself the best, but I’m like, that’s. Something’s got to give. I’m like, that’s why I’m this big. Burn this down, you know?

THEO VON: Well, if it’s not.

JASON MOMOA: If there’s Filipinos. Here we go.

THEO VON: Yeah, here we go, dude. Fire up the feely truck, huh? Back them up, dude. Let him in the room.

JASON MOMOA: But what about you? I mean, like, you’re just blown up and, like, in your time, I mean, how does it feel to you?

Finding Stability After Years on the Road

THEO VON: I think this year I started, just recently started thinking having a little bit more, like, okay, I think everything will be okay. Like, I’ll be able to eat and have a roof over my head for the rest of my life. So I have a little bit more semblance of, like, okay, what does that things look like for those around me? What are some other things that I can put my time into?

Like, I’ve been touring mostly for probably about 17 years, for probably half the weeks, you know, and so this year, I don’t have any tour dates. And so it’s nice to, like, be like, oh, what does this look like? Like, I had, like, two months with no, three months with no tour dates, and I was like, this is crazy.

But there’s still, like, a lot of podcasting, and there’s still a ton of work to do with this. But it’s not like I have to travel as, for the first time, it feels like my spirit even can be in, like, one place where I can, like, gather its thoughts, you know. I feel like I’ve just been playing hide and go seek with myself for a long time, just even geographically. So having some more, just having some more like solace and being in one spot is really kind of helped me just to start to get a look around me.

JASON MOMOA: Do you go stir crazy? Because we’re such a gypsy. We have to, you know, our careers are a little bit.

THEO VON: But sometimes that’s a trap for me.

JASON MOMOA: I know, but you’re like, I need. I’m like, oh, my God, I would love to get some rest. Then you get like, rest for a solid week. And you’re like, I got to get the f* out of here.

THEO VON: Yeah, I got to get the f* out of this rest.

JASON MOMOA: Like, my ass hurts.

THEO VON: Yeah. And you’re in a rest area. Yeah. Along the interstate.

JASON MOMOA: You’re like, this is insane. Like, do you get that? Where you’re just like, oh, man, I got to get out.

THEO VON: Oh, for sure. But I think sometimes I got to be careful because that’s a trap, man. That’s just the devil trying to get me back.

Sobriety and Recovery

JASON MOMOA: Do you work with sobriety? Like, is that a thing? Do you have to do a. Yeah.

THEO VON: I got a. I go to meetings and I go to that stuff. It’s been like, you know, I’ve been in and out of sobriety for 10 years, probably mostly in. And so that’s been good. So, yeah, I like it just because otherwise. Yeah, I just can’t handle. Like, I’ll do too much of the cocaine, you know, I’ll do too much of it. And so I just don’t want to be. Just don’t. I don’t want to be around it, you know.

I’ll even walk and just look straight at the ground and see if anybody’s dropped it. Sometimes outside, I’ll f*ing run right into something. What was that? Not an eight ball, I’ll tell you that. I just peaked this whole block.

But yeah, man. Dude, I’ll tell you this crazy story. So one time, my friend and I, and I didn’t even know anything about drugs. My friend and I are going to my apartment. He was staying in town. He’s getting out of the taxi. He dropped a little thing of cocaine into the taxi. When I’m getting out, I just see it on the thing. I pick it up and put it in my pocket.

So he didn’t tell me that he had ever done cocaine and he’d been doing it, but he didn’t tell me, right. And I just thought he was kind of itchy or whatever, you know, because it was spring. And so we go in my apartment, he’s like, hey, man, will you help me look for something? I’m like, yeah, what is it? And he, like, wouldn’t tell me what it was. And I’m like, that doesn’t make any sense. But yeah, I’ll help you, you know.

So me and him are walking around looking for something that I don’t know what it is, okay. And then I kept sneaking off and doing the cocaine, right? So, dude, now at one point he gave up and went to sleep. I’m walking around my apartment looking everywhere for something. And it was. It was the drugs I was doing absolute insanity, dude.

JASON MOMOA: Absolute insanity, bro.

THEO VON: So, yeah, I mean, you just. People can get lost out there, but.

Miles Davis and the Snow Story

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, dude, do you ever read that Miles Davis? You ever read Miles Davis’s biography? There’s this great part where he was up in Harlem and, you know, at the time, he’s at the peak of his career, he had this Lamborghini. Let’s just say it’s like bright yellow. It snows. It’s snowing outside. And he comes up to this spot and he’s in Harlem. Gets out, goes in, and he’s coming back out and he gets back in the car and he got some drugs.

Comes back out, gets in the car, looks down and he’s like, f. He like. Drugs are. All the coke is all over the floor and he’s fing freaking out. And he thinks he’s going to get busted by the cops. So he just gets out, goes back in, hides in his f*ing closet, waits it out for a couple hours, sweating it out, and he’s on the drugs.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Comes back out hours later, car’s still there, because they know it’s Miles Davis. Open up the door and all the drugs are gone. And he like clicks and he’s like. It was snow on his shoes.

THEO VON: Oh.

JASON MOMOA: When he got in and like totally lost his mind. Like, he spotty spilled all the. I was like, that’s a good time. That was a pro story.

THEO VON: That’s a good time. Yeah. And he didn’t drive, which is the best part.

JASON MOMOA: That’s the best part. Good job, Miles.

THEO VON: October 21st, 1972. Miles Davis, nevermind. Wrecked his coke-filled Mayura and broke both of his legs. So he took it for one lap. Jim Glickenhaus was the first person on scene. Miles in the hospital for a long time and didn’t play for almost a year. Dang. That’ll make you quit doing drugs right there. That’ll make you quit smoking, dude.

JASON MOMOA: That’s his.

THEO VON: That’s his drowning near the reef right there. Dang. If my. Dude. But if my legs are broken, I could still do cocaine, I think. And I hate to say that, and don’t say that to your kids, but what’s. So now you have children?

Fatherhood and Family

JASON MOMOA: I’ve had them.

THEO VON: Yeah. Did you collect some along the way, or did. I mean that. But did you, like. Did you have a family that you had planned, or was it just kind of like. Did you sort of have children?

JASON MOMOA: No. Yeah. No, I was. I was married and had kids. Yeah.

THEO VON: Oh, nice, man. Was it cool being a father? Like, was that, like, a scary thing for you? Like, it’s actually funny.

JASON MOMOA: He’s. He just got into.

THEO VON: Oh, yeah. Beautiful kids.

JASON MOMOA: He just got into acting. He’s. I mean, they’ve been acting, and Wolf is his place. Yeah.

THEO VON: Oh, that’s a cool name.

JASON MOMOA: Nicola.

THEO VON: Wolf.

JASON MOMOA: But he’s. He’s going to be in Dune with me.

THEO VON: Dune. He’s.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, he’s Leto junior. So he auditioned on his own and got it.

THEO VON: And.

JASON MOMOA: I mean, he. Those guys grew up watching me. You know, he was sitting on Affleck’s lap, and she’s sitting with Gal, and, you know, we’re doing Justice League. They were like, 6 and 8.

THEO VON: Wow.

JASON MOMOA: And I’m doing Justice League. They grew up on set with me, so they just. Yeah, I mean, he was in a Batman outfit for at least five years. Like, the kid loves all that and love Dune. And so, yeah, my babies are. Lola’s a singer, so she wants to continue in music, and Wolf wants to do acting, so. Which I was very. Just such a gnarly business.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I’m like, go be a doctor. Use your brain.

THEO VON: Yeah. And go pay these nurses, doc. Actually, it’s the hospitals that I’m paying them, but, yeah, dude, that’s got to be interesting if your kid wants to go down that road. But then you’ll have a lot of experience, too, and you’ll be there to help them be supportive in that way.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, yeah.

THEO VON: And if you want him young so we can try it out.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Guide them. You got kids?

Relationships and Future Plans

THEO VON: No, I don’t have any kids yet. I want to get some kids. I want to. Sorry. I would like to have children. I’m not trying to get. No, I want all kids to be free. If they’re. If I don’t know them.

JASON MOMOA: Oh, man.

THEO VON: I don’t want to know. That’s my new. That’s my rule. If I don’t know kids. I don’t want to know them. You know, people like, hey, I want you to see my kids. I’m like, no, I don’t want to meet your kids. Dude, people are perverts, man. You know, these politicians. Anyway, what else are we talking about?

JASON MOMOA: You got a special lady you’re with right now.

THEO VON: I don’t.

JASON MOMOA: That’s another bird right now, too.

THEO VON: What’s that?

JASON MOMOA: Your free bird?

THEO VON: Free bird, yeah. But I would like to have. I would like to have a spouse. I would like to have a woman spouse, too. And I would like to. Yeah, I would like to have that, man. So it’ll happen. It’s just like, you know, I just got. I think, for one, too. I’d just been going all the time. It was like. I’d be like. I’d be, like, dating somebody. I’d be out of town for a while. And you come back and you’re like, oh, shit, I forgot about this.

Not in a bad way. It’s just like my brain was somewhere else. It’s hard for me to focus on stuff sometimes. So I think I just feel like more that semblance of, like, okay, now this maybe could be more manageable, but I got to change some of my own ways and stuff like that a little bit, too, and be more purposeful. I think about just like, just different prayer and different things like that overall, you know.

JASON MOMOA: So you come from a big family? You got brothers, sisters?

THEO VON: Yeah, I got three siblings, and one of them is married.

JASON MOMOA: You’re. You’re a baby.

THEO VON: I’m the middle one of the middle kids. Two boys and two girls. So we got a good little group, but. Yeah, nobody in my family can swim that good, though.

JASON MOMOA: No.

THEO VON: Yeah, Land people.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, you need us, we’ll be on.

THEO VON: The land, you know, that’s our motto, dude. That’s our family motto. I’m going to get it tattooed on my brother.

JASON MOMOA: When you were in New Orleans, look, what kind of sports were you into?

Basketball and Sports Talk

THEO VON: Basketball, dude. Is it true that they have the team called the Tall Blacks? Is that true? The basketball team in New Zealand is called the Tall Blacks. That’s fricking amazing, dude.

Yeah. In New Orleans, we have some of the players are kind of thick over there, you know? So we got the Round Browns over there. That’s our team. No offense, Zion Williams, but his weight does fluctuate, and he’s cost Reptiti a lot of money, but what is this?

Yeah, this is. Oh, that’s The New Zealand All Blacks. I don’t know. This is a bunch of Ben Simmonses. They got maybe one and a half brothers on this team. Dude. But hey, that’s awesome though. Good for them.

JASON MOMOA: You a big basketball fan?

THEO VON: I like college football. It’s probably my favorite.

JASON MOMOA: College football. Who can you tell me?

THEO VON: I’m a Tennessee and LSU guy, so those are my squads. What about you?

JASON MOMOA: I don’t do college football that much.

THEO VON: You didn’t get into it? With your size, I’m sure they were like, get out of here.

JASON MOMOA: I was hockey.

THEO VON: Really? Yeah. You were goalie soccer?

JASON MOMOA: No, I was center. I love soccer too, man. I was playing soccer, but then I was a skateboarder, you know. I mean like they all want you to get into wrestling. Yeah. That’s weird. That’s weird. I have a path, but if you’re…

THEO VON: A circle, that makes sense.

Rock Climbing and Finding Focus

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. No, I just grew up skating. I wasn’t always this big. I mean like I was, you know, but that’s what I was doing when I was little and took that into high school. But I love skateboarding. And then surprisingly, my main love is rock climbing.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: So I traveled the world rock climbing and that was kind of my thing.

THEO VON: And did you ever go rock climbing with Sharma? Jared Leto?

JASON MOMOA: No. No. I mean I’ve seen him out when we’ve been climbing. Yeah, he loves it. He does. He climbs a lot with Honnold.

THEO VON: Honnold? Oh, Alex Honnold?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. He climbs a lot with him. They do like El Cap and all kind of stuff together.

THEO VON: He took me to a party here one time. I just remembered in New York and everybody was kind of dressed like they look like different birds and stuff. It was pretty crazy. Yeah. And there was no air conditioning in the place. It was like fancy. It was bizarre. But it was what you’d expect out of him. Yeah, that’s people out on the rock right there. Yeah. Rock climbing is pretty amazing, isn’t it?

JASON MOMOA: I love it.

THEO VON: What makes you love it so much?

JASON MOMOA: Well, it’s something I did when I was little. The first moment, like my mom took me climbing in South Dakota and I just, when I touched the rock and just moved on, I just felt like I’m probably better at climbing than I am at walking. My body just feels. It’s just something that you connect with, that you really enjoy.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: But I love just the fear and the problem solving and like the fear of it all because like, we’ll do like deep water soloing now and My orca. And you like climb up and then you fall down in the water. But it’s just like the challenge of like I love climbing stuff. When I was a kid, it’s like, how do you not. I love climbing trees. I love just climbing. So I don’t know. I’m a f*ing gorilla. I don’t know what to say.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Being in the dirt and I just enjoy taking my kids. My kids do it and it just keeps us out in nature, something to do. I guess it’d be like fishing or hunting like for other people, but like being in nature and…

THEO VON: Oh yeah.

JASON MOMOA: And going to do adventures and you know, setting out to do something and accomplishing it. But the other thing too is I think I’m very, very much, and I’m not diagnosed ADHD, but I’m just, there’s a lot of things going on and I feel like when I ride motorcycles and I go rock climbing, it’s just like you can’t do anything else but be there. So that’s just like a little bit of my therapy or meditation is like that’s when everything just gets real clean and clear.

THEO VON: Makes you focus in. Yeah, yeah.

JASON MOMOA: But you get, you know, everyone gets high on that or loves that. You know, I mean when you can really, mind, body, spirit connects and you…

THEO VON: Oh yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Something. That’s what you, you know.

THEO VON: Oh yeah. When you’re zipping down on a freaking motorcycle, you can’t. Yeah. It’s hard to be like, I got to do that email or whatever, which is like everyone.

Motorcycles and Staying Present

JASON MOMOA: You’re in a car, you’re like, you know, doing your makeup, you’re eating food, you’re talking to someone. You’re not paying attention to shit where you’re riding motorcycle. It’s, you’re going to die if you fing, if you’re outside, if you’re doing your makeup while you’re riding your motorcycle, you’re fed.

THEO VON: Yeah, yeah.

JASON MOMOA: It’s not easy unless they come out…

THEO VON: With those self driving motorcycles, which I read about. That’s going to be. I’m like, what are we doing now?

JASON MOMOA: Self driving motorcycles?

THEO VON: Yeah. That’s not what we need.

JASON MOMOA: No.

THEO VON: A lot of organ donors are motorcyclists and I didn’t mean to say that out loud to you, but you knew it.

JASON MOMOA: A lot of them are you an organ donor?

THEO VON: A lot of them are, yeah. You keeping them?

JASON MOMOA: No. Oh yeah. I don’t know if anyone wants them pickled. I’m actually waiting for this AI and yeah. Come around and go like, yo, two new kidneys and kidneys right here. That’s what I need, bro.

THEO VON: Oh yeah. I want a fresh sack of lungs, boy. Them inner tits. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: And then just nail them again.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: 30 more years just bashing these up. Yeah, dude, toughen up, bro.

THEO VON: That’d be crazy. You’re like 90.

JASON MOMOA: Swap them out.

THEO VON: Yeah, like, yeah, I’m 95, but I got a seven year old liver. Yeah, you just partying on that, getting…

JASON MOMOA: Hammered, drunk on one bud light f*ing.

THEO VON: Sick sleep in somebody’s boat or whatever. You know, one thing I wish I had done in the past was invest earlier. What else was I going to ask about? Oh, what made you and Dave Bautista become such friends, do you think?

Working with Dave Bautista

JASON MOMOA: Well, we do a lot of action, and when generally there’s not a lot of big guys that are good actors and do action, it’s kind of a rare thing to have all of them. And I think Dave is a phenomenal actor, and I really wanted to fight him and see. And I was like, dude, I would love to go toe to toe with him.

And it’s just kind of like, yeah, I respect him. And I, and then when we met, we’re very different, but, like, super, you know, there’s no ego. There’s no, like, we’re very supportive of each other. We understand the story. Like, it’s just a wonderful, when you find an acting partner that you just, you’re there for the story instead of, like, your career.

You’re a lot of guys. A lot of famous dudes can’t bleed or can’t get hurt. I’m like, f, I die in everything. My kids beg me not to die anymore. I’m like, that’s how you fing eat. I’m like, you’re not going to die again. I’m like, everything. That’s how you have your life.

So I’m not afraid to do all that kind of stuff and, you know, bleed. And I think Dave likes to get that down and dirty, too, so. But he’s just a really great guy. The reason why I want to do it again is because it’s just a good working relationship.

THEO VON: Yeah, his acting is great.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. I saw him in Blade Runner, and I just thought he was, he was phenomenal. And it is so subtle. He’s very just, like, the opposite of me. I couldn’t be subtle if you tried. And, like, it’s just…

THEO VON: I think he did a great job in this movie, man.

JASON MOMOA: Thanks, bud.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Thank you.

The Craft of Acting

THEO VON: I don’t know if I’ve been paying attention that. I guess it’s like, if you’re not paying attention, if you don’t, if you’re not noticing the acting and then, and it’s great. Right. Isn’t that kind of usual? The usual kind of, isn’t that usually kind of the thought?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. Yeah. Without tripping you up. Yeah.

THEO VON: Do you feel like it’s gotten easier to act over time? Like, do you start to just understand it better? Does it become a little bit more like a muscle? What is that?

JASON MOMOA: Like, I just think I’m getting, I’m getting chances to do it now. Like, I’ve never even a rom com, you know? Like, my first comedy was last year with Jack Black doing Minecraft. So like, you know, it’s just now finally catching on that I can do other stuff. Yeah. I’m not just getting my a kicked and dying all the time. Yeah.

THEO VON: You’re not just a bouncer who’s fricking going to the salon or whatever. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I think after like Game of Thrones, like, people didn’t know what to do with me, so it’s like he didn’t speak English, so they’re just like, what the f do you do with Drogo? We’re like, who are we going to put as that rom com? Drogo is. I mean, he’s handsome. Like, let’s get that motherfer. I don’t, I hope he speaks English. Like, he’s French. And I mean, like, what are you going to. So hilarious.

THEO VON: That’s great.

JASON MOMOA: Have you ever get to spend any time with Jack?

THEO VON: I haven’t gotten to spend any time with him, man. So funny.

Meeting the Family in Guatemala

JASON MOMOA: No, he’s just like the greatest human man. Like, you just would love just being with him. He’s so much fun. And it’s just like he’s that all the time. You go, you know, after work we go eat together. And like, I just like people who they don’t act one way and then, you know, someone works over, there’s someone different, you know, like I’m just I wear my heart on my sleeve. This is exactly who I am. This is what you’re going to get.

THEO VON: Here we are.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

Mistaken Identity and Celebrity Lookalikes

THEO VON: Do you ever get people that confuse you for people a lot? Because I’ll have people come up to me sometimes and they think I’m Tony Cavallaro. Do you get people like that sometimes, I think? Or even like this? Like, if you walked in downstairs, somebody might think you’re Joaquin Phoenix downstairs, because how he did that Letterman, remember? Pull up Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman that time.

JASON MOMOA: What?

THEO VON: See if we’re close or not. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Oh, that’s pretty much it, bro. There’s my twin brother right there.

THEO VON: Dude, if you were Joaquin Phoenix today, this whole time.

JASON MOMOA: Put these on.

THEO VON: If you tell me you’re Joaquin Phoenix, bro, it’s going to get crazy in here. Oh, wow. Huh?

JASON MOMOA: I’m f*ing blind.

THEO VON: Yeah. Oh, yeah, dude.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, those are prescription.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: No, I wear glasses, dude.

THEO VON: I wear glasses. Yeah, mine are downstairs. My eyes are going bad.

JASON MOMOA: I just can’t do contrast. Can’t put them in, man.

THEO VON: But I’m not putting a little thing like that in my eye. Like a little sight.

JASON MOMOA: Would you ever get the little surgery?

THEO VON: I don’t think I would. I don’t want somebody going in my eye. I don’t want that while I’m laying there like some pedophile.

JASON MOMOA: I don’t think you look like that guy. But do you know who the dancing outlaw is?

THEO VON: That guy that does that? The Tennessee Two Step guy?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, there he, there you are.

THEO VON: That guy. What’s his name? Did you get Jesco White, bro?

JASON MOMOA: Dude, you could totally play Jesco White.

THEO VON: You could.

JASON MOMOA: You, dude, not me.

THEO VON: Oh, I thought you were saying you look like him.

JASON MOMOA: No, man, pull up the one where he’s got no beard. That one in the middle, dude. That’s you for days. What are you talking about?

THEO VON: Oh, God. Listen, I said nice things about this guy.

JASON MOMOA: I know, dude.

THEO VON: This guy is a f*ing listening to methadone all day, which is a band, but it’s only. Yeah, I’m joking.

JASON MOMOA: Okay. All right, my bad.

THEO VON: No, that’s okay. Is there any recent, is there a recent interview with Jesco White or did he pass away?

JASON MOMOA: He passed away.

THEO VON: Damn.

JASON MOMOA: Show us the way he talks, but it’s probably because you guys sound familiar.

THEO VON: That’s him.

JASON MOMOA: No, that doesn’t look like, he looks like Hunter Thompson right there.

THEO VON: Yeah. That is not.

JASON MOMOA: No, it’s not.

THEO VON: No. Yeah, it says Jesco. Wow.

Kid Rock and Nashville

JASON MOMOA: But he’s dead now. That’s Kid Rock. You ever interviewed Kid Rock?

THEO VON: Yeah, he lives in Nashville.

JASON MOMOA: That’d be easy, man.

THEO VON: I see him there all the time. He has his name.

JASON MOMOA: Oh, he does. He’s got a club.

THEO VON: Yeah, he has a club and he has a, he has a crazy house there. He built like, a replica of the White House up on this hill there.

JASON MOMOA: No s*.

THEO VON: It’s insane. It’s insane. It is. And he collects a lot of cool stuff. Bob is his real name. But he’s a super interesting guy and he’s really nice, too. That’s his house right there, I think.

JASON MOMOA: Holy s*.

THEO VON: It’s crazy, bro. And it’s got a lot of Kid Rock stuff in it. Nobody’s a bigger fan of Kid Rock than Kid Rock.

JASON MOMOA: Dude, I feel like he has, is he put, is he doing new albums?

THEO VON: Yeah, he still does stuff. He has a Rock the Country, I think it’s called Rock the Country. That just came out. A tour. New tour that just came out that Ella Langley’s going to be on. Jason Aldean. Williams. Hank Williams. There you go, kid. Jason Aldean. Blake Shelton.

JASON MOMOA: Jelly Roll Creed on the Sunlight.

Music Memories and First Concerts

THEO VON: Dude, I could see you play Scott Stapp in, like, a biopic. Or biopic, whatever they call it.

JASON MOMOA: You getting me back at that Jesco White. Yeah. I deserved it.

THEO VON: I apologize, dude. You know, I used to love Soundgarden, dude.

JASON MOMOA: Of course. Yeah, man. What a legend, man. I feel.

THEO VON: Was that them? But maybe I don’t know who they are. These are the eyes of disarray. Would you even care? And I’m feeling.

JASON MOMOA: Is that, no, that’s not, Stone Temple Pilots.

THEO VON: Dude, Stone Temple Pilots was good, bro.

JASON MOMOA: They were.

THEO VON: What’s the first concert you ever went to?

JASON MOMOA: I was at the Iowa State Fair. What the, is his name? He does bourbon Wisconsin. Beer? Jesus Christ. I’m blanking on his name.

THEO VON: Trace Atkins, maybe.

JASON MOMOA: No, no. God d* it. It’s okay. Bad as a bone. Yeah. George Thorogood.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: One bourbon scotch, one beer. Iowa State Fair, baby.

THEO VON: Dude, how nice is that thing?

JASON MOMOA: Iowa State Fair? Yeah, it’s amazing. Haven’t been in years. Funnel cake.

THEO VON: Yeah, but I’m not driving across town for some, for a funnel cake.

JASON MOMOA: What?

THEO VON: Like, but I guess that one would be the best because you’d have all the animals. You’d have all the crafts.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: And the big rides.

JASON MOMOA: I had a good time when I was growing up.

THEO VON: Yeah, I guess people did.

JASON MOMOA: I couldn’t walk around there now. I’d be f*ing screwed. No way.

THEO VON: Yeah, you’d have to hide. You could dress up like something.

JASON MOMOA: Those days are over, man.

THEO VON: But it’s your size. You have to disguise yourself as something unique. If you’re out in the public, I can make sure.

JASON MOMOA: There’s no way I’m going to hide.

THEO VON: You could hide.

JASON MOMOA: I can’t hide. I mean, I’m in the flannel and a hat. It’s about as hiding as it gets.

THEO VON: If you got a special outfit.

JASON MOMOA: I mean, you mean if I go out as, like, Boba Fett or, like, like the helmet on, like, Iron Man. I mean, I could hide if I had a helmet on?

THEO VON: Yeah, yeah. If you were like a football helmet or something.

The Tattoo Story

JASON MOMOA: I was in Jordan one time we were shooting Dune, and I wanted to go see Petra, and I got all wrapped up, and it was great because I got to walk through there. There’s tons of tourists. And so I did the whole, you know, full wrap and everything’s on, but it was hot. And this little bit of my triangles are sticking out, and we’re walking through, and this girl just, like, kind of sees and she goes. I’m like, but this f*ing thing gets me in trouble more than anything, man. Because.

THEO VON: Is that a, is that like a line?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, this is basically tapped on, and I have one that goes on my head, goes right through there.

THEO VON: And how do people earn, do you earn them or how do you get it?

JASON MOMOA: Like a family crest? Think of it like that. It’s like a guardian. This is the shark, and this is for protection. Those are the ihe, the spear. It’s the mano, the shark. So basically, when I’m in the water and we’re snorkeling, the shark knows to go to you because you’re white and I’m Hawaiian. So it’s like, this is what just lets them know.

THEO VON: Yeah, that’s fair. Yeah. I got to get something.

JASON MOMOA: You roll with me. I’ll be like, I’ll point it somewhere.

THEO VON: I’ll be on your back pointing out the directions.

Shark Encounters

JASON MOMOA: You ever seen any sharks? You ever seen any.

THEO VON: I went swimming with sharks sometime in South Africa, we’re in a cage.

JASON MOMOA: Have I ever seen big great whites?

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Did you see a big great white?

THEO VON: Oh, yeah. One came and got, so there were these two round cages off the boat. And since the edge of the boat’s like this and you have two circles, there’s a space in between the cages, right up against the boat, like, because it’s two circles. And one of the sharks got stuck right in there, and he was absolutely going apes*. And then another one came up and put his snout, like, in the cage, and I got to touch the top of it, pat him on the head a little bit. Pretty cool.

JASON MOMOA: Yep.

THEO VON: That old Doberman touch I put on him, you know, just great white. Did you like South Africa?

THEO VON: Oh, dude, it’s the most beautiful place that I’ve been.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

Guatemala Trip

THEO VON: You know, is there a place you’ve been that really makes you feel like this is really something special?

JASON MOMOA: I just got back from Guatemala. I went there with my lady.

THEO VON: Oh, nice.

JASON MOMOA: That was my first time. So we went to, like, we got to go see the pyramids, which is like the largest pyramids in the world.

THEO VON: Bring them up. My father’s from Nicaragua.

JASON MOMOA: Really?

THEO VON: Yeah. Which is neighbors to Guatemala, I think. Is it in Central America?

JASON MOMOA: Yep.

THEO VON: Oh, that thing’s nice. I’m surprised you don’t live in one of those, because people think you do.

JASON MOMOA: Dude. Yeah, Tikal. The one that’s, yeah, there, right. That one pretty spectacular. And the one to the left, food culture, just so rich.

THEO VON: Wow. How long was your trip for Antigua?

JASON MOMOA: I went to Antigua. Antigua was just like, I’ve never seen streets like that. We were there for like two weeks.

THEO VON: Sorry.

JASON MOMOA: Two weeks seeing family, getting to be with the parents and the family.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: See if they like me, you know, the gringos coming in.

THEO VON: Oh, yeah. Huh?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: But you weren’t the gringo, though.

JASON MOMOA: I was to them.

THEO VON: Huh? Yeah. Wow. Dude. It’s good.

JASON MOMOA: White blood in me.

THEO VON: It’s good, yeah. That’s a good point.

JASON MOMOA: Blood.

THEO VON: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

JASON MOMOA: In the Irish.

THEO VON: Don’t bring that honky blood around here, whitey. That’s the kind of s* I hear all the time.

JASON MOMOA: But they love me.

THEO VON: So.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, I got, I got two thumbs up.

THEO VON: Did you get a, like, do you get a written review or how did, like on the plane ride home, she read their eyes. Yeah.

And I could feel the temperature. The aunties were cool with it. The nieces and nephews love me. The dad’s amazing. I mean, I love her dad. We went to go see him play.

THEO VON: He’s a musician.

JASON MOMOA: He’s probably one of the biggest Latin—

THEO VON: He maybe.

JASON MOMOA: No, he’s definitely one of the biggest Latin musicians of all time. Ever.

THEO VON: Really? Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Ricardo Arjona.

THEO VON: Let’s bring up a picture of this man.

JASON MOMOA: He’s actually—

THEO VON: He’s got this. Could be your father-in-law.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. He’s doing Times Square, two nights in a row.

THEO VON: Ricardo.

JASON MOMOA: Ricardo. Yeah. Is the new. His new tour. Yeah. Means skinny.

THEO VON: Oh, Ricardo.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: God, I want to be something like that.

JASON MOMOA: He kind of looks like my older brother, right? A little bit.

THEO VON: Right? Oh, yeah, you can see it. That’s what’s up.

JASON MOMOA: If I were Latin.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: But I’m not. I’m Hawaiian. And he’s probably the biggest Guatemalan in history.

THEO VON: He’s very tall.

JASON MOMOA: Six-five, six-six.

THEO VON: No way. You can’t even tell from this photo. I know. They should say that on the poster. First of all, they should have a poster that says, “Hey, come see a six-five Guatemalan.”

JASON MOMOA: And he’s—bro, he’s 40 bucks to go over and see that. He’s got two nights in a row at New York Times Square. I think he’ll be playing Nashville, too, bro.

THEO VON: Really?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, dude.

THEO VON: If he is, I’m going to. I’ll make sure to go and watch.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, but he’d be—

THEO VON: I’ll take a Latin. I’ll take a Spanish girl out there on a date.

JASON MOMOA: You’re definitely going to meet some Spanish nurses.

THEO VON: That’s the place to go.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: How do you say nurse in Spanish? Bring that up for me, fellas. Ooh. See?

JASON MOMOA: Enfermera.

THEO VON: That’s what I’m going to say.

JASON MOMOA: That’s where it’s at for you.

THEO VON: They take care of you.

JASON MOMOA: Love you.

THEO VON: That’s what I’m saying, dude. Yeah. Yeah. There were ages when I was like, yeah, I’m going to get—oh, I want to find a model or something. Now it’s like—and I’m getting older. I’ll take a nurse.

JASON MOMOA: You’ve had all the models, you know what I’m saying?

THEO VON: I don’t know about that, but I just have, like—yeah, I’m just—you got to think ahead, you know?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t know if models are going to take care of you, but nurses take care of you.

THEO VON: A model’s not going to take care of you, dude. And she’s not even going to feed you anything because she doesn’t eat anything. What are you going to do, just both sit there and suck on an empty bottle together? And she’s lazy anyway. Probably. Anyway, sorry. What about this guitar, dude? I saw you brought this in.

The 1959 Gibson

JASON MOMOA: Well, yeah. Because we were both tired. I was going to take a little nap because I didn’t want to suck on your show.

THEO VON: I appreciate that, man.

JASON MOMOA: Yes. I’m probably a solid six right now. I’m normally a ten, but we had the premiere before I came to Theo Von, which is a big accident. So, anyways, I was downstairs, Chelsea Guitars. I found this in ’59. It kind of went—got a little bit of that watermelon color to it.

THEO VON: Yeah, beautiful. Because it’s usually cherry, right?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. And then it just—they fade because of that paint they used back then. But it didn’t have the original pot, so it’s kind of cheap. And then, you know, I’ll put some new pickups in it, and it’ll be back to new.

THEO VON: Are you a collector of guitars or—

JASON MOMOA: I am. I’m a big fan. I got a band we play. We’re going to go play Dubai here on the 28th. And look, too. I’ll show you. Yeah, I was in—

THEO VON: I know I was in Qatar, actually.

JASON MOMOA: Signed by Chuck Berry. Yeah, they have all the guitar signs. Chuck Berry, the guy that was just up on the—

THEO VON: That’s talking about Chuck Berry, dude.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: Oh, that’s him.

JASON MOMOA: Say, there’s a guitar.

THEO VON: “Johnny, Be Good.”

JASON MOMOA: There you go. He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack between the trees by the railroad track.

THEO VON: I loved him, dude. We used to listen to his tape all the time. I had his cassette tape when I was young.

JASON MOMOA: Actually, it might be a good idea. My son loves Chuck Berry. I might—might do him right. He turns 18, maybe I’ll give him his guitar.

THEO VON: Just let him play it. You keep it. You know, he just booked a role in a movie next to you. He’s doing fine.

JASON MOMOA: Okay.

THEO VON: He can get his own.

JASON MOMOA: Love language is presence.

THEO VON: Are you?

JASON MOMOA: I am.

THEO VON: Oh, that’s pretty cool.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

Mananalu Water

THEO VON: Oh, I heard that you were working with a water company.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, I started this company called Mananalu.

THEO VON: Mananalu?

JASON MOMOA: Mananalu. Started eight years ago. I was on a flight and you know, you’re flying over the—on the plane and you see a Coca-Cola in an aluminum can. You got beer in an aluminum can. You got sparkling water, aluminum can. And they give you those little sh*tty Dasani water bottles with a cap. You know the label. And then there’s three different types of plastic on it that we can’t recycle. Just goes into our landfills.

And I’m a father. I don’t want to see plastic. We don’t need single-use plastic. Generally I carry my own water bottle. When I go to the airport, you fill it up. Eight years ago, they didn’t even make—they didn’t even have aluminum for water. So I went to Ball, people who make those cans. And I went to the aluminum company. I said, “I’m going to make a water bottle with you.” A water—aluminum cans are like, “We’re not a water company.” I was like, “Well, you are now. I’m awful, man. Let’s do this.”

So we set out to do it and then we ended up making the first screw can and went back on. And so we made Mananalu. And then it changed. Well, now it’s got our—we put our movie on there.

THEO VON: Oh, great.

JASON MOMOA: Put the labels on there. But see how it’s got Mananalu printed on the top? And so once we kind of stopped single-use plastic. And now, because at the time I went to Dasani. And I went to—I went to the blue and the red guy, Coke, Pepsi. And I was like, “Would you do this? Would you make aluminum?” They’re like, “It doesn’t make sense to us because it’s easier to do plastic.”

But anything that’s in plastic is just leaching in there. It’s just poison, man. You don’t want to be drinking—

THEO VON: Yeah. That’s what I think about a lot of times, especially now with people talking about all the bad stuff that’s in our food and our water. It’s become such a talking point right now. It’s interesting. Water that isn’t—because most of the water is in plastic. Yeah. And even if you look up, “What’s the best water that doesn’t have plastics in it?” you know, they won’t even really tell you. It’s all these kind of gimmick videos that lead you to buy certain things. Usually to buy water purifiers and stuff. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: But I mean, the idea is just to go—so now we kind of changed now that they are making those. We made a circular system. So we’re now Aloha, powered by Boomerang. And it’s actually—it’s pretty cool, man. The idea is to be in—starting with Hawaii mainly—is to be in hospitality. So you’re in hotels, hospitals, schools, where—imagine just going to your room and you got a crate, like a milk crate, and there’s all your water in there, and you drink it and you put it back.

And then down in the basement, there’s a machine. It’s a circular system. It sterilizes it, fills it with your natural local water source and puts the minerals back into it and cleans it and makes it so it’s fresh water. It’s not packaged up. There’s no emissions. It’s not sitting in some crate in some warehouse, stagnant, dead water. It’s fresh water, always.

And if there was a COVID or any of that, each hotel would still operate. The water still operates. Right. So you can still have fresh water and it’s just bottled up. Think of it as you go into a restaurant, you eat with their plates and their fork, and you’re done. You leave, you come back, you’re going to use—you’re not going to take sh*t home. It’s just a container for it. And so it’s constantly reusable and recyclable. So you’re cutting out waste.

Now, the idea was just to cut waste. Because even when you’re having the aluminum bottles you still got to recycle those. And so it’s just—the idea is just to either if you’re not carrying your own stuff, it’s pretty cool that you can go to a hotel and you know that it’s—there’s no—not only are you not doing waste, it’s getting recycled. So it’s a full circular.

THEO VON: That’s incredible, man.

JASON MOMOA: Just to kind of get rid of the single—I mean just to cut that sht down. Because it’s just absolutely ridiculous. When you think about the idea of taking shtty water, putting it in plastic bottles, shipping it to a place like Hawaii which has the best water in the world, we drink it and then the sh*t ends up in our ocean or a landfill. So it’s the dumbest thing in the world.

I’m going to try to do that in Hawaii first. So I mean obviously we’re self-contained. Planet island earth. We didn’t need anyone. We were self-contained at one time. So if we can just do that with all our tourism and people come from all over the world getting married and they get to see what they’re doing and each hotel, so we have Four Seasons, all different hotels, Four Seasons and Twin Fin. All these different places where it’ll have their label on it. So it’s still all there. So their advertising’s for them. It’s just we’re trying to stop the waste.

THEO VON: Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Dude. When I even think about just how many bottles—I probably drink seven bottles of water a day. So that’s seven empty bottles. That’s just me. That’s ridiculous.

JASON MOMOA: Oh bro. It’s just—it’s the most archaic thing that we’re drinking plastic bottles. But I mean so we’re doing it in a business side and eventually we’ll try to get it where you know, we’ll have depots for it. But I mean the idea is to get people doing it because in every school kids can be doing this.

THEO VON: I like the idea too that you can have your thing at home that you could just set up that would then be able to refill it. I think that’s pretty novel. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Thanks buddy. Yeah, it’s Mananalu powered by Boomerang. You can check it out. And that’s the goal is to just another thing to try to fix in a very broken world. And we don’t need that pollution in our oceans.

THEO VON: Aquaman, you heard it.

JASON MOMOA: You heard it, man.

Junior Lifeguards

THEO VON: Have you ever been a lifeguard or not?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. That’s why my whole family are watermen. Yeah, they’re all lifeguards. Yeah. I went to junior lifeguards my whole life when I was growing up.

THEO VON: Dang. That’s—I wish I could be a lifeguard.

Saving Lives in the Ocean

When I was growing up, it’s pretty cool when you save someone’s life. I’ve saved a person’s life before in the ocean. Yeah. And when you do junior lifeguards, it’s really cool to really take your time. Things slow down. I’m sure it’s probably like a firefighter. I panic in a fire. But I think if I saw so many of them in my practice, you know, most people go, “Oh, shit,” and then they freak out.

Whereas the natural calm kind of comes over you, and you just assess the whole situation so you can both get out alive. You understand the rip. You understand what the ocean’s doing.

THEO VON: And you had to save somebody. Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: Is that in Hawaii?

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: Wow.

JASON MOMOA: But, I mean, it’s just the… And like I said, I’ve been many times drowned. You get caught in a rip.

THEO VON: Yes.

JASON MOMOA: It’s taking you out. You’re not going to beat the ocean. And you can literally be… I mean, I’ve been at a pipeline, a leash snapped, and I’m literally 8 feet from the shore. But it’s like a river going by, and you’re swimming, trying to get in. It’s 8 feet and you’re just getting burned out.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: And you’re like, there are cameras everywhere. There are people right there. I could yell for help, and I look like an idiot. I’m going to drown in 8 feet of water.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: And the current. So it’s just the undertow is just pulling your feet out, and it’s going to exhaust you, and it generally just got to go with it. It’s going to take you out to sea and it’ll dump you back in. But everyone drowns like that. It’s just… You got to watch out for the rips. They’ll go jumping into the f*ing ocean. And then if you see a sign, don’t go in. That’s why. I mean, don’t be stupid.

Smokey the Bear and Childhood Memories

THEO VON: You’re like the Yogi Bear of the ocean. Kind of remember him?

JASON MOMOA: Oh, I do. You put out those fires, kids?

THEO VON: Yeah, dude. Put them out.

JASON MOMOA: You know what I’m saying?

THEO VON: I know. He was so adamant.

JASON MOMOA: He was talking to me the other day. I built a fire. And I was like, that’s… Everything’s green around here.

THEO VON: What? Yogi was.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah. In my head. Because we’re psychos. But I was like, listen, I could dump out.

THEO VON: Oh, Smokey the Bear, dude. Sorry, who did I say? Yogi Bear.

JASON MOMOA: Yogi Bear’s basket.

THEO VON: Basket. Oh, dude, he’s starting the fire then. God, he’s probably on Suboxone or whatever by now. Oh, yeah, he’s not doing well. I think he was a stepdad, too. You can tell by his outfit. You could tell by that outfit. He was definitely trying to meet a lady that already had kids. Probably, too.

JASON MOMOA: Not like the Berenstain Bear where he was locked in.

THEO VON: Yeah, yeah.

JASON MOMOA: He was just a dumb dad.

THEO VON: That guy was a family man.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, he was. He was.

THEO VON: Yeah. Berenstain was a family man.

JASON MOMOA: Love me some Berenstain.

THEO VON: God, they were good.

JASON MOMOA: Especially the fall issues. Always got snuggled down when I read those ones.

THEO VON: And the scary one. Remember those. That one scary book? One of them, there was a fire where people were like, “No, no fires in the Berenstain Bears.” And people flipped out and shit.

JASON MOMOA: Oh, really?

THEO VON: Yeah, dude. People just cannot handle real shit. That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. Was there ever a time in a movie where you were training for something? It was one of the toughest things you ever had to actually train, or does it never go that far with training?

Training for Aquaman

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, I mean, training for Aquaman was pretty challenging. I’d have to say maybe the… Yeah, I’d say probably Aquaman’s probably the hardest I’ve ever had to train. I’m not very… I’m not a gym rat. I just like to do things. Rock climbing, you know, go surfing and things like that. But actually get… You do that for a role. I don’t necessarily…

THEO VON: You’re not in there getting pumped every day like a maniac or taking supplements.

JASON MOMOA: No, I just want to do the things I love to do.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah.

THEO VON: But I’m… Yeah, you know, some supplements monkey that’s over there at GNC every day or something. Supplements guy.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, I don’t even do creatine, all that.

THEO VON: Oh, yeah.

JASON MOMOA: I like to eat food.

THEO VON: Damn.

JASON MOMOA: I like to eat.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Hawaiian, dude.

THEO VON: Yeah. You got to get fat when you get older.

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, I’m definitely going that way.

THEO VON: Hell, yeah. I can’t wait to get fat.

JASON MOMOA: I’m trying not to, baby, but…

THEO VON: As soon as I get married, I’m getting fat. And then I’m getting divorced, too. I can’t wait to get divorced. What else? So people should go see the Wrecking Crew. It’s a great film. It’s fun.

The Wrecking Crew

JASON MOMOA: Yeah, it’s good, actually. It’s still good. You get to go to Hawaii. You know, if you can’t make it there, put on the Wrecking Crew.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Let me and Dave take care of you.

THEO VON: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

JASON MOMOA: Work out some trauma in your family.

THEO VON: Open up a can of Dole pineapple for your lady and put on the Wrecking Crew. Yeah. It’s almost the same thing.

JASON MOMOA: Some shaved coconut.

THEO VON: Yeah.

JASON MOMOA: You know what I mean? Some Mounds. Oh, dude, bust out a couple of those.

THEO VON: My dad used to give us Mounds sometimes when we’re good.

JASON MOMOA: Not a lot, though.

THEO VON: Not a lot.

JASON MOMOA: Not a lot of Mounds.

THEO VON: Yeah, dude, thanks so much for taking time. I know you had a long day, man. I know it’s kind of a pain in the ass and it’s not, man.

JASON MOMOA: I don’t do podcasts that much because I always get in trouble. So you’re my second, and it was wonderful. And, dude, I’m just awesome to meet you, man.

THEO VON: Yeah, it’s a pleasure, man. Thanks for all the awesome entertainment and… Yeah, thanks for just sitting and sharing some of your experiences and story with me.

Meeting Andy Samberg at SNL’s 50th

JASON MOMOA: You know, there’s one thing too. You know the thing that you have with… Oh, my goodness. David Spade when we were at the 50th SNL, he was there. Yeah, I saw him when we were there. My daughter is a massive, massive fan of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. So Andy Samberg’s her dude. She loves the most.

So I saw him about last person I’m leaving. I see him and I go, “Dude, my daughter loves you. Can I please get a picture with you?” And I send the video to my daughter and I said, “Hey, listen, if there’s anything, I’d love to do something with you.” About three weeks later, he pitches his story in Hawaii. It’s amazing. I laugh my ass off. We instantly sell it. I’m going in two weeks to go shoot it in Hawaii.

THEO VON: No way.

JASON MOMOA: With David… F*ing year later. No, with Samberg. But I’m just saying it’s the same thing. When you just like-minded friends, you were saying? Yeah, just friends and buddies meet in the comedy. I’ve never met him before just through my daughter. But you see something and you’re like…

THEO VON: Dude, and you make a project.

JASON MOMOA: But like I’m saying, you got anything in there and you want to, you know, you see me, you see you, “Oh, dude, Momoa do that. Oh, my gosh. I’m going to think it’d just be fun to be in.” You know what I mean?

THEO VON: I’m going to think I’m good. You’re Paul Bunyan.

JASON MOMOA: I could be the blue ox, bro. You could be Paul Bunyan. I don’t know, Babe.

THEO VON: Yeah, you’ll be Babe the Blue Ox, then. And we got to find somebody to be Paul Bunyan. I’m going to be the brother that’s on methadone. But we’ll figure it out.

JASON MOMOA: We’ll figure it out.

THEO VON: Jason Momoa. Thanks so much, man. Go see the Wrecking Crew, guys. Oh. But when I reach that ground? I’ll share this peace of mind I found? I can feel it in my bones?

JASON MOMOA: But it’s going to take.

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