| Clint: Mr. Margera, when and where were you born? Phil: I was born on July 13th, 1957 in West Chester Pennsylvania. Clint: So, how long have you and your wife been married? Phil: About 25 years, almost 25 1/2 years. Clint: When did you realize that Bam really had a passion and talent for skateboarding? Phil: I would say for Bam it was about when he was 10. He would go to CheapSkates and just, all the pros that were there would just sit there and watch him in total awe whenever he skated. Clint: Who were some of the pros that watched him? Phil: Um, Tom Moore was one of them, The Late Shawn Miller, he died in a car accident a few years ago, and he was always watching him. Bucky Laseck would be there, Darren Mandiedo. A couple guys that aren't really well known anymore like Sterling Ruby, Morgan Barrek all those guys would just form a circle around him and watch him skate, wherever he skated. Clint: Did you always encourage your kids to do what they do today? Phil: Yeah, um, we've been filming Jess and Bam since they were about 4 and 5 years old, so we have footage of them doing the same thing they are doing now, wrestling, fighting, all that. Everything they are doing now, they were doing when they were 4 and 5 years old. Clint: What is it like to have two kids who are so famous? Phil: Well, it is pretty unbelievable right now, every time we leave the house, we look up and say 'man, we are pretty lucky!' Clint: How has your life changed since Camp Kill Yourself, Jackass, and Bam's skating really took off? Phil: Not much, I do get recognized occasionally, around here. And then we went on vacation in South Carolina and several College students knew who we were, and wanted to take pictures of us for their yearbooks, and that is about it. Clint: Do you get a lot of stalker people? Phil: Well see, we are listed, and we are about the only Margera's that live in the West Chester area so we get about 40 to 50 calls a night. Ba, April, and Jess do get tired of the calls sometimes, but usually end up talking to everyone that calls. The rest of the family kind of gets snnoyed sometimes. Clint: Like me? (Jokingly) Phil: Oh yeah, well I enjoy it, sometimes April or Jess pick up the phone and talk to the people. You can call anytime, with the webpage and all. Clint: What is the worst thing that the guys have ever done to you? Phil: What you see is basically the worst things they've done, or all they have done actually. They really don't do that much to me except for waking me up and cutting holes in my lawn, and that kind of stuff. All the good stuff gets put on the show. Clint: When they wake you up, is that all real, or do they tell you ahead of time? Phil: No, it is always real. Bam just waits, and waits, and waits, he's patient, and, he waits until he knows I am asleep and all. But now when I do go to sleep, I'm skeptical, I'm wondering what is going to happen next. Clint: Heve they ever really wrecked your house? Phil: Um, not really believe it or not, you know, they knock something over here and there, but nothing major. Clint: Do all the guys still stay at your house all the time? Phil: Um, when there are travelers or skateboarders, they stay here, but the local guys pretty much stay at their own houses. Clint: Does Bam still live at your house? Phil: Yeah, he did, but we are moving out of this house and moving to another house with an unlisted number and it is about two times bigger than this house. Believe it or not, he is actually rather calm when his friends or cameras aren't around. Clint: Have you ever had to bail them out of jail? |
| Phil: Naw, the one time they were arrested was when MTV was here. They were doing the jump thing with the bike, trying to jump across that little creek. They were on private property, but they didn't really see the sign. The guy's house is over the hill there, and they didn't see the house. He got mad and called the cops. They all got citations and stuff, but really didn't get arrested. Clint: Do you approve of all the stuff that CKY does? Phil: Yeah, 99% of it is all in fun, like, they did get in trouble with the police one time. They were filming that 'Quite Bitter Beings' video, when they hit that bridge with that white car, I guess it was a Calvalier, it made a real loud noise and four of the neighbors called the police. So Bam was taking it to the junkyard for his uncle, it was unregistered and unlicensed so he tried to hide it. And the police came and Ryan Dunn was driving without his license and Bam didn't know that he had lost his license for speeding, or something. So a big mess occurred out of that, but after they all talked about it, they just joked about it. And I think all Ryan had to do was to pay for driving without a license. Everything else was dropped. Clint: Do Bam and Jess handle the fans pretty well? Phil: Yeah, well Jess is pretty easygoing, nothing really bothers him, he is sort of like me, nothing bothers him. Once in a while, Bam will just say 'this is too much' and whenever he hears the phone ring he will just pick it up and drop it back down. He doesn't even know who it is, it could be my mom calling, he'll do it to her. He just gets tired of it ringing after a while. then once in a while he will unplug them all and stuff like that. When you start getting 40 or 50 calls a night, it does start getting out of hand. Especially right after Jackass airs, it is nonstop. Clint: Do you ever get tired of all the pranks? Phil: No, no I enjoy them, I think he leaves half the stuff on the cutting room floor, some of the more funnier stuff. Half the stuff that doesn't make it on to Jackass is funnier than the stuff that does. Clint: I am just suprised that you take it all as well as you do. Do you ever get mad at him off camera? I know that if I was to do that stuff to my parents, they would get really pissed off. Phil: Well like I said, since he was 4, we've been doing that stuff to each other. We are always trying to trick the other one, it has always kind of been that way. Clint: So what is Cky and the other guys doing at this point? Phil: They signed with Island Deaf Jam and they payed their way to Hawaii to record their new album they will be there until about the middle of May, they've been there for about 2 weeks now already. Clint: Well, I live in Seattle. Do you think they will ever tour here? Phil: Well, they are supposed to be touring with the Def Tones sometime this year, so if you ever see the Def Tones come to town, Camp Kill Yourself should be touring with them. I'm not sure of Jess' schedule so, they have three tours planned for this year, so they probobly will be in that area. Bam is tour ing with skating so he might be there too. Clint: What is Bam doing right now? Phil: He is in Europe doing the Europian version of the Tony Hawk Pro Circuit. ANd, apparently, they will edit it and put it on television like they did last year. |
| intervieuw with phil margera |