Dream Dates and Girly Pop 101 ft P-Rod, Pro Skating Legend

Summary

LA PLATICA — "Dream Dates and Girly Pop 101" ft. Paul "P-Rod" Rodriguez

Release Date: March 9, 2026
Hosts: Sebastian Robles ("Sebas"), Josh Leyva ("Josh")
Guest: Paul "P-Rod" Rodriguez (Professional Skater, Nike SB Icon, Primitive Co-Founder)

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Episode Overview

In this energetic, insightful episode, Sebas and Josh are joined by skateboarding legend Paul Rodriguez—aka P-Rod—for a wide-ranging plática about drive, culture, love, and what it means to truly be yourself. The conversation explores P-Rod’s career, his romantic side, cultural influence as a Mexican-American in skateboarding, and health routines—plus, an amusing "Girly Pop 101" challenge that spotlights just how much (or little) the guys know about women’s beauty trends.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. P-Rod’s Relentless Drive and Skateboarding Success

• Dedication from Early Days:

  • "For me, I wasn’t just skating. This was life or death... You couldn’t stop me from practicing. I had to do it like a drug addict, you know." (Paul Rodriguez, [00:00])
  • Visualizing skating with his heroes and treating every session as if the world depended on it was central to his early success.
  • The role of “mirror neurons” and visualization: watching film, rewinding, internalizing movement, and mentally rehearsing was as crucial as physical practice. [49:47]
  • “One hour of visualization is equivalent to seven hours of physically doing.” [51:21]

• How Passion Translates to Genius:

  • "Everybody has genius level abilities within them. It just is a matter of where they’re pointing that genius laser beam." (P-Rod, [65:06])

• Advice for Aspiring Skaters and Creators:

  • Obsession and true love for your craft trumps raw talent; most successful pros weren't the best at first but 'wanted it more.' [59:56]
  • To succeed: endure setbacks, obsess over improvement, and use social media as today’s key tool for exposure and growth.

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2. Latino Representation & The Weight of Being an Icon

• Growing up as a Mexican-American in Skateboarding:
  • P-Rod reflects on being one of the first major Latino faces in a predominantly white sport: "It didn’t occur to me until a little bit later on... this is something bigger... This isn’t just for me." [67:31]
  • First realization happened after being recognized by Mexican-American kids at El Pollo Loco, inspiring them by his mere presence.
  • “If Paul Rodriguez can do it, I can do it too.” (Jess, [75:14])
  • Importance of culture and responsibility: Though initially intimidating, P-Rod came to embrace being a role model. “Now I got my people on my back and let’s do this.” [71:49]
  • Primitive’s growth as a brand disconnected from just his face—every skater’s dream: “That could live longer than... however long we’re going to be blessed with the fame.” [72:57]

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3. The Romantic Side of P-Rod

(“Dream Dates” & Relationships)

• Ideal Partner & Values:

  • Latina, career-driven, God-fearing, and an equal partner to build an empire with. [11:54]
  • Biggest turn-on: “Someone who's funny, who makes the conversation comfortable. I could be really shy...” [12:40]
  • Biggest turn-off: Negative attitudes, constant complaining, or “nagging.” [13:16]

• Perfect First Date Fantasy (see [15:06]–[23:22]):

  • Pickup in Model 3 Tesla with autopilot ("like a magic carpet"), open her door, elegant but easy-going dinner/cocktails, deep conversation, maybe a spontaneous after-dinner spot, then a sweet goodbye—kiss if the moment calls for it.
  • "It's more about the connection. That's what matters." [24:33]

• Most Romantic Real-Life Gesture:

  • Organized a private, candle-lit Shakey’s Pizza dinner at his skatepark during COVID—complete with music, her favorite food, and a surprise ambiance. [25:08–27:59]

• On Love & Self-Development:

  • “Do you fall in love fast or take your time?” — “Case by case... I dang my face right, way too fast, but I’ve learned to emotionally control myself.” [28:31]
  • If his exes were in a group chat? He's generally stayed “cordial” and friendly; hasn’t left drama in his wake. [29:53]
  • Importance of each partner having their own passions, lives, and goals: "It's really healthy... keeps the passion alive because you spend time apart focusing on other things… when you get that time together, it keeps that fresh." [33:01]
  • “Just be patient with me, baby. I’m a work in progress.” (On what he'd want his future wife to know.) [37:14]

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4. Training, Health, and Longevity

• Physical Routine:

  • Skates 4–5 days/week (~2–3 hours/session), plus a rigorous recovery and gym protocol: sauna, foam rolling (PVC pipe now!), cold plunge, IV drips, NAD shots, F45, Legree Pilates, Muay Thai, and personal training geared to functional, skating-specific strength and resilience. [40:23–47:45]
  • Example day: 2,600+ calories burned, 11K+ steps. [41:44]

• Purpose of Working Out:

  • Less about size/looks, more about staying agile and injury-resistant for skating: “I’m trying to be able to be functional... and be able to take the abuse of falling all the time.” [45:54]

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5. Pro Skating Culture, Technical Talk & Viral Moments

• Daily Skate Practice:
  • Young P-Rod: 8–9 hours/day, mixing freestyle with targeted trick drilling.
  • Now, with limited time, practice is goal-oriented—breaks down sessions by trick, drills specific contest moves (esp. for PSL league). [48:12]
  • Studies/rewatches footage for improvement, leveraging "mirror neurons": “You can train neuroplasticity by watching and feeling the movement.” [50:17]
• Recent Viral Moments:
  • The significance of Chris Joslin’s tre-flip on El Toro ("The most viral trick since the Tony Hawk 900, and deservingly so"; “He landed it perfect... it’s so hard for my mind to fathom somebody doing a bigger [one]”). [94:34–98:00]
  • “The crowd knows when it’s so clean... anything you do, as long as it’s clean, people are clapping.” (Jess, [100:06])

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6. Girly Pop 101: The Guys Test Their Knowledge

Hilarious segment where guys guess at women's beauty and self-care terminology ([101:33]–[107:19])

• Sample Questions:

  • What’s a “money piece”? ("Like a fancy bag?" — P-Rod. Actually, a highlighted section of hair framing the face.)
  • What’s a “kitten heel”? ("A skate trick?" — Actually, a low-heeled shoe.)
  • What’s a “blowout"? (Correct: Getting hair styled for volume/shine.)
  • What’s a “Diva Cup”? (Lots of laughs—guys think it's a "pimp cup"; narrator clarifies it's a menstrual cup.)
  • Where does the sticky side of a pad go? (P-Rod: "Against the underwear to hold it in place." Correct!)

• Notable exchange:

  • "I think this is good that us as men need to be talking about it. I think we shouldn’t feel ashamed." (P-Rod, [107:11])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Everybody has genius level abilities within them. It just is a matter of where they’re pointing that genius laser beam.” (P-Rod, [65:06])
• “Just be patient with me, baby. I’m a work in progress.” (P-Rod, [37:14])
• “If you don’t love this enough, then when the tough time hits...you’re going to quit at the first sign of opposition.” (P-Rod, [59:56])
• “To be in something long enough to see them grow up, do their thing, and then meet you and be like, ‘Hey, you don’t get it’—It’s such a blessed point of life to be at.” (P-Rod, reflecting on influencing the next generation, [74:52])
• “Now it’s not just for me. Now I got my people on my back and let’s do this.” (P-Rod, on embracing his cultural impact, [71:49])

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Fun & Lighthearted

• Cigar Lounge Stories:
  • P-Rod is a “big cigar guy” with his own lounge at his skatepark—a spot his Stogie Boys (Sebas & Josh) hope to soon visit. [84:39–86:17]
• Skating vs. BMX beef stories and rolling with OG skate habits (e.g., flipping wheels to display graphics, old-vs-young skate culture talk). [89:15–92:28]
• Golf mishaps and humility:
  • “I sculled the shit out of mine...” — Jess, describing his accidental hole-in-one. [79:23]
  • The guys rib each other about golf skills and attitudes. [82:13–83:00]

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Culture & Representation

• The conversation frequently circles back to the importance of being a role model, showing up authentically, and representing Latino culture in spaces where it’s underrepresented.
• Sebas and Josh both reflect how seeing a Mexican-American like P-Rod on skate videos as kids made them believe more was possible for themselves.
• P-Rod’s humility and faith (“God is great”) are woven throughout his reflections, as is his refusal to take sole credit—insisting the journey was “all God’s work.”

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Important Timestamps

• P-Rod’s drive & creative practice approach: [00:00], [49:47], [51:21]
• Romantic philosophy & ideal date: [11:54–23:22]
• Cultural impact realization: [67:31–75:14]
• Girly Pop 101 (comic relief): [101:33–107:19]
• Joslin’s legendary El Toro tre-flip: [94:34], [97:01]
• Primitive & brand building: [72:25–73:59]
• Cigar lounge/“Stogie Boys”: [84:39–86:17]
• Fan/follower giveaway winner instructions: [110:09–110:20]

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Closing

Sebas and Josh thank P-Rod for years of inspiration and for showing the next generation that authenticity, grit, and a humble heart forge true greatness. The episode ends on a note of gratitude, faith, and a toast: "God is great."

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For More

• Want to see P-Rod live? Drop “God is great” with your Instagram handle in the comments—for a chance at free PSL tickets!
• Follow P-Rod and Primitive: For more skating, motivation, and cultural pride.

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“Just be yourself — that’s the secret to inspiring others.” (Sebas, [108:31])

#MondaysDontSuck anymore—especially after this plática.

Transcript

[Paul Rodriguez]

For me, I wasn't. I wasn't just skating. This was. This was important. This was life or death. This was like, this is. You know, the world depended on this. In my mind, my world depended on it. You couldn't stop me from practicing. I couldn't stop. I had to do it like a drug addict, you know, Like, I had to skate every day, all day, non stop, until my mom had to, you know, yell at me, come inside. You haven't eaten. It's dinner time. I'm almost gonna land the trick my way up. Unreal passion, right? All my heroes I would see in movies, like Bruce Lee, be Michael Jordan. Like, they will be my big brothers in my head and I'll be like, I gotta make my big brothers proud, you know, what would they do? You know, like. So, like. And I'll be visualizing that I'm skating with my favorite skater. Like, whoa. Oh. Yo, me and Tom Pen. All right, Tom, you go first. I got your back. Like, I'd be having these little worlds in my mind. So I'm just. That extra, like, importance was put on the practice. Whereas maybe some kids were like, oh, I just want to learn this trick. And they're trying to trick the train, but I'm trying it. Like, no, my big brother's watching me and I. And he just did it and I got to get his back. And I'm like, it was an extra, like, oh, drive. Yeah, it was an extra push. So like, the intention behind the practice was more intense than I'd say probably average. Cuz the formula to success is ultimately the same thing. One, it's got to be. Like I said,

[Josh Labor]

Yo, se geek.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know the vibes, yo.

[Jess]

You know the vibes, my boy.

[Josh Labor]

What we talking about? World cup is here. What we doing? We going?

[Jess]

Yeah, we're going. And we're getting our tickets on se North American. North American games.

[Paul Rodriguez]

We're there.

[Josh Labor]

We there.

[Jess]

Obviously we're here to hook you up. Obviously that. That tick is going to be a little expensive.

[Josh Labor]

It be surprising, kind of. But. But with.

[Jess]

With our code LA10. La Platica 10.

[Josh Labor]

Take that again, take it.

[Jess]

With. With our code la platica 10, you get 10% off your ticketed purchase.

[Josh Labor]

And that's not just for the World cup, right? That's for sporting events, date night activities, whatever you're looking for. Seatgeek has you covered.

[Jess]

I just got tickets to the Kings game and I'm going to take my wife and I use la platica 10.

[Josh Labor]

That's right, guys. Green dot means Good. Red dot means bad. You know the vibes. Number one rated ticketing app on the

[Jess]

app store for a reason.

[Josh Labor]

Downloads 75. Oh, 31 million. Is it 31?

[Jess]

It's a lot of millions.

[Josh Labor]

30 plus million downloads, 75,000 live events. Seatgeek is the place to be, the place to go, the place, the app

[Jess]

to have, the app to have. I love that. Yeah, guys, you're in for a real nice episode. Oh, man. We'll see you in, what, 12.4 seconds? Ciao.

[Josh Labor]

I'm gonna use it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Let me be honest.

[Jess]

Every guest is a privilege.

[Josh Labor]

Do we want to go there, get jolly?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Cause I'm on a podcast with Josh Labor. Yeah, you have too.

[Josh Labor]

Ladies and gentlemen, let me just tell

[Paul Rodriguez]

you

[Jess]

I'm ready to rock and roll, dude. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Let's do it.

[Jess]

What about you, dude?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Money.

[Jess]

Dude, he doesn't do his hair like this. And I know why you did it now.

[Josh Labor]

What the.

[Jess]

It's your skater vibe.

[Josh Labor]

You're so whack. Okay, first of all, fuck you.

[Jess]

You remember the movie Brink? The. The roller skating movie on Disney?

[Josh Labor]

There's no way you've never seen Brink. Wow, you're. You're a 90s kid, right?

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Brink is an original Disney movie. The skater Soul Skaters. There's no way.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, the one movie I remember is when his name played Snake Eyes, and he was. And they were the rollerblade. The. The downhill racing movie, bro.

[Josh Labor]

I think that's.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, no, no. Is it?

[Jess]

Or is it.

[Josh Labor]

It's the guy with, like, the long hair and.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No.

[Jess]

Anyways, you look like that guy right now, bro.

[Josh Labor]

This is just how my hair naturally goes, bro.

[Jess]

You did it for P, yo.

[Josh Labor]

Don't ever embarrass me in front of P, bro. Ever, dog.

[Jess]

Now, it's not a surprise who's.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, this movie right here, bro. This is Brinkley. This is bring.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Ah, no, that's not the one I was thinking of.

[Josh Labor]

No, this movie is sick, man. You got to watch this film. It's. It's good.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Damn, that's dope.

[Jess]

Wait.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, that's the. That's the Black Ranger. Power Ranger. Yes. Yes.

[Josh Labor]

The original Black Ranger. Yes, bro. Yes.

[Jess]

This Power Ranger kid.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Hell, yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. That's what I'm talking about.

[Jess]

That's a white Ranger.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, that was.

[Josh Labor]

We actually used to have a Power Ranger poster. This used to be a Power Ranger post.

[Jess]

He would have seen. It would have been sick.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, he would have been the only one who's. Nobody appreciated it. He would have been the first.

[Jess]

That's why? We took it down. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But I went to the premiere to premiere of the Power Ranger movie back when I was like, eight, nine.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, no way.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, I geeked out. I got all their autographs. I was.

[Jess]

You're lying, bro. When. It was when the evil villain was

[Paul Rodriguez]

Dr. Goo or what?

[Jess]

Or Mr. Or whatever.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I forget the name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, it was like a. Like outer space.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But, yeah. And I went to the movie premiere. My stepmom brought me, and I got

[Jess]

to meet all of them.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Got all. Absolutely, bro.

[Josh Labor]

I would have lost it.

[Jess]

I.

[Josh Labor]

In 2013, 2014, whenever the new Power Rangers movie came out with Becky G. That was one of the first films, actually.

[Paul Rodriguez]

She was in a Power Rangers.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, she's a Yellow Ranger in the newer one.

[Jess]

P. You didn't know that, bro? Becky G was a Yellow Ranger.

[Josh Labor]

She did a really good job.

[Jess]

She's badassing it, bro. Wow.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, by that time, I was already way past my Power Ranger phase, but I was like, 92, 93, 94. That era know.

[Josh Labor]

Me too.

[Jess]

That's.

[Josh Labor]

That's totally me. But I ended up auditioning for that film as a Red Ranger. It was first time I ever got a call back. I didn't get the role, obviously, but it was pretty crazy.

[Jess]

You give Red Ranger energy. Oh, bro.

[Josh Labor]

I read for it, and I nailed it. And then I got a call back and I. I just it up on the second call round.

[Jess]

Yeah. Did you do the It's Morphin Time?

[Josh Labor]

Of course it's Morphin Time.

[Paul Rodriguez]

They make you do that immediately that

[Josh Labor]

they're like, state your name and you're in. Morph it up. Morph it up.

[Jess]

Tyrannosaurus.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. When I was, like, probably, like, I don't know, maybe nine.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I had got one of the little. What are they? They're little.

[Jess]

Yes.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And then they would click up and the little key. Yeah. Gold, little coin goes. But I would carry it with me everywhere because I was, like, convinced I was up. I was a Power Ranger just in case any trouble pops off. It's Morphing time. I was like.

[Josh Labor]

You would click it on the side and it would open.

[Jess]

Wait, you guys don't do that anymore.

[Josh Labor]

I still do, right? I do, actually.

[Jess]

All right, check this out. I'm ready to rock and roll.

[Josh Labor]

Are we rolling?

[Jess]

Yeah, we've been rolling. This video is also sponsored by Sea Geek.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Number one.

[Jess]

Already taking it up on the App Store. Thank you, guys. Hold on.

[Josh Labor]

Before you get into Sea Geek, we need a slate because.

[Jess]

Oh, my God. In the building.

[Josh Labor]

I need to hear this.

[Jess]

I'm too excited.

[Narrator]

This is Laplandica237 with P Rod237.

[Jess]

This episode makes me proud of us, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm honored.

[Jess]

All right, check this out.

[Josh Labor]

We got the intro.

[Jess]

Today's guest is skateboarding royalty, Mexican skateboarding royalty, X Games gold medalist street skating icon and the king of switch with 10 Nike SB signature shoes. Is it 10?

[Josh Labor]

Damn.

[Jess]

And he put SBS on the map. FYI co founder, primitive skateboarding. If skateboarding had a James Bond, it might be this guy. Ladies and gentlemen, P Rod. Paul Rodriguez

[Josh Labor]

himself.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Man.

[Josh Labor]

Dude, this is.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you, guys.

[Josh Labor]

An absolute honor, bro. This is so cool. I feel like it makes sense. Yeah. Rainbow was telling us how, like, this. This just makes so much sense. And just having you here and being able to engage with you, just the first 10 minutes you're in here, I was like, this is our boy, bro. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I love it.

[Josh Labor]

This is sick. And then if you guys can't see, we. We have the wide. I want to. I want everybody to see that. We're all rocking the Nike sbs. The P Rods. Come on, man.

[Paul Rodriguez]

With us, bro.

[Josh Labor]

The red bottoms.

[Jess]

With us. With us, baby. Yeah. Get these. Get these now, bro. Honestly, get these now. These are so sick. Congratulations again for another SB collab, bro. You're the sb.

[Josh Labor]

Like, God.

[Jess]

God, bro. How does that feel when you wake up, man?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Dude, it's a humongous blessing, like, especially now that this shoe. Because this was my first shoe.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And we brought it back as a retro. Yeah. So that's the P Rod one, actually.

[Josh Labor]

Wow.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But we brought it back last April, so it was like seeing something resurrect from the dead. Like, I hadn't seen it in 20 years. And then we rebuilt it, re. Brought it out, and it was like a friend of mine that had passed away that I got a chance. A chance to spend time with. Like, I know that got a little. Little.

[Jess]

No. It's a no. That's tight.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But it just shows what it meant to you. Yeah. It's a trip seeing it back in the world and people enjoying it and. And, like, really embracing it. It's. It's a blessing. So I. I just thank God every day. And so this particular moment is. Is pretty. Pretty big for me, bro.

[Josh Labor]

I said this off camera. I'm not just saying this.

[Jess]

I.

[Josh Labor]

With these shoes, bro. These are sick. I'm gonna be rocking these for a minute. The colorway. Sick. The everything. It's. This is a beautiful shoe, man.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you so much.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Congrats, man. This is so badass. How long have they been out now? For like a month.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So, yeah, this colorway has been out for a month. And so when we brought it back last April, we. We came out with two. Two colorways from back in 2005 when the shoe came out. But this is the first brand new colorway that this shoe never had that we've done since it's been out Fire. So that this colorway has never been done with this shoe. And it means a lot to me because, you know. Yeah, it's inspired and a tribute to Kobe, you know, him being one of my biggest heroes.

[Jess]

Oh, of course, of course.

[Josh Labor]

That's so far, bro. Damn, man.

[Jess]

You know, you have some shoes that have actually, like, hit the market. Crazy. How does that feel knowing, like, what the. Like, why is this shoe. Thousands and thousands of dollars, like, on resale? You know what I mean?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. You. Because you. You never can call what's. What's gonna hit and what won't. Sometimes the most weirdest, ugly issues will be the most expensive, sought after thing. And then ones that you think are going to be, like, so sought after, it's like, it's. People are like, whatever about it. You just. You can't call it the market.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. So for me, anytime that I got a sneaker that, like, people were, like, on the. On the aftermarket would be, like, searching for and paying extra top dollar for was big to me because, like, originally, you know, I'm a skater, so I wanted to make these shoes for my skaters and. And have the skaters enjoy skating in them and using them for their purpose,

[Josh Labor]

for function, not just style.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Exactly.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But then, you know, I also, on the flip side, wanted to have my sneaker culture wins.

[Jess]

Ye.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Feels good to have, you know, some wins on both sides of the coin there. So.

[Jess]

Yeah, you definitely do.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you.

[Jess]

Definitely do.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you.

[Josh Labor]

I'm hyped, bro. You are obviously a skate legend, and we're so excited to talk to you about, like, your. The culture that you, like, you've impacted and everything, but we want to do something a little bit different. As I told you off camera, 90 of our audience is women. Shout out to the ladies, what's up, y'?

[Paul Rodriguez]

All?

[Josh Labor]

How y' all doing? See you on the treadmill right now. Get it up, girl.

[Jess]

On the way to work. On the way to work.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. All my nurses out there. What's up? I see you. We heard through the grapevine, not rainbow, that you are single.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Is this.

[Josh Labor]

Can you confirm or deny that Is

[Paul Rodriguez]

that is a confirmation? Yes.

[Josh Labor]

Okay, so let's see if we can get you a little baddie. No, but we got some questions that we want to ask you.

[Jess]

Okay. Yeah. For the ladies. For the ladies.

[Josh Labor]

For the ladies.

[Jess]

Yeah. You know, this is.

[Paul Rodriguez]

This is new for me because I never really get to talk to the ladies.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Really not like the map in this sense? In this sense. An interview sense?

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Okay, well. Yeah, well, that's why, you know, maybe that's the real. The re. The real reason why you're here right now.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. You know, we shall see.

[Jess]

Let's see how smooth you are.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Not very.

[Josh Labor]

This segment is called the Bachelor.

[Jess]

Okay.

[Josh Labor]

All right. Are you ready, Mr. Bachelor man? Describe your dream girl.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, Latina.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, you're off to a good start, huh?

[Jess]

Great start.

[Paul Rodriguez]

A. A woman who has like a career. Like a career woman. Yeah. Who's. Who's already got her own thing going.

[Jess]

Career driven.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Career driven. Someone who we can build like an empire together with.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know what I mean? Build off each other.

[Jess]

A woman who has something already established

[Paul Rodriguez]

for herself, but most importantly, you know, a woman who believes in God.

[Josh Labor]

I love that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, I love that.

[Jess]

That's great. That's a great. That's a great answer. Biggest turn on, Turn off. When you're dating someone, what turns on?

[Josh Labor]

P Rod?

[Jess]

It turns on and turns off.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, turn on, I guess. Funny. Someone who's funny.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Or like, who's really good at making a conversation comfortable. Because I could be really shy. I could be the shy one and like when it's. When two shy people that are there and we're awkward, it's makes it really awkward.

[Josh Labor]

But yeah.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

A girl who can just.

[Josh Labor]

Just shines her personality shines.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You got a good personality. Just light hearted. But like, it's just easy to flow with in a conversation.

[Jess]

I like that.

[Josh Labor]

I like that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

A turn off.

[Jess]

Yeah, a little red.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, just. I guess just like a. Like a negative attitude, kind of. If you catch someone kind of complaining a little bit often about this or that or, you know, kind of gossiping

[Josh Labor]

like a Debbie Downer kind of.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jess]

Like, complaining about the smallest things.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, that's. That's kind of.

[Josh Labor]

That's a good one, actually. Kind of like there's people that just. They're always complaining, like, bro, just enjoy yourself.

[Jess]

I think they call those naggers.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Whoa.

[Jess]

No. Is that not what they call it?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, because, like, if you.

[Jess]

Someone's always nagging, if you see yourself,

[Paul Rodriguez]

you know, going down the line with that person, it's you know, at first, when you first meet someone, everybody's on their best behavior trying to know each other.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But if you can already sense it at the beginning, that's a.

[Josh Labor]

That's a rest.

[Jess]

Imagine, you imagine down the line, once

[Paul Rodriguez]

you settle comfortable with each other. Yeah. Then. Then it's like, all right. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. No, that's a good one. What is your idea of a perfect first date?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Man, that's hard to say because, you know, it really doesn't have to be anything fancy, really. I guess it goes back to what I was saying, just like clicking in a. In a. In a. In a conversational, like where. Where your. Your personalities can kind of like connect. Whether it be just a super nice dinner or whether.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, you go bowling or whether, you know, you know, mini golf.

[Jess]

Yeah, but Paul, imagine you made your own. You were the director of this romantic movie. What's that scene looking like? You can make it up, you know, because I like the whole, like, I don't. You know, it doesn't matter. I like that. Yeah. Of course you're a nice guy. That's gonna be the answer. I want to know, like, in a mythical world, what is the perfect date? You know what I mean? Like, how would you write it? Write it down on a movie.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, I get. Here's. Here's what I'm at. Here's what I'm wondering. Is it, like the perfect date? When it's gonna be the one. Okay, I was gonna say when it's just like some have fun on a date and you want to just hang out with somebody.

[Josh Labor]

Let's go with the one.

[Paul Rodriguez]

The one I like.

[Josh Labor]

The one I like, too.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay.

[Josh Labor]

Because there's only one of those. Because it's the one.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I don't know.

[Jess]

One means one. Quick.

[Josh Labor]

Quick math.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I guess maybe I'm. I go pick her up.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Jess]

Oh, you know, nice car. Like Tesla.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. My car is just basic car. Actually, I got a nice one, but now I'm getting sidetracked. But ever since I got introduced to this autopilot, I don't want to drive.

[Josh Labor]

Game changer. Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. So, like, I'm in the Tesla.

[Jess]

You're trusting it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm in the Model 3. I'm trusting it for days.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Great.

[Josh Labor]

Okay. So I go, are you hitting that autopilot pretty often?

[Paul Rodriguez]

98. No, you're lying. 98. And I only touch my steering wheel, like right now. Like when I had to find the parking and I had to, like.

[Jess]

You're lying.

[Josh Labor]

You gotta lock in A bit serious.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But no, it'll do it itself if it knows where to park. But sometimes it gets confusing. You have to be like, all right, no, we're going over here. But that's the only time I touch my steering wheel.

[Josh Labor]

So you don't have to touch it at all.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Not at all.

[Josh Labor]

You just have to keep your eyes full, bro. Because it has a camera.

[Jess]

Right.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But it's still. It's kind of lenient.

[Josh Labor]

So you can kind of be like this on your cell phone.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, I mean, I'll show you my setup. I have a mount right in the window where I put my phone right here. And I'm just watching videos, watching whatever, because it thinks I'm looking forward.

[Josh Labor]

You cheated the system.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. And so, like, I scoot my seat all the way back, I take my shoes off, I put them on the side, right? And I'm just like. I'm just like, like, yep, yep, yep. Oh, we're here. Oh, shoot.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Jess]

Wow.

[Josh Labor]

No way.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Dead serious. Dead serious.

[Jess]

I. I just knew about that feature. I just didn't know people used it. 98.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, not everybody does. And I'm so surprised because. Because now that I've experienced it, I'm

[Josh Labor]

like, can't go back.

[Paul Rodriguez]

My terminology is. Is every time I see someone driving, like, wheel grabbers right here, pedal pushers over here, man.

[Josh Labor]

Do you have a normal car?

[Jess]

Like, yeah, I got a. I got

[Paul Rodriguez]

a really nice fancy car, but, yeah. Yesterday was the first time I drove it in four months. Only because I had to pick it up from getting service.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, they had to. Used to. Have to pay for that, Right? Now it's included in the Tesla.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, you still pay for it, but It's. It's about 100 bucks a month. I know we're getting so sidetracked. We'll answer that, but this is great. It's okay.

[Jess]

This is what we do.

[Josh Labor]

You know? It's funny, bro. Sorry. My brother, he's a huge Tesla guy. Loves his Tesla, but he doesn't use the auto feature. I've asked him, like, why.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I don't understand.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That's the only reason I got.

[Josh Labor]

I get. I know.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Only reason I got it. It's 100 bucks a month now. I get it. If someone, you know, if that's not in their budget, sure. Totally respect that.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But the way I look at it is my other car cost me maybe 500 bucks a month in gas.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So I figured if I'm just spending 100 bucks on the 2 on FSD, full self drive. Then I'm still saving a gang of money on without the gas. And every day I wake up, full charge, full tank. Never have to stop at a gas. They never have to do nothing. I'm fully charged every day. It's like a dream.

[Jess]

Wow. Do we need that, bro?

[Josh Labor]

Honestly, he's selling me right now. I'll take you guys three, like. Because those are, like, easy.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, it's metal. It's the cheapest car I've ever owned, but it's like, my favorite car I've ever had.

[Jess]

Yeah, you have your personal Waymo. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, my personal chauffeur.

[Jess]

Wow.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Straight up like that, bro. It's a like that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's like that. I'm gonna show you. I'll show you.

[Jess]

It's like that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's like that.

[Jess]

Okay, anyway, so you pick her up and you're.

[Josh Labor]

And you're pulling up like this in

[Paul Rodriguez]

my model three girl. Pull up, you know? No, I pull up if it's the one. If I. If I have a sense that it might be the one. I pull up, you know, of course I'm getting out. I get out of the car.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, I wait for her to come out her place. If it's our first date, first meeting or whatnot. Wait, you know, give her a hug, walk around, open the door. Then I would think I would like to go to, like, maybe a really delicious dinner. Doesn't have to be fancy, but maybe if it's the one, we'll go a little fancier. Some.

[Jess]

Somewhere where there's nice service.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, nice service. Maybe Maybe some, like, really, like, classy, upscale cocktails.

[Jess]

Something smoked?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. A little smoky. A little. Maybe Mezcal or something like that, you know, but so, yeah, you know, we sit there, we have a nice table, a little intimate, maybe in a corner kind of setting with a little booth that's like, you know, you sit next to each other, but not too, like. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Close enough.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Locking eyes.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. You know, we get the conversation going. Yeah. We get our food, we talk, and then we're like, hey, like this. This has been really fun. Like, I don't want to send you. Should we keep this going? Should we, you know, want to do something else? And then you go spontaneous, Right. Depending. Depending on what. What time of the day or night it is. You know, maybe. I don't know, maybe you hit her with this line.

[Josh Labor]

How do we get out of here?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I should.

[Josh Labor]

I'm going to.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Now that's what I'm gonna use. That.

[Josh Labor]

Shut up and I'm freestyling.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm freestyling. Thank you. Because I never. I never actually really thought about it. Now you're making me think about it.

[Jess]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And you know, you know, I'm gonna have to go based off how elegant she might be dressed because, like, I'm not gonna take her bowling if she's, like, got high heels or something like that. So, like, I can do. I'm. I'm very versatile. I can be spontaneously, like, hey, let's go bowling.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Hey, let's go mini golf or let's go to the batting cages or, you know, maybe a movie. But I would say I'm picturing this. This person. And do you see her?

[Josh Labor]

Do you see her?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm seeing her. I'm seeing her. And then I'm imagining her too.

[Jess]

At the moment. I was like, I don't know if I should put blonde or brunette hair on her.

[Josh Labor]

I went black, I went brunette.

[Jess]

I went brunette.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I got black brunettes. You know, let's keep this going. So, like, we, you know, maybe I quickly try to, like, sneak, like, find a little, like little like low key, classy, kind of like almost speak easy type joint.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Take it over there. Like, you know, just keep the conversation going and just spend time just like, getting to know her.

[Jess]

Who are you?

[Paul Rodriguez]

What are your dreams?

[Jess]

What are your girls?

[Paul Rodriguez]

What do you like?

[Jess]

What do you.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Blah, blah, blah, you know, and just spend a few more hours doing that.

[Jess]

I like that. And then it's like heavy conversations.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. And then just, hey, let's get you home. You know, get back in the car, type the address we go, you know, and then we're continuing. We're still talking.

[Jess]

It's like your magic carpet.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's cool. Like, yeah. So anyway, like, yeah, cool. Oh, we're here. Well, thank you for such a beautiful night. I've had such a blast. Hopefully we can do this again. Let me walk you to the door and walk her, you know, and then maybe get a little kiss. Little something light.

[Jess]

A little something like on the lips or on the cheek.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, preferably the lips.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, you going lips.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Preferably the lips. And. And that will reveal itself in the moment.

[Josh Labor]

I agree.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Depending how you lock eyes at that last moment, that might.

[Josh Labor]

You're right.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So, yes, that's a. That's a in the moment kind of play.

[Josh Labor]

You can't. You can't determine that ahead of time.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah. So then I feel like French kissing

[Jess]

was such a, like, taboo thing before, but now it's just like a guaranteed.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I Never felt that way, but it's never been.

[Josh Labor]

You're not French kissing on the first date. Maybe you are, but, like, it's just part of kissing. But this setting, everything, it's like a. It's like, just like a nice kiss.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But then again, we're also talking about if this is. If you have an inkling that this might be the one. Okay. Yeah. You're not coming on too strong.

[Josh Labor]

That's my point.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, that's my point. You go in for the kiss, and if it. If it just feels in that moment, then it turns into what it turns into.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But then for sure. All right, well, thank you so much. I can't wait to see you. You know, make sure she gets in the house safe. Boom, get back in the car, get home. And then. Yep. On the way home and just be like, oh, my God, did I just meet the one? And we're like, damn, I'll talk to you.

[Josh Labor]

And you have a sunroof. It has a sunroof. So you're just stargazing.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the. Just the window.

[Josh Labor]

The window.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Yeah. And. And then, you know, get home. Maybe by the time I get home, just like, hey, thanks a little quick tech. Thanks again for such a wonderful night.

[Josh Labor]

Can't wait to do it again.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Hope you sleep well. Talk to you soon. And then that.

[Jess]

Wow. That's the night.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I guess that's what it is.

[Jess]

Okay, imagine if you're, like, on the way home, you. You're looking at the. The. The roof and the sky, and you just see a shooting star.

[Josh Labor]

What's. You got to make a wish.

[Jess]

Hey.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, well, then, you know, you got to make. Then, you know, then. Then things are just aligning.

[Jess]

Right.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, that's.

[Jess]

That's God's one question about God's wink right there. One question in this story. You. Are you fully established P rod right now?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I thought we were talking in real time.

[Jess]

I thought the. I thought. I don't know if the character was actually full badass P rod or, like, an average Joe dude, Paul Rodriguez.

[Paul Rodriguez]

The question was, what's my idea of a perfect day?

[Jess]

So, okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, I just was.

[Jess]

I just thought he was doing his movie. You know what I mean?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, yeah. No, I'm speaking in real time. In the movie.

[Jess]

It's P Rod sick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah. Just. I mean, I get. I just think of myself as Paul, so I guess. Yeah. In real time, I'm just Paul. And. Yeah. And, you know, that's. That's kind of a. That's a rough sketch of what that might be like.

[Jess]

Wow. If that's a rough sketch, I can't even imagine the final draft.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, there it is, bro. There it is.

[Jess]

Thank you for that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you for that. You guys made me really think about it.

[Josh Labor]

That was good, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And it was nothing crazy, but it's just like. It's more about the.

[Jess]

Yeah. After the connection. Pause and search for that scene now, man.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It'll happen.

[Josh Labor]

It's gonna happen, bro.

[Jess]

Well, since we're talking about it, I'm

[Paul Rodriguez]

not saying it hasn't happened, but I'm saying. Yeah.

[Jess]

So that's what I was going to get into. Maybe you can describe really quick. What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for someone in real life?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay.

[Jess]

As established paw.

[Paul Rodriguez]

What I think. So this was like when things were kind of still locked down in Covid era.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And at my skate park that you went to, I was seeing somebody and it was my birthday and she had made plans for dinner, but she was like, ah, like, we can't go because Covid, blah, blah, blah. It just. It's not gonna work. And she was like, you know, I wish I could have done something for you. So I don't really care about my birthday. I just wanted to spend time with you. So my boy Mike helped me set it up at my skate park. And so what we did was her favorite thing was Sharkies or a Shaky's Pizza. It was like Shaky's Pizza and Bud Light.

[Josh Labor]

Gotta love those potato wedges, man.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yes, we had those.

[Jess]

So I got.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I got her favorite order.

[Jess]

They're called Mojo's, by the way.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I had my guy. You know, the stairs. We were skating.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right there on the top. Where the stair. On the top platform had a table. But what we did was we made it look really nice. So got a table. Put a nice tablecloth with like, champagne flutes and like, really nice silverware and everything, but with pizza and Shakies.

[Josh Labor]

The Shakies experience.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So. So what we did was my guy Mike was like. He helped me set it up and the lights and everything. Her. One of her favorite artists. The music came on, was set to go. Right. So.

[Jess]

Wow.

[Paul Rodriguez]

We were going to go. We couldn't do this thing. So we were still hanging out and we were. We were together that whole day. I think we saw a movie and I was like, I made up some excuse like, oh, I forgot something at the skate park. You mind if we. We run by the skate park real quick. And I'm texting my guy the whole time, like, yo, we're five minutes away, ten minutes away, whatever. Yeah, almost there. And so we pulled up and I was like, I was like, you want to just come in with me real quick? Okay, sure. And we pulled up, and as soon as I opened the door, I like, kind of like, gave her a little, little push to go first. And the song came on.

[Josh Labor]

Wow.

[Paul Rodriguez]

The lights were all dim. The whole place was red and dimmed. And the, the table was set up on top of the stairs.

[Jess]

Just lit up.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. And, and, and she was just like, what is this? And I was like, oh. We start walking closer and closer. I don't know, Closer.

[Jess]

She's like, what is this?

[Paul Rodriguez]

And then we walk up and she realized it's, it's Shaky's pizza. But like this really nice fancy setup and like bud light in the, in the, in the champagne glasses. And it was, it was, it was probably my most bro, that's super romantic thought process.

[Jess]

Romantic.

[Josh Labor]

That is romantic as bro.

[Jess]

And very thoughtful.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

My boy Mike was like, off to the side, snapping, filming it and like, like she didn't know. And then. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

This is your birthday surprise.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, it was my birthday.

[Josh Labor]

You seen, have you seen the movie Happy Gilmore?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Of course.

[Josh Labor]

Wait, is it Happy Gilmore?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. When he gets the Zamboni in the, in the, in the. When he's takes her out. That same type of vibe.

[Josh Labor]

Endless love. That's what I picture about.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ring.

[Josh Labor]

Yes, bro. Yes. That's what I pictured when you were telling us. I was like, bro, this is that, this is that so romantic, bro.

[Jess]

Wow. So thoughtful of you, bro.

[Josh Labor]

If she's watching this, I hope she regrets leaving you. I'm just kidding.

[Jess]

I don't think she does, but I'm joking.

[Josh Labor]

I'm joking. All right. Do you fall in love fast or do you take your time? P. Rod.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I think it's a case basis. I think it's a case by case basis.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Jess]

I like that case by case.

[Paul Rodriguez]

In that particular instance I just described. Yeah. I went way too fast. I, I, I dang my face. Right. Way too fast.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Since then, I've learned to like.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Emotionally control myself.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And like, things pace a little. A little better.

[Josh Labor]

You, you, you, you live and learn, though, bro. I've definitely. Yeah, I've been there too.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

You get excited, right? And then.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

You kind of just jump the gun a bit.

[Jess]

Yeah. For what? I have a good question for you, dude.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay. I'm excited. These you guys got me thinking. Now I'll be listening to like love songs when I leave here.

[Jess]

Like, I looked at.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I look.

[Jess]

I looked at Jess right now because I was like, oh, fuck. It's a good one, dude. If we put your exes in a group chat right now, what would they say about you?

[Josh Labor]

Oh, my God.

[Jess]

Oh, you're fucked up.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, just. You're dirty, dude.

[Paul Rodriguez]

What would they say? Joking.

[Jess]

This is great.

[Josh Labor]

So you put them all in a chat and then he says, like, so, what do y' all think about me? Go like.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I want to say, what would he

[Jess]

think they say about him?

[Paul Rodriguez]

And it doesn't have to even be bad, me just bigging myself up at all, but I think for the most part, I've. I've stayed friends with all of them.

[Jess]

Oh, cool.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. It doesn't have to be friendly, I should say, with all of them. Like, I'm cordial. Yeah. I'm not, you know, every day talking to them, but I've. I've stayed friendly with all of them. So hopefully that's.

[Josh Labor]

That's very telling.

[Paul Rodriguez]

A sign that I think it is too much talking. I mean, obviously. Obviously, you know, at the end of the day, those ones didn't work out, so, you know, I'm sure there's. I'm not an angel. Of course not. But, you know, for the most part, I don't think. I'm not a demon, you know, so.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. I don't know what they would say, but there'd be a couple little jabs. But I think I would like to think, for the most part, you're a good skater. It'll be all right.

[Jess]

They're like, yeah, he's a good skater.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Maybe that was. Maybe that was the reason some of them didn't work.

[Josh Labor]

He's got a mean kick.

[Jess]

Too much. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Dude, that's crazy. I knew. I know. That you grew up with all sisters, right?

[Paul Rodriguez]

You're a sister. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, okay. Well, chat GPT me up. Chad said that you had three sisters.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, really? What the.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I. I got. I got a. A sister.

[Jess]

Maybe. You don't know about your other sisters, man.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, my dad is a different kind of dude. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a whole fleet of brothers and sisters out there. That's for sure.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, but shout out to your pops, man. That dude's a legend for sure, man.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you. Yeah, he's. He's done his thing.

[Josh Labor]

But honestly, bro, just going back to what you were saying, I could just tell by just some of the remarks that you've made that you're very self aware. So I think that, I don't know, I know you mentioned that you had like you would. You're friends with, you know, some of the people that you've dated in the past and I think that's very telling. And even if they had jabs and stuff like that, I think you've like grown as a person and as a man to like acknowledge that maybe you have up, up, but you've grown from it, you're learning from it and it

[Jess]

is what it is.

[Josh Labor]

And you know, you wish everybody the best.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That's all we can do. Yeah, for sure. Wish them all the best, but that's all we can do, is grow and learn, you know, and. Yeah, you know, and I'm just grateful that we've been able to be friendly.

[Jess]

And honestly, bro, if I was your girl, if I was your ex girl, I would always be friends with you. Why the would I not be friends with Paul Rodriguez?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right. Well, you know, a couple of them, they're their own.

[Jess]

No, I get it. But you know what I like is, is that first question that we asked you, it means a lot, tells me a lot about you that you said basically like, you want to find somebody who has their own things going on as well. And one of my friends, he's kind of like, you know, talking to a couple girls and I told him like, bro, you need to find somebody who like doesn't see you as their main priority. Right. Like somebody who is like, who like, like a woman who like chooses her career before you.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

And that doesn't technically mean like, oh, like I don't. With you or like I don't want to prioritize you. It's just you need a girl or a woman who, who, who, who sees her life at the moment before you and she's not completely obsessed with you and just, you know, is your like little pilot.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I think it's really healthy.

[Jess]

Yeah, it's really healthy. And it goes with men too. Women are fascinated about men who have their own going on, you know, that's what makes us men and that's what makes strong women so beautiful too, is that when they have their own thing going on. So I love my girlfriend, my girlfriend, my wife so much, is. Dude, she would probably drop me for her for like, just for her career, you know, and that's so amazing that, that she would. You know what I mean? But I like that you said that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, you know, just. It's something. I think it's really healthy because, you know, one, I think it keeps the, The. The passion alive because you guys had to spend a lot of time away focusing on everything. And when you get that time together, like, it's like, keeps that fresh. Like, oh, I was so excited to see.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

You know, and, and hear about what's going on in their life and the passions that they have.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah. And so I think that's just in my experience, it's. It's something that. Yeah. That I'd like to have.

[Jess]

I love, I think also too, like, I think when you spend so much time with somebody, immediately ruined the relationship quick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

You know, like you said like coming back home or like, oh, I haven't talked to you in like all day, like, what's up? It's just so refreshing to, To. To hear someone out like that and knowing that, dude, she has like this whole other life. You know what I mean? Other than just me. That's hot.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And it's like kind of like so hot. Like. Yeah, it's super hot. And it's also like a kind of a slight. Not a, not an unhealthy amount of jealousy, you know, like, like, oh, she's. I'm not the first thing on her. I gotta stay on my, on my toes, on my aame. To make sure I don't get completely pushed out of her thought process.

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Even like in your own like, career, it like pushes you to like, stay like, motivated because, you know, she's doing her thing and vice versa.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That as well too. You know what I mean? Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

You don't.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Still can't get complacent. Yeah. It's like, you know, it's not about like, I got to do better than my girl, but. But it's also like, I don't want to fall behind.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, I want to make sure I. We, you know, we stay inspiring each other. That's. That's the building part, you know, and somebody.

[Josh Labor]

You said you want somebody who has goal oriented, passionate, driven. She's to want that in a partner as well.

[Jess]

Of course.

[Josh Labor]

I mean, that girl wants that partner as well. So you got. That's why you say iron sharpens iron. It's that same thing pushed you guys towards greatness.

[Jess]

But Paul, you're so busy in your own life right now. Yeah. I'm assuming you don't really go out and find chicks. Right. So like, when it does, unless, I don't know, like, I feel like you're so busy. How does one find you? Find you or how do you go out and like, oh, let's. Let's go. Hey, guys, let's go out. Like, you know.

[Josh Labor]

Are you on dating apps?

[Paul Rodriguez]

No. Okay. No.

[Jess]

What a stupid question.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, it's not. No, it's not. It's not. But no, you know, I'm in a. Kind of a neutral place right now. You know, it's not been too. Too long that I've been single, you know, so, yeah, I'm just kind of like, going back to just focusing on me, growing and growing and evolving as myself. But, you know, I. I don't know. It just kind of happens organically. It can happen in person. It can happen through social media. It can happen through any number of ways. I don't know. I. I'm definitely in a place where I'm not. I'm not forcing it. I'm not, like,

[Josh Labor]

obsessively looking on it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, I'm just like, you know. You know, I might throw out. I might throw out a little something. A little fishing reel here and there for sure. If I'm really interested or, you know, maybe if. If someone approaches me as well, and I'm like, oh, well, I didn't expect this. Cool.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But, you know, it just kind of. I don't really know, have the answer. It's just any number of variables, you know, could. Can happen.

[Josh Labor]

So you're open to love, you're open to finding somebody. You're not, like, actively searching.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm open to it. I'm just not, like, daily dreaming about it. Yeah, it's there. And, you know, I trust in the higher power, and, you know, God's plan is God's plan and how that. How that unfolds, I don't know. But I trust it'll unfold the way it should. I like that.

[Jess]

I like that.

[Josh Labor]

If your future wife, speaking of which, is watching this, which she is.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I know the future.

[Josh Labor]

What do you want her to know?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Wow, that's a great question, and I have not a great answer for it. What do I want her to know?

[Josh Labor]

That is a really good question, Jess.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Just be patient with me, baby. Just be patient with me. I'm a work in progress. Just be patient with me.

[Josh Labor]

Dude, that's.

[Jess]

Yeah, that's actually really a really good answer. I feel like even, like, in our. Maybe we can relate to. It's like, just be patient.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right.

[Jess]

Even with the other. The other partner as well. I feel like that's kind of the key. Like, having patience is key to a successful relationship. Maybe not too much. Right. Depending on The.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right, Right. There's an over. Overload of that. And. Yeah, and also it's like, you know, but, you know, if we're gonna do this for the long haul, if we're going to do this all the way, you know, we're gonna, you know, expect that a person to be perfect. I mean, first of all, that's not even realistic. And you're never going to be perfect, but you can't expect the perfect person to be perfect right away. And, you know, you got. You gotta have time to get to know each other, mesh with each other. No matter how much you love someone, I'm sure there's some things that you guys might. Little random things that might annoy each other about each other and whatever. Just those little minutia. So I would just say, yeah, be patient with me. I'm a work in progress.

[Josh Labor]

I like that.

[Jess]

Me too.

[Josh Labor]

You want to read the last one, pz?

[Jess]

Yeah, it is. Sorry.

[Josh Labor]

We have P. Rod and we're asking a question about his love life.

[Jess]

This is fun.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I never had a. I never done an interview about this at all.

[Jess]

Yeah, no. You know, like Josh said, 90% of the audience is beautiful women. So it's like, you know, we.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, I need to. I need to ask how y' all did it, because my whole audience is 90. All dudes. And not. Not that I'm upset about that. I'm grateful to have Escape fans, but. But damn. I mean, I wouldn't mind a little bit, you know, maybe like.

[Jess]

Yeah, no. Hey, everybody go over there.

[Paul Rodriguez]

70, 30 or something. Like, you know, give me a little. They're kind of a little bit better of a ratio, you know.

[Josh Labor]

You have a podcast?

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, I don't.

[Jess]

No, no. Well, definitely. Paul Rodriguez invites you over.

[Josh Labor]

If you're not following.

[Jess]

To his side of the world. Yeah. Who knows?

[Josh Labor]

Skate on by.

[Jess]

Yeah. Maybe you'll get a lucky Tesla date.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, I'm telling you.

[Jess]

Okay. Landing a new trick or finding a good relationship.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm landing a new trick.

[Jess]

Yes, sir.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, come on. Because. Because that's gonna fade. You know, I'm not getting any younger, so as many tricks as I can land that I knew at this point in my life, I'm gonna take advantage of that because. Yeah, that. That's a. A talent that has a window.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, that's. That's a really good point. That's a really good point. How often are you trying to, like, like, land new tricks?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, I mean, daily, really? I mean, I actually, you know, I skate probably four Days a week. These days I need to take maybe two maybe, maybe three days depending on. I might. It's four or five days a week I skate. But maybe two, maybe three days a week of just recovery. It just at this point I need that.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

How long are you skating for? Like when you're actually skate?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I don't know, maybe two, three hours. Depending how my body feels. If I'm feeling really fresh, yeah, I'll do a good three hours. But I mean when I was a kid and I started, it was like, yeah, endless. It was like 10, 11 hours till my mom was like, get your ass inside. You know. But do you ever wear like a

[Josh Labor]

whoop to see how many like calories you burn? Oh, I'm Mr.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Whoop Man.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, yeah, you're whooped out like that. Yo, he's missed.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Every day.

[Josh Labor]

So like. Yeah. I'm kind of curious, like what does an average skate session look like yesterday?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yesterday was an average day. Let's see, let me see.

[Jess]

I love the wood, man.

[Josh Labor]

I'm gonna, I'm gonna guess, I'm gonna guess. I'm gonna put. I'm gonna. You said two hours.

[Jess]

What calories?

[Josh Labor]

I'm gonna guess between 350 and 550 of calories. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay. So I skated twice yesterday.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Which was, which was from 10:45am to 1108. It was just a quick 25, 30 minute in the backyard warm up.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And then I hit the sauna and then I went from 1:18pm to 2:40. So that was only like an hour and a half. The, the hour and a half session was 487.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

The, the, the 20 something minute one was 165.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And then, but my, but then I also went and worked out like weights. Yeah. Yesterday was weight training day and that was 351. So my, my full day. And this is a pretty average standard day. A full day yesterday, calorie wise was 26, 17 active calories that you burn

[Jess]

or is that just throughout the day?

[Paul Rodriguez]

That's, that's just the whole day.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

The whole day. I. I don't know if it breaks down. The active. I guess the active calories were each.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That was probably.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. Like close to a thousand.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Maybe at least. Yeah, probably. And then I, my steps yesterday were.

[Josh Labor]

Let me guess, hold on. With the skating and stuff, I'm put you at, at 13,000.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, I'm low. It was 10,000, 941.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

10,941, but that's pretty average.

[Jess]

No, it's above average.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But then the day. Well, it's average on, on mine. For me, the day of the contest, when I, when, when you came up, that was 3,691 calories.

[Jess]

Wow.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But still 10, 775 steps, so that's kind of.

[Jess]

No, that's great.

[Josh Labor]

Do you take your recovery pretty serious, bro? Are you doing, like. Because I heard you say sauna. What else are you doing for, like, recovery?

[Paul Rodriguez]

A lot of foam rolling, but I got to the point with the foam roller that I'm on it so much that I just use a PVC pipe.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, yeah?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, I just use the PVC pipe.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. Like the big ones.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Well, it's like, probably like that.

[Jess]

Okay. And is that when you graduate from foam, just go to straight plastic?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, I went to Home Depot and just, Just got.

[Jess]

You know what? The foam ain't doing it for, for me no more. I need, like, straight. Like, that's crazy.

[Josh Labor]

It does make a difference, though.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I just need it as hard as it could be. Pause.

[Jess]

You can say pause. I was going to say that, then I stopped myself, but you said it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So I, I, I use that a lot. I stretch a lot. Yeah. I have the infrareds on at the crib. I got plunge at the crib. And I use the normatech legs.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, yeah, those two, the north. Those are amazing.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So I kind of combine all those things.

[Josh Labor]

I think you said you did an iv. Was that recovery or was that. Okay, cool.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. So the last six weeks, I've been doing IV drip every Tuesday, like, all the good vitamins, everything.

[Josh Labor]

Do you do nad?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, and, and then I get nad shot right at the end after that. Yeah. Yeah. So I've been on that.

[Jess]

Nad's the truth, huh?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, it's really good.

[Jess]

It's really good for you.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So, you know, those are the type of things I've been doing. Just staying limber, staying active.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And, you know, I'm 41, and I'm still able to be this active pretty, pretty consistently. So that's, you know, grateful for all that. But I think, you know, working out is, is a key to my longevity, for sure. And then just 100 stay in skating.

[Josh Labor]

Do you have a trainer for like.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, I have, I have a, I have a personal trainer that I do twice a week. But then I, I go to F45, too, also pretty much Monday through Friday.

[Jess]

That's a good workout.

[Paul Rodriguez]

More sometimes than skating, really. Yeah, Like, I just, I'm like addicted to it. I love it. But F45. I'll do that. And then I also been doing this thing called Legree. I'll do that at night.

[Jess]

Oh yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's like I'm not explain it. Other than like a much harder Pilates. But dude, it is like hard.

[Josh Labor]

Really?

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And the good thing is most every time I'm in there, I'm the only guy.

[Josh Labor]

Oh yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So that's cool.

[Josh Labor]

Bonus.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, no, no. That's the thing is I don't want to. I don't want to where I eat, you know.

[Jess]

I agree.

[Josh Labor]

I agree.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But I don't mind the ambiance.

[Jess]

Yeah, no, they're great workouts. My wife has taken me to some. They're so good, bro. They're like you're. You're shaking. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You're dying.

[Josh Labor]

A lot of core stability.

[Jess]

It's a lot of stability. It's like. And like you keep going, bro. It's like I told my wife, volume. It's like, it's like a lot of. It's like I get burnt. Like they're burnouts. You know what I mean? Like, it's really good, bro. And you're. Some of them are like heated too.

[Josh Labor]

I was gonna ask, bro, do you ever train like your. Your workouts around skating?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. That's that they're tailored for that.

[Josh Labor]

Because I know Tiger woods, he was one of the first golfers to ever take his like golfing into like the weight room.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

So all his training was to become a better golf.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Nobody was ever doing that before.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like I don't train for. Looks like I'm not trying to get big at all. I'm trying to be able to be functional.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

My agility.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And. And be able to take the abuse of falling all the time. Every day I got. I'm falling all the time. So I want my body to be able to just take the abuse of hitting the concrete. So I work with a trainer for, I don't know, 14, 15 years. Name is Dr. Eddie over there at Sports Academy in. In Thousand Oaks, which was also the Mamba Academy. Rest in peace, Kobe. And I also work out shout out to Ms. Jess. She's like the Nike trainer and she has a spot contra sports club out here in la. And I go work out with her Mondays and Fridays. So those are the workouts that are specifically skate related. Yeah. Tailored just for skating. Wow. And then F45. It's good for cardio conditioning. Cardio. And then legree. Also with the skating, which Is so much stability work. Like you said, the core and then good for like knee, knee, gluten stability, ironically, all the things that women want to go work out, like their. Their quads. Everything absolutely perfect for skaters.

[Josh Labor]

Well, yeah, because it's all leg driven, right?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Labor]

So like, like, just thinking about it, I think you guys do a lot of, like, I've never done one, but it's like a lot of explosive. Like, you guys are deadlifting driving from the ground.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You're on a time time basis. So like, it's just like, boom. 30 seconds, 10 second break. 30 seconds, 10 second break. And like, so Tuesdays and Thursdays is their. Their cardio days.

[Jess]

And that's.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That shit's a real wow. Damn, bro. That's tough.

[Josh Labor]

That's badass. I love that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And I do Muay Thai.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, damn.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Forgot about that.

[Jess]

Dang. You're working out.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, you train a lot every day

[Jess]

when you're actually skating. And this is like, for everybody that is probably watching this for apologies because he's a skater. When you're actually skating, is. Is do you have kind of like an itinerary of like, what you're trying to, like, like accomplish, like, accomplish. Whether it be tricks or when you train, is it just like. Or. I mean, I'm sure when you're maybe younger, it was just like freestyling, like, get good at anything or has it always been like, nah, today I'm gonna try to land this. I'm gonna try to get better at this.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It mixes up. But yeah, like, obviously when I was younger and I could skate eight, nine hours a day, every single day, it would be like, okay, certain parts of the day, I'm trying things, and then I'm freestyling. Then I might be trying things. But as I got older and I realized, like, yo, I only got a two, three hour window.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

What am I trying to accomplish? So I had to learn how to get efficient. As efficient as possible. So if I'm in street mode, where I want to go out street filming, I'm filming for video parts. And I have an idea of a trick that I want to try that weekend. I'll go start in on Monday, I'll go to the park. I'll be like, I'm gonna warm up just a few minutes right here. Get nice and warm. I'm gonna start by trying this. Then I'm gonna work on these two things and just repeat them over and over and over and then do that all week and then go to the streets on the Weekend, try to film the clip.

[Josh Labor]

Damn.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But right now, since we're in the contest, the PSL mode, I'm just on the stairs every day. I'm just working on my stair tricks every day, like, oh, I know what team I'm playing next. Or let me try and see what tricks I have in my bag of tricks that might give them trouble, give us best opportunity for points, and then I'll just drill those in.

[Jess]

Oh, got it.

[Josh Labor]

Do you watch film? Like, do you watch yourself back? Like, do you see, Like.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Yes.

[Josh Labor]

Is that a skate thing?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yes, it's definitely a skate thing, but not like, just at home, like, watching old video parts. It's more like on the day of. Like, if I get a clip and my cameraman's filming it, I'll be like, yo, can you send that to me? And then I'll like. Like, that night, I'll be studying it, like, okay, okay.

[Josh Labor]

This is why I landed it. This is why I work.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'll be like, okay. And just. And just kind of like, visually, like, it helps. Just re imprint it into your muscle memory.

[Josh Labor]

Damn.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

It makes you almost kind of like it's. I don't know if you can relate to this, but sometimes I feel like I got better at my golf swing because I would look at myself.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

And I would tell myself, oh, this is. You're doing this. And it doesn't look good. Even though I might be hitting it, it doesn't look good. So let me try to adjust some, like, angles or. Or the way that I swing.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But your body has this. Or your mind or. Yeah. However it works, has these things called mirror neurons. So it's like the old saying, monkey see monkey, dude. So you have mirror neurons where you can watch something and you can actually train your neuroplasticity to. To feel those movements in your body as you're watching something. And I only found that out later, and I was like, wow, that's what I did my whole life watching skater. I would watch a video, rewind it, watch a video, rewind, and then I'll be at school all day, waiting to go skate after school, and I'll be body thinking and visualizing the trick.

[Josh Labor]

But when.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Not only when I'm just thinking about it, I'm feeling how it feels as I'm thinking about it. And by the time I get home, I've practiced it for hours.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And then I'm ready to just try it at home. And that's a lot of times it happens quick. You called them mirrored neurons yeah, they're mirror neurons.

[Jess]

Mirrored mirror. Yeah, Mirror mirror.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Do you feel that you have, you've had so much, so much success as a skater because you might have more mirror neurons than the average person?

[Paul Rodriguez]

That's an interesting thought. Maybe than the average person. Probably not than the average skater. Probably most skaters have this, this ability,

[Jess]

like, because it makes or even ask complete sense.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. That's why watching film, watching tape is so good. Not just for like just your ideas,

[Jess]

because they kind of go hand in hand with like putting it out in the world.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

To do something in life. And you actually do it because you watch yourself, you're putting yourself out in the world wanting to do this sort of trick or because you're like visually learning, Right?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Yeah. My friend, the guy who actually created the PSL that the new skate league we've been skating, his name is Mike Movie. He told me one time, he was like, I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it is true. I believe it's true. He was like, one hour of visualization is equivalent to seven hours of physically doing.

[Josh Labor]

Wow.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So I'm like, all right, that's just one hour. Yeah, that's what he told me. And I read this book. What was it? Maybe it's called Mind Gym. It's like a sports psychology kind of book. Yeah. Where they took groups of basketball players and they had three different groups. They had one group that would just practice free throws 30 minutes a day, and then they had another group that would just visualize free throws 30 minutes a day. And then you had a group that would practice free throws and then visual practice free throws for 30 minutes and then visualize for 30 minutes. And without a doubt, the ones who just practiced for 30 minutes had the least results. The ones who visualized it actually had better results than the ones who just, just practiced. And then the ones who combined it were like, got way better. I don't remember how. Maybe it was like over a two week period. And the ones who did both, like, just.

[Jess]

It makes sense, bro.

[Josh Labor]

It does.

[Jess]

It makes complete sense.

[Josh Labor]

What do you think was the. What separated you B Rod? Like, what made you so great? What made you P. Rod?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, I think a couple of things now looking back on it. One, it was just I. I think I have an addictive personality. And matter of fact, I know I have an addictive personality. So, like, it wasn't just that, like, I was disciplined to practice a lot. It was, you couldn't stop me from practicing. I couldn't Stop. I had to do it like a drug addict, you know? Like, I had to skate every day, all day, non stop, until my mom had to, you know, yell at me, come inside. You haven't eaten. It's dinner time. I'm not hungry.

[Josh Labor]

I'm almost gonna land the trick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Mom, wait up. Like, it was just. I could not stop. So the. It was just happened to be for that particular thing, my passion was like, just unreal passion. Right. So I would just see every day. Like, I. And I think my imagination, because of my passion, really helped me because I would. I was. You know, I. I have. I have a sister, but she didn't grow up in the house with me. I was the only kid in the house. So all the time, all my heroes I would see in movies like Bruce Lee, Kobe, Michael Jordan. Like, they would be my big brothers in my head. And I'll be like, I gotta make my big brothers proud, you know? Do you know, like, so, like, when it came to skating, my. My favorite skaters, I'd have all their posters on my wall, and I'll be skating in my backyard at home, and I'll be visualizing that I'm skating with my favorite skater.

[Josh Labor]

Like, whoa.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh. Yo, me and Tom Pen. All right, Tom, you go first. I got your back. Like, I'll be having these little worlds in my mind. So I'm just. That extra, like, importance was put on the practice. Whereas maybe some kids were like, oh, I just want to learn this trick. And they're trying the trick, they're trying, but I'm trying it. Like, no, know, my big brother's watching me, and I. And he just did it, and I gotta get his back. And I'm like, It was an extra, like, whoa.

[Josh Labor]

Drive.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, it was an extra push. So, like, the intention behind the practice was more intense than I'd say, probably average.

[Jess]

Sure.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm sure all the elite guys probably had that similar world experience, you know, So I think that was huge.

[Josh Labor]

Did you ever embody. Did you ever, like, see a skater and you're like, you try to, like, embody them. Oh, when you're skating. Okay. Because I heard that's also like, another thing. Sports psychology thing 100.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, Tom Penny is a guy who I just referenced. There was a period of time where, like, I would study exactly how we dress, try to dress exactly like him, try to, like, have, like, mannerisms just like him. Try to learn all the moves he did just like him. And then, you know, then it was cost. And then Andrew Reynolds and it's Day one song and all these different guys. Until after enough years of trying to be other people, you realize that you've combined you're certain attributes of them and created your own unique formula that is just you.

[Josh Labor]

That's it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So, like you ever heard this, that term when they say good artists copy, but great artists steal, you know that. That's like, really what it was like. I would try to steal their essence, I guess, and make it mine, but it was a multiple of them and it just created a formula that made my own formula. So it's like, it's not original, but yet it became its original. Damn.

[Josh Labor]

Through that mixture, they say that's like, what Elvis did. Like, he kind of stole from, like, blues culture. And it kind of emulated everybody. Every. All the greats have done that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Everybody does, like, in. You know, I can't think that there's anybody who. You know, there's nobody in any field that can be like, no, I have no influence.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. This is all me.

[Jess]

So, yeah, everybody.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You're a liar, bro.

[Josh Labor]

I heard this thing on, On Rogan where he was talking about how. Because you said it and I, I. The way you said it was very interesting how you would. Would skate with, like, your, like, your idols, people that you idolized, that they were watching you. He talked about how, like, we should live our lives like we were constantly being recorded. I saw that for, like, on. On for what? It's like a documentary.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

You have a documentary crew following you and live your life in that manner. Because we tend to just, I don't know, live out, like, at our best when we feel like we're being watched.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, for sure.

[Josh Labor]

But if you can bring that in when nobody's watching like you, you know, you destined for greatness, I guess for sure you'll push yourself more.

[Paul Rodriguez]

100.

[Josh Labor]

I do that all the time, by the way.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You gotta play.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, I do.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Play games with yourself.

[Josh Labor]

Yourself.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You have to, like, find a way to, like, find an edge. Because. Because, like, especially, like, bro, I'm not like, look at me, I'm five, eight. Maybe on a good day. I'm not particularly muscular or strong. I'm not necessarily, like, overly athletic. It wasn't like I had these natural physical attributes that you were like, oh, this kid's gonna be a hell of an athlete when he gets older. Like, there's no, like. There was no. None of that. It just. It was. It was. It was the passion and the hunger that. And just the willingness to be, like, obsessed. I don't care what happens? I'm doing this. Nobody can stop me. And like you use everything. Like what I love about Michael Jordan is like in the Last Dance. I'm sure you guys watched the Last Dance and he was talking about like how like you know, some journalist in a, in, in a newspaper said something bad about.

[Jess]

Oh yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And I took it personal and he took it personal. And then turns out later that that never happened. He just made it up.

[Josh Labor]

But he, that was enough for him. He was looking for something, bro. He was looking for something.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You just have to find. You just have to put in your mind, oh, this guy thinks I can never do it. All right, all right. He's gonna see you find out.

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Whether it's real or not, as long as it's real to you.

[Josh Labor]

Damn.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Whatever. You just have to learn how to fuel yourself in any way possible. Yeah, yeah.

[Jess]

We grew up because almost the same similar era. I wish sometimes that some. My brother used to skate a lot too. And I knew back back then the thing to do was like record yourself and like make many movies and like people would send them out to like brands and stuff like that. So that was like back in the. I don't know, not back in the day, sponsorship tapes.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right.

[Jess]

So like sometimes I wish like I was more. And I didn't know like at the time, but I wish I was more invested in my brother because my brother was really good. But you know, Phil and I'm so good with videography and like filming. So I feel like we would have made a great team. Sorry. Yeah, I up. But you know that that was the thing like going now I'm just filming yourself and doing cool ass. And it wasn't even like sometimes I would watch these videos because just the vibe was insanely cool. Right. Just like hanging out doing hood ass. You know what I mean?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Just only filming tricks. You're filming. Sometimes you.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Playing pranks. Yeah. Or talking to each other.

[Jess]

Honestly, like skating. Skating. Skating videos were like the real vlogs from nowadays. OG like, right. Like dope. Like just had a camera. They didn't care about lighting. They care about anything. They just being themselves. And that was such a epic moment. So I guess at that time and if things were still like that, you would advise them to like, you know, how can I become this like really world renowned skater? Right. You would probably give them that advice. Like, bro, film yourself. Like really like, you know.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right.

[Jess]

But like, like what about now? Is it still film yourself?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Using social media way more as a tool.

[Jess]

It's Way more now.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Way more now. Now you film. So what would.

[Jess]

What would you tell that kid right now?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Or. Or.

[Jess]

Or that. Or the boy or girl right now wanting to skate? That is, like, what kind of. What tools? Because nowadays we have all the tools, right? And they're so accessible. We don't need to buy a video camera. We have our phones. Yeah. What would you give? Like, some advice to the people back at home that want to. Like, really? Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And. And this advice can apply to anything. It doesn't even have to be skaters, okay. Because the formula to success is ultimately the same thing. One, it's got to be, like I said before, that just crazy, crazy passion. If you don't love this enough, then when the tough time hits, or when the discouraging times hit it, or when, you know, just. You hit those moments, those bumps in the road. If you don't love it enough, you're gonna quit at the first sign of opposition. Right. Like, if I didn't love it enough the first time I sprained my ankle, I might have quit. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not a tough guy. I'm not naturally, like, oh, I could take more pain. No. Which is. I loved it so much that I was willing to take a little more pain than I would for anything else, you know, anything else I'd want to quit and be done with. But I just. Just loved it so much that, you know, I would push through that type of pain. Or like, you know, hey, like, these guys are all getting. These guys are all better than me. They're bigger, they're taller, they're stronger. Like, I was the small kid there was. All the kids were taller than me. All the kids could ollie higher than me, had more pop than me, everything. And instead of being like, well, I guess I'm just not good. I don't have the talent. Like, it was like, okay, now I have the benchmark. I got a lot of work to do. I gotta catch up. I'm gonna. I'm gonna catch up to these guys. And I would just obsess over it. They wouldn't know that in my mind, they were my competition. Not enemies, but, like, low key, kind of.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

You know what I mean?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, like, all right. Okay. He's learning this. He's gonna do that now. Okay. All right, well, I'm gonna go home after we're done skate here. I'm gonna go home, skate by myself. I'm gonna practice this. I'm practicing. Yeah. My legs start being able to jump or I. I grow a little bit taller, whatever. I was like, I'm gonna find you and I'm gonna get you. I'm gonna track you down. I. And I'm gonna run right past. That was like, you just have to have that. That, like, killer. Killer mindset, that mama mentality, slightly psycho mindset. Like. Like, all right, dude, you're kind of

[Jess]

a little bit weird.

[Josh Labor]

Like, bro, we're just skating.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Labor]

But.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But for me, I wasn't. I wasn't skating. This was. This was important. This is life or death. This was like, this is. You know, the world depended on this. In my mind, my world depended on it. So I would say you have to find something that you feel like that about out. You feel. So whether it's skating, videography, podcasting, starting a brand, entrepreneurs, for sure have to be like that. You know what I mean? Like, you know what? You want to open a restaurant, a lawyer, a doctor, whatever, you have to feel like that or else you're gonna. You might have. You know, the people I've seen who've had a lot of physical gifts and talent early actually ended up being the least amount of people being successful. Yeah. Because everyone tells them, oh, you're so talented. You're so talented, you're so talented. And everything goes easy for them until they hit a bump in the road, and they haven't developed that grit to push them past it. And they're mentally weak. They might be physically gifted, but they mentally. Your mental game has to be probably stronger than your physical game, because if your mental game is stronger, then you can always get your physical to catch up, you know, But I would say, I guess that's my advice, but for sure. But that comes with. With filming, right?

[Josh Labor]

And putting yourself out there.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. And I was just talking about this to an old friend last night. It's weird. When you obsess and you love something that much, you realize you become a genius in that particular thing. Like, I'm a high school dropout. I'm not like, a smart, traditionally smart person, but I couldn't stop thinking about skateboarding so much every single day that I would come up with these wild, cockamamie ideas on how I can get better, you know, like. You know, like.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, I was a little kid. I was skating with ankle weights on, trying to jump higher, you know, Like, I would come up with random ideas of, like, what can I do to get better? And then you realize your brain starts coming up with these ideas, and you, all of a sudden, you become really smart in that field. Field in that way. Like, no different than a. You know, I know it's a harsh example, but say someone is a. A crackhead, a drug addict, you know? Know, you never see nobody more motivated than a crackhead who needs to get fit. Yeah. You know, like, all right, how am I gonna get the money? How am I gonna get my next hit?

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

All of a sudden, they're literally a genius and figuring out how to get their next fit.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, bro, I love that. I so. Not to compare myself to you because you're obviously a skate legend. You've done so much. But I started making YouTube videos in 2010. I've been fortunate enough to, like, gain like 2 million subscribers on my channel. And I remember, bro, I remember I would. I was so obsessive over making content and videos, and people would ask me all the time, how do you come up with these video ideas? And I was like, I'm just so obsessed. My mind is just always analyzing and thinking about, oh, that's funny. I can make that a video idea. So my brain would just grab every

[Paul Rodriguez]

moment and it became a genius.

[Josh Labor]

And you become a genius at it. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

So it's kind of funny that you said that, because I was like, that's what it was for me. It was just. My brain was just always fixated on it. You. You see it around you. It's like you're surrounded by it. You see it all over the place. Plays, if that makes sense.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Everybody has genius level abilities within them. It just is a matter of where they're pointing that.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Genius laser beam.

[Josh Labor]

Exactly. You know, exactly like, where the focus goes. Where focus goes. Energy flows.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Exactly.

[Jess]

I like that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I love that.

[Jess]

Tony Robbins. I love Tony Robbins.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Love him. He's great.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Anybody have you got a chance to meet him?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I haven't, but I've gone to one of his conferences.

[Josh Labor]

I have to. I have to unleash the power within. That's the one I went to. Is that the one you went to?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I went, yeah, maybe. This is probably like. Like, I don't know, seven years ago, maybe.

[Josh Labor]

Did you walk on fire? Did you do the. The call?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Dude, we didn't. We left because, bro, it was not. It was like the third day. It was like, not ending, not ending, not ending. We're gonna do it. And I was just like, I'm not gonna lie, I. I tapped out. I was like, bro, I'm over this. I'm leaving.

[Josh Labor]

They're long, bro. He has, like, seminars, bro, that they go 12 hours and they're active, and

[Paul Rodriguez]

they're three days back to back, back

[Josh Labor]

to back to back. And mind you, he's leading them. It's not like he's in there. And then at the end of the seminar, you do a firewalk where you literally walk on burning coal, which I've done, by the way.

[Jess]

It's barefoot.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Barefoot, Barefoot.

[Josh Labor]

Now, you're probably wondering, do people get burned? Yeah, people get burned. It's like a mental psychology thing of, like, amping yourself up, getting to a certain state, you know, delivering this energy to, like, convince yourself that you can walk through fire, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's just showing you the power that the mind, like. Like, it's just what you're.

[Josh Labor]

You do it, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Willing to go through. And I'm embarrassed to say that I.

[Josh Labor]

It's deeper than that. It goes. It goes like. You go deep into it, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And you. Yeah. Damn, bro, I wish you would have done it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I know. Maybe I will, then. I will.

[Josh Labor]

Tony Robbins, if you're watching this, let's set it up, bro.

[Jess]

She's just watching it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

N. Let's do. Let's light something on fire right now.

[Jess]

Just burn a light right here.

[Josh Labor]

See how long we can go. See, we can go the longest.

[Jess]

Paul, I have a question.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yes, please.

[Jess]

So, you know, I hear you talk and. And your drive, especially at such a young age, it's insane. It's. It's so admirable.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right? Thank you.

[Jess]

But did you ever know? Because for. For someone like myself, and I'm not even, like, saying this, like, me and my brother, like, we looked up to you, bro, you know?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you.

[Jess]

Me and you are almost similar in age, but my little brother, bro, I swear, if I can pull up a picture and maybe I'll give one to Saul later. Same hairstyle. Same, like, flow like. Same like, bro. Like, not for nothing, but, like, bro, you inspired. Not just my brother, but did you ever know? Because I'm hearing you talk, and it's so amazing that the way that you talk in your obsession over skateboarding.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right.

[Jess]

But did you ever know that the underlining, kind of heroic hero story is that you're a Mexican kid?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Skating. Giving us not just Mexican kids like, a hero, but for all Latin America. And because skating, I feel back then was kind of like how golf is.

[Josh Labor]

Was.

[Jess]

Was like. It was a lot of white dudes, right? And they're sick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Sure.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

I love the white dudes that. That were skating, bro. Yeah, like Chad Muska. Yeah. Like, bro, I. With all of them. But like, to me, it was like, it's kind of like a. A white boy sport. And for. Surely told me for sure those fools were sick. But like, for me, seeing it on the other side of the lens. Lens, because you. Your lens was like, I gotta be with these and like, get so good and yeah, blah, blah. But for us, it was like, man, if. If. If Paul Rodriguez can do it, bro. And like, bro, did you know at that moment you were inspiring so many Mexican kids, man?

[Paul Rodriguez]

It. It didn't occur to me until a little bit later on once I was a little bit established, you know, I was just, you know, 11, 12 years old when I first started skating, and I just wanted to skate selfishly, I just wanted to be a pro skater. And then when I. The first time I realized it was when I was at El Pollo Loco. I used to eat there all the time. And I was with a cousin of mine, my cousin George, and we were eating, and I see these two kids, Mexican kids, just like us, and they're eyeing me hard, bro, Like. Like, just staring. And I'm like, like, yo, George, I don't know what these guys problem is, but, like, just be ready. Like, I'm telling them. I'm like, yo, George, just. I don't know why, but these guys are staring at us crazy. And we finish our meal, we go to walk out, to leave. They sure enough, they come out behind us. I'm like, my adrenaline's kind of getting up. I'm like, all right, what's gonna happen? And, hey, what's up? Hey, you p. Ride? Yeah. What's up? Oh, dude, what's up?

[Jess]

How you doing, man?

[Paul Rodriguez]

And they were like. They were just like, stoked to see me, but I'm like, not used to it at that point. I'm probably like 8, 18.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And I'm like, what's going? And then they'd start telling me, bro, Mexican, I'm so psyched. Blah, blah. Like, like, you. You're doing it for us, man. I'm like, right there, I first realized, like, holy.

[Jess]

Like, I am doing.

[Paul Rodriguez]

This isn't just for me. Yeah, this isn't just for me. And, yeah, that, like, gave me the chill there. Like, that. That's when it first dawned on me, like, wow, this is something bigger. And then the first time I went to South America on tour, wow, man. Dude, that really humbled me, like, big time. Like, the way, you know, Mexico City, the demos we would have, and the way they would embrace me, like, just. It was almost like, scary to a To a point. Like. Like, I don't know how to handle this. I'm so like, I don't know, like. Because then you realize it's a real responsibility. This whole time I'm just thinking, I'm just doing it for me, it's kind

[Jess]

of like a double edged sword, right? Yeah, it's like, like a, I'm inspiring so many, so many. Yeah. Mexican kids, but Latin America.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right.

[Jess]

But like the other side of the sword is like that it's a lot of pressure on me. Did you ever feel like maybe it was a little too much because it's like something maybe you didn't expect or

[Paul Rodriguez]

like, how was that pressure coming out to you first? When I first realized that, it was like, it was intense.

[Jess]

Scary.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It was for sure scary. There was definitely like anxiety at times, especially when you go to South America.

[Josh Labor]

Oh my God, you're saying 18 years old, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, even. Yeah. And anytime we would go on tour out there, you know, gratefully, I would, I would particularly get singled out, you know, as like, you know, people, they would. It was like we were like Justin Bieber or something, bro. We land at the airport. I don't know how they know we're there. We're. They're at the airport. They're following the, the bus to the, to the, the hotels. We're at the hotel. They're standing outside the hotel all night long. Like, it feels good, but it was also like a lot of pressure. This is scary. Like, yeah, this is pressure, but it's scary. But then I, you know, I also, like, you know, after I let it sink in, I realized, okay, first of all, this is like an honor.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Huge honor.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And I want to, it's just another piece to, to fuel me. Like, all right, well, if now it's not just for me, now I got, you know, I'll put my people on my back and let's do this. You know, like, let's, let's show we can do.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And so that was. It became. After the, the fear and anxiety settled, it became like, nah, we're gonna, let's do this. Like, I got that extra.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That extra battery in my back.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

And bro, and you, you do an incredible job at representing the culture. And we want to just thank you for doing that even with your brand Primitive, which you are co founder of. Congratulations, by the way.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you.

[Josh Labor]

I didn't, I'm gonna be honest with you, I didn't fully know until I started doing my research and I was like, holy. He owns Primitive. That's insane. Like, that brand is massive. With all due respect, it's like. Like, it's. It's obviously you're. You're like, you were the face of it, but, like, it's become bigger. It's big, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's like. Yeah, it's done its thing where it's like, if the culture outside of skateboarding has embraced it and you don't. You don't necessarily need to be a skate fan to, like.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

To know.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And you don't necessarily need to correlate it with me.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, so I'm very grateful for that.

[Josh Labor]

That. That. I. I just gotta say, I was going on a different tangent, but just researching that today really inspired me because that's kind of where I want to take my brand. Like, I'm the face of my brand, but I want my brand to be bigger. The biggest compliment I get is when people don't even know who I am, but they love Salud. And I'm like, wow, this is. That's incredible.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That's the whole point. That's a dream, right?

[Jess]

That's a dream.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Because that could live longer than.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, that's longevity.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Than your window of however long we're going to be blessed with the fame.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, but. Yeah, and now I'm getting to a point where I've been around long enough, where I'm meeting guys like you. You grew up with me and now you're doing cool shit and, like, you're making your own way. And, like, I'm tripping out. I'll meet people. Like, I recently became. The last couple years, I became, like, really, really close with Renee Vaca. Oh, comedian.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, he's hilarious, bro. And shout out Renee.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Shout out Renee. And I had no idea him and his brothers grew up as fan. No clue. I just saw him on Instagram when I'm laughing my ass off on the Explore page. And then I go to his page and I'm watching all his videos and I follow him. I'm laughing, and 15 minutes later, he messaged me, Yo, p. Ro. What's up, man? And then, like, we ended up hanging out. Now we're like, I hang out with him all the time, bro. Did you want a Laker game with him tonight?

[Josh Labor]

Did you guys have a viral clip where he's like. He's, like, working the crowd and he's asking somebody if they're like, skate fans.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yes.

[Josh Labor]

And then.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, you were in the back. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

He was like, oh, we got P. Rod in the back. And the guy really didn't, like, almost, like, didn't know. Yeah. And then he's like, you're not a real skate fan.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was. There was a clip he was asking him about, like, what's your favorite skateboarding?

[Jess]

He was like, baked.

[Paul Rodriguez]

He's like, he's not baked. It's Baker, fool.

[Josh Labor]

And, yeah, that clip was so funny, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And. But just, like, seeing my. My fellow Mexicans, like, or Latinos in general, like, flourish and now. Now, like, they're doing their thing, and they're going on even bigger and better things, and I'm just like, wow, I can't believe that, like. Like, like, that memories that they had of when they were younger, of seeing me impacted them, you know, in a way. Not saying that they wouldn't have done what they're doing. I'm just saying that, like, they'll see me and be like, dude, you don't get it. And I'm like, it's. It's such a blessed point of life to be at.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

To be in something long enough to see wow them, grow up, do their thing, and then meet you and be

[Josh Labor]

like, hey, yeah, Like, I think you're being humble, but, like, you did have an impact in some way or another for their lives. It might not be, like, directly, but it's like, like, you did contribute to that, you know? You know, motivation, inspiration that they had, you know, I really do believe that, bro.

[Jess]

A Mexic, me, seeing a Mexican kid on video, being successful, being who he is, bro, that makes me realize when I was a little kid, and my brother, too, and everybody that knows who Pete Rod is, is. Is. Oh, I can do it, too.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

You know, he's just like us, right? Which is an amazing thing.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, such an honor. Such. But, like, who.

[Jess]

But who else did we have when we were younger? Like, bro, you're literally, like, now thinking about it. You were, like, the first real influencer without Instagram.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right, Right.

[Jess]

Like, because who else did we have that were, like, Mexican kids that we looked up to that were almost the same age as us, who.

[Josh Labor]

I can't even think of nobody.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That's a trick. Who.

[Jess]

I mean, sure, like, maybe, like, they're, like, Mexicans and, like, TV shows, but here, a Mexican American kid from. From where I'm from.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Right here in the US who, as we were kids. Who. I can't think of any.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, I can't think of any either.

[Jess]

That I would see him all the time, you know, and create a name not just for yourself, but for you. Create a name for all of us.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, that. That was like. Like just all God's work, man. That's hap. By happenstance, you know, I can't even take credit for it. I was just a kid who fell in love with something, and I was selfishly chasing my own dream, not knowing that, like, the. The ripple effect it was going to have and it. And as I got older, I just appreciate it more and more and more and more and more. And I just want to do more to help the culture.

[Josh Labor]

It's crazy. Like, God put this thing in your heart and it had, like, such a bigger plan behind it.

[Jess]

Bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Bro.

[Josh Labor]

You know what I mean?

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, that's. That's why God's God, man. God.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No one can out God. God.

[Josh Labor]

He's like, watch me cook. You know, like, you're thinking, this is for me.

[Jess]

I'm gonna make it.

[Josh Labor]

And he's like, no, bro, this is bigger than you.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, actually, it's not. And don't forget, I could take it at any time.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yeah. You know?

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And. Yeah. So just. I don't know, man. I'm just at a really grateful point of life. Really thankful. I can see that in life. I'm happy I can still skate. I still have some passion for it. But. But, you know, just.

[Jess]

Just Josh right now, he's chilling, talking to us, right? Like, sitting down. We're all vibing. Wait till you see him skate. Yeah, you've seen him, like, on, like, TV and. And like, egg X Games, you know, like, what's. What's the vine? That's like X Games mode or whatever.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This motherfucker lives in mode.

[Jess]

Yeah. Oh, he on X Games mode. You are witnessing an X Games mode, man.

[Josh Labor]

I know.

[Jess]

That's crazy, right? Bro, wait till you go to the PSL competition.

[Josh Labor]

I'm excited. Rambo, you got me.

[Jess]

And. And watch him just ski. It's. It's such a poetic, beautiful thing to. To see not just him, but all the other dudes.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

You know, it just. It's just so sick, bro.

[Josh Labor]

Poetry in motion.

[Jess]

It's insane. Like, bro, you see him right now, he's just chilling with us. See him work his magic with that skateboard. And not just him. Everybody around him. It's beautiful, bro. You can tell every single person now me that I'm a little older. I. I don't look at it as, like a little kid. Like, oh, that's so sick. I Look at it like, these are guys that just been going, devoting their lives, voting their life, and this is where they're at. And this is why it's so beautiful. It's like, you look at these guys, and if somebody didn't know anything about skateboarding, they're like, no. You know, they're doing it so easy. How hard can it be, right? It's the most impossible sport, honestly, to do, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's definitely like that and dangerous. Most people don't make it past that first year. No, that first year, you really don't learn a lot. You're trying to get the ollie down and trying, like, it's so frustrating. But if you can make it past that about that first year. Yeah, then you can. That's when the fun gets fun.

[Josh Labor]

It gets sweet.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But, yeah, you gotta. You gotta be willing to weather that storm.

[Jess]

Can't say that with golf. I'm four years deep and I still.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, my gosh. Is. I do.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I got an ace.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, I got an ace. Got one, too.

[Jess]

Yeah. Was it a pretty one? Because mine's ugly.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I wouldn't say it was pretty. It was 140 yards. Nothing crazy.

[Jess]

Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I believe I had a nine iron and I hit it. The. The green was on a hill, so I hit it past the hole, landed on the hill, and it just rolled in into it.

[Jess]

What are you talking about? That's beautiful.

[Josh Labor]

That's gorgeous, bro.

[Jess]

I scold the. Out of mine. You rolled all the way in the craziest worm burner. It goes.

[Josh Labor]

Was.

[Jess]

It was like. It was like, here's the. Here's the. What is it called? Where we tee off? Yeah, the tea box. The. We. We tee off. I scull it down the ravine. It goes back up to the actual thing. It goes inside.

[Josh Labor]

Bro, that's so incredible.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That is beautiful. That's not even.

[Jess]

It was a beautiful accident.

[Josh Labor]

It was a beautiful accident.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Beautiful.

[Jess]

And there's no pictures on the scorecard, bro.

[Josh Labor]

I've never even. I've never even seen somebody doing ace. Like, I've never seen that in my life. Like, in person. In person. Person.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Wow.

[Jess]

At least yours looked like you knew what you were doing.

[Josh Labor]

Were you tripping out?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm not that great of a golfer, so. No.

[Josh Labor]

You're like, is that good?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I was tripping out, but I. At the same time, I thought it was like, you know, everybody gets one, like, at some point in their life. I didn't know people were like, I've been golfing for 25 years. Never ever in my Life. I didn't know it was that rare. I was like, bro, golf enough. Eventually you're going to get one. It's just like one of them random happen stance things.

[Josh Labor]

But think so, bro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I felt ass backward into one on my. My first full game.

[Jess]

Oh, this was your first full game?

[Paul Rodriguez]

My first full game. Before, when I was a little kid, I used to hit the driving range a lot with my dad, but I never played any games. And I got invited to a tournament. And my. One of my best friends, Mikey Taylor, former pro skater as well, we were teamed up. And the night before, he was like, let me see your swing. And I'm like, showing him my swing. And he's laughing at me. He's like, no, bro, can't do that.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And he's like, like, he's like showing me, like, it's all in the head. Like, here's what we get. Yeah, exactly. He turns into chubs and he's like, okay, just give it a little tap.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

You know?

[Paul Rodriguez]

And he, like. He shows me the mechanics of it, right? And I just. Here's where the mirror neurons start kicking in. He just shows me what to do. I'm staring at him, watching him. I'm mimicking. And he's like, yeah, just like that. So next day, before the tournament starts, we go to the driving range and I practice exactly what he told me is, the ball's hitting. And then we hit off the first tee, and I got a good, nice one onto the fairway. And he was like, all right, we're gonna be all right. And I. I just didn't think anything else of it. I just only did what he said. Keep your head down.

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Do the shoulders. Swing the thing.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And like. And I was like, all right, cool. And it just so happened. I believe it was the. Was it the ninth hole? Ninth one, I think it was. And it just happened to be. I just was hearing his words in my. In my mind, like, all right, just boom, boom, boom and boom. And that's it.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, bro, that's so sick. Have you. Have you seen another one since you've been playing?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Not in person, no. Right.

[Josh Labor]

That's what I'm saying.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, I don't play a lot. A lot. I only go when I get invited

[Josh Labor]

by my friends come the same way, honestly. But, like, for the past four years.

[Jess]

And here's a message to, like, people who golf is. I kind of always get ticked off when people get mad. I hate playing with people who get upset.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yes.

[Jess]

When they play golf, like, like, dude, you never get upset. And you know you suck, right? I suck and I never get upset. There's people who get upset.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, yeah.

[Jess]

And I'm like, bro, this is the

[Josh Labor]

hardest game in the world.

[Paul Rodriguez]

All my friends who I golf with are like that because they're taking lessons. All they do is talk about it. And then we'll go play golf. And I'm thinking, oh, we're gonna have a cigar, we're gonna crack open a beer, we're gonna laugh. And they're all just like, all right, what was that? What was your birdie like? Oh, we got the. Yeah. They're like, like over here like this.

[Josh Labor]

No, bro, that was three. That was three strokes. That was three strokes.

[Jess]

Yeah, like, no, bro, because look, you went over there.

[Josh Labor]

I'm like, bro, then you chipped it from over there. Do you remember it?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. And then when they have a bad game.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Their. Their, Their vibe is off.

[Jess]

I. I get it. It's a sport. And some people take it very serious, so I respect that. I get pissed off when my homies get super mad and I'm like, bro, why are you mad? You don't even practice.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Now if you've practicing and you're paying for lessons and you still suck ass, sure get a little mad, cuz you, you naturally are trash. But if you're not practicing, like myself and I thin it or I chunk it, like, I'm not mad. I don't practice. But honestly, I'm pretty good.

[Josh Labor]

You are pretty good, bro. You are pretty good. He's got a beautiful.

[Paul Rodriguez]

If it does not affect my mood one.

[Josh Labor]

Me neither, bro. I don't give. I don't care like that.

[Jess]

I don't care like that. And I love sometimes like, I like to go to like the really nice courses because it's just so beautiful. It is.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, man. Every time I get invited to a cool course because one of my friends, if they'll have a country club double access or whatever, and they want to come join our four. Hell yeah. Yeah, I'm there. I'm just there for a cigar. Really, bro?

[Josh Labor]

Just a vibe.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And then just to, you know, see if I can, you know, hit big cigar guy.

[Jess]

Big cigar guy.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I love a good cigar.

[Josh Labor]

I just became. I feel like I just became a cigar.

[Jess]

Okay. I'm trying, I'm trying to get into this cigar, bro. But like, maybe I haven't had a good one, bro.

[Josh Labor]

You know, when I became a cigar guy was at your wife's dad's birthday where he had it in your backyard and they were doing cigars. Had one. I was like, I like this. Like, this is nice.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, do we start a cigar podcast, bro?

[Josh Labor]

Let's do it, dude.

[Jess]

That'd be kind of cool.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Sit and smoke the cigars.

[Jess]

I have some friends that. There's actual, like, establishments where you can pay a membership. Yeah, Yeah, I did. I didn't know that.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, bro, that's like, super gentleman.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, man, I gotta change. So at my skate park, when it's. The whole setup is not there. There's the back room. Did you take him in the back room at all?

[Jess]

No, out.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay. So in the back room, escape art. I have a cigar lounge. It's like all that, like, classic green.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Wood.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And the leather seats with the nice wood thing with the big ashtrays and a humidor there. Like, so you're pairing it, like, with

[Jess]

a nice glass of scotch or whiskey or something.

[Josh Labor]

What's your favorite cigar? Like, what's your. What's it. I'm gonna. I'm gonna go buy some cigars.

[Paul Rodriguez]

What should I buy? Well, if you're gonna. If you're just getting into it, it. I would say part of. I mean. Sorry. Monte Cristo number two.

[Josh Labor]

Monte Cristo number two.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, but the Cuban ones. Not, Not. Not the Dominicans, because. So you got to get the.

[Jess]

Is that a sandwich?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Ah, yeah. Monte Cristo sandwich. Yeah, you're right. But no, it's Monte Cristo number two.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That's like Cuban. That's like. Yeah. Your. Your just go to Smoke Point Cigar. Then if you really want to, like, really be fancy or celebrate something special, have a nice steak dinner, something afterwards. Celebrate with a. With a Cohiba. But it's a. It's called a bijique. Oh, my gosh. It's so.

[Jess]

Really.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

But you don't do those all the time.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, I mean, personally, I saved those for, like. All right. We had a special moment. Something to celebrate a milestone or something.

[Jess]

Yeah. How much are those?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Just, I don't know, 40, 50 a stick, depending on which kind you get. But there are some that, like, get a little more expensive. But. But at that point, you're just doing it for the flex. Not necessarily like any. Yeah, anything.

[Jess]

Yeah. I didn't know you're a big cigar guy like that. You got your own cigar lounge.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, I got my own charging memberships and. Nah, nah, just the homies, man.

[Jess]

I like that. Oh, definitely, definitely. If you. If we. If you ever have a. Two extra seats there.

[Paul Rodriguez]

We have plenty of extra seats.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Once. Once the PSL season is done, taking over the whole back area there, I'm gonna bring you guys. You're gonna finally get into it. You're gonna like.

[Jess]

Yeah. Because I kind of want to be with somebody.

[Josh Labor]

Be your story for getting into it, bro. That's sick. Yeah.

[Jess]

Yeah, right?

[Josh Labor]

That's sick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

You know Paul Rodriguez, well, he has

[Josh Labor]

a skate park, right? And in the back. You know, I like it when people

[Jess]

introduce me to things that are new to me, when they know what's up. I don't like to introduce my. You know, it's sometimes a little difficult, but if you can be the. What are they called?

[Paul Rodriguez]

The one put me on like a. So a.

[Jess]

Or that. Yeah. You know. Yeah, exact. Like a s. The Put me honors.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like a. Yeah,

[Jess]

so like a salmon. Am I saying it right? Yeah. So like, you're the. You're that for me. For the cigars, you know. Yeah. But I love what you were saying about, like, gift skating, like that over a year type type thing, because that kind of hit home for me.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

I remember a little kid, I was in sixth, seventh grade, my grandpa finally bought me a blind board. They had the coolest designs, like. Right. Like, how cool was blind back then?

[Josh Labor]

Right?

[Paul Rodriguez]

The little grim reaper.

[Jess]

The little grim green grim reaper. I. I remember trying to do a pop shove it or a kick flip, and I just remember it hitting my.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right here. Yeah.

[Jess]

Yeah. You know, I. You know, that was the only cry that I ever held back. And it was so hard to hold it back because I was in fifth grade or sixth grade.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Did you ever get a credit card or a popsicle?

[Jess]

I never. I didn't. You see, I didn't go past that because once you start hitting my shins, like 10 times, times, I started easily leaving skating, you know. That'll do it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, that's good that you never experienced a credit card.

[Josh Labor]

What is that?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I'm not even sure that's when, like. Especially when you're a little kid and you're bored, basically when you land like this on your board.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, oh, I've had that. I've had that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

We call it a popsicle or a credit card because it swipes right in the back of the cheeks, you know? Yeah.

[Jess]

Popsicle sounds more.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Because you think. Because the stick is up your ass

[Josh Labor]

and then you're a human popsicle, and

[Jess]

then you're the Popsicle.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, Popsicle.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It makes sense.

[Josh Labor]

It makes sense.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I have a. I have a question

[Jess]

to ask like a professional skateboarder. There's always been like, a beef between the scooter kids and the skaters.

[Paul Rodriguez]

See that? That's how I could tell you're younger, because when I came up, it was the rollerbladers.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It wasn't.

[Josh Labor]

What did you say?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Scooter. The scooter.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, no.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. The scooters weren't even out yet. Like, all the razor scooters weren't even out. It was the bladers. It was like, oh, you later. Nah, I can't mess with you, bro. Nah, later. N. Yeah, but, yeah, I mean, as I got older, I. I cared less and less. So, no, I never. Never had an issue with the. With the razor kids, but definitely the younger generation. For sure. Like.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, for sure.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

That was their rollerblade.

[Jess]

When we would go to the skate parks, it'd always kind of be like a little thing because, like, you're. Everyone's all skating, and then you have these kids rollerblading. It's almost kind of like, why you here?

[Josh Labor]

I guess it kind of was, but

[Jess]

that's up, because they have the same.

[Josh Labor]

And then I saw Brink, and I'm like, they're cool.

[Jess]

Cool.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But the thing is, I think. Not that it's a beef because, like, we respect them.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But I think where we have the most clashes of skaters, at least when I remember growing up, was with BMXers. Oh. Because we respect the BMX and shout out to my boy Nigel Sylvester, and all my BMS homies, but we respect the bmx. But the thing about BMX is when they come and they want to go grind on the ledges that you're skating the pegs on the bike, wouldn't it up ship the legend up the ledges? So, like, I. I'd seen. I seen specifically once at Chaffey High School. That's out in the ie. My friend JP Jade, he got in a fight with a BMX because he's like, yo, homie, y' all can't be here. You know, I'm messing up the party. You're up the legend. The BMX was like, nah, whatever, dude. We're just. We're just doing the same thing you're doing. Blah, blah. He's like, nah, you're chipping up. And then they ended up getting in a straight great fist fight right then and there.

[Josh Labor]

That's kind of sick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It was. It was. It was intense. But, like. Yeah, because, you know, like, just more weight, and it just. For whatever reason, it chips up the ledges. So.

[Josh Labor]

And they're like. They're hard, right? They have, like, the grooves and, like,

[Paul Rodriguez]

that also, like, yeah. I don't want to, like, start on anything unnecessary, but I guess where we. Where it was like, like, at least bladers. You're like, ah. You don't really. You didn't necessarily respect it, but, you know, you were like, what, it's harmless, you know, Know, it's fine. At least they wax the ledges and make it really slick. But BMX is. Even though you respect it more because it's so much cooler and it's dope. You're like, there's. They're riding our ledges right now, bro. Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Before we end this podcast, I. So when I was doing my research on you, bro, like, before you came on, I saw something. I want to know if it's true before I even go into the story. Your first signature board was a girl board board, bro. So my first board was a girl. And I remember, like, my mom bought it for me. It was. I. I was so excited for this board. And then I remember, like, the back obviously would have the design, but then, like, I remember seeing where the grip tape is that you could cut out, like, the girl logo.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Labor]

And I remember the guy, when he was sitting on my board, he didn't cut it out. And I remember going in the car, and I didn't tell him, but I, I. That's all I wanted, bro. I just wanted the guy cut. Yeah, bro. And then I told my mom. I was like, he didn't cut the thing. She was so confused. She was like, well, Migo, go in there and ask. You got to, like, tell him that. So I had to go back into the skate store, and he cut out, like.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Because it was already a die cut. All you have to do is just take a little razor and it'll.

[Josh Labor]

I think he was just being lazy about it, but yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Or maybe, like. But also, you got to think, like, you were probably super young, so to you, super cool. He's a guy, works in a skate shop, and to him, it's like, nah, man. You just want the all black.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, when I was a little kid, I used to like the graphics on my wheels showing. But as I got older, I would flip my wheels inside out. Only white on the outside.

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Even to this day, I'll do that. But, like. But, like, you don't want the flames. Yeah. Like, when you're a kid, you like that.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, I want all. All the colors and gravity. But then you get older, you're too cool. For everything. Flip that inside out.

[Jess]

What was Paul Rodriguez as? As a 18 year old or before he was even sponsored? What was your dream sponsor?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, man. So when I. When I was like, 13, because I first got my first sponsors at. At 14, so. 13. My dream sponsor was Blind.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, that's sick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

That was your dream sponsor.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. And I loved Levar McBride. I loved Ronnie Krieger. So they were. They were on Blind.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And I wanted to be on S E. S shoes.

[Josh Labor]

Of course, bro.

[Jess]

Yes.

[Josh Labor]

Yes.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And then I wanted to be on Destructo trucks. Now, as I got older, trucking, because that was like a silly brand.

[Jess]

Wait, are those not a thing anymore? Anymore?

[Paul Rodriguez]

I don't think they're around. I'm not sure if they're. I don't think so. And then this truck.

[Jess]

That was sick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I used to love them. Shout out, Jeremy Ray, and then wheels. I. I don't remember having a specific wheel brand that I really wanted to ride for. Bearings was always Bone Swiss. So those were like, my.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Ones. But, I mean, I did end up riding for s. I did end up. I ride for Bone Swiss right now.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. But then I had an opportunity to ride with Blind. But then I got the opportunity to ride with Girl. And I was older at that point, and.

[Jess]

Oh, got it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And I was like, yo, Coston asked me to be. I got. That's my hero.

[Jess]

That's my guy.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, I. I got to do that.

[Josh Labor]

So do you still have that board? It was. You called it the Mamacita. Right. Or the. That's what it was.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, Yeah, I have it.

[Josh Labor]

Damn, that's so sick.

[Jess]

That's sick. I have one more skating question, and then we'll go into the this or that.

[Josh Labor]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Jess]

Recently, my brother's gonna kill me. There was a skater. He was at your composition. He's like. He has a buzz head. White dude with the buzz head.

[Josh Labor]

He's kind of buff buffer than me.

[Jess]

You'll know who I am once I tell you this. You'll know who he is once I tell you this. He recently went crazy viral for Trey flipping El Toro.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, Jocelyn. Yeah.

[Jess]

Yeah. Jocelyn.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

That video went on everyone's Explorer.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Like, what does that mean to you for one of your friends? Buddies. Yeah. Yeah. You guys are friends.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, we're totally homies. Yeah.

[Jess]

What does that mean for you to somebody like that who completely went like, bro? I think he. I think people know more about that trick.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Than when say. I mean, Tony Hawk did the first 900. He got more Views on that trip.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I was gonna say that's the most viral trick since the 900.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And deservingly so, in my opinion. Deservingly so.

[Josh Labor]

Same.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So El Toro is known as. Like, if you do something. El Toro, you are a legend. The man. It's 20 stairs. 20 stairs, bro. It's humongous.

[Josh Labor]

Didn't they close it off? Now you can't even walk down.

[Paul Rodriguez]

There was a whole lawsuit, legal battle, everything from when. After Chris did the trade flip.

[Josh Labor]

Because other people try to do it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, yeah, but even. But it's been. It's. I mean, people have been skating El Toro for years and years and years. Since the late 90s, it's been a thing. But.

[Josh Labor]

But he put. He kind of put exposed it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, yes, I guess more to the mainstream because it was the TRA to trade for that. It's like out of this world. Like, out of this world. Like, if anyone ever does a bigger trade from them. It's so hard for my mind to fathom that somebody could ever do a bigger.

[Jess]

And he can edit it clean.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Can we watch? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Josh Labor]

I to want to, like, I. I've seen it.

[Jess]

I have seen.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's.

[Josh Labor]

I've seen other people after him try to do it, like on razors and stuff like that, bro. That's why they had ended up closing it off.

[Jess]

People.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No. Yeah. People have been trying for years. In so many. So many people have gotten smoked and walked away empty handed and lucky if they walked away. But. So he tried this eight years ago and came really close. No, no, no. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. Do it. And he came back finally, just this past summer, and he did it in six tries.

[Jess]

Six tries.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Six tries, bro. And he. And it just. He caught it. He landed it perfect. And just. Man.

[Jess]

And it was just such an epic video because it looks epic. And then he literally just stares at the camera and says, I just.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Then I just trade flipped El Toro.

[Josh Labor]

Is this it?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yep, that's it right there. Oh. The cool thing about him is I did it. He brings his kids with him everywhere. His. His kids are right here in the background. Oh, my.

[Jess]

How clean is that?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, he made that look like it was nothing buttery, like.

[Josh Labor]

Like he's done that. Like, he does that every day.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jess]

And it was just so passionate, like, how he said it.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I mean, dude, that, like, it. That doesn't even do it justice, how big that is.

[Jess]

I trade flipped Del Toro. He was like. You can tell how.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Look at that.

[Jess]

Look at this.

[Paul Rodriguez]

He catches it so perfect. It's. It's there. His feet have it. It's. It's secured. But what with the angle that you're seeing right now, what you don't see is how long that is. You're just seeing like, it's a high drop. It's far too. And it's just unreal. I think this video.

[Josh Labor]

I need to watch.

[Paul Rodriguez]

This skate community were just so proud.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So, like, I was so excited that he went back and did. Because for. For a little while there, he was like, nah, I'm not going back. Like, I got close enough. I know in my heart, I basically did it. It's cool. And then the fact that he went and he did it. Dude.

[Jess]

I know. And it's. And he was at the skating at psl.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, he was there the other day.

[Jess]

And like, I. I can't believe I don't know how many times I. I re. Watched that video before, because it's. It's like a. It's. It's heroic in a way where it's like I. I watch it and it's not even about skating.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It's just like.

[Jess]

Like how proud this man is of dedication that he just did to perform something. And everybody just went crazy over. Right. And I. And I would just. And. And you guys got us, like, front row seats to the thing. So very grateful. He was just there. He was right here. And I'm like, that's the.

[Josh Labor]

He was skating. He was skating.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, he was skating Again. I forget what team they were skating against, but.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

So you. To put it in perspective, the stairs that I have at my skateboarder, that. Eight stairs. So the tray flip was 12 more stairs bigger. You know, like. Like, it's.

[Jess]

And I can't imagine just.

[Paul Rodriguez]

And the length.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

The height. I mean, bro, it's so massively humongous. Pause. It's just unreal. Oh, here goes. And my manager, Steve Ruff, who's also Chris's manager as well. Manager as well. He just texted me right now. But, yeah, it. It's hard to put into words, but what el toro means. It's like, I'm trying to think.

[Josh Labor]

Have you ever attempted.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, I'm not. I'm not known as being a daredevil. Okay. I'm more, I guess, technical. I don't have. I don't have.

[Josh Labor]

I.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, I've jumped my fair share of sizable things, but nothing in comparison to that. My biggest tray flip was 15 stairs. Oh, yeah.

[Jess]

To Trey Flip.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

I think his Was beautiful. I can't over that. Like, textbook. Like, it doesn't get any better than that. Right.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, I mean, even though he landed,

[Josh Labor]

everything was just flawless.

[Jess]

You know, skating is so beautiful, too, because even, like, I learned so much from just going to psl, especially recently, because I haven't really, like, been to a competition like that in a long time. Time. It's crazy. Like, the. The crowd will, like, clap if you land the trick. You know, it might not be perfect, but you land it.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, yeah, of course.

[Jess]

But the crowd knows when it's so clean.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jess]

And it can be anything as long as it's clean.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

That's, like, the most, like, right.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

So, like, anything that you do as if it's clean, it's like, wow, people are clapping. It's crazy. I didn't really, like, notice that from, like, watching other videos.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah. Stuff. Yeah. I mean, you know, the fans, they know. They know what's up and. Yeah, I love it.

[Jess]

Yeah. I love it. It's cool. And I feel like that viral video, it just did so much for skateboarding. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it was just awesome. It was awesome.

[Paul Rodriguez]

No, man, that. That right there. I mean, you never say never, especially in skateboarding, Right. When you think they reach the limit, somebody comes and proves it wrong. But, like, it's so hard for me to fathom somebody doing something.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Because now you're getting to the limits of, like, human, like, capabilities. Yeah. Can their legs handle that much? Yeah. And. And, like, And. And that big. Every fall, every miss, every time you don't land, it is really painful.

[Jess]

So just imagine just without a board jumping. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

And the fact they did it six times prior. Or was it the 6?

[Paul Rodriguez]

5. 5 attempts. But if you watch that whole thing that's called a My war, and it shows, like, the whole background of it and all the tries. Yeah. You'll see what the tries look like. But. Yeah. Yeah. What do they. What do they say? No risk, no reward.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know what I mean? Like, and it's just. It's.

[Jess]

I love that. Okay, so here on the podcast, we have this thing called girly pop 101. Girly pop 101 is basically questions that Jess has, you know, made up. And, you know, we're here for. For the girls back at home. So we have this challenge where it's, like, we ask kind of girly questions, see if, like, us manly guys. No. Right.

[Josh Labor]

Let's see how much we know about the female species.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay, well, I'm gonna Fail this one. Okay.

[Jess]

You want me to do the first one?

[Josh Labor]

Go ahead, bro.

[Jess]

I've answered this before, but I'm gonna ask you, what is a money piece Piece?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Wouldn't that be, like, a fancy bag?

[Josh Labor]

That's not a terrible guess, by the way.

[Jess]

That would be my guess, now that I know that, obviously.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were way off, and we, like, try to guess it.

[Jess]

The answer is no.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay.

[Jess]

Should I tell them?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Yeah, right?

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. We should show them as well. What a money piece.

[Jess]

A money piece is when girls get their hair done and they have, like.

[Josh Labor]

Like, blonde or a certain hair color.

[Jess]

A certain, like, lighter hair color, like, beautifully down the middle.

[Josh Labor]

That's a money.

[Jess]

That's some money piece right there.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, money shot money piece.

[Jess]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Labor]

So next time you see a girl with a money piece, be like, I

[Paul Rodriguez]

really like your money piece.

[Jess]

Yeah, say that, say that. Say that.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You put me on game.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

They're like, what, you got a Tesla by any chance? What is a kitten heel?

[Paul Rodriguez]

No idea.

[Josh Labor]

Honestly, I don't even know what this is either. Oh, wait.

[Jess]

It kind of sounds like. Like a skateboarding trick. Huh?

[Josh Labor]

You ever land a kitten heel before?

[Paul Rodriguez]

You know, if you. Few times. Once or twice back in my younger days, but no idea.

[Josh Labor]

It's the baby heel, right?

[Jess]

Yeah, it's like a cute instead of, like a huge heel. Right? It's just like a tiny. Like a short, stubby, cute. Yeah. Kitten heel.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. Okay, so if you see a girl with a money piece wearing a kitten heel, like.

[Jess]

Okay.

[Josh Labor]

And the kitten heels.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You on tr, Baby.

[Jess]

I got one that you have to know.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay, we'll see.

[Jess]

What's a blowout?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Oh, that's a hair thing.

[Josh Labor]

Okay.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Right. Where they would.

[Josh Labor]

Yes.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Fluff it out.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah.

[Jess]

They smooth it out, give it volume, make it look nice and voluptuous, I guess. Yeah, they make it sexy. You know, a lot of women like to go and get their hair blown out. Blown out because it's sometimes hard for them to do it themselves. Or maybe it's. There's a technique to it.

[Josh Labor]

It's also, like.

[Paul Rodriguez]

For sure.

[Jess]

Yeah. It's like a pamper thing.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, for sure.

[Narrator]

Sure.

[Josh Labor]

What is a Diva Cup?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Diva cup. A diva cup. Well, single. It's definitely not like a pimp cup. Like magic Don Juan.

[Josh Labor]

Don Juan.

[Paul Rodriguez]

A diva cup. Does it have something to do with a bra?

[Josh Labor]

No.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay.

[Jess]

Oh, I. I like where. I like where that was going.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Diva cup. No idea, bro.

[Jess]

I said the same thing. Like, it's like a pimp cup for

[Paul Rodriguez]

chicks, but that's completely like. No, it can't be, because girls are way classier than that. Only guys will be that freaking tacky.

[Jess]

So, Jess, can you explain it? Because, like, I don't. I don't want to explain it.

[Josh Labor]

I was about to say it's a. It's a period.

[Paul Rodriguez]

What in the hell am I looking at?

[Narrator]

So it is a menstrual product, and instead of using, like, a pad or a towel tampon, you kind of use this little cup to let.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Let it.

[Narrator]

You know, you insert it, and then it catches everything, and then you dump it out.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But how does it stay in position?

[Jess]

I mean, anatomy keeps it in place.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, there's a.

[Jess]

Isn't that crazy?

[Josh Labor]

Look, they're toasting to the Diva Cups right there. That's a Diva cup toast right there.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Okay, which.

[Josh Labor]

Which many more things, period, my ladies.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Which end of it goes inside the.

[Narrator]

The part. The top of what looks like the cup and then the bottom little thing is so that you can take it

[Josh Labor]

out, break it out. Do you like.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Like, how? I mean. Okay, interesting.

[Narrator]

You, like, fold it, and it folds and bends, and then when you insert it, it just expands and it pops out.

[Jess]

Then you have Diva cup parties.

[Paul Rodriguez]

My question is, is, like, as ladies, is that a preferable thing, or do you like the classic sick.

[Narrator]

Some people, it depends. You know, there's also, like, research that goes into the types of chemicals that are used in, like, menstrual products and a lot of.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, but then. But then my question after that is, like, you gotta, like, know how long it takes to fill up, right? Like, you got to be like, keep checking it, right? Because you don't want it to overflow.

[Josh Labor]

Put that thing on a stopwatch.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, right, because you gotta be like, all right. Every half hour, you're like, oh, yeah, I'm kind of flowing today. Coming, switch out.

[Josh Labor]

Is your cup half full or half empty? That's the question.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Hey, man, you know that picture right there?

[Jess]

Why did they're like, blood look like a haika.

[Josh Labor]

Look at.

[Jess]

Why is it so. It looks so hydrating.

[Paul Rodriguez]

It looks like just like a. Like a little mini travel wine glass.

[Jess]

Why are they all holding them together like. Like you said, like they're. Cheers to life.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

Same time next month, ladies. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

See you in 28 days.

[Jess]

Okay, I got. I got. I got another. Where does the sticky side of the pad go? Where does the sticky side of the pad go?

[Paul Rodriguez]

It would have to go against the underwears to hold it in place. Right. There you go, I would imagine. Yeah.

[Jess]

A Man, who knows?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Wow.

[Jess]

You got that one correct, right?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

They didn't know. They had no idea.

[Jess]

Yeah. I didn't know where it was.

[Paul Rodriguez]

You want to stick it on the skin?

[Jess]

Well, yeah, I didn't. I didn't know. I thought. Yeah.

[Paul Rodriguez]

But I think this is good that us as men need to be talking about.

[Jess]

Right, Right.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I think we should feel ashamed of.

[Josh Labor]

Not. No shame at all.

[Jess]

Not at all. That was girly. Pop 101.

[Josh Labor]

Pass me, Rob.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

[Jess]

Paul Rodriguez, thank you so much for being on the podcast. We really appreciate it. I am waiting for the cigar lounge invite if you have ready dog, couple chairs. Oh, yeah. Sigs, I just want to thank you so much.

[Josh Labor]

Stogies. That's what it is.

[Paul Rodriguez]

I know.

[Jess]

I'm six.

[Josh Labor]

Well, then I was like, but there's a gar at the end. Yeah, but stogies.

[Jess]

Yeah, stogies. Just, you know, I just want to thank you so much for inspiring people like ourselves, people around, people that I know, people that have been looking up to you for such a long time. I hope that people watch this podcast and, yeah, they kind of took from what we were saying about how you inspired us, but what the real meaning of it is, you're just being yourself. So the real answer to everything is you be yourself in life and you automatically inspire others. You don't have to pretend you're somebody else to inspire others. You be yourself because you don't know, but in reality, yourself are like a lot of other people.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess]

So me, personally, I want to thank you because you've been such an inspiration to us ever since we were kids, even till now. Me seeing your worth ethic, what you do, what you do for a living, how you spend your time, that is very admirable.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Thank you, P Rod.

[Jess]

We appreciate you being on the podcast. We're very honored to have you on, and I hope that we can remain friends after this. And I hope that we are great.

[Paul Rodriguez]

We're cigar boys.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah, that's it.

[Jess]

Stogie Boys. Are we gonna make merch?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Yeah, dude. Stogie Boys merch.

[Josh Labor]

We got to see if it's collab with primitive.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Josh Labor]

Hey, shoot my shot.

[Paul Rodriguez]

Stogie homies.

[Jess]

Yeah, let's check out some trademarks, man. Might be taken already. Yeah, a little domain, but, yeah, we appreciate you coming on, man, honestly.

[Josh Labor]

And just to piggyback off what se was saying, bro, not to go much into a tangent, but you're one of the greats. And just to be able to hear your mind and your heart and your passion. Truly inspiring me. So thank you, bro. Thank you for sharing. Means a lot and I'm excited to. To.

[Paul Rodriguez]

To.

[Josh Labor]

To build a relationship with you and go. To go to one of the competitions and do that. Are we doing something?

[Jess]

Yeah. So thanks for reminding me. You guys have heard us talk about the PSL event competition that I've attended.

[Josh Labor]

Yeah. Which I'll be at 1.

[Jess]

P just texted me on the side and said he's going to give away two tickets to the next event which is hosted. I think it doesn't matter because I'm going to put it right here. It's better if I just put it right here. Right. It's better and it's so much fun. I just went with it with my younger brother the other day and we had such a blast. So we're giving away two tickets. So comment down below. Follow P. Rod.

[Josh Labor]

Yes.

[Jess]

And comment down below.

[Josh Labor]

Ladies.

[Jess]

My God, should they say anything down below to win or you give the key word?

[Josh Labor]

What's the word that you want them to comment? What. What do they want them to. To say?

[Paul Rodriguez]

Day God is great.

[Josh Labor]

God is great. With your Instagram handle. So we can DM you and let you know that you won the tickets. But once again, P Rock, absolute legend, man. P. Rod La Plata forever, baby. There it is.

[Jess]

Love it.

[Josh Labor]

Beautiful episode.

[Jess]

Approxima. Platica. Ciao.