The Wayback #50 | Ryan Long

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Wayback #50 | Ryan Long

Release Date: December 12, 2024

Introduction

In the milestone 50th episode of The Wayback with Ryan Sickler, host Ryan Sickler welcomes comedian and musician Ryan Long for an engaging trip down memory lane. The conversation delves into Ryan Long's childhood in Toronto, his experiences with skateboarding and hockey, his journey in the music industry, and nostalgic high school antics.

Early Life and Hobbies

Ryan Long opens up about his upbringing in Ajax, Ontario, a suburb just half an hour outside of Toronto. He paints a vivid picture of his summers, which were predominantly spent skateboarding and later shifting focus to his passion for being in a band.

"The majority of my life was exclusively skateboarding. And then it switched immediately to trying to be in a band," Ryan Long shares [10:01].

He contrasts the dynamics of Canadian suburbs with American ones, highlighting the universal teenage experiences of skateboarding, hanging out at the mall, and occasional troublemaking.

The Sneaker Culture

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the sneaker culture of their youth. Ryan Sickler reminisces about iconic sneakers like Reebok Pumps and Patrick Ewing Adidas, while Ryan Long shares his personal experiences of earning compliments and even buying a second pair due to their popularity.

"I have never had more compliments from black dudes since I bought these shoes," Ryan Long remarks [05:14].

They explore the evolution of sneaker trends, from the dominance of the Reebok Pumps and Adidas in the early '80s to the rise of Jordan sneakers sparked by Michael Jordan's influence.

High School Memories and Pranks

Ryan Long recounts mischievous high school pranks, including one where he and a friend replaced their French teacher's VCR movie with a porno, leading to unforeseen consequences.

"We put a porno movie in the VCR, and she ended up staying for a month and a half," Ryan Long explains [23:00].

This segment highlights the rebellious spirit of youth and the lasting memories that come from such antics.

Musical Journey and Band Days

Transitioning from pranks to music, Ryan Long discusses his involvement in forming the band The Johnstones. He details the challenges of maintaining the band name after a member left and the camaraderie of touring and recording.

"We had a couple songs that were on the MTV Countdown and four or five albums that went popular," Ryan Long shares [34:53].

The conversation touches on the lifestyle of touring, managing band dynamics, and the transition from high school bands to more serious musical endeavors.

Hockey and Family Expectations

Ryan Long reflects on his family's strong emphasis on hockey, detailing the rigorous training regimen imposed during his childhood. Although he played up to Double A level, his passion for hockey waned in his teenage years.

"Hockey was the main thing where I was being groomed to be in the NHL. Didn't take," he admits [15:01].

This segment underscores the tension between personal interests and family expectations, a common theme in many youths' lives.

Nostalgia and Reflections

Throughout the episode, both Ryan Sickler and Ryan Long express a sense of nostalgia for their formative years. They reminisce about the fashion trends, the music scene, and the simple joys of youth that have shaped who they are today.

"If you wore those shoes, you were definitely going home that day with blood on those things," Ryan Sickler recalls [08:03].

Conclusion

The Wayback #50 serves as a heartfelt tribute to the past, capturing the essence of growing up in the '80s and '90s. Ryan Sickler and Ryan Long's candid conversation offers listeners a blend of humor, nostalgia, and genuine reflection on the experiences that define one's youth.

Notable Quotes

• "The majority of my life was exclusively skateboarding. And then it switched immediately to trying to be in a band." – Ryan Long [10:01]
• "I have never had more compliments from black dudes since I bought these shoes." – Ryan Long [05:14]
• "We put a porno movie in the VCR, and she ended up staying for a month and a half." – Ryan Long [23:00]
• "We had a couple songs that were on the MTV Countdown and four or five albums that went popular." – Ryan Long [34:53]
• "Hockey was the main thing where I was being groomed to be in the NHL. Didn't take." – Ryan Long [15:01]
• "If you wore those shoes, you were definitely going home that day with blood on those things." – Ryan Sickler [08:03]

Final Thoughts

The Wayback #50 | Ryan Long is a nostalgic journey that resonates with anyone who cherishes memories from past decades. With engaging storytelling and relatable anecdotes, Ryan Sickler and Ryan Long create an episode that's both entertaining and reflective.

Transcript

[T-Mobile Advertiser]

Now AT T Mobile get four 5G phones on us and four lines for $25 a line per month when you switch with eligible trade ins, all on America's largest 5G network.

Minimum of 4 lines for $25 per line per month with auto pay discount using debit or bank account, $5 more per line without autopay plus taxes and fees and $10 device connection charge phones via 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement due bill credits end if you pay off devices early ctmobile.com with millions of books.

[Ryan Sickler]

On Amazon, there's a reading feeling for everyone.

[T-Mobile Advertiser]

For example, Juan's as he drifts away to nirvana after only the first chapter.

[Ryan Sickler]

Is different to Maya's when she discovered the narrator was in fact the evil twin, which is also different to Noah's. Aw. Anytime the cute cyberpunk is mentioned, even though in reality he'd be totally out of his league from to to Aw.

[T-Mobile Advertiser]

Amazon Books, that reading feeling awaits.

[Ryan Long]

Lights are going, snow is falling down. There's a feeling of goodwill around town. It could only mean one thing. McRib is here. People throwing parties, ugly sweaters everywhere, stockings hung up by the chimney with care. It could only mean one thing.

[T-Mobile Advertiser]

McRib is here at participatingMcDonald's for a limited time.

[Ryan Sickler]

I've been getting a lot of questions about when is the Wayback going to be on Patreon, and I'm excited to announce it is finally here. Plus bonus content right now for just $5, you get the Honeydew a day early, you get it ad free and you get a full bonus episode of the Honeydew with y'all, where listeners highlight their lowlights and it's going to stay that way. Five bucks. And for just $3 more, you're also going to get the way back a day early and ad free. But that's not all. You'll get exclusive bonus content with the guests, some fun segments, maybe some games, and we'd love to get you guys involved. And that's all for only $3 more. And there's no censorship on any of the Patreon episodes. Subscribe now. Tempe, AZ I'll see y'all December 20th and 21st at the Tempe Improv. Get your tickets on my website to all [e-mail] hey baby, we gonna be here all day. We gonna be here all day, baby. I like that kind of party. Welcome back to the Way Back. Everybody. Ryan Sickler here. Ryansickler.com and Ryan Sickler on all your social media. I want to start this episode like I start them all by saying thank you. Thank supporting, anything that I do, whatever it is, I don't care. Shirt, ticket, this pod, sharing with your friends, whatever. Thank you. I love doing my job and it's because of you guys. And come see me, Come see me at a live show if I'm in your town when you're around. All tickets for my shows are on my website@ryan sickler.com now. I'm very excited to introduce our guest here in the Way Back today. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ryan Long. Welcome to the Way Back. Ryan Long.

[Ryan Long]

Great to be back in the new new studio. Looking great.

[Ryan Sickler]

You're nice. You complimented it when you came in. You were like, this looks really cool. Thank you very much.

[Ryan Long]

Love it.

[Ryan Sickler]

Please, before we get into your stories, promote it all, brother.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, check it out. I got a new special that is out. Ryan long. Problem solved. YouTube.com ryanlongcomedy Please check it out. It's been out for a week. It's doing really good. Positive feedback. My podcast is the boys cast. In the next few weeks if you want to come out, I'm going to be in Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Edmonton, Phoenix, Portland, Tacoma and more. But yeah, mainly check out the special YouTube.com Ryan Long comedy.

[Ryan Sickler]

Where'd you shoot it?

[Ryan Long]

Calgary.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, okay.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was kind of a hassle to get a crew out to, you know, Calgary. Obviously it's easier to shoot at some other places, but it's a good club. The, the guy, you know, sometimes you message the people. You're like, we want to shoot a special here. And it's kind of like, okay, where as opposed to this guy was pumped about it. Cool guy. So, yeah, it turned out really well. Did four shows.

[Ryan Sickler]

Good for you. Go check out his special. All right. So this show, the Way Back, I was explaining to you, you know, this is from like birth to high school. We talk about, you know, the old fun days, high school, all that stuff. And you rolled up. We're just going to jump around. You rolled up and straight up. Reebok pumps. Lift those things up. Kirsten, how old are you again? 20. What? 6? 26. Do you know about Reebok pumps?

[Ryan Long]

That's too much of a throwback, eh?

[Ryan Sickler]

I don't know about the pump specific. Wait, there used to be commercials. It was a big deal. And they would get down and pump Your shoes and shit.

[Ryan Long]

These were game changer when they came out.

[Ryan Sickler]

And then it became.

[Ryan Long]

Those are the ones I have. The orange ones. That's the same ones I have. But I got the. The light trim.

[Ryan Sickler]

I want to say it was. White men can't jump to where it became a slam. If you were wearing these, dudes would get down. They would, you know, clown you and pump them for you.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, yeah. You dunk in a guy and come bump them up. I got these.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, yeah. Dominique Wilkins.

[Ryan Long]

I have never had more compliments from black dudes since I bought these shoes. I'll tell you what. You want to know some crazy look, Dominique. I got so many compliments that I bought a second pair.

[Ryan Sickler]

Princess doesn't like the shoes.

[Ryan Long]

I was a hit at the comedy seller with these.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'll bet. Dude, this is 83. Is that commercial? So I'm 10. You're not even born, are you? Born 83.

[Ryan Long]

Pumps were around when I was. No, I was born 85. But bumps were around when I was, you know, a kid.

[Ryan Sickler]

I had Patrick Ewing Adidas. Check these out. Oh, there they are right there. Top. Yep.

[Ryan Long]

Those are nice.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, those.

[Ryan Long]

I've seen those making a comeback. You know. What was the huge shoe when I was growing up? I guess Air force ones like took over. But before that it was the Iverson's. So there was a moment where every person. And then actually Nike shocks came out right after that. And then, oh, dude, me and my buddies. Me and my buddies, we were probably in grade 10. There was a flea market. And you could go, and these guys would have defective shoes. Right? And then you'd buy the defective shoes and then you could send them back for new shoes. So we had shoes going to like every one of our friends houses. Right?

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Ryan Long]

And then one time we. We started selling these shoes that we used to get defective. And then we found one of my friends, older gangster brothers, wanted to buy the shoes. And then we sold them these shoes and they ended up being different sizes.

[Ryan Sickler]

No.

[Ryan Long]

And then for just came in it and we. We did Rock paper scissors for who had to go back. And one guy had to go back to this guy's house. Gave him his money back. Given the. Is this how you dressed when like. Is that the kind of shoes you like this?

[Ryan Sickler]

And some like jam. Fake jam shorts. Because my mom wouldn't get us real jam. She's. You know, we had McDonald's at home. My mom made Joanne fabric.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, yeah. Iverson's was the shoe for a while. Yeah, that there was There was the Iverson 3 and the Iverson 4. Those shoes took that one. That shoe took over. And then that one underneath. There's. There's that one first and then there was the one after. That is the one. The blue. Right down, down, down. Then that one. Everyone had that in the zipper. And then you unleave the zipper undone that. You took over my high school.

[Ryan Sickler]

This is Canada, right?

[Ryan Long]

This is Toronto.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. Okay.

[Ryan Long]

Took over right outside.

[Ryan Sickler]

So if you go back to my day, and because we didn't have targets or anything like that, like, now Tony Hawk is in Target and like that back, we had to shop it. So look up kmart and then McGregor, McG these.

[Ryan Long]

The Conor Mc. New Conor McGregor.

[Ryan Sickler]

No, hell, he should line up with these. That's a great idea.

[Ryan Long]

So these were hot.

[Ryan Sickler]

No, bro. That's what I'm trying to tell you.

[Ryan Long]

Oh. I was gonna say, if you had to wear these, I could see hipsters.

[Ryan Sickler]

Trying to make your ass kicked. Like it was a long day.

[Ryan Long]

Brand you a sneaker head. Do you have a sneaker collection?

[Ryan Sickler]

No. I mean, I like a de this. If there's a cool pair, I'll get it. But I don't have a collection. I never had. I didn't come from that kind of. Like, I didn't have parents.

[Ryan Long]

You. I love that you think. I love how you think that the. Being a sneakerhead is generally like a rich guy. It is now, I guess, once you're older, I think. I think it's more of a middle class thing, maybe a suburbs thing. But I'll tell you what, the guys that I knew that were collecting sneakers, it wasn't the rich kids. This is.

[Ryan Sickler]

See, we were just. You wear that fucking pair until the wheels fall off. You know what I mean? It didn't get to be a popular. I would say. I would say the Jordan started that for real. You know, like, once Michael Jordan dropped the shoe, that's when everybody all of a sudden started going, man, I want that shoe. Then run DMC with the shell toes. And people are like, I want that. And I think that was, like, really the birth. Oh, there. Look at that. Top left. The Olympia High tease right here. Let me tell you something. If you wore those, you were definitely going home that day with blood on those things that it wasn't somebody else's. Okay, this is. So. This is what we were wearing before Jordans, you know what I mean?

[Ryan Long]

Before somebody dropped the game and they're like shoe guys.

[Ryan Sickler]

And then Converse had the Larry Birds and the Magic Johnson's. Do you know about those?

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, the Converse never was able to stick in the game, though. They. They had. They ended up always going back to the Chuck Taylors, right?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yep. And then you had Jordan every year with a new shoe. And then you had Ewings. We had the. So that's when it became excited. Everybody was trying something different, like, oh my God, we're finally out of the Chuck Taylor Olympia era.

[Ryan Long]

Basketball players would make them stick. I remember there was the Tracy McGrady's and they were the crappiest shoes. You know, I show up with the McGrady's.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right, so let's talk about you growing up in Canada. You're in Toronto, so are you right outside of a city. All right, so you're in the look. Suburbs.

[Ryan Long]

Probably like half hour outside of Toronto. Place called Ajax, Ontario.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay, and what are your summers?

[Ryan Long]

Village? There was probably. Majority of my life was exclusively skateboarding. And then my. And then it switched immediately to. Now my life's exclusively trying to be in a band.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Ryan Long]

It was just a flip summers there.

[Ryan Sickler]

Were a neighborhood where like you got a bunch of kids your age you.

[Ryan Long]

Can hang out with or American suburbs, I feel like are a little different. Canadian suburbs is the cliche. Skateboarding, going to the mall, getting kicked out. That is, you know, that's it. Yeah, that is the whole thing. You go to the mall, get kicked out of the mall, go to the skate park. Then there's, you know, you know, the places where you can get cheap pizza, you got a spot, then you've got a little scam going on and then back home. But everything for a good portion of my life, probably everything revolved around skateboarding until it switched. And now it all revolved around trying to be in a band.

[Ryan Sickler]

And what year, like is that? High school.

[Ryan Long]

See? Yes. So probably I would say where I grew up and this would probably. So it's after you. It was sort of. Skateboarding was sort of like more of a rock and like, you know, rock music thing. The guys that were kind of into like punk and then there was the hip hop. I'd say around grade eight. For me, hip hop took over skateboarding. And then there was a very big, like divide where people either became. And that's when Eminem was coming out 50 Cent. So Eminem rocked my high school where within a week, every single person looked like Eminem looked like. Oh yeah, just ev. Dude. Every single guy had like dying hair and shit too. Baby blue wristbands that match the baby blue shoes, you know, the headbands the do rags, just everything.

[Ryan Sickler]

Do rag.

[Ryan Long]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

I've never been confident enough to wear a do rag.

[Ryan Long]

White guy do rag was probably still 1, 10, 15% of the durags.

[Ryan Sickler]

I'm just going to say it just looks like that dude's bad news, you know what I'm saying? I see a white dude, I see that guy, and I'm like, man, this isn't going to go well. You know what I mean?

[Ryan Long]

There's 100% white dudes rocking do rags, and you put the. With the. The bandana around it, doing the Nelly.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, yeah, over there. I forgot about that.

[Ryan Long]

It was more of an Eminem look where every white dude had the shaved head down there.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. Interesting. That look was cap over the thing.

[Ryan Long]

This right here is what my high school looked like after that.

[Ryan Sickler]

He had a lot of the cap with the over the durag up here at his top left over here.

[Ryan Long]

The only thing they're missing is the baby blue headband. And also, also. Oh, yeah, it's the headwear, you know, Durag, baby blue headband. This is this. Well, this is. This is probably 20, 19, 20. This is when we were.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, hold on. Is that your real hair or is that a wig? Your hair. You had hair like that?

[Ryan Long]

Big hair, dude.

[Ryan Sickler]

You got good hair. I could see you got one side shave, but you got hair in there.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, so I.

[Ryan Sickler]

So wait, go back. See that again.

[Ryan Long]

See, we. We kind of more. But you can tell we all had like a little hip hop influence.

[Ryan Sickler]

And that's real hair on the guy in the middle, too. That looks like a wig. You got to say that me and.

[Ryan Long]

Those two dudes lived in the most insane house in Toronto, where we had a. All two out of three of our main windows were busted in and glass was just everywhere. And then, dude, girls would, like, come over and just their feet bleeding everywhere. Like, what is this? And then that household, the cops busted in. This is when we were like, yeah, like 20. The cops busted in the house, came into our rooms with the, like, guns with lasers on them, and they were like, get on the floor.

[Ryan Sickler]

What are they looking for?

[Ryan Long]

Our neighbor. It turned out, dude, legitimately, there's girls there crying. Bring us all out. Put us there, you know, tear the place limb from limb. And legitimately, the cop was coming out, being like, all right. And he goes, so this is five abs. We're like, this is six abs. And he's like, john, we got the wrong house. So they literally look at the neighbor because the two houses were attached.

[Ryan Sickler]

I Would have been like. Yeah, well, we thought he might be over here. I would have made some up. All right. Yeah, well, we're going to five next. We thought he was in. Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Long]

When they tore the place to shreds.

[Ryan Sickler]

That we got the wrong.

[Ryan Long]

This guy ended up, I'm pretty sure, going to jail, but that house was a mess.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait, is this a hot.

[Ryan Long]

Or.

[Ryan Sickler]

I was about to say, is this a Halloween, or are you guys in a band here? What's going on?

[Ryan Long]

This is, like, probably during college peak. Like, we're in band guys. Like, that's all our entire identity.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's. Are you in individual bands or are you all in a band?

[Ryan Long]

Me and that guy on the left in the green hatter. In a band.

[Ryan Sickler]

And what do you. What was your instrument?

[Ryan Long]

Drums.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay. What's he.

[Ryan Long]

Guitar.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right. What's this dude?

[Ryan Long]

That's our boy.

[Navajo Nation Advocate]

He.

[Ryan Long]

We lived with him.

[Ryan Sickler]

He was in another band, though.

[Ryan Long]

Those are, like, my two closest friends.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Ryan Long]

Still boys with those guys?

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. All right.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

What was your first.

[Ryan Long]

He worked a real job.

[Ryan Sickler]

He doesn't know.

[Ryan Long]

He runs a cool company now.

[Ryan Sickler]

What was your first musical instrument?

[Ryan Long]

Piano. Against my will.

[Ryan Sickler]

But was that something, like, in school or your mom made you do that?

[Ryan Long]

There was. There was two things in this family you're going to do. You're going to. You're going to practice piano and you're going to play hockey.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, it had to be piano, not just an instrument.

[Ryan Long]

No, you had to play piano. So before you could eat, it was 30 minutes of piano and then 30 minutes of hockey shots in the basement.

[Ryan Sickler]

I mean, that's pretty fucking badass. Little bit of culture and a little bit of ass woven. I like it. I like it.

[Ryan Long]

Hockey was the main thing where it was like, we were all. Me and my two brothers were both being groomed to be in the NHL. Didn't take.

[Ryan Sickler]

But they were. Your parents were that serious about it.

[Ryan Long]

I would have liked it. Didn't work out that way, but.

[Ryan Sickler]

How far did you get?

[Ryan Long]

I played, like, pretty. I played like double A, which is the.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, you did. You played minor league, no doubt.

[Ryan Long]

Like, I guess this is Canadian terms.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Ryan Long]

That's me. Top right, with the blonde hair.

[Ryan Sickler]

You still got that Eminem going, huh? Couldn't get it out. That's you there?

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, that's me there.

[Ryan Sickler]

And what are you wearing? You guys win something? I guess. I guess. Wait, it says midget tournament. You can't even say that. 23 years ago, this was called a midget.

[Ryan Long]

I forgot about all these Guys. Yeah, that guy's a school. Well, I won't guess one point though, but one of the guys I know, he's a school teacher right now.

[Ryan Sickler]

What did you win there? Like the championship thing there?

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, I guess we won.

[Ryan Sickler]

And were you a travel team or are you just like local wreck and stuff?

[Ryan Long]

No. So you play? Yeah. You probably play two games a week. One home, one away. One, one or two practices a week. So like three times a week and then you travel. Like there's teams in your division. So it's like, you know, teams that are an hour away, probably three hours furthest. So a lot of that then you know, two times a year they'd probably be like a tournament. There'd be somewhere like Montreal or.

[Ryan Sickler]

Were you good?

[Ryan Long]

Played a few American like Buffalo.

[Ryan Sickler]

You were good.

[Ryan Long]

All right.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah.

[Ryan Long]

So what's pretty good Until I probably didn't care that much. So double A would be like college players. So it would be house league is like what everyone plays and then there's select and then a double A. Triple A is the highest but triple A on our. In our thing only seven people are on AAA because it was joint with another town. So in our town, seven people on the AAA and then AAA and then.

[Ryan Sickler]

You'Re going to like AHL after that.

[Ryan Long]

Then after that you can either go to college. You. Yeah, the equivalent of minor leagues. Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, wow. You fucking did good, dude.

[Ryan Long]

No, I was all right. I wasn't great.

[Ryan Sickler]

So you were skating.

[Ryan Long]

I wasn't too like playing hockey. Give too much of a shit about hockey. Probably past 13.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are you good at piano now?

[Ryan Long]

No.

[Ryan Sickler]

You never stuck with it. You never stuck with it. Oh, here you are.

[Ryan Long]

I'm pretty medium at piano.

[Ryan Sickler]

What are you holding here and what.

[Ryan Long]

Am I holding there? It's like four popsicles. Popsicles.

[T-Mobile Advertiser]

After investing billions to light up our network, T mobile is America's largest 5 network plus right now you can switch. Keep your phone and we'll pay it off up to $800. See how you can save on every plan versus Verizon and AT&T. @T mobile.com keepandswitch up to four lines.

Via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlocked device credit service ported 90 plus days with device ineligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months.

[Navajo Nation Advocate]

Attention parents and grandparents. Are you searching for the perfect gift for your kids this holiday season? Give the gift of adventure that last all year long. A guardian bike. The easiest, safest and quickest bikes for kids to learn on. Kids are learning to ride in just one day. No training wheels needed. What makes Guardian Bikes special? They're the easiest to ride thanks to the thoughtful engineering, lightweight frames and kid friendly components. Kids love how fun and easy they are to ride and parents appreciate the safety features like the patented braking system that prevents head over handlebar accidents. Guardian Bikes are the only kids bikes designed and assembled in a USA factory, ensuring top notch quality and durability. They're built to last and make perfect hand me downs. Make holiday gifting stress free with Guardian bikes. With guaranteed one to two day shipping for just $29. You can trust your gift will arrive in time to create magical memories this holiday season. Plus sign up for their newsletter to receive a free bike log and pop with your first purchase. The perfect stocking stuffer for any kid on your list. Visit guardianbikes.com to secure the ultimate holiday gift today. Happy riding.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh Freezy pops. Yeah.

[Ryan Long]

See those catwalks? That was the houses. So those were. You take the. Everyone would all this. You get candles, right? So you get candles and then you'd ever turn every curb into wax, right?

[Ryan Sickler]

Ah. And then you just grind it off.

[Ryan Long]

Just grinding off everything until you get kicked out.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, it's not even your house.

[Ryan Long]

That wasn't my house. No, that was our neighborhood though. And then right behind there, there was a huge hill.

[Ryan Sickler]

What instrument did you first choose? Then you said, this was the instrument.

[Ryan Long]

That I was good at. And you said, but this is all when I'm young. Like I was forced to play piano when I'm, you know, seven. So like I probably started playing drums when I'm grade, you know, three, four.

[Ryan Sickler]

Okay.

[Ryan Long]

So pretty.

[Ryan Sickler]

My daughter's doing music now. What do you got? I told her she can pick whatever she wants. I'm not gonna force her. You know what she picked? Trombone dude.

[Ryan Long]

On her own accord.

[Ryan Sickler]

She's like, it looks fun and it sounds funny in the cartoons and the shows.

[Ryan Long]

I'm like, it's a random instrument.

[Ryan Sickler]

Wait till you pick it up. And now it's like it's heavy. And I'm like, nope, I haven't carried that case once. I haven't touched it once. I made a deal with her. I'm like, it's your cross. The bear. You're carrying it. We were walking to school the other morning. She's like, it's getting heavy. I go switch arms. I ain't touching it. Her brother, I tried to warn her. I was like, your brother did the same. Your brother pick. Because it's kids. Bigger is Better he picked a cello and we were like, hassle you're fucking. And he hated it. It's my wheel on it down the street and shit.

[Ryan Long]

They used to have a saying that people would say, they go, there's two things you don't want your kid to be. A drummer or a goalie.

[Ryan Sickler]

Well, in the States at least they start you with the recorder. Did they start you guys up there with. In Canada with the recorder?

[Ryan Long]

But I'd probably been playing before that.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, I'm sure you did. Because I feel like that's like second.

[Ryan Long]

I was forced against my will before then. But yeah, probably fourth grade. The fake record, which isn't a real instrument by the way.

[Ryan Sickler]

Is that right? What do you mean it's fake? Yeah, just some man made flute with some holes in it or something.

[Ryan Long]

I think, I think how. I think how recorders work. I think recorders work sort of like.

[Ryan Sickler]

Right now I played songs on.

[Ryan Long]

Well, I'll tell you why this is what I think. So you know how harmonicas are made in like a key where a real harmonica you could play the wrong notes, but on the right harmonica you can't play.

[Ryan Sickler]

AI disagree.

[Ryan Long]

It's a serious instrument of the rich.

[Ryan Sickler]

AI is man. It said serious song.

[Ryan Long]

I'm pretty sure that you can. It's like they're made with a scale. So like the harmonica, you can't play the wrong note, right? So I'm pretty sure with a harmonica it's like, look at. That's not like scales have eight, eight notes, right? They only have seven things because it's all in a key already. So harmonica. If you buy a recorder, it'll be like, okay, this recorder is in the thing of C sharp. So if someone's playing piano and you go, you're only allowed to hit these eight notes. And any of those eight note works, like, that's not playing an instrument.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, I see what you mean. Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Long]

So an instrument you can hit a wrong note.

[Ryan Sickler]

Clarinet. I picked the clarinet for some reason. I tried that for a hot second. I did the trumpet for a second, for a second. And I really did want to do drums. Shit. Just got away from the family after my divorce and we could never get drunk.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah.

[Ryan Sickler]

But then I tell you so we'll talk about high school bands. Because we had a friend and this dude wanted to form a band. So instead of sticking to my guns and be like, no, I just want to also learn guitar. He got guitar, I got bass. I can't remember who had drums. My brother decides he's going to do keyboards. I'm like, you're not going to. Nobody wants the keyboard.

[Ryan Long]

We're in the 80s right now, being sad. We're talking about trombones. Clarinets.

[Ryan Sickler]

But keyboard. The Casio keyboard with the sampler.

[Ryan Long]

Oh, sure.

[Ryan Sickler]

So we had the early one where.

[Ryan Long]

It was like, you're rocking out.

[Ryan Sickler]

Had these little songs with it and stuff. And you could do drum samples and stuff like that. So we would get that. And he'd get all fired up, but as blood on this thing. Look at this.

[Ryan Long]

No, that's great.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, kicked out of school. What are you getting kicked out of school for?

[Ryan Long]

Well, the. Well, I got kicked out of residence at university. But I was. The one thing that I was thinking that was pretty funny was. So, like I said, if in the suburbs of Canada, it is 100%, you're causing trouble until you leave. You know, that's kind of the vibe of it. But.

[Ryan Sickler]

And what are you doing?

[Ryan Long]

The one thing that was making me laugh. We were. I was actually talking about this recently. And this is probably grade nine. We had a. And it was with that guy. Okay, that was in the photo. We had a French class, and probably the best prank we did, we put a porno. Porno movie in the vcr. So the teacher comes and. Because she. We replaced her movie. She puts the porno in French teacher. Right. But. But then she took off and left. And then basically, I. Me and that guy decided one of us was going to pretend to be. And then the teacher that was substituting, she ended up staying for a month and a half. So I had to slowly.

[Ryan Sickler]

Nuh.

[Ryan Long]

It's like, this is what happened. She goes. She goes. And it was apparently related to, like, slowly got untarded. Literally. I remember the name. Yeah, ridiculous. We had a. We had a name in everything. Everything. Sammy.

[Ryan Sickler]

All right. I don't want you to get in trouble. So on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the tardiest, how tardy were you?

[Ryan Long]

Aggressive out of the gate.

[Ryan Sickler]

And then you had to bring it down to a zero.

[Ryan Long]

It's like by day four, it was just like, still not attack, huh? That cl. French classes are exclusively for terrorizing that guy Jared kind of thing.

[Ryan Sickler]

Did the lady ever call you out? Did she ever say anything like.

[Ryan Long]

No, she was. She was r. Know what was going on. Substitute teacher didn't really want to be there, but it was just like, oh, man. Slowly dialed it back.

[Ryan Sickler]

That is ab.

[Ryan Long]

Crazy. We were talking about that the other day. I was just like, that's the funniest Thing that happened, there's some teacher out.

[Ryan Sickler]

There, some ladies telling that story about you. Like, this guy started off all up.

[Ryan Long]

I'm so good at teaching. That's a. I don't know.

[Ryan Sickler]

French cured him.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you. French is a cure.

[Ryan Sickler]

Probably telling like her nieces and nephews. That might be on the spectrum. You should take French.

[Ryan Long]

French is the cure.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, that's too good.

[Ryan Long]

We never got. It was all getting suspended and stuff like that. But no, like proper expulsions.

[Ryan Sickler]

But if you're.

[Ryan Long]

It's all minor stuff, you know, but if.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yep, that's fine. If you're. That's the way we were too. But if you're a skater and like that, you're getting into trouble. So what are you guys into back then? You. Dude, there was like setting fires when.

[Ryan Long]

Videos came out that like changed my life where I was like, oh, I'm this now. You know, Tom Green and Jackass were big. And I was so into that stuff. So we were. We were huge into filming all the pranks. I remember. I guess. And we used to have to bring them back. And then you. You hook the thing up to the TV in a basement and you can watch it. I remember the first one we ever did. I remember. And I've never been able to find this videotape. But the first thing we ever did was the busiest road in the city doing a hundred point turn. See if we see if you can do the 100 point turn. We have it on video, just both directions. Like rush hour, people flipping out. And the goal was to get to 100 points.

[Ryan Sickler]

How many did you get?

[Ryan Long]

No, we did it. We pulled off the 100 points.

[Ryan Sickler]

It's got to take five minutes because.

[Ryan Long]

You go one, two. Yeah, probably two minutes.

[Ryan Sickler]

Dude, we used to do this one.

[Ryan Long]

Two seconds.

[Ryan Sickler]

Two seconds. That's good because you gotta sit there with people yelling and laying horns. You gotta be sitting there doing it. We used to do one. I had our station wagon growing up. We had. We had a Dodge Aspen wagon. And my buddy Eric Snyder had a. He had a Caprice classic wagon. And we would just be bored and we go through town and we would just ride side by side and not just hold. Just see how long we could get behind us with people passing on double yellow lines. We knew we'd be worried about killing them. But yeah, it's one of these. And we would just sight and people. We would do that. Or the other thing we would do is we go to a busy intersection if we were the front car. And right when A light turned green. We put the hazards on and pop the hood, and we just go out to the hood. And we get out of the hood, we'd be laughing and looking through the hood, crack through to see how many our pranks reused. Here's another one. This is the most dangerous one. Wait, the wagon. You have.

[Ryan Long]

No, not the wagon, but the Caprice Classic. Mine was more like that. There we go. 94 Caprice Classic on the left, down. That's what I had. Yeah, something like that, probably. Mine was a little older even. Mine might have been more of like an 88 or something like that. It was an old car, but the windshield wipers. The windshield wipers broke, so I used to have a. I used to have a half of a hockey stick that I. You put a towel on. Yeah. I remember driving through a blizzard and my girlfriend at the time just freaking out, Right? Just be like, pull over. I go, I'm honestly good.

[Ryan Sickler]

Or we work really good. Yeah.

[Ryan Long]

You got the left arm at the window in a Canadian snowstorm.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, man. This wagon we had. We used to have. I don't know what it was about the window washer, but the squirter thing, it would go over the car. It would hit the car behind. You know what I mean? So we would.

[Ryan Long]

You could send a message to a guy.

[Ryan Sickler]

We turned it one time and we went through McDonald's, and my brother's sitting there talking, and I just reached over and hit that. It's hitting this girl on the chest. It's just. I was like, that's a good one. I forgot. I forgot about that. This is. This is the most dangerous one. So we used to do this all the time. I. It still makes me laugh. I think about doing it all the time, but it could kill somebody. So when you're sitting and you're making. Waiting to make a left turn, and you gotta yield to oncoming traffic. We used to do this one all the time where you got. You got to put my mic down. You got to. You got to dip your shoulder. And we would just take our hands loosely over the wheel, like if it was a 50.

[Ryan Long]

50 New York, you know what I mean?

[Ryan Sickler]

And you start going like, the son of a is coming. Used to make me like, you had to sell it. You got to dip that shoulder and just slide your hand around like this. We used to do that one and my other one, because you had the Capri Classic, like, for sure.

[Ryan Long]

We used to see people three seats in the front.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. You see people hauling ass, and I don't Know about Canada, but at least here, if you flash your headlights. Yeah, right. It's.

[Ryan Long]

People think it's a cop.

[Ryan Sickler]

Oh, dude.

[Ryan Long]

Dark enough it looks like a cop with the high beams on. People get real.

[Ryan Sickler]

Still do it. If I'm out on a country road and there's somebody that's hauling ass by me, I just flash them of you pop the high, lock them up. They're throwing the thumbs up. There's nothing there. Just makes me let. They keep trying. Like, where is that. He's the lock. Like, you'd see a car dip down. Thank you so much.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, you can slow someone out with that bad boy. That was a beast, too. People tried to. Yeah, see, they used to make the.

[Ryan Sickler]

There you go.

[Ryan Long]

You're only missing the siren. The other. I'll tell you the other big hack of this, the Caprice Classic, which was huge back in the day. So you know how they have. I. It was when they had. I don't know if all of them have him here, but the toll roads, they take a picture of your license plate and send it to you, right? Well, this is what. You put the gas in the license plate. So you flip the. You flip the license plate down in order to put the gas in. So when you're going on the toll road, you just flip your license. It's an honest. Pretty honest mistake. Right. So it's like this car is making you money. Because if anyone. If any cop ever pulls you over and you're like, your license plate's down, that's the most honest mistake in the world.

[Ryan Sickler]

So your cop cars look like that up there, too. There are. A lot of them are Caprice.

[Ryan Long]

They did. Yeah. I don't know if they still do at the time, though. This was the model.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah. Did you go to any camps?

[Ryan Long]

Hockey camp?

[Ryan Sickler]

What? Where was that?

[Ryan Long]

Two hours outside of the city. You know, 300 kids, you play hockey twice a day, and then you have to do all this stuff. I used to have to go to that every summer.

[Ryan Sickler]

And it's for how long? Sleepover camp.

[Ryan Long]

One week. Yeah. And it was like, you know, it's.

[Ryan Sickler]

No, really. I feel like the kids would make it fun. Are they coming from everywhere?

[Ryan Long]

There's some fun times there. And I had my one buddy that was there, but it was pretty grueling. Like, you know what I mean? This is. It's not like. When you think of, like, a camp with your buddies, this was two hours of hockey, then two hours of, you know, intense physical training. And then you play your hockey, and then you and then you play like a ball hockey game after. It was like, that was your. Then there was like night volleyball. But there was. I just remember that there was this one counselor. Like they were all hockey players that didn't make it kind of thing. There's one guy, he was probably like £400. And he used to. So whenever they were switching teams, when you're playing ball hog, he used to go, subs, I need subscribers. Fattest guy in history, demanding subs. Who used to get. And you go, how was that funny? And I was like, how is it not funny? Screaming for subs nonstop. Yeah, how about that wasn't my favorite. That was also probably the. Because it switches when you're, you know, get into 13, 14. Now you have your normal friends. You know, I have my friends. We're into doing stuff. I'm trying to be in a band. I don't want to go to hockey camp against my will again.

[Ryan Sickler]

Your will? Because you were that into the band at that point?

[Ryan Long]

No, it's. I think that. I think that when you're. When you're 10, it's fine. When you're 13, you're like, all right, enough of this.

[Ryan Sickler]

What about. You're a music guy? What about concerts? You go, any live music in high school? See, sneak out. You ever have to sneak out to see shows or were you allowed to go or there was your parents take.

[Ryan Long]

There was only one place that had concerts and it was probably like 40 minutes away from my house. So I went to one or two. Probably went to Warp tour a couple times, stuff like that. But in my area, there was like, you know, kind of little underground stuff. Stuff. And then when we started playing, we'd always go to Toronto, right? So Toronto and then Oshawa, which is. We'd be in between there. And then we, you know, load all the people in a van. When we were in grade 11, we organized this little tour where we went to like Buffalo and then a few places. So just like, you know, a bunch of kids sleeping in a van. But I was actually thinking, I remember when you go to. As a person that was like suburbs right outside of Toronto. When you go into Toronto, I remember being like grade 10 and our other band friends that were in Toronto, bands. I remember thinking that, like, these kids are like 30 year olds. Like city kids are just so much older than like everyone else.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yep. Seasoned.

[Ryan Long]

Yeah. These kids are like. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like doing their taxes. We're like 20. I just. I remember like specifically our other band friends just being like, oh, these guys are like adults, like, you know, having a glass of whiskey kind of guy and he's like, what the. So I remember, I. I do remember. Yeah. Driving into the city and just thinking the city kids were like, you know, dating a girl that was in the city for a bit and like you're oh, this is like a grown woman. And we are chill children. City, city People just grow all the. Taking the subway.

[Ryan Sickler]

What. What was your band's name?

[Ryan Long]

We had a band called the Johnstones.

[Ryan Sickler]

Why?

[Ryan Long]

There was a guy in the band named Kevin Johnstone and he was like.

[Ryan Sickler]

I found it this.

[Ryan Long]

Well, no, his mom used to always bust into our band practices and be like, he has to come home. So then we started and she. We used to. The joke was that she thinks it's her band. So we started calling it the Johnstones and then the band continued without him, which is the funny part.

[Ryan Sickler]

He got fired.

[Ryan Long]

We went to different colle, kept the band going.

[Ryan Sickler]

It. Was he cool with keeping the name?

[Ryan Long]

No, probably love it. But the Big Vic got pretty popular. He didn't love it. I think I saw him once after he came to a show once I do. I always think it's funny to remember back to those like, you know, when you're 16, just the amount that everything's so important because I remember one of the guys in the band was going to go to a different college and just having that conversation of like, we have something special here, man. Like you're going to tear this apart. You crazy for your future. You're throwing money in the garbage, dude. Are you crazy?

[Ryan Sickler]

Were you making money at it?

[Ryan Long]

We did. We did pretty good. I've been living for a while but this isn't. Not when I was in grade 11. This is like after class, after college. We had a couple songs that were on like the MTV Countdown and we had four or five albums that kind of went popular. Yeah. Tour was about 25. I was from like from finishing college to about 25, 26. I was touring non stop right here. This is us at like the MTV Award.

[Ryan Sickler]

Are these the Johnstones?

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, that's the boy. See, that's the middle guy, was the guy from before.

[Ryan Sickler]

So walk us left to right who's who and their instrument.

[Ryan Long]

That was drums on the left.

[Ryan Sickler]

Is that you?

[Ryan Long]

No, on the far left is drums. I was a singer, I played drums but I sang in the band at this point I kind of did half and half and then we got a drummer, bass guitar, keyboard and then far.

[Ryan Sickler]

Right'S guitar and that's your real hair there again?

[Ryan Long]

Yeah, yeah, I know.

[Ryan Sickler]

Good head of hair.

[Ryan Long]

Honestly. That's honestly pretty low compared to where it was. That pretty tame compared. I had a. There is. There is points where it was Jimark Gagnon. You kind of look like.

[Ryan Sickler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do know who's kind of kind.

[Ryan Long]

Of in that territory.

[Ryan Sickler]

That's ultimate warrior type hair right there too, a little bit. It's up there. It's like, it looks like you had to take care of it.

[Ryan Long]

And you don't die there. Right. You're living on the road. Right? So it just used to get dreadlocks. I used to get these like just massive dreadlocks. Then you just cut them out.

[Ryan Sickler]

Just literally just.

[Ryan Long]

Well, you can't get out. It's like out of control. Right. So you get like, you just have like little pieces that were shorter because they dreaded so bad that you couldn't get them out and you just cut it. Yeah, but the band, when I think of the like, young days, it's, you know what the. Probably the majority of. When I think of being like the high school was like, fun, but the parts that me, when I think about like the old times is to me, it's probably those era from like, you know, 16 to 25 where you were like, you know, with the boys in the band van, traveling around. To me, that seems like a defining period kind of.

[Ryan Sickler]

Ryan Long, this is a fun episode, man. Thank you for doing this.

[Ryan Long]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Always great hanging out with you, brother.

[Ryan Sickler]

Please promote everything you'd like again right there. You're special.

[Ryan Long]

Please check out the special YouTube.com Ryan Long comedy. I think you guys will like it. And my podcast is the Boys cast. And then if you want to catch me on tour, I'm going to Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Edmonton, Phoenix, Portland, Tacoma, Los Angeles, Irvine, San Jose, and then more.

[Ryan Sickler]

Good for you, dude.

[Ryan Long]

RyanLongCommy.com for tickets.

[Ryan Sickler]

There it is. And check out a special as well. Come see me on the road if you're around when I'm in your town. Tickets are available@ryan sickler.com and again, thank you guys for your support. We'll talk to you all next week.

[T-Mobile Advertiser]

Now at T Mobile. Get four 5G phones on us and four lines for $25 a line per month when you switch with eligible trade ins, all on America's largest 5G network.

Minimum of 4 lines for $25 per line per month with autopay discount using debit or bank account. $5 more per line without autopay plus taxes. And fees and $10 device connection charge phones via 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement Due bill credits end if you pay off devices early.

[Navajo Nation Advocate]

Ctmobile.com in the dry states of the Southwest, there's a group that's been denied a basic human right in the Navajo Nation.

[Ryan Sickler]

Today, a third of our households don't.

[Navajo Nation Advocate]

Have running water, but that's not something they chose for themselves. Can the Navajo people reclaim their right to water and contend with the government's legacy of control and neglect?

[Ryan Sickler]

Our water. Our future. Our water. Our future.

[Navajo Nation Advocate]

That's in the next season of Reclaimed the Lifeblood of Navajo Nation. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.