As skateboarders, we love to complain about how popular skating is these days. With it being viewed as the go-to “hip millennial activity” that “all the kids” are into, mainstream media has hijacking our image and cluelessly plastered us on anything that will help them sell products. This does indeed suck. But it doesn’t mean we are completely helpless: it also gives us room to take advantage of these companies right back. The legitimacy we’ve been given by mainstream audiences can give us the opportunity to create dream projects, skateparks or companies of our own because it’s now easier to find the support or funding for them.

This video is a perfect case and point: a totally ridiculous idea, that Eli Reed was psyched on and independently pitched to Playboy and made happen. You can sit and complain about it and wait until skating dies, or you can take advantage of it and go after your ideas & projects that may have never even been possible a couple of years ago.

I’m pretty psyched on the video [watch below]. Thought it had the potential to be cheesy but it came out well…
Yeah it could come off cheesy for sure… But I think the real reality is like, you are skating the fucking Playboy mansion with the hottest bitches in the world. In a classy way. In no way is that wack I think. I try to not read any comments but somebody told me there is a SLAP message board thing already, that is called Eli Reed life hammers.

How did this whole thing come about?
A friend of mine hit me up, this girl, and she works for big clients like Pepsi and Nike. We were both in LA and she didn’t have a car and needed a ride, so I helped give her a lift. So she calls me and she’s at the Playboy mansion and needed me to pick her up from there. As soon as I get there, she introduces me to Cooper Hefner, Hugh Hefer’s son. He’s cool, I think he’s only 24 or something, he’s young. He’s kinda taking over the whole Playboy empire. My friend kinda made a comment, like, “Eli you should skate the mansion,” and we laughed and it was just a running joke. We kept in touch and after a couple of emails Cooper Hefner actually approved it. I think he’s into skating and the mag has changed up a bunch, Playboy is really building a newer look and to be on the edge like they’ve always been. They are also relaunching their website and want to do a bunch of cool content and video stuff. Once it was approved it was up to me to put it together and actually make it happen.

I noticed Diamond and Tenga in the credits of the video, what did these companies have to do with it?
I got some financial help from Diamond and Tenga to make it happen. Playboy waived the fees for filming there and payed for the playmates but there was still a lot of cost: insurance, production, help, extras. Playboy hooked us up, but there were still efforts needed on both ends.

What the hell is Tenga?
Those guys are my friends from New York. It’s like a pocket pussy thing. They are a sex toy company that also helps fund cool projects.

Have you used one of their sex toys?
I have used it, it’s pretty wild.

What does it do? Just suck your dick up?
At first I thought it was crazy, but I tried it, and it’s so good that I almost can’t use it. You put it in and it feels real, it’s so realistic it’s almost too much. To be honest it weirded me out, I only would use one time to time but it’s just a different way to rub one out, better for some people.

Does the Tenga pocket pussy feel better than “the Stranger”? [You sit on your hand until it’s numb, and then masturbate with it]
I have never tried “The Stranger” but my bet is on the Tenga.

Would you ever go back to the old fashioned way?
Yeah, I think I’m definitely more of the old fashioned type.

Did you slip your number to any of the playmates on set?
You know what, to be honest I was so fucking in my head and trying to film the best video I could film, I couldn’t even go there. I wanted to make sure it all came out right. But I know Nick Diamond showed up and partied and probably got like 10 of their numbers. He’s really living the Playboy dream. For me it’s like that stuff is all fun and I love it, I also just wanna do cool projects. I live in New York, dude, the hottest models of my life walk by me every second of the day. My type of girl can be plain jane as well.. but Playboy bunnies.. hot as fuck.. At the mansion I was just like whatever, lets just fucking film this thing.

You wrote, directed and starred in this thing. How did you plan it all out?
To start I did a walkthrough of the place. My idea was to wake up in Hef’s room and come out with a pipe, but the only part they let us film in was the game room, which is a side house away from the main mansion. While I was doing the walkthrough I realized, there really isn’t shit to skate there, but I tried to make the best of it. I thought there would be more rails or stairs. The place is a little bit smaller than you might think too. It was tricky, the ground is stone but I made it work with the tennis court, and that rock wall. The mansion is old man, it’s like ancient holy ground. And then we focused on doing tricks over the girls. I wanted to more tricks over the girls but I did what I could. We only had 8am till 4pm to film, one day. To shoot it all and get all the angles with a Red camera takes a while, it’s like filming a short film.

Would you be mad if I told someone your video was just a ripoff of Birdhouse’s magnum opus from 1998, The End
I wouldn’t be mad. It’s a little bit inspired by it, but I don’t think I ripped it off at all, because it was written differently and with The End in mind. I always liked it as a kid, it’s got a pinch of it in there.

Were the playmates scared of being ollied over?
We actually had to hire extra girls to jump over. I couldn’t ollie the playmates, because their face’s and body’s are their bread and butter. If I would have hit them they would have been devastated, you know? So all the girls I jumped over are all extras, but that’s the only time you really see them. The rest are all playmates.

The extras were nervous about being ollied over too. So I set up towels every time I was gonna do a trick over them. I would put a towel down about the size of them, switch pop shov over it a few times, and then they would get down and do it. I didn’t hit any of them, I mean I might have grazed someones ass once, but nothing serious.

Why did you do the switch ollie and switch shove, why not just do some easier regular tricks?
I don’t know, [laughs] I was just out of my mind. The nollie fastplant took a little bit to do, and I ripped my pants on it. I think the skating in it is pretty mediocre but I had those few tricks in there.. The switch ollie over the tennis net, nollie fastplant..switch shove.. I felt like I had to do something legit, so skaters could watch it and enjoy it, so it’s not just uh, kickflip on the tennis court. I want to make it so skaters are into it as much as a normal person. I feel like people that don’t skate are watching and thinking, “oh this is incredible!” but for a skater to watch it and enjoy it, it has to have something legit.

Did you have a boner while filming with the playmates? Was it a problem skating with one?
Yes, after filming the bed scene I had to pour a bucket of ice water on my cock.

Photos: Joe Monteleone (@thejoeface)
Interview: James Lee
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