Elna Baker
Appearances
SmartLess
"Larry David"
I mean I grew up Mormon, so I wasn't allowed to do anything and So like for me, I guess it wasn't like being brave in terms of like jumping off a cliff But it was like leaving a religion giving hand jobs like there were you know there were the things that I that was the first thing That's why I joined
SmartLess
"Larry David"
I was like, we were the kind of Mormons who drank Coca-Cola, but I didn't have my first coffee until I was 28. And I remember like being so afraid to order it just because I didn't know how to say the word.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
Everything, because I left at 28. Yeah, once I touched a dick, I was, you know.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
I mean, that's one of the things that, like, I love about interviewing the different people we've interviewed is, like... I remember this sports writer telling me that, like, all the greatest athletes had some primal wound, and that thing that happened in their childhood is what makes them, like, achieve or even try.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
And so many of these people that we've talked to, like, you find out, oh, like, you know, Manny Puig, who, you know, you've seen on Jackass and who Johnny knows, like, I had no idea that, like, his father was killed by a firing squad in Cuba. Yeah. Like, the origins of what made him do these insane, brave things came from, like, something really deep and real.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
Or, like, Garrett McNamara, who's the 100-foot wave guy. He learned about his child. It's bonkers. Like, he basically, like, at one point, his mother was this hippie, but she put him in this cult. A lot of cults. A lot of cults, but the sort of the most memorable.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
Many cults, but the one they had to renounce all their possessions. He and his brother had to wear bed sheets. They just walked around. They had to beg for everything. They couldn't buy anything. And it was just so humiliating to be walking the streets in Berkeley in these outfits begging for things.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
And usually, I mean, like, it's complicated, though, right? Because, like, you're talking about, like, adrenaline junkies, right?
SmartLess
"Larry David"
Some are. Some, like, get in and then kind of become addicted, and then they're trying to accomplish something great, but they're also, like, putting their— I mean, you're a perfect example, Johnny. Like, you— Put your life on the— Yeah, you kept putting your life on the line and then ultimately, like, suffered a traumatic brain injury.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
So, like, there's this level at which, like, you're on the razor's edge of, like, admiring and also being like, you guys should stop.
SmartLess
"Larry David"
Can you tell me the story of the double backflip? Because that to me was also, I mean, I got chills in that moment in the movie, but I would love to hear you tell me the story.