Tony Hawk Interview Went Horribly Wrong, Will Neff Says: ‘One of the Worst Things I’ve Ever Made’

The Fear& podcast is a huge hit on YouTube, Patreon and podcast platforms nowadays, but the show’s previous inception was a bit of a trainwreck. Co-host Will Neff revealed in a recent episode that a Tony Hawk interview on the pod’s previous iteration was so bad that it caused the Twitch streamer and co-host Hasan Piker to scratch everything and start fresh.

The predecessor to Fear& was Fear & Malding, a Kast Media production. The duo had previously vented about the unsatisfactory contract conditions the show was under, but in the Fear& 1-year anniversary episode, Neff opened up about the creative breaking point for the partnership. In addition to feeling like overworked “ugly stepchildren” among the studio’s other clients, a disastrous October 2021 interview with Tony Hawk and media personality Jason Ellis was the final straw. 

“They bailed on being in studio at the last second, so they were going remote, and they clearly had no f—ing idea who we were, and they didn’t want to be there, and they were just promoting the skateboard with Tony Hawk’s blood in the paint and Liquid Death,” Neff recalled of the experience. “I really like Tony Hawk, and I was really excited for the episode, and it was horrible. I think it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever made. It was painful. You can go back and watch it, it’s one of the most painful things I’ve ever done.”

Piker agreed, noting it “was so awkward” and that he felt the guests didn’t care about appearing on the Twitch streamers’ show. However, the podcast’s producer didn’t seem to think it went bad at all. That seemingly pushed Neff over the edge.

“We get to the end and our producer — this is the moment I knew we had to make a new podcast — our producer comes in over the line, and it’s during the pandemic, and her like kids are running everywhere in the background, and she’s like ‘That went great! What did you think?’ and … verbatim, I said, ‘That is one of the worst things I’ve ever made. I’m ashamed. I don’t know if we should release it, and I think this podcast should come to an end.’”

Neff and Pike fulfilled their contractual obligation to Fear & Malding, with the final episode airing in February 2022. They launched the independent successor, Fear& in July 2022. One year in, Fear& has added co-hosts QTCinderella and Austin Show, featured lots of less-awkward interviews and accrued more than 17,000 Patreon subscribers.