Donovan Strain | |
---|---|
![]() Strain at Maloof Money Cup in 2009 | |
Born | Camarillo, California, U.S. | November 22, 1985
Medium | Stand-up |
Years active | 2013-present |
Subject(s) | Observational |
Website | Twitter.com/DonovanStrain |
Donovan Strain (born November 22, 1985) is a stand-up comedian and skateboarder living in Los Angeles, California.
Strain started the skateboarding-based comedy segment titled "Buttery Ass Mondays" on The Berrics, where he was credited for inventing the skateboarding tricks Grape Flip, [1] and Double Grape Flip. [2] The series ran until 2010 when it was cancelled and removed from the archives. [3] [4] [ third-party source needed ] In October 2013, Strain's "Buttery Ass Mondays" returned to The Berrics' archive, suggesting new episodes of the series would be made for 2014. [3] On April 1, 2014, Donovan's series made a return to The Berrics with the newly titled series "The Donovan Strain Show". [5]
In 2008, Strain participated in his first professional skateboard contest for the original "Battle at the Berrics" where he won his first round match against Sean Malto, [6] only to be knocked out of the contest in the second round by Eric Koston. [7]
He received his first signature skateboard with the brand Sk8mafia in 2008 [8] [ better source needed ] before a split with the brand and receiving his next signature skateboard with City Skateboards in 2009. [9] [ better source needed ]
In 2010 [10] Donovan got involved with the Make-A-Wish foundation when he was able to help grant a wish for a kid from Florida named Alex that requested to meet him. [10]
In 2010, [11] he moved to New York City, where he hosted a video series on his own site MurkAvenue.com [12]
In 2012, Strain wrote a post on the website Tumblr breaking down the lyrics to Ice Cube's 1993 classic "It Was a Good Day" deducing that everything in the song actually happened on the date January 20, 1992. [13] This was picked up by news outlets [14] [15] including CNN, [16] Daily News (New York) , [17] and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where Ice Cube commented "It doesn't make any sense at all, but it's cool". [18] [19] On January 20, 2014 Goodyear invited both Ice Cube and Donovan Strain to their Goodyear Blimp airport for a charity event to witness the blimp fly over south central Los Angeles reading "Ice Cube Says Today Was A Good Day". [19] [20]
Strain started performing stand-up comedy in 2013 at Flappers Comedy Club [21] [ non-primary source needed ] located in Burbank, CA.
Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United States, skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams. Skateboarding made its Olympic debut in 2020 and was included in the 2024 games.
Anthony Frank Hawk, nicknamed Birdman, is an American former professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documented "900" skateboarding trick in 1999. He also licensed a skateboarding video game series named after him, published by Activision that same year. Hawk retired from competing professionally in 2003 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential skateboarders of all time.
John Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. Mullen is credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-kickflip. As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of modern street skating."
Jason Michael Lee is an American actor, filmmaker, photographer, and former professional skateboarder. He is known for playing Earl Hickey in the television comedy series My Name Is Earl, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy TV series in 2005 and 2006 by The Golden Globes. He is also known for his roles in Kevin Smith films such as Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Jersey Girl (2004), Clerks II (2006), Cop Out (2010), and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019). Lee won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in Chasing Amy.
Tony Hawk's Underground is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the Tony Hawk's series, following Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance. In 2004, it was published for Windows in Australia and New Zealand as a budget release.
Flip Skateboards is a United States–based international skateboard company, co-owned by Jeremy Fox and Ian Deacon. The company produces skateboard hard goods, soft goods, DVDs, and accessories. The brand was distributed globally by US company NHS Inc. but has since parted with the distribution. Starting in July 2017, the brand is distributed in Europe by HLC and has now taken over global distribution.
Daewon Song is an American professional skateboarder. He is the co-founder and co-owner of Almost Skateboards and Thank You Skateboards, and continues to skate for the latter company. Song was named the 2006 "Skater of the Year" by Thrasher magazine, an award that is widely considered to be one of the most significant honors in skateboarding.
Geoffrey Joseph Rowley Jr. is an English professional skateboarder, former co-owner of Flip Skateboards and owner of the Civilware Service Corporation. He received Thrasher Magazine's "Skater of the Year" award in 2000.
Blind is an American skateboard company founded by Mark Gonzales in 1988 under Steve Rocco under the World Industries umbrella. Gonzales has since left the company and today the company continues under the ownership of Dwindle Distribution. The company produces decks, wheels, soft goods and accessories. The company's logo for many years was a stylized grim reaper.
The Goodyear Blimp is any one of a fleet of airships operated by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, used mainly for advertising purposes and capturing aerial views of live sporting events for television. The term blimp itself is defined as a non-rigid airship—without any internal structure, the pressure of lifting gas within the airship envelope maintains the vessel's shape.
Almost Skateboards is an American skateboard company founded by professional skateboarders and business partners Rodney Mullen and Daewon Song. The company manufactures skateboard decks using 7-ply, 8-ply, and carbon fiber constructions, while the decks are bound with resin epoxy glue. As of November 2014, the brand is distributed by Dwindle Distribution.
"It Was a Good Day" is a song by American rapper Ice Cube, released on February 23, 1993, by Lench Mob and Priority as the second single from his third solo album, The Predator (1992). The song was written by Ice Cube and produced by DJ Pooh, peaking at No. 7 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 27 on the UK Charts. On the Billboard Hot 100, the song peaked at No. 15, making it Ice Cube's highest-charting single on the chart to date. Its music video was directed by F. Gary Gray. The song's lyrics describe a generic pleasant day from his life; according to Ice Cube, he had no specific date in mind, though several attempts have been made to identify one.
James Chris Cole is an American professional skateboarder. As of September 2020, his sponsors are Fallen Footwear, Monster Energy, Bones Bearings, Cult Crew, Thunder Trucks, Spitfire Wheels, Stance, Kershaw Knives, Grizzly Griptape, GoPro, Indian Motorcycles, cbdMD, Remind Insoles, and most recently Zero Skateboards.
A varial flip is a type of skateboarding trick in which the skateboard rotates around its vertical axis, or its vertical axis and its horizontal axis simultaneously. The first flip trick, called a kickflip but originally known as a "magic flip", was invented by professional skateboarder Rodney Mullen.
Jerry Hsu is a Taiwanese-American skateboarder, photographer and owner/operator of the skate company "Sci-Fi Fantasy".
A skate video is a movie of or about skateboarding typically showing new tricks and a series of skateboarders in a montage set to music.
The Berrics is a private indoor skatepark owned by professional skateboarders Steve Berra and Eric Koston. It is also a website providing content filmed in the skatepark, as well other skateboard-related media. The facility's name is a portmanteau of the owners' names.
Michael Capaldi, popularly known as Mike Mo Capaldi, is a professional regular-footed skateboarder who gained popularity following his video part in Forecast, a video produced by professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez.
Lewis Kristian Marnell was a professional skateboarder from Melbourne, Australia who was Slam Magazine's 2008 "Skater of the Year". Marnell died in January 2013, following complications related to type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, a condition that was diagnosed when he was 10 years old. Numerous tributes were published following Marnell's death and his longtime skateboard deck sponsor, Almost Skateboards, continues to use the hashtag "#LewisMarnellForever"—on 15 and 29 July 2014, the company published the hashtag with 2006 video footage of Marnell skateboarding in Japan.
Chris Roberts is an American professional skateboarder and host of the podcast The Nine Club with Chris Roberts.