Matty Ride-Smith – Issue 42 Interview

Bish dropped his ‘Many Thanks‘ video this week which featured many a banger from Matty Ride-Smith’s Vague, Issue 42 interview so we’ve uploaded it to the web for you to enjoy. Learn more about this comedian, father, rock climber, actor and powerful skateboarder below!

Introduction by: Krishna Bish

Interview by: Guy Jones

Portrait by: Will Creswick

Photography by: Johnny Haynes, Krishna Bish & Reece Leung

“Hitting the floor like a sack of Matty Smiths” is a phrase coined by local OG Ranson to describe a particularly awful slam. It’s a pretty apt description of Matty’s skating; the man takes a lot of horrible, horrible slams. We’ve been mates for nearly 20 years and his skating has gone from what can only be described as a human rollercoaster to a truly precision, power ATV! He took a mini skating hiatus after he moved to London a few years back when he decided to be mint at climbing for a while, but ever since he’s moved back to Newcastle he’s been on an absolute mission to hurt himself at every spot in the northeast. After being forced into having the last part for one of my previous vids, Pig In Wigs, he’s once again been forced into having the last part for Many Thanks. On top of that and this interview he’s managed to juggle having a job, family and kids while still getting out multiple times a week to try and clock stunts. If anything he’s mastered the art of time management. It’s hard to get NBDs and find new spots in the Toon but the last couple of years, with this interview in mind, we’ve spent endless hours trawling the northeast with Matty and the rest of Many Thanks crew, searching for new and interesting spots to hit. Matty is happy to skate anything – as long as there’s a tasty cake, coffee or sarnie on offer for landing his trick, and he’s back in time to do the 4pm school run.

Thank you for doing this Matty. This interview is to highlight your skateboarding and comedic talents, shall we start with the skateboarding? You’re currently filming with your close friend Bish for his video Many Thanks. How have you enjoyed this comparatively to other projects you’ve done?

I feel like I’m getting better all the time whereas in previous videos I’ve just been generally hoping for the best – chaos theory from start to finish. The majority of footage I’ve ever filmed has been with Bish over the last 17 years. Pigs in Wigs was just getting whatever we could and when I was in London I filmed with Will Miles for a good while but that was mostly grabbing some beers and seeing where we ended up. I feel like I’ve got better taste now (who doesn’t think they’ve got good taste at any given time in their life?) so I’m enjoying the process of trying to get the best all round section I can get rather than just chucking all my footage in a timeline and hoping it fills a tune. It’s nice to be back in Newcastle skating things I couldn’t touch back in the day with old friends. “Old” being the key word.

I hate comparing skating to other activitiesbut that sure as hell isn’t going to stop me doing it here! With filming a full part with Bish and doing stand-up comedy, do you see manysimilarities in terms of curating and structuring said outputs? Also are there any spots/tricks you skate in your new part that are references to previous videos/skaters? The same with comedy and comedy subjects/styles?

I think in both areas I’m never going to be some razor sharp technician, like some perfect joke writer or manny wizard. People can tell if you’re trying to be something you’re not, you’ve got to find your voice or persona or whatever and that’s the same on a skateboard. So I’ve been trying to lean into what I’m good at and what I want to see on a skateboard.

With stand-up I’m not really interested in doing broad comedy about man-drawers or STIs or wanking, or that kind of audience interaction that is rampant in stand-up social media (it’s kind of a necessary evil but we don’t have the space for me to rant about that). In a lot of regional gigsyou can feel like you’re not funny because that club style stand-up is what they want to hear,they want you to chat to them about their job and that’s not me. I guess I’m trying to make comedy for people who love comedy and are kind of geeksabout it; and that’s how I want to skate, differentto the obvious I guess. All that to say I wallie a lot to overcompensate for the fact I can’t do anything remotely technical. I got slightly obsessed with Neil Urwin’s lipslide from flat at Temple Park banks and love how easy the spot looks to skate whilst at the same time being absolutely diabolical. I’m inspired by anyone who manages to get good footage in the northeast to be fair.

Do you feel having a break from skating and going climbing for several years helped calibrate your body and mind to appreciate skating more? And do you think having a child also helped prioritise not just time but priorities as well?

Yeah for sure. I basically didn’t skate from 2015 to 2022, which is crazy to say. I stopped when I was in London because most of my mates either stopped skating or got full-time jobs. I realised that I loved skating because of the people and bouncing off of people during the session, so just going to Mile End solo wasn’t really appealing. Then I found climbing, which is just like skating in that it’s a solo endeavour (if you’re bouldering) but you can be social at the same time.

What I really learned from climbing was how to be precise and more balanced and the importance of believing you’re going to do something, butit doesn’t have as much room to do things your own way. When I came back to skating after moving back up to Newcastle I still had the try hard mindset, I just needed my muscle memory to catch up. Having a kid (two now) is a help and a hindrance obviously (I injured my back getting them out of the car the other day and pulled my neck drinking Gaviscon) but it means I really focus when I go out skating. I’m not really going to goto a spot and not try to skate it. I get itchy feet and try to squeeze something out of a spot even if it doesn’t interest me at first. But I’ve turned up for nursery pick-up pretty mashed up from trying tricks in the past.

Years ago Jamie Adair was very much your partner in crime and I personally loved the White Socks edits and skits (shout out the Dragons’ Den one in particular). Have you got any intention to work together professionally? With his camera work and your comedy it could be a juicy sitcom!

Ah man, those were the days. I’d love to work creatively with Jamie but he’s so busy on huge commercials and music videos. I know he wants to make scripted stuff and he’s an amazing director, I’ll have to get something funded and then demand they pay to get him on board.

Stand-up seems to be the main release for your humour. How has that journey been? I meanit must be so nerve racking. Do you adopt a different persona? You’ve also got somewhat of an acting background so is there any scope for you to do sketches/sitcoms visually or audibly?

When I started out I leaned into a very awkward persona which got the audience on board quickly, but when I started doing longer sets it was harder to keep it going. Over the last year I’ve been trying to be more ‘me’ on stage, messing around and enjoying being up there rather than hiding behind a persona. It’s allowed me to talk about personal things more rather than being super surreal. Some people still hate me though, for sure. I did a gig

in Darlo where the front row were in the venue drinking before the gig and just refused to move when the gig started. A couple of the other acts cut their sets short to get away from them, but I did my full time to piss them off. The venue had old 7” records as coasters and they threw a couple of them at me which was pretty sick. That’s what happens when you take the piss out of Peaky Blinders on a bank holiday in Darlington.

It’s gigs like that that made me want to start my own night. Foam Pit is my night in Newcastle where I try to book acts I love and cultivate an audience of comedy nerds. Most importantly I don’t provide any weapons for them to throw. I direct and write too, so there’s loads of projects that I’ve started but haven’t finished. Once Many Thanks is done I’ll be hiding away to finish some of these scripts and then getting them made hopefully, probably with Bish, Crouchie and Will in some way or another.

Any notable TV series or films you’d care to mention that you’ve been in? I remember when you did that advert for Virgin Rail, I’d love for you to have been spotted after that riding a Virgin train. Art imitating reality etc.

I haven’t been auditioning for things since I had kids, it’s too time consuming when it’s not your only job so I sacked off my agent etc., but mymost notable job was being in the Suzuki adverts when they were on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway with another comedian called LornaShaw. We were given Ant and Dec’s separate winnebagos, I always imagined they’d share everything. It was the same season Ant crashed his car while drunk driving and the Suzuki sponsorship was immediately removed, as was our chance of getting any more money from a rerun.

You went viral for winning a climbing competition, but the general public were more interested in your hairstyle at the time – care to elaborate on this? Did it force you to change up your style?

Aye, there’s a really niche area of climbing called crack climbing and I’m quite good at it. I wasat a competition and they were doing theselittle challenges for cash. I managed to win this competition and nab the cash but it got put on YouTube and the comments are an absolute crease. I had a bowl cut at the time and it wasa bloodbath, but I quite liked it because I had it purposefully to make me look like less of a rugby club wanker and it did the job. Some notable ones were: “Man looks like a Middle Ages farmer”; “I’m sure his cleric looking goofy ass used some holy magic to win this”; “If he has the dark peasanthaircut you know he’s gunna have some monster grip strength”; “Man got the dumb and dumber cut”; “if they look like they could cosplay as an authentic Middle Ages knight, they’re winning”. I kept it for a couple years after that then started cutting my own hair and realised I couldn’t see the back, so I’m mulletted at the moment. Maybe I’ll bring the bowl back if I’m at any comps in the future.

You’re allowed to invite three skateboarders and three comedians round for dinner. Who would you choose and what would you serve?

Honestly it would be a nightmare, comedians would just be trying to outdo each other with who’s the funniest or who can roast who the hardest and skateboarders only eat Greggs, right? I’d rather hang out with my mates and my wife. If I could make anything… lobster rolls in brioche buns or a Pad Thai, with trifle for dessert because no one else likes it and I’d have it all.

Didn’t you not eat for charity? If so, how long was it for and did you make up for lost meals at the end?

I think it was 3 days. I kind of locked myself away in the flat where I lived with Adam Thirtle and Tom Fone and just drank water and slowly wentmad until the only thing keeping me going was planning this absurd meal where I homemade this giant Cornish pasty but it was filled with Big Macsand fries and I made my own Big Mac sauce and filled the crimp of the pasty with the cheese from a stuffed crust pizza. It was giant and at midnight of the final day I started eating it. I took about two bites and couldn’t eat any more because my stomach had shrunk. Bish was there and he just hoovered it all up.

What are some of your fondest memories of going out skating for the Many Thanks video and did the pressure put on you to have last part push you? I’ve seen you out trying to get clips in what is essentially snow.

Getting to hang out with Bish, Will and the elusive Jamie Cairns loads has been a blast from the past and meeting Toggs and Matty B has been class, those two are both so stoked all the time and there’s never any negativity coming from them (which balances out me and Bish being bastards). When we started filming I was hoping to have a few tricks in Will Creswick’s section and then it built to a shared section and before I knew it Bish was talking about a solo section opening the video. It’s only been in the last few months I’ve been promoted to enders. I was kind of fighting to not have last part so I could enjoy myself, especially when there’speople with sections who are gap huckers. But it has been good to push me out of my comfort zone a bit. I’m quite obsessive so once I decide I want to do something I want to do it immediately, which has meant sweeping snow from spots recently. Someone buy Bish an actual coat and gloves! My fondest memory was probably just the other day, we’d been skating in town and went into Native and the original Jackie (David Whitelaw) was behind the desk. We stood and chatted shit for an hour, which isn’t something I get a chance to do anymore. Sometimes you go out on missions somuch you don’t feel part of the scene anymore, but that brought me right back. Shout out Native for keeping me in boards.

My sources have suggested that I ask you about your Berlingo car that was basically the taxifor the filming of Pigs In Wigs. What does this sentence mean?

My second ever car was this champagne gold Berlingo which blew the smell of wet dog at youif you turned the aircon on, but it was huge and I was one of the only drivers on the Newcastle skate scene at the time. It was sick but I had to sell it eventually when the exhaust started falling off. We tried to hold it in place with this heat proof tape so I could sell it, but they spotted it immediately and ended up getting a pretty good deal from me out of sheer embarrassment.

Could you please recommend us absolutely anything?

Static IV, Eddie Pepitone’s stand-up special, In Search of the Miraculous, thick custard, Limmy’s Show, Chris Cantrill on tour, getting paratha rather than naan bread, Chris Morris’ Jam, Mik Artistik’s Ego-Trip, eating at the Grainger Market. I’m on a huge horror film tip at the moment so…Barbarian, Under the Skin, Kill List, Creep, The Gift, Eraserhead, Green Room, The Shining, Man Bites Dog, Hereditary.