Hey, it's Graham. Our past in depth guests have
shared so many inspirational stories about overcoming
adversity and tackling the darkest and most challenging
times in their lives. We're sharing one of those
moments in today's Thursday podcast in the hope that it
provides A blueprint for any difficulties you might be facing
this week. Adam Devine.
You've alluded to the cement truck on a couple of occasions.
You know, I think you're 11 years old.
This is 95. They think the thing's what,
like 42 tons drugs? You.
Yeah. Something, something, something
like that, yeah. What's the the last memory you
have? Yeah, I think the last memory I
have was leaving my house telling my mom we were going to
go get candy because we were going to go to the convenience
store and get candy. And we what we also would do was
we'd RIP out pages of like Playboy and Penthouse, Dirty
Dogs magazines. So we were on our way to do
that. And I from that moment on, I
don't remember anything that happened, but I'm told that when
we get to this busy St. in Omaha, Harrison St. there was 3
symetrics going up the hill and two were coming down the hill
because we lived in the suburbs and just new houses are popping
up everywhere. And my friend yells is already
across the street and he yells come on.
And that just means I'm excited to go get a razzmatazz sucker
and see some boobs, you know? But I took that as coast is
clear. And so I was I going to say come
on. And I walked out and I got
clobbered and taken under the wheel and spit out and I flew
like 500 feet, they said, and was helicoptered away and.
Ripped the skin off your legs essentially from.
The knees down. Yeah yeah.
Exclusive. Graham Exclusive.
How long did it take? To get it looks like uncooked
chicken. If you look at it does it does
not look like uncooked chicken. Yeah, How long did it take to
get the legs back to normal? I mean, they're still messed up.
I still like deal with things. Like you can't remember a time
where the legs worn in pain. Yeah.
Your mom was telling me you had to relearn to sit, stand, walk,
run, explain what you guys would do in the backyard, like where
you would practice. We had a little chair that
they'd wheel me in the backyard because they figured like, if
I'm going to fall, at least the grass is a little softer.
And I had like a chair that had practiced like standing up from
and, you know, you try to take a few steps and then we, we would
lay like pillows down. So like if I falled I can, if I
fell I could land on a pillow. And even going to school, like
how to just use the bathroom at the time when you got there
because you couldn't walk for like what, couple years and.
Yeah, I couldn't walk from 6th grade, all of 6th grade, all of
7th grade, and then summer and then eighth grade is what I all
7th grade it was. I would get up to a Walker and
then I'd have to have another surgery and then I'd be back
down in a wheelchair and then I'd get up to the Walker and
then I'd get up to crutches. And I'm like, it's going to
happen. Crutches.
That was a. Big deal.
Yeah. And then I'd have to have
another surgery and then I'd go back and I was having surgeries
every few. Weeks you had like 20-6,
something like that. And and then that has gone up
more because I've had maybe a dozen since then, just like
little things that have happened.
You remember thinking to yourself, like, will I ever walk
again? Yeah, for sure, you know, but
also like, you can't help but think that because you can't
walk and you're like, am I ever going to be able to walk?
But then here's your mom who took a break from the dental
assistant job to be there, who's, you know, Captain
Positive. She's so positive and it was
nice having that and just, I kind of always thought I would
like she was always just drilling that in my head like
you're, it's all going to be fine.
You're going to be OK. It's all going to work out.
You're we're going to get through this.
I know it's hard now, but we're going to get through this.
And I think by thinking that way, things do work out because
even when something bad happens, you're, she's able to spin it
into a positive, which I think is something that I, I've been
able to take from her. And I think that's like, I was
hit by a cement truck and I'm like, I was able to spin it in a
positive. Like, I wouldn't have this
career if I wasn't hit by that cement truck, you know?
You think so? Yeah, for sure.
Like I, I wouldn't have even thought it would be possible to
move out here, but after I was hit by the cement truck and then
relearned how to walk and do everything that I had to do, I
think I was able to have the confidence in myself to move out
here when before we didn't know anyone in California.
So. So I think it just would have
been a crazy thought to even entertain.
Was there a moment that was kind of the biggest turning point
during that recovery process? You know, I don't really
remember like a, it was such a slow steady, like now I'm on
crutches and now and then now I could like sort of walk, but in
my house to where like I knew I could get from my desk to my bed
because that's five steps and I can fall into the bed.
And then in the hallway, I knew that I could, if I needed to, I
could brace myself. And then and then from there,
you know, you get walking around the house good enough.
And then you're like, OK, let's take it to the streets.
And then I'd be like in school, in the wheelchair and be like,
OK, I'm going to get up. I'm going to walk from here to
that desk. And then I could sit down.
And classmates were pretty good, right?
And you had a buddy that, I mean, there was one kid that was
a bit of a, but you had a buddy that kind of had permission to
be like your bodyguard. I had a bunch of friends that
were sort of my little, little bit of a protector, but it was
great. Even though middle school kids
can be viciously mean, you will never be more hated than if you
beat up the crippled kid. And I knew that.
So like, I was talking my shit, dude, were you?
Like what would you say try? To take me down.
I got freaking quips. I would like write notebooks
full of like epic slams to make fun of someone if genuine.
Specifically if like a kid were to make fun of me about XYZI
would write like a little bit. I can't really remember any now
but do. You still have the notebooks.
No, I asked my mom where it is and I've looked because I'm
like, were they good? I remember being like, you know,
you drop a bomb on someone, the 6th grade lunch table, and
everyone was like, oh, Adam, the crippled kid just took him down.
I'm like, what's up? Try to swing on me, bitch.
I know you won't. I know you won't.
I'm crippled. What stands out from calling
into the edge? Oh man, that was the best.
That was the best. You did your research.
We tried. Graham, you dog.
I I think that was I consider that maybe my like break into
Hollywood. I would call into this radio
station 101.9 the edge and I would call in and I would do
different characters and different impressions and but
everything was like Omaha specific.
And it became like a local hit on the radio station.
And they were like, we want you to be part of the drive time
hour. And so my mom loaded me into the
the minivan, drove me downtown, unloaded me, got me in my
wheelchair. My legs were extended because my
legs couldn't bend at that point.
So I'm like Wheeling in like this.
And they were like, oh, we can't hire you.
You're a crippled child. We thought you were an adult man
who was just a funny person. We can't.
But they paid me in concert tickets and any giveaway that
the radio station had and any CD.
So you want to hook up on Goo Goo Dolls?
You want lit? Do you want live?
Do you want 7 Mary 3D C DS? You were.
Pretty big into the you saw the Foo Fighters I got.
Foo Fighters. Man, and then the video rental
store hooked you up. Oh, yeah, we too.
Yeah. Main Street movies in Omaha.
They would, you know, from the accident, everybody was like,
you know, we got to give this kid something.
He's he's fully crippled, hit by a cement truck.
That's a funny truck to get hit by.
We got to hook him up. So the movie rental main Treet
movies gave me as many rentals as I wanted.
Oi rented every comedy movie imaginable, an every action
movie imaginable, and we watched so many movies that they ended
up revoking it after a couple years.
They're like, OK, we gave you enough movies, we said for a
lifetime, but you're good. So I we've profiled comedians
before on the show and you know, often times there's something
really challenging in the past or painful that has connectivity
to why they chose their career. And I guess I wonder like, if
you ever thought about if what you went through then?
Like there's a Direct Line between that and choosing to
make people laugh for a profession.
Yeah, You know, I don't know if it was like I'm going to take
this pain and and turn it into laughter, but I think are.
You. The resilience you.
Spoke about and I think I always just loved comedy and I was
like, I thought I was a freak athlete, Graham.
I thought I was going to the big leagues, baby.
You wanted to be. I wanted to be a pro baseball
player, but then after the accident, obviously I couldn't
be a professional baseball player.
I couldn't walk. So I knew that dream was dead.
And that was hard. But I loved comedy so much.
And then when I got on the radio station and I was making people
laugh, like making adults laugh, we would I would do it.
And my mom, I remember she was getting her hair done and the
radio station was on and it comes on and my bit is, is
playing and the people are laughing in the hair salon.
And my mom's like, that's my son, That's my son.
And it was just such a good feeling that like I was making
people laugh and I was doing something that people enjoyed.
And yeah. So essentially I that that was
like the the launching point of like, oh, I can actually do
this. This could be something that I
can do that I can write comedy now and then when I'm able to
stand, I can stand up and do comedy.
So I know at some point recently, you know, because of
stuff connected to your injuries, there was like you
only had to go a few blocks, but you could walk a block, then you
had to take a taxi a couple blocks or there's joints or
groin, hip, ligament and back. Like what's?
What's going on there? They, they don't really know and
I was having spasms all over and I still kind of do.
They don't really know for a while.
They, they told me I was dying literally within this last year,
they told me that they told me I had this disease called stiff
person syndrome. And that's when your muscles get
so tight that you then you can no longer walk, you can no
longer move. Then your heart will stop
beating because your heart is a muscle and it gets too tight to
beat and then you die. And so essentially they the
average life expectancy is 6 years for someone that has it.
And they told me that I had that literally a month before my son
Beau was born. And so I'm like, oh great, now
I'm going to die. He's going to be 6 years old.
He's only going to know a crippled father.
And then they told me, we think you might not have that.
And then six months go by, then they're like, and it wasn't
getting much better. And I could only walk a few
blocks before I'd get so tight that I couldn't really move
anymore. And they're like, we do.
We actually do think you have it.
Go see the the guy that coined the phrase stiff person
syndrome. He's the the expert in the
field. And so I went and saw him and
he's like, you don't have it, You do not have it.
He's like, this is from your accident from when you're a
child. The spasms are a little
unexplainable, but it could just be you out so tight that your
body doesn't know what to do with it.
So you're misfiring a little bit.
And essentially during the pandemic, I worked out so much.
I was so bored, just got into cycling and CrossFit.
And so I had all the time in the world.
So I'd go on, I'd ride the bike 4045 miles a day.
And then I would do a CrossFit workout, which is super intense
jumping, you know, lifting weights over my head.
And I think I just got so tight and so tightly wound that I and
my body is all, all has all these things that are a little
wonky and a little wrong with it that I just sort of snapped.
And I think I'm still dealing with it.
It's it's been three years now. And what like what are you
dealing with now? Like it hurts to sit for too
long, it hurts to stand for too long, it hurts to walk for too
long. I have to foam roll 2, three
times a day. I have to do stretches two or
three times a day. Have the stem cells in Columbia.
You know, I think, I think they're kind of working.
I don't know. I'm, I'm the best I've been now
in for the past three years. I'm the best that I like right
now. I think is the best I've been
because it's been like, oh, I'm doing good.
And then for whatever reason, I'll tighten back up or
something will stiffen or, or, and then all of a sudden I can't
walk, can't do the things that I normally could do.
I had multiple hip surgeries last year because I was told
that it was my hips before, before we kind of got the
diagnosis of it was just from your accident.
They're like, yeah, your hips are a little messed up, but it
shouldn't be causing this amount of pain.
And I was just in so much pain that I'm like, well, let's
figure this out. Give me hip surgeries.
So I had two hip. Surgeries and you said hip
replacements and knee replacements are inevitable.
Eventually down the line I'm going to be.
What's the goal though, with all the you know, to be fully?
Bionic. Yeah, just sit at fully fake
legs. And but just like the goal's to
just figure out how to. Yeah.
And you know, I'm, it's sort of now when I'm thinking about
movies that I want to do, I was always like, I want to be an
action star because that was the movies that I liked growing up
was action and comedy. I'm like, I want to be a comedy
action star and now I'm like, I'm going to be the comedy guy
in the action movie with an action * and he does all the
action stuff. But I really wanted to be the
guy that does it all because I like doing stunts.
I think it's cool. But now I'm I'm sort of trying
to walk that line and see what I can do and what I can't.
Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week and
every week sharing long form interviews on Mondays and
shorter uplifting stories on Thursdays and then trending
clips on Fridays. We'd love to hear from you with
ratings and reviews. Do you prefer the longer podcast
episodes or are shorter ones? I'm excited to get your take.
Thanks again.