Jamie O'Brien Releases Iconic Early '00s Surf Flick, 'Freak Show' (Watch)
Believe it or not, Jamie O’Brien had a surf career before YouTube and GoPros.
Back in the day, he made videos the old-fashioned way – VHS and DVD – spending an entire season making ‘em, hosting in-person premieres, and releasing them in hard copy.
And now, 642 YouTube vlogs and +200 million views later, he’s throwing it back to his roots, by re-releasing his early aughts full-length film, Freak Show.
The film has all the characteristic quirks of the era – knee-length boardshorts adorned with flames, double-grab airs, hijinks, a curated soundtrack with pop punk, reggae, and hip hop, cutaway clips of anonymous women wearing thongs on the sand, etc.
It’s nostalgia at its finest.
Folks love a throwback; fellow surf vlogger Ben Gravy wrote in the comments:
“So nostalgic & beyond inspiring to watch this. You were the man then & you’re the man now! Thanks for everything you’ve contributed to our great sport Jamie! Nothing short of a legend”
And others followed:
“I bet there is a large contingent of Jamie's followers that are watching this for the first time and going, "woah is that really JOB on small waves?!?" Yeah, yeah it is. He's arguably the greatest Pipe surfer of all time but also JOB was gnarly in his younger years. Especially for his size.”
“Jamie you have no idea how much this movie meant to me as a kid. It was one of the first surf movies I ever bought. It was that and a movie about Andy Irons. RIP to the legend of course. Watching those is what fueled My desire to want to travel and surf And was the inspiration for me moving to Costa Rica and Nicaragua for a little over 4 years just to surf.”
“This throwback got me psyching out of my mind Jamie!! Memories of the proving ground days are so sick! This is how you became the prince of north shore yessah”
Simpler times.
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