The Misadventures, And Success, Of A Surf Trip With Tyler Allen

I was heading over to Playground Surf Resort, we knew Tyler was in town, and we thought “Fuck it, let’s take Tyler, make a funny video. What’s the worst that could happen?

So, I’m in my seat on my first flight to Singapore, rolling down the runway, and my phone lights up. It’s Tyler. 

‘Yo Bruddha, send me flights again will ya…’

I’d already sent him everything… 

As the plane takes off I shoot him a text. I have no idea whether he receives it or not, and just like that, I’m en-route, potentially solo.

I get off the plane, tap into the Wi-Fi while waiting for my boards in Singapore. No message from Tyler… Fuck.

I jump on Insta (as if I’m looking for the answer) and just like that, Tyler posts a story sipping a Bintang, delayed with a couple of Indo blokes in Jakarta!

Phew, we’re on.

In the hotel in Padang, Tyler kicks the door in, rolling in loud. He walks straight to the phone and orders Nasi goreng and six beers in an Indonesian accent.

We sink a couple of beers and brainstorm ideas. Truth be told, I thought shooting a funny film with Tyler would be easy—I thought the rest of the trip could be the hard part, hanging with a crazed Seppo who breaks into another character every five mins has the potential to test anyone’s patience.

He’s actually super easy to hang with, loves to surf, is tough to beat at ping pong, and, yeah, sure, he can sink his fair share of beers.

Shooting a promo, now that’s hard. I can’t get shit out of him, he’s frothing way too hard on the Binnys and ping pong. Day four slips away, and we have nothing. Maybe we do a Gabby Medina cover of Gin and Juice? (Yeah, that’ll sell a surf trip…)

We start shooting. At one point we have some Indo groms and a couple of chicks dancing on the roof of the boat. It’s funny… but errs on the side of weird and creepy. Tyler’s not feeling it and neither am I. Back to the drawing board.

Day seven – we have nothing on film and nothing to promote surf travel. I’m peaking, and Tyler’s a little flat too.

I am, however, learning how Tyler works. There’s no ultra-planned web of jokes. He works on the spot and if it’s not funny as hell, he just doesn’t want to do it.

Then he got a shout out from Yago Dora on the Occ-Cast, I looked over at him said… What about an Occ-Cast? We had an idea. Once Tyler has a vision it takes him less than five-minutes to suss out the joke, he’s a natural.

“Chrisso, brudddha, let’s shoot it. Hit record!” 

The results can be viewed above.

Ed. Note: Tyler Allen is a strange, er, success story. He breached the surf scene with his Donald Trump impersonation and a year later he’s being flown around the world to various surf destinations via the WSL, SURFER magazine and now Wave of the Day. He’s an odd duck and has found an odd space in the relatively untapped niche of surf comedy. Chris, the author of this story, is part of a company called Wave of the Day – who specialize in discount surf travel and instant booking.