Background and career
Brandon Thomas Novak (born December 10, 1978) is an American motivational speaker, author, and former professional skateboarder and CKY crew member. He also had appearances in the Viva La Bam reality comedy series.
Novak was born on December 10, 1978, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Novak started skateboarding at seven years old and was soon discovered by Bucky Lasek. He was the first skateboarder in the world to be sponsored by Gatorade at 14 years old. At this same time, he was a professional skateboarder on the Powell Peralta Team, traveling the country with Bucky Lasek, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, and others. Due to his substance abuse he was presented with the option to quit or attend rehab which he chose to quit. Upon achieving sobriety in 2015, Novak returned to skateboarding. In 2020, he finally achieved his dream of creating a pro-deck with The Heart Supply (run by CEO and Founder of Element, Johnny Schillereff). They released the Brandon Novak Heart Supply collection in June 2020. In July 2021, Novak and fellow professional skateboarder Joey Jett released a short film of their journey to Barcelona titled "The Awakening" showcasing their skateboarding and journey.
Novak makes appearances in CKY3 (2001), and CKY4: The Latest & Greatest (2002), and in Bam Margera's films Haggard (2003), and Minghags (2009). In Haggard, Novak plays a friendly drug dealer named Dooli, which was the real nickname of Novak's dealer in northwest Baltimore. He also appeared in Bam's TV shows Viva La Bam (2003-2006), Bam's Unholy Union (2007), and Bam's Bad Ass Game Show (2014), and also made guest appearances in the Jackass movies Jackass Number Two (2006), Jackass 2.5 (2007), Jackass 3D (2010), and Jackass 3.5 (2011). He appeared regularly on the SIRIUS Satellite Radio show Radio Bam. One notable radio appearance was on December 26, 2005, where Margera gave Novak $500 to hire two sex workers as a Christmas gift. As Novak was having sex with the women live on air in the studio, SIRIUS Satellite Radio cut off the show. This was significant as it was the first time SIRIUS had ever censored a program before. Also in 2005, Novak arrived on the red carpet at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards wearing nothing except a computer keyboard. The night prior he had brought back girls to his hotel room and sometime in the night had thrown his clothes off the balcony. Having no clothes for the VMA's, he decided on a keyboard. In 2008, Novak appeared in Bam Margera Presents: Where the#$&% Is Santa?, which featured Novak and several other cast members trying to find Santa Claus. That same year, Novak appeared in a pornographic film by Gina Lynn called The Fantasstic Whores 4 with Margera while Margera had a "prominent, non-sex role". In 2010, Novak appeared in Jackass 3D in multiple scenes. Novak also had a more prominent role in the follow-up film Jackass 3.5, which was released in 2011. In 2013 and 2014, Novak traveled around the world as the opening act for rock and roll band Fuckface Unstoppable. Performing as "Pill" Collins, a spoof of Phil Collins, he would sing "In The Air Tonight" to open the shows. He would be heavily intoxicated, known for coming out naked and spraying the crowd with wine. He has also been featured on Howard Stern's Most Outrageous Moments for his appearance in a 2008 episode where he stripped naked and licked Richard Christy's anus for $280.
Novak, along with co-author and CKY filmographer Joe Frantz, authored his first book, titled Dreamseller, which is based on his life and experiences with heroin in Baltimore. The book was published on October 18, 2008. A paperback version of the book was released exactly a year after its original publishing on October 18, 2009. A movie, also to be titled Dreamseller, was supposed to be in production in early 2007, but was stopped when Novak began using heroin again. On the December 17, 2007 episode of Radio Bam, it was announced that the movie may be completed in the near future with Bam Margera starring as Novak in the film. In 2015, the idea of a movie was again floated, but Novak claimed that to secure funding they would have to approve Justin Bieber playing Novak, which they felt wasn't the right direction. Production ceased again. In 2018, Novak and Frantz released a graphic novel titled The Brandon Novak Chronicles: The Shocking True Addiction Stories of a Counter-Culture Icon. Novak released a second book titled The Streets of Baltimore in 2020, marking the five-year anniversary of his sobriety, which chronicles more of his struggle with addiction.
Before achieving sobriety in 2015, Novak struggled for over 20 years with addictions to heroin, cocaine, pain pills, benzodiazepines, and alcohol. He spent his 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, and 35th birthdays in a jail or treatment center. When Novak was 14, he was a professional skateboarder on the Powell Peralta Team, traveling the country with Bucky Lasek, Tony Hawk, and others. Despite his meteoric rise to success, his drug use was discovered by Mike Vallely and Todd Hastings, team manager at the time, presented him with the unanimous choice for him to either leave the team or attend rehab for his "psychoactive substance abuse"; he elected to leave the team. Over the next 20 years, he went to rehab 13 times, was frequently arrested, overdosed over four times, stole from his friends and family, and prostituted himself to pay for drugs. Novak was clean for almost four years, from 2003 to 2007, before relapsing. Novak was absent from the January 23, 2006 episode of Radio Bam on Sirius Satellite Radio while he attended rehab for addiction to pills. On February 26, 2007, Novak admitted on Radio Bam that while he had quit using heroin, he still regularly abused cocaine and pain medication and frequently drank alcohol. While it was not mentioned on the radio show, Novak broke both ankles the day before Margera's wedding while skating with Tony Hawk and Margera during filming for Bam's Unholy Union on February 2, 2007. He was shown holding a bottle of prescription pain killers afterwards. Margera stated on Radio Bam that Novak relapsed in March 2007 and was seeking treatment in a rehabilitation clinic. It is unclear if this incident led to his relapse, or if the relapse was already occurring by this time. Margera announced on the April 3, 2007 episode of Radio Bam that Novak had a relapse with his addiction to heroin and was back in rehab. On the July 30, 2007 episode of Radio Bam, Margera and Chad I Ginsburg were discussing the topic of heroin and announced that Novak's addiction was "the worst [Bam] had ever seen" and that Novak was "just killing himself now". He was kicked out of rehab in Scranton, Pennsylvania, after heroin pills were found in his bag. Novak claimed that the pills were "planted" on him. On a Radio Bam episode in November, Novak stated that he had attempted suicide three weeks before the radio show, as a result of a heroin binge, but survived it. On the December 17, 2007 episode of Radio Bam, Novak was asked to leave Margera's house again when he lied on air about not having pills and being clean. He had recently been released from a psychiatric ward he had been held in for 12 days because of suicidal tendencies and drug use. The crew found multiple bars of Xanax on Novak, which he claimed had been prescribed to him. Joe Frantz and Margera exiled Novak for a period of time as a result. On the March 3, 2008 episode of Radio Bam, Novak stated that he was 33 days clean and would appear in Bam's new MTV show. In March 2009, Frantz had a phone conversation with Novak about his attempted suicide and mental health issues that resulted in him being institutionalized. On March 9, 2009, Novak appeared on Radio Bam and discussed getting out of the mental institution, his drug use, and the delusions that led to the problems.
