The Cobra Kai Season 5 premiere initially looked like it was missing two important players, but don’t worry: the eagles eventually landed on (or, rather, crashed) the red carpet.
In true Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence fashion, actors Ralph Macchio and William Zabka pulled up to the LA premiere in the famous Eagle Fang minivan. Who needs a limo when you have the hottest ride in southern California? Rihanna might’ve said “Shut up and drive,” but the senseis were eager to talk. We “rode along” with Macchio and Zabka and asked them a few questions.
What’s your favorite song to sing along to while driving?
Ralph Macchio: Oh my gosh. There's so many. A lot of [Bruce] Springsteen because I'm such a Springsteen fan. “Thunder Road” is one of my favorite songs in the history of rock and roll, and I just love the build-up to that song. Also, “Lose Yourself” by Eminem just because it's the greatest.
William Zabka: One of my favorites, if not my favorite song, would be “Still of the Night” by Whitesnake. That song I could listen to on loop when I'm driving. It's just a great tune. I don't know if I'd be singing along to it, but I'd be pretending to. Crank it, everybody.
What's the best road trip that you've ever been on?
Macchio: I’ve been asked this because I own the 1947 Ford convertible [from The Karate Kid], the “wax on, wax off” car. I mean, I think going from the London Hotel to this park with Zabka, which could be the ultimate road trip of all time since he's driving [laughs]. Oh, I will say one thing. I drove in from Maui to Hana, which is a really precarious drive. That was a road trip with my wife. It was exciting, gorgeous, beautiful and argumentative.
Zabka: I’ve been on so many road trips because that's my favorite thing in the world. I would say one of the most memorable, fun road trips was going to the Grand Canyon when I was about 19 or 20 with a bunch of my buddies in my dad's 1970 Volvo station wagon.
What was funny about that road trip was on the way back, we had two cars shoved full of guys, camping gear and backpacking gear because we backpacked for 10 days. The water hose broke on the car so we had to park it on the side [of the road] in the desert in 112 degrees, leave the car, pile into another car, basically drive home and then go and find a mechanic to go and fix it. I had to come back and pick it up two weeks later by myself. The second part of that road trip is me with no air conditioning, riding that thing home across the desert by myself and cranking some rocking tunes. That was a really memorable, awesome road trip.
Makes for a good story, though. What's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you in a car?
Macchio: This is recent. I was driving a car at night and there was a glitch in the electrical and I was on a road that didn’t have street lights. It was sort of a stretch, slightly curvy but dark, at say, midnight or so. The car drove but the electric just went out. I was in this black vehicle that I could see nothing for what felt like a minute. It's just like if you turned off the lights as you're going 50 miles an hour on a road.
Zabka: I don't know if this is a weird thing, but I was also a counselor at a camp one time, and I have a 1985 CJ7 Jeep. I got one of the other counselors out of the cabin when all the kids were sleeping and I said, “Let's go off-roading.” We put it in four-wheel drive and went up this mountain, and it was snow, and went on these back trails. It was the middle of the night, and the Jeep came close to a cliff. There was a divot in the road and I tried to get away from the road, but I ended up getting my tire in the divot and the Jeep stopped.
I looked down and there's my buddy and the bottom of the hill. The cliff was right there and he goes, “Bill how do we get out of this?” I'm like, “I don't know, I've never been in it before.” I think that might have been my craziest view ever being in a car, just looking to my passenger’s seat and looking down the side of a cliff. I had to put it in four-wheel and slowly back out of it and get back down to the cabins.
Out of any character in Cobra Kai, who would you choose to be your road trip companion?
Macchio: I was going to say Tanner, but I don't know if Robby's a good driver. I know Tanner is a driver. He's driven race cars, but he’d probably scare the crap out of me. I will go with Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) because I'm sure he’ll analyze the road plan. It's all put together. He's checked the navigation, he's timed out the traffic and I think he's conscientious enough to be the right guy I need. He'll be the co-pilot and the most awesome navigator.
Zabka: Well, this is going to sound funny, but I think Shannon (Diora Baird), who is Robby's mom — and Johnny’s ex. I think the two of them on a road trip might be a funny movie. I think she would be a blast.
Now that the karate stars have finally arrived to the premiere in one piece, it’s time to celebrate the action by streaming Cobra Kai Season 5.
