I have a confession to make. I just lost an hour of my life on snowboarder Scotty James’ Instagram account. An hour I was happy to lose, because, quite frankly, the X Games gold medalist, Olympic Bronze champion and FIS World Champion is hilarious.
Really. Truly. Hilarious.
Oh we’ve all met athletes who thought they were blessed with the comedy gene before. Some are, some just try too hard and some are as funny as rain on a forecast powder day.
Not Scotty James. He has a natural comedic talent when placed in front of his brother Sean’s camera.
Perhaps it’s the natural banter between them, the comfort of being in a media space with someone who’s known you since you were a tater tot, the in jokes, the comedic timing of a life spent trialing your schtick on your hardest audience, a sibling. It helps that his brother is as talented with a camera and an edit suite as Scotty is with a snowboard.
Scotty James track suit obsession
Who can forget Scotty’s Australian track suit dance before PyeongChang Olympics earlier this year? 366 000 people haven’t forgotten.
He did it again for New Year, this year, with the classic funny walk sequence first created by legendary comic fiends, Monty Python.
I mean, the man is tall, really tall, John Cleese tall, he was born for this physical comedy if he wasn’t born for the super pipe.
Scotty James Dad Jokes
But these aren’t even the ones that had me guffawing out loud. No, he’s way funnier than a few quirky dance moves in a shell suit. Scotty’s Dad jokes surpass anything Phil Dunphy would dish out.
All in the Scotty James family
Get him together with his brother and the true Aussie larrikin spirit of two people living their best life while under pressure shines through. Think of them as the Hamish and Andy of snow sports.
Add another brother and…well.
Scotty James Behind the Scenes
Perhaps the best part is Scotty’s ability to show himself behind the scenes in their #glimpse series on social media where Sean edits highlights from the week prior.
Where I truly lost myself was in the Other Side instagram highlights, a mish mash of sweat, laughter and tears as Scotty works his arse off to be the international winning athlete that he is.
Too many freestyle snow sports athletes buy into their own press release, forget their roots and distance themselves from ‘the people’. That’s why Scotty is so refreshing. He could flood his feed with straight snowboarding footage of him being a legend with every gram another powder shot, cliff drop, pillow line, halfpipe air, switch backside 1260. But he doesn’t.
He gives a real insight to life on the road at an elite level, he laughs at himself and his brother and stays real.
We’ll leave you with this:
Want more? You know you do. Check him out on Instagram @scottyjames31 and Facebook.
