A stuntman took the internet by storm when he jumped a "Dukes of Hazzard" General Lee replica over a fountain in Somerset, Kentucky. The driver, Northeast Ohio Dukes founder Raymond Kohn, joins Glenn Beck to reveal what happened behind the scenes, why he did the jump, and where he wants to jump next (hint: it would involve President Trump)!
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: There was something just amazing that happened over the weekend in Somerset, Kentucky. It was like a Dukes of Hazzard Show.
Thirty-five thousand people gathered together, to line the streets of Somerset, as a very brave driver, who you're going to meet here in a second. Raymond Kohn. Raymond Kohn got into a car. Was an old Dodge Charger?
He jumped over the historic fountain, in the center of the town.
Can we play a little bit of this, if you happen to be watching?
GLENN: I mean, that is just crazy. It just makes me proud to be American, in a very strange sort of way. I don't even know why. It's just so satisfying. The world is on fire, and you're like, yes! We still got it. Raymond Kohn is on with us now. He is the founder and lead stuntman from the northeast Ohio dukes. And they -- they do this kind of stuff all the time. Raymond, welcome to the program.
How are you?
RAYMOND: Thank you for having me, Glenn. I am great.
I feel like a million bucks.
GLENN: Do you really?
When I saw you land, I thought, ow, my back. Ow, my back. It didn't hurt coming down?
RAYMOND: Well, you know what, we are thankful that the legendary stuntman who inspired me to do this. Like the late great Al White Jr. Ted Barba. Corrie Uvey. Jumping John Kid. (all phonetic)
These are the guys who risk everything, back in the '80s on the set of the Dukes of Hazzard, to figure out, how we can do this safely without killing ourselves.
GLENN: I've got to say -- I have to say, I saw a video from the -- from in front of you, as you landed.
And you hit a wall. And you're just tearing through this wall.
And there is a photographer, that is in front. Did you see him, and think, get out of the way, dude! Almost killed him.
RAYMOND: Yeah. So Centerville is our producer. His series that follows us in -- like a global episode, of what we do.
And Mike Cullvich (phonetic) is the -- the -- the executive producer, and that was him there.
And they carefully --
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
RAYMOND: They know the risks. They know the risks.
He had a little -- just in case, if I go to the left or to the right, that he would be able to squeeze through.
And he did!
So all of the spectators. They were safe.
They were at a safe distance.
You know, we can't do the jump, if we're out there risking people's lives.
And with the help of the summer night crews, the city of Somerset, all the police and fire and EMS, everybody worked together with my team.
I have the best crew in the world.
And, yes, I am the driver that does the jump. And, you know what, we had to build that tarp.
We had to build that tarp, and there was a team of us. And my crew was so great.
They said, look at everything -- we'll get everything done.
Relax. They knew I was nervous.
You know, and they know that my team -- you couldn't ask for a better stunt team.
GLENN: I have so many questions for you.
But let me start here. Before we go too much further away from the town.
Who the hell is the mayor of the city council?
I love these guys.
I can't think of another city in America, that would be like, yeah. We got that historic you fountain, right downtown.
Yeah. Go ahead.
RAYMOND: America is back, baby. I'm telling you. You couldn't have been telling -- from the Dukes of Hazzard. Forty-five years. Forty-seven years after the show ended.
GLENN: Oh.
RAYMOND: I'm telling you, people love -- from all walks of life, people love the Dukes of Hazzard, they love the General Lee.
Listen, if there was -- if there was ever a non-racist TV show for all, it was the Dukes of Hazzard. And that's my main goal.
My pain goal is to get this TV show back on television, that way, we have our children. And our grandchildren. Watching a TV show that has family values good.
GLENN: Okay. So let me -- let me -- one more question on this, before I -- what the hell is wrong we?
When did you decide, this is what I want to do with my life?
RAYMOND: Okay. So I was always a fan. I was born in '77. The show came out in '79. And I loved that big orange car. I loved that car.
GLENN: So great. So great.
RAYMOND: So in 2005, I watched legendary stuntman Corey Spence jump over my roscoe cart. By my police car that I have.
They jumped over it, at the very first General Lee jump site, in Oxford College, in -- in Georgia.
And that's when I got bit by, what I called the stunt bug.
And I was like, I've got to do this. I've got to do -- if I on me do it once, I've got to do it.
And this was my 30th General Lee jump.
For our 30th -- Detroit. We jumped the General Lee downtown Detroit. And then for our 30th, we're jumping over the historic fountain in Somerset, Kentucky.
GLENN: I don't know. This is different. You know, downtown Detroit, you crash into buildings. There's nobody around.
Oh, well.
In Somerset, Kentucky, though. It's just a different thing.
Okay. Let me -- let me -- I think this is amazing.
In looking into you, while the jump is phenomenal. And makes you feel good. What you have gone through in the last few years, is even more amazing.
You had a -- a rare brain surgery, right?
A rare hormonal disorder, that you were like, living another classic TV show, the hulk!
You -- it was changing you, right?
Tell me about this!
JASON: Yeah. So in 2015, I started to feel a lot of pain in my knees, and my elbows.
I started noticing my voice was changing.
My face was changing. And then here comes, hey, Ray. You have to give up blood pressure medicine. You're prediabetic.
You're 335 pounds.
You know, I was always around 220 pounds.
And so nobody -- because -- it's over a long, long, long period of time.
The people that are in my life, every day, they couldn't see the changes.
You know, but the people I haven't seen Ray in a year or two years. You look different, Ray.
You know, and so I went to our local dermatologist, because I started getting these creases in my head. It's bad enough. I'm bald. What are these lines in my head now?
So the dermatologist, she said, let me see your hands. Yeah. You have big hands.
Yeah. Every time I shake somebody's hands. It's like shaking hands with a cinder block.
GLENN: Like banana hands.
JASON: Yeah. My feet went from a size ten to 12.
I had to get a 2X helmet. Because my helmet wouldn't fit.
GLENN: Wait. Wait. Wait pick up wait.
Did you think you were ideas just gaining weight. Or did you know it was something more?
You weren't starving yourself, were you?
RAYMOND: Yeah. Because heavy stunt drivers don't make good stunt drivers. You get hurt a lot easier. It's a lot more weight.
GLENN: Of course.
RAYMOND: All of my loved ones and my crew. It's the jumps are tearing you up.
I'm like, no. No. No. No. It's not the jumps. Don't blame the jumps.
So I said, okay.
So went to the doctor. They said, go give this blood work. You may have something serious going on.
The blood work came back. My growth hormone was 900. 900. Now, normally it was 70 to 270. I'm 47 years old, and I'm still a grown boy!
So that opted for me, to get the -- or, the -- yeah, the MRI of my brain. To scan. And say, I had a 9-millimeter tumor on my 10-millimeter pituitary gland.
And we can have it on my body. And the surgeon, up in the Cleveland Clinic said, Raymond, if we don't get this out of you, it's going to kill you.
And my wife is crying. My daughter is crying.
The first thing that came to my lips was, can I still jump the General Lee after the significant other?
And the doctor said, yes, yes. And I'm like, okay. Let's do does this surgery. Let's get the thing out of my head. And then as soon as I was okay, we went up to the radical speech board in Canada. Joe came up there. We did the first international General Lee jump in front of like 30,000 people up there. And it was awesome.
I'm telling you. I'm living the dream, man. I can't believe this is happening to me.
All because of a TV show, called the Dukes of Hazzard.
GLENN: I have to tell you, I have to put an event together, just because I want to invite you to jump the General Lee over something.
We have to do --
JASON: Glenn, we want. We want to build an American patriot be General Lee.
And we want to put like, you know, 47, 45 on the doors. Put a big old American flag on the roof.
And we will call it The Jump for Trump 2045, and we want to jump in front of the White House. That's what we want to do.
GLENN: That's fantastic.
I'll bring it up to him. If there's any president that will do it. It will be him. He told me a story. He will probably do it on the White House grounds.
RAYMOND: Again, that would be awesome. He would want to do that.
GLENN: He told me a story, he said, you know, about the flagpoles. And he said, you know, he was afraid that all of the -- you know, all of the paperwork and, you know, government everything.
And he wanted to build a ballroom, and put the flagpoles up.
And he went to the guy at the White House, who runs everything at the White House. The architect.
And he said, so what is the paperwork like? And he said, you know, Mr. President, the White House belongs to the president while he's there.
So there's no paperwork. You would have to be the one that would sign all of it. And he's like, this is great.
I bet he could build that jump!
I bet he could build that jump, without any permits.
That is so fantastic.
JASON: In a few weeks. My team --
GLENN: That's fantastic.
JASON: We can build a great American -- they'll give us the panels to make the car, red, white, and blue. Big old American flag theme.
GLENN: That's fantastic.
RAYMOND: We'll call it the jump for Trump. We love Trump! The jump for Trump, and we will rock the White House.
GLENN: It is so great. I will bring it up to him. I will make sure he sees it, okay?
That is fantastic.
But listen, if he takes you up. I have to be there. I have -- you have to get me invited.
RAYMOND: Yeah. Glenn, I would be honored to put a passenger side seat in the car, and you can ride with me.
GLENN: No. No, no, no. No, no.
RAYMOND: Come on!
GLENN: I saw you come down, and my back -- I have a really bad back. And all I could really think of was, ow. Ow. That must have hurt.
RAYMOND: No. Last year, I hit the ramp at 72 miles an hour. I slide 200 at 17 feet. That's the longest General Lee jump in front of a large audience. And I landed a flat on all four wheels.
Had it not been for the safety equipment. That the legendary stuff that came up.
I would have either been killed or worse, paralyzed for the rest of my life.
And it's because of that safety equipment.
I'm not even sitting on the -- I'm painting from the ceiling with bungee cords.
GLENN: Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
I've got to meet you. I've got to meet you, Ray? Just --
RAYMOND: Let's jump in the White House. Let's jump in the White House.
GLENN: Thank you. Raymond. Northeast Ohio. Dukes founder and lead stuntman. You can find the website, north -- northeast Ohio.
Dukes.net.
Ray, we'll talk again. Thank you so much, God bless you, man.
RAYMOND: God bless you. God bless, America.