Jack & Jack Read online

  DEDICATION

  DEDICATED TO MY FAMILY—JOHN, JENNIFER, AND JEFF JOHNSON, AND TO ALL OUR FRIENDS WHO MADE THE MEMORIES POSSIBLE. SPECIAL THANKS TO SHERYL BERK AND DAVID LINKER FOR HELPING US CONFINE OUR THOUGHTS TO 256 PAGES.

  —J.J.

  TO THE FANS FOR MAKING OUR LIVES AND THIS BOOK POSSIBLE

  —J.G.

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: The Things We Used to Do . . .

  Chapter 2: Six Seconds

  Chapter 3: Midwest Kids Dreamin’ of California

  Chapter 4: Tell-All

  Chapter 5: Take All That Passion, Turn It into Action

  Chapter 6: No Shoes, No Shirt: Swimsuit & Ray-Bans

  Chapter 7: Meaningless Words We Don’t Worry About

  Chapter 8: The World Is Our Playground

  Chapter 9: A Day in Our Lives

  Chapter 10: Never Lookin’ Back

  About the Authors

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  WHO ARE JACK & JACK?

  G: NO, REALLY, WHO ARE JACK & JACK?

  J: YOU’RE ASKING ME? IS THIS A TRICK QUESTION? AM I BEING GRADED? IN THE LITERAL SENSE, WE’RE JACK JOHNSON AND JACK GILINSKY.

  G: TWO KIDS FROM NEBRASKA WHO MET BACK ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN.

  J: WE WERE A PAIR OF GOOFY KIDS, ALWAYS CLOWNING AROUND AND MAKING OUR CLASSMATES LAUGH, TRYING TO BRING A LITTLE HUMOR TO THEIR DAYS.

  G: Once we matured a little bit—come fifth or sixth grade—and we started listening to music and developing our musical tastes, we discovered music was a huge part of who we are, too.

  J: Right. So Jack & Jack are just two kids who love entertaining people in any way, shape, or form—music, comedy, acting. We like brightening your day. I want to have a good time, and I want everyone else to have a good time, too. Which brings us to this book that you’re reading right now: party on the page.

  G: When we sat down to write it, we asked ourselves: What’s the message here? What do we want to say? The answer may sound a little cliché, but we just want to spread positivity.

  J: I knew you were gonna say that, because that’s exactly we’re about.

  G: And you read minds.

  J: That too. We try to take our fans out of any negative places they may be in their lives and flip their mind-sets. It can be something as simple as tweeting, “Hey, keep your head up,” or “Today’s gonna be a great day.” Don’t dwell on the negative; live in the positive. And when you do, it’s like a chain reaction. You spread that positivity around.

  G: It’s the ripple effect: someone smiles at you, smile back.

  J: Growing up is hard. Being a kid is hard. Don’t dwell on that. There’s a lot more to life. High school is just temporary.

  G: Sometimes the world feels like it’s piled on your shoulders. That’s when you have to let loose, enjoy yourself, and not take things so seriously.

  J: I don’t. Do you?

  G: Never. I’m seriously never serious.

  J: We also knew that in writing a book, it would help us reflect on this journey. It’s giving me a better understanding of where I wanna be in life, what my future goals are, and where I wanna be next. I feel like this whole journey is leading up to something—but I don’t know yet what that is.

  G: We don’t even know what we’re doing next month, but we’re feeling motivated to up the ante. Plus we found a ton of old photos of us from way back when.

  J: We’re always thinking bigger and better, and that’s a great attitude to have going through life. Keep pushing yourself. This is just the beginning for us.

  G: If we could do it, so can you. Who would have thought that two kids from Nebraska could make it out in Hollywood in a year and a half and get six million followers on Vine? A lot of people ask us, “How did you do it?” If you read every page, cover to cover, we promise you’ll get a lot of info, a lot of inspiration, and a lot of motivation.

  J: And a lot of laughs.

  G: Our fans know us really well, but we want you to walk away knowing us . . . well, like I know Jack.

  J: He knows everything. Everything. It scares me a little. But our story proves the power of positivity—and also of social media. But it’s true: no matter who you are or where you are, no matter what your social or financial situation, you can make it. Seriously, you can.

  G: No excuses. You got this.

  J: And if you want to know who Jack & Jack are, read on. ’Cause we can’t sum it all up in a few pages.

  G: Definitely not. You talk too much.

  J: It’s been a wild ride, and we’re happy to have you come along. . . .

  WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

  G: WE WERE FOUR AND FIVE YEARS OLD AND IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN IN OMAHA. WE WALK IN, AND I DON’T THINK IT WAS IMMEDIATE, BUT I’M PRETTY SURE IT WAS IN THE FIRST HOUR OF CLASS THAT WE NOTICED EACH OTHER ACROSS THE ROOM—AND WE BOTH HAD ON THE SAME SHIRT. IT WAS THE GAP ONE WITH STRIPES ON THE ARMS; MINE WAS RED AND HIS WAS BLUE.

  J: Yeah, it was like, “Dude! You’re wearing the same thing as me? What’s up with that?” Immediate connection.

  G: Definitely some sort of connection. We had met briefly before that at a kindergarten round-up thing at a neighbor’s—you know, get to know the parents, get to know your classmates.

  J: But we didn’t. I didn’t know you, and you didn’t remember me at all. I just knew at that moment on the first day that you were a kid wearing the same shirt and the same name tag.

  G: Little yellow name tags that read “Jack G” and “Jack J.” And that’s how we were known from that day on. That’s how they told us apart.

  J: Wait, which one were you?

  G: Ever since then, we’ve been best friends.

  J: What if we hadn’t worn those shirts? Do you think we’d be friends?

  G: I never really thought about it. Maybe.

  J: Wow. Scary.

  G: So a shout-out to our moms for dressing us that day in those shirts. I think they picked out our clothes until second grade.

  J: Wait, your mom still doesn’t pick out your clothes? Hey, Mom . . . we need to have a talk!

  CLOWNING AROUND

  J: Elementary school was definitely our biggest class-clown phase.

  G: We didn’t really get the real world, so we had no shame. We would just do whatever it took to make people laugh.

  J: We were in time-out so much! I remember once during nap time we started tap-dancing, and our teacher, Ms. Dolphens, spun around and said, “What are you two doing?” When we explained, she was pretty cool about it. She showed the whole class a tap-dancing video.

  G: It ended up being good, but I think that was partly because: a) our teacher was cool and awesome, and b) we were funny, but not in an offensive or rude way. We were just trying to have a good time.

  J: During nap. Oh well. We never did have great timing.

  G: When it came to recess, we were sporty. We would throw a ball around: football, basketball, kickball, foursquare, whatever. But we were never the most athletic kids. He was playing soccer, and I was doing my tennis thing.

  J: Let’s put it this way. If you looked at us in second grade, you would never pick us out of a crowd and say, “These two are gonna be on the varsity squad one day.”

  G. No. Wasn’t us. We were the goofy kids.

  J: The first few years we were extremely joined at the hip, during kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. But after that, we didn’t have the same teacher and we weren’t in the same class, so we had to expand our social circles a little. We would still hang out all the time, though. Then in sixth grade they put us back together. That was the best. Full circle.

  HANGIN’ AND WATCHING HAN
NAH

  J: If we didn’t see each other all the time in school, we hung out after with the rest of our gang.

  G: Literally, every day we would say, “Okay, whose house are we going to?” And we’d determine it based on who had the best snack ready to go. We knew every kid whose mom was vegan and wouldn’t give us the good stuff.

  J: Your mom’s snack supply was decent—you always had ice-cream sandwiches. And Chex Mix was big. If someone was offering Chex Mix, we were there.

  G: Yeah, we’re not potato chip guys, but Chex . . .

  J: And Cheez-Its—and those pretzel packs you’d dip in the fake orange cheese!

  G: Ritz dips! Yes! Goldfish too. Fruit Chews, Oreos. Are you getting hungry? I’m getting hungry. What was that thing I finished once at your house? An entire pack of those cookies from the little guys who lived in a tree?

  J: The elves? The Keebler Elves? Oh man. Those dudes knew how to bake.

  G: I just remember we were playing Tony Hawk video games and your mom came in and she was like, “Wait, where did all of these cookies go? Weren’t there at least two dozen?” There were just crumbs. Guilty!

  J: In your stomach, that’s where they went. And we would watch TV. Drake & Josh was our fave, which is kinda weird now because we know Josh Peck. We’re homies with him, and that’s a little twisted if you think about it, because that was our show growing up. That was everybody’s show.

  G: iCarly too, and That’s So Raven. Disney and Nickelodeon was it. We never needed to change the channels beyond those two. Literally you could put either of them on and we’d be into it.

  J: And Hannah Montana. I admit it! No shame at all. I loved Hannah.

  G: Occasionally we’d have to sneak off and watch South Park because our parents wouldn’t let us.

  J: Our minds started getting dirty around fifth or sixth grade. And that’s when we really got big into South Park and when our real humor started to come out. My brother first showed it to us, and we were like, “Damn, this show is funny! Where have you been all our lives?”

  G: You didn’t get any of the cussing or mature stuff on Nick or Disney. Total eye-opener.

  WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES FOR EACH OTHER?

  G: Pretty basic: G and J.

  J: Don’t you mean J and G? How come you get top billing?

  G: Our friends always call us that, and that’s what we kind of call each other—to avoid any confusion.

  J: But you’re the only one who calls me Jack.

  G: Yeah, because you know you’re not me.

  ARE OMAHA STEAKS REALLY ALL THAT?

  J: Yes! Amazing. Some of the best prime. They do live up to the hype, and if you’ve never tasted one I strongly recommend you make it a priority.

  G: I second that. Can’t top those filets.

  IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPERHERO POWER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

  G: We’ve had this discussion many times. ’Cause you never know, one day it could happen.

  J: I would teleport for sure.

  G: I used to say flying or freezing time, but now I’m kinda siding with you on this. Teleportation is undeniably the best power you could have.

  J: I could go anywhere I wanted, anywhere in time, and I would never have to deal with L.A. traffic.

  G: So beneficial.

  WHO HAS THE COOLER FAMILY? WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO TRADE?

  G: Well, I’m kind of personally attached to mine, you know? I honestly couldn’t tell you whose is cooler. We both go on awesome family trips and have great siblings and parents who care about us.

  J: I would say we are both happy; no trading going on. Keepers.

  G: That will make my mom very happy.

  DID YOU GUYS HAVE TO TAKE MUSIC LESSONS WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER?

  J: Yes! I took piano lessons for eight years.

  G: And I took piano for two years and drums for five. I hated going to lessons, but I liked learning new stuff. Can’t have one without the other, though.

  J: A good ten to twelve years of lessons between us. Shoutout to Mr. Raybine for putting up with us.

  IF YOUR NAMES WEREN’T JACK & JACK, IF YOU WERE ELMO & EDUARDO INSTEAD, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL YOURSELVES PROFESSIONALLY?

  J: Well, I’m glad my parents had the sense not to name me Elmo.

  G: Yeah, that would be unfortunate. So what would we call our act if we were say, Travis and Donny?

  J: It would have to be something cool. A band name has to be cool. Something that catches your ear.

  G: Like Twenty-One Pilots—that’s super sick. But then again, what does that mean? Are there really twenty-one of them? What if one is sick and then you’re down to twenty? That’s an issue.

  J: I think it would have to be something very out there—like, “We are . . . Waterfall Drops.”

  G: I like Fiji for a name. Or They. What if we were just They?

  J: I think those are both already taken. How about Truth Be Told. TBT. That’s a nice band name.

  G: A band name takes a lot of time and thought, so if it wasn’t just Jack & Jack, if it wasn’t just handed to us on a silver platter, we would be under a lot of pressure to get it right.

  J: It would be a very long conversation, let’s put it that way.

  G: Movin’ on there, Elmo . . .

  IF SOMEONE HANDED YOU A BOX FILLED WITH STUFF YOU’VE LOST THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE IN IT?

  J: Multiple wallets. Multiple phones. A lot of credit cards. Tons of pairs of glasses—I just lost a pair on our trip to New York.

  G: This stuffed bear named Cranberry. He might be under my bed in my home somewhere, but I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him in a long time, and I miss him.

  J: We had this little blue stuffed mouse, and she would definitely be in there. We took her everywhere with us one summer—Sharon was our little mascot. We went tubing at my lake house, and of course we had to keep Sharon on the tube with us, so we put her in one of our swimsuit pockets. After we got off the tube, we realized Sharon had gone MIA. We were roaming around yelling “Sharon!” searching for her.

  G: As if this stuffed animal could respond. What were we thinking?

  J: It was sad, man.

  SCHOOL DAZE

  J: BETWEEN THE AGES OF ELEVEN AND EIGHTEEN—WHEN YOU START JUNIOR HIGH AND YOU GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL—THAT’S A HUGE LEAP OF TIME AND GROWTH. YOUR PERSONALITY CHANGES, YOUR WHOLE VIEW ON LIFE CHANGES. YOU FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU WANT AND WHAT YOU’RE GOOD AT.

  G: YOU WERE DEFINITELY SMARTER THAN I WAS. YOUR GRADES WERE BETTER. EVEN TODAY, HE’S AN OVERALL BRIGHTER INDIVIDUAL.

  J: Gilinsky probably pulled more girls than I did. But it’s a good contrast. We balance each other out.

  G: As we went through high school, we were still our goofy selves, but we definitely matured. And I feel like we fit in where we fit in. There was no trying to be something we weren’t.

  J: Definitely. We hung with a group of cool kids, I guess you could say the popular crowd, but they weren’t douchebags. They weren’t the Regina Georges from Mean Girls.

  G: Nah, everyone got along. We were lucky our school was that way. Because that’s not often the case. The whole label thing . . . we just avoided it. We were friends with all different types.

  THE FACEBOOK FEUD

  G: Friends sometimes fight or go their separate ways as they grow up, but honestly, we’ve never gotten into an argument over anything serious.

  J: What about the Facebook fight?

  G: Oh yeah. There was this one time when Jack posted a photo of a kid who looked like him playing with his yellow lab on Facebook and wrote “this is my dog” and it wasn’t. It wasn’t him, and it wasn’t his dog. I was the only one who knew it, and I wanted Jack to set the record straight.

  J: It was a joke, but you were so pissed.

  G: I tried to call you out on it, and you were just messing with me. You knew I was stubborn and I would keep arguing it.

  J: And arguing . . . and arguing . . .

  G: It was more of a joke for you, but I was
actually super mad. That was a big deal for twenty-four hours, and then we were like, “Um, what are fighting about? This is stupid.”

  J: That’s really it. That’s the only time I can think of that one of us got really pissed off at the other. The rest has been silly small stuff. No fights over girls.

  G: No, no. It’s never over girls. Today, if we argue over anything, it’s usually over business and that’s wrapped up pretty quick because I’m always right.

  J: Now who’s joking?

  G: But in general, we’re pretty spot-on with each other.

  J: You complete me, man.

  G: Aw, I’m touched.

  CAN YOU SAY “AWKWARD”?

  J: All through middle school, I was a hot mess.

  G: We look at the old photos and we’re like, “Did you guys look in the mirror before you stepped out like that? What are you wearing?” My hair was cut straight across my forehead. What’s going on with that? Why didn’t you tell me?

  J: You think I had any clue? On any day, I was wearing like forty different colors. Don’t forget you were bald at one point.

  G: I was! I was a hundred percent bald. I made the summer league swim team, and I took a razor and shaved all my hair off. It was awful. I looked like a basketball.

  J: I also shaved my head once. My whole soccer team did. We were supporting a teammate who had bone cancer and was going through chemo. But as for awkward, I think most people will tell you that middle school ranks up there. Although in high school, I made out with this girl that I shouldn’t have. That was a tough one to live down.

  G: My pants fell down in chemistry class once. I had this jerky teacher, and he called me out on it. He yelled, “Gilinsky, pull your pants up!”

  J: In case you didn’t notice.

  G: Exactly. Thanks for pointing that out.