William Zabka Talks About How Much Fun He Had Making the Uber Episode of COBRA KAI This Season
Season 5 of Cobra Kai was released this past weekend, and it was another kick-ass season with Daniel, Johnny, and the rest of the team. I got to view Season 5 ahead of time, and I thought it was a great return to the action and storytelling we expect from the creators of the series. I also got to sit down with the cast to talk about what went down with the story, and I asked William Zabka, who plays Johnny Lawrence, about my favorite episode with him this season, “Downward Spiral.”
Johnny decides he needs some extra cash this season, and he has a hard time finding a new job. So he finds out about the Uber scene, and decides to give it a shot. Not only does he drive like a maniac, but he’s rude to his clients, and does some pretty despicable things on the job. When I asked him about shooting this episode, Zabka said:
“It was so fun to shoot! It’s one of my favorite things I’ve done on the show altogether. I love the Johnny without karate, the Johnny kind of trying to figure out life and make ends meet. It’s kind of back to season one when he’s being a handyman, cleaning out gutters, and hanging TVs, and now he’s doing Uber. And he’s doing it because no one’s going to take him seriously for a button up job, no one’s hiring for a suit and tie. So he’s reluctantly having to do this. He doesn’t really understand it, and he’s still in his own world. You know? He doesn’t know who Billie Eilish is, so he plays Billy Idol. And he takes this time as a joy ride around town for himself, because he has no worries who he’s driving around. So it was super fun. It was super fun to play.”
He went on to talk about the end of those scenes, in which Johnny calls a lady an asshole for giving him only one star because he had beer in the car, and revealed that woman was the show’s writer, Ashley Darnall.
“Actually, the writer of that episode is who gets out at the very end, when I say ‘One star?! Because there was beer in the car?!’ You know, that was Ashley, and she was the writer of the episode, and she was like, ‘I wanna be in the car when Johnny Lawrence calls me an asshole!’ I said, ‘Are you sure?,’ and she said, ‘Yeah,’ so it was fun. I could do that all day. I love those moments. It’s completely disconnected from the karate world. It’s just Johnny with nobody watching. That’s who he is. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
That was my third time interviewing the cast of Cobra Kai, so I guess you could say we’re best friends now. I love that show and everyone involved, and I look forward to what’s coming next. If you haven’t wrapped up watching Season 5 yet, go check it out on Netflix. It’s so good. And if you have, what was your favorite moment or scene this season?