Mark Hoppus Gave Whitmer Thomas His Guitar

Whitmer Thomas owes a bit of his comedy career to blink-182, after the band inspired one of his signature jokes. And now part of his music career too, after Mark Hoppus gave Thomas his own guitar. Thomas shared the story with Katie and Allison Crutchfield at Vulture Festival, where the twin former Swearin’ bandmates and their friends performed formative songs from when they were 16. See, Thomas’s love of Blink goes back to one fateful high school dance in Alabama. When his girlfriend won winter queen, he was too scared to dance with her in front of the school — “I was like, I ain’t doin’ that, that ain’t punk” — so “some hunk” swooped in and stole her from him. He went home, flipped on MTV, and saw Blink performing “I Miss You.” (Blink “didn’t really pop off” in ‘Bama at the time, Thomas said, backed up by his fellow Alabamans, the Crutchfield twins.)

Years later, Thomas wrote a joke about Tom DeLonge’s silly punk twang in that song; eventually, word got back to Hoppus and he did the song with him during a comedy set. “It was the best night of my life,” Thomas said. “Everything since then, downhill.” Sorry to Vulture Fest, we guess! And to cap it all off, Hoppus even sent Thomas his dream guitar, a Fender Jazzmaster, after Thomas told him he’d sold all his instruments for rent. “He’s a good guy, that Mark, and he deserves all the success,” Thomas said before launching into the song. And don’t worry — D’Arcy Carden was there to help add some DeLongian affect to the song.