Cobra Kai's Tanner Buchanan Shares His First Crush, Audition & More

[laughing]

It's funny I'm wearing this shirt

because the first concert I attended

was the Cheetah Girls Concert.

When I was young,

I loved the cheetah girls,

I guess now we're representing today,

Hey, Teen Vogue I'm Tanner Buchanan.

And today I'm gonna be sharing some of my Firsts with you.

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The first thing I do every day is make sure I get coffee.

Coffee is number one.

And it's the first thing I have to do when I get up

otherwise I will have a headache for the rest of the day,

just straight black coffee, that's all I need.

A lot of times I go to Starbucks,

which can add up quite a bit,

even though it's just black coffee.

Sometimes I try to make it at home,

but a lot of times I'm lazy

and it also gives me time to wake up.

Cause I like to drive and listen to music

before I get my coffee.

The first big purchase I probably made

I think it was when I was 12.

I'm a big car and motorcycle guy.

So the first big purchase I bought was a 1969 Chevelle.

[laughing]

At 12 years old, it wasn't running or anything,

but it was a project car

and I'm still not done with it, but we're getting there.

I just have to find the time.

First car I drove.

I mean, I grew up in a small town in Ohio

and I felt like we were always driving all kinds of things

like tractors and combines and go-karts and dirt bikes.

But I remember when I learned to drive like a car car,

like truly learned, I learned on a Jeep, it was stick shift.

My parents wanted me to learn manual before automatic.

So that was kind of the car I learned then.

And then the first car that I had when I was 16 was a truck.

It was a GMC Canyon

is what I had.

Huuh.

My first audition was a commercial audition.

I believe for Acura.

I just literally had to be able to ride a bike

and I rode a bike for like 10 hours.

It was an awesome day.

So obviously super exciting, cause like I said,

all I had to do was ride a bike all day.

So that was easy peasy for me and a lot of fun.

And then I just also remember being mesmerized

by how much free food you could have

and you got lunch and all kinds of stuff.

So I love that.

The first place I saw myself on TV,

it was a commercial.

I actually think it was at my cousin's house.

I think I remember going, oh my God,

that's the commercial that's me.

And even though everybody knew I had done it,

it went by so fast

and I think they didn't think it looked like me

because I had a helmet on.

They're like, no, that's not you.

And I was like, no, I swear.

I did that, I know I worked it,

really, I rode a bike for 10 hours.

I know I did that, that was me.

Like they enough,

it like popped back on like 30 minutes later.

They're like, oh that wasn't you.

I was like, yeah, I know.

I know what I did.

I feel like my,

I usually call my parents like my mom or my dad,

if something important happening in my life

or something important happens

good or bad.

[laughing]

So they seem to be the first people a lot.

The first famous person that followed me on social media.

I don't know.

I actually, I don't,

I don't know who my followers are to be on.

[laughing]

So I don't know.

I actually don't know.

I don't know many people that follow me,

I guess I just don't pay attention to social media

as much or followers or anything like that.

I just kind of like to scroll through it and just post

what I like to post.

So I don't know.

The first time I was truly Starstruck

was one of the first couple of years

I was out in California.

Someone had tickets to a Taping of Wizards of Waverly Place.

[laughing]

And I got to go in.

I remember sitting in the audience

and I was just so mesmerized by Selena Gomez.

I absolutely loved her.

And then after I got to go down on the floor

and I got my picture taken with her,

I got my picture taken with everybody else,

but she was the one that met at the time.

And I actually wore a white shirt

and I had everybody sign the shirt

and I still have that shirt framed with the pictures

of me beside them to this day

it's at my parents' house.

Actually I think it's still hanging out.

It was the end of kindergarten, the start of first grade.

Ah, I've not talked to her in years.

It was Lexi Hazelman.

Wow, I didn't remember that.

I think I remember on the first day of first grade

after kindergarten,

I bought her like a little like bracelet or something.

The bracelet like put it on her desk.

First celebrity crush,

huh, I almost,

Selena Gomez maybe.

[laughing]

is that amazing?

It's like one.

Now let's say it's a Selena Gomez.

The first time I was recognized, like out in public,

I was doing a show called Designated Survivor

and it was shot up in Toronto

and I didn't have a car

first off cause I think I started it when I wasn't even 16,

but I was going to set by myself.

I was taking like public transportation

and I,

they were going out to a location

and I ended up having to take the bus.

So I got off the subway, got on the bus

and I got on and the bus driver actually recognized me,

but I remember walking on and he like looked at me odd

and I didn't know if he thought, like he was clocking me,

like I was gonna do something bad and then I got off

and he said, Hey,

I was like, yeah, yeah,

yeah, what did I do?

He was like, you're on a

you're on TV aren't you?

I was like, yeah.

I was like, yeah, that's where I am.

He's like Designated Survivor I was like yeah,

this is where I'm going right now.

I'm going to set.

So I think that's the first time.

The first time I felt like I was getting the hang of karate

on the show was probably season two

in the first season

it kind of felt like it was just like me and Shallow

starting off.

But season two,

I feel like we really started to catch on

and I felt like I got a hold of it

and knew more what I was doing,

and how to get into it and everything.

I think I've always walked away and I go,

well, then, I could have done way better.

I'm very hard on myself.

I'm usually disappointed in myself

because I want it to be better every time.

Everyone seems like a lot of fun

and everyone seemed extremely nice.

I actually was very secluded

for most of the first season from everybody else.

And why I kept it that way.

I don't know.

I think it was just, I was young and again,

didn't have a car the first season.

So I just stayed at home and went to set.

I worked with obviously Ralph a lot

and he was just a great person to be around at all times.

He's just the nicest guy in the world

as is everyone else.

So we're like a little family.

So it's really, really cool.

A lot of times,

sometimes I go to goof off and annoy other people.

It seems as though I just like, I like to be around people.

I like to talk to a lot of people,

but usually I get in trouble

because I have to go change out a wardrobe.

I forget to do that a lot.

[laughing]

So the first thing I do is go and change out of wardrobe

so everybody can get off the clock and go home.

They hope or wardrobe Frank, he doesn't watch this.

We usually get like socks every time, you know,

for the character and stuff.

So I don't think I've paid for socks

in about five or six years.

You know, a lot of times at the end of the day,

I just leave the socks that I have on in the scene

and just end up taking them home.

And then I have an extra pair of socks

that I just,

that I have and I just throw them in my pocket.

So I have a lot of socks.

[laughing]

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