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For over 25 years, Jackass has survived changing trends, shifting audiences, and countless imitators. What started as a group of friends filming dangerous stunts for fun became one of the most successful franchises in MTV history. But somewhere along the way, something changed.
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25 years and we haven't learned a g***y thing
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Does this feel... off to you? If so, you're not alone. Thanks to Johnny Knoxville and the rest of his crew
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the word jackass is now heavily associated with tricky stunt work and, uh, less than healthy fixation on bodily fluids
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The brand has been going strong for more than two decades now, and while we all have a favorite stunt in mind when we hear the name
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the true magic of jackass isn't actually the pyrotechnics, bull fights, or vomit omelets
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It feels weird to say, but Jackass actually goes deeper than that, or at least it used to
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Somewhere along this stunt-laden road, we lost what made Jackass so special
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And with the final movie on the horizon, the whole thing is careening down a hill at top speeds in a shopping cart while we all watch on, not with excitement, but with apathy
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And isn't that just the worst fate imaginable for a franchise like Jackass
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Does it really deserve to go down like this? everybody deserves everything yeah you deserve this
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mtv's jackass was the unhinged brainchild of a young wannabe writer and actor whose real name
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was philip john clap after moving to california from tennessee in the mid-1990s he paid the bills
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for him and his young family through commercial acting gigs while throwing the wall to see what
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stuck metaphorically of course at least for now clap came up with a hard-hitting stage name and
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decided to put it to the test by literally testing out self-defense equipment on himself
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The newly dubbed Johnny Knoxville was inspired by his biggest hero, the journalist Hunter S. Thompson
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who was well known for his daring, dangerous, and downright deranged antics
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It may seem strange to those with sound mind and body, but Knoxville had a dream of putting his life at risk
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writing up articles on his experiences and selling those articles to magazines
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But despite the obvious passion Knoxville had for his work, he couldn't find a single publication willing to buy in
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Were they all artistically bankrupt and unwilling to take a chance on bold new ideas
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Well, no. Pretty much all of them cited liability concerns. They didn't want to be on the hook in case some over-enthusiastic young go-getter
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got himself seriously injured. Go figure. So it looked like Knoxville's daredevil journalist career was dead in the water
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before it ever got a chance to jump the lake. That is, until 1996, when he was contacted by Jeff Tremaine
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an editor for the skateboarding magazine Big Brother. But despite working for a magazine
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Tremaine wasn't interested in Knoxville's writing. He wanted to push Big Brother into the burgeoning era of video content
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and he thought Knoxville's idea would be a perfect stunt to film. It took some convincing since Knoxville didn't see himself as an aspiring video guy
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but he eventually agreed. And with the help of a camera operator, he recorded every moment of him nearly blinding himself with pepper spray
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tasing himself and wielding a .38 caliber against a bulletproof vest he was wearing
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Knoxville's on-camera charisma was immediately apparent to anyone watching, and since he was either brave or stupid enough to continue putting his life in danger
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he kept producing short videos for Big Brother As that series of clips evolved and expanded Tremaine used his connections to enlist the help of several notable names including Big Brother contributors Chris Pontius
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and Dave England, as well as director Spike Jonze, who was still fairly fresh on the scene in the
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90s, but would obviously soon become Hollywood royalty. While this sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime
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kind of team, Tremaine and Knoxville's assemblage wasn't actually that unique. Another crew of Daredevils was making waves a few states away in Westchester, Pennsylvania
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Pro skater Bam Margera had stitched together a bunch of home movies he called the CKY video series
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In these videos, Margera, his longtime friend Ryan Dunn, and their buddies performed pranks
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did stunts, and pulled off ridiculous skateboard tricks most sane people would never attempt
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And when Tremaine caught wind of the CKY crew, he flew them out to LA to meet with Knoxville and the Big Brother squad
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As soon as they were in the room together, it was obvious that this group had serious chemistry both on and off camera
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They became fast friends with a shared love of all things high-octane, whether they were skateboarders, actors, or just dudes who liked crashing into things
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It was clear that they had something special. And pretty soon, they were brainstorming ideas for a stunt-focused TV show
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and shooting death-defying demo footage. But while things were looking up for the whole group, one member stood apart from the crowd
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That was actually pretty impressive. I mean, it wasn't a slam, but it was still pretty impressive
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Knoxville's star potential was being recognized for what it was by one of the biggest headhunters in the business, Lorne Michaels
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He reached out to offer Knoxville a reoccurring role as stunt performer on Saturday Night Live
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This could have been his big break, the actual thing he'd left Tennessee for
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But according to Knoxville in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, they were going to give me like five minutes each week to do what I do
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but that would just be me, and I couldn't do both. Our show was about to go, so I kind of bet on us as opposed to on myself
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This kind of loyalty is practically unheard of in Hollywood, but would become the most important part of Jackass' blossoming legacy
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Knoxville already felt a duty and camaraderie for his new crew, so he turned down SNL, which ended up being the right move
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because a bidding war broke out between Comedy Central, FX, and MTV
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for the new, yet unnamed stunt show. But as we all know, this thematically appropriate tug-of-war
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ended with MTV on top, accepting a deal for a weekly half-hour block
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To build out the roster of returning stuntmen, Tremaine and the rest of the crew reached out to their contacts and Big Brother contributors
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like Aaron McGeehy, Preston Lacey, and a local clown working at a flea market named Steve-O
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This not-so-star-studded but iron-willed cast had nothing to lose and everything to prove
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and the world was about to find out just how far they were willing to go, because on the 1st of October in the year 2000, Jackass finally debuted on MTV
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Hi, I'm Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Jackass. 3, 2, 1, 4! The show was an instant hit with its target demographic
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of teenage boys with too much free time, and it launched MTV's Sunday ratings to never-before-seen heights
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But it wasn't just the stunts that grabbed people's attention. It was the sense that these guys on screen really were just a bunch of friends hanging out and doing what they loved to do together It just so happened that what they loved to do was put themselves in extreme danger
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purely for the love of the game. It really needs to be hammered home just how much Knoxville
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Margera, Dunn, and everyone else on Jackass truly enjoyed what they did. They were always trying to
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push the limits, one-up themselves, or go bigger and badder next time. And while audiences loved it
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MTV was a little less enthusiastic. Some of the more wild ordeals on Jackass
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were more than MTV's sensors and safety standards could bear. Pressure from concerned parents and politicians was mounting
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They re-edited many of the episodes to prepare them for reruns, but when it came time to discuss a second season
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the network wanted to play stricter rules on the entire Jackass crew. But Knoxville wasn't interested
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He wanted to keep the show special, so he walked, and the rest of his crew of misfits followed suit
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The Jackass TV show was dead. Long live The Jackass Movie. That sounds familiar
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Yeah, a year after the show was canceled in 2001, Knoxville and the rest of the gang returned to Jackass for a feature film
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Why? Because the movie's tagline was, with stuff you'd never see on TV
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the guys got to be as wild as they wanted, now with a bigger budget. They could torture each other and themselves in ways they'd never even dreamed of
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Of course, the movie was still small-time by Hollywood standards. With a budget of just $5 million, it was humble
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and a star attraction was still this group of friends pulling off incredibly dangerous
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yet still amateurish stunts. Like, a couple of kids found their way onto a professional film set
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and made their own backyard-style movie. Stun guns are the number one most thing that I hate now
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It even opens with a parody of big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, as the cast rolls down a hill in a giant shopping cart while explosions go off in the background
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You couldn't get more authentically jackass than that. The reception was unanimous
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The movie was stupid, and we loved it. It grossed nearly $80 million worldwide and launched a franchise strong enough
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to withstand more than 25 years of media trends. Sure, there were ups and downs like any other franchise out there
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but can watching a bunch of goofy dudes prank each other and do stunts ever get old
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Well, yes. Yes, it can. Over a decade after their last movie in 2021 and 2022
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the Discovery Channel aired Jackass TV specials for Shark Week. And while a few members of the main crew made appearances
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these Shark Week TV specials seemed to largely be aquatic vehicles to introduce new cast members
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Sean, Poopies, McClarney, and Zach Holmes, just to name a few. Nobody knew who these people were, and if we're being honest, nobody cared
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And that didn't stop them from reappearing the next time Jackass made it to the big screen
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Alright, my name's Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to the Dun-Dumb Game. Oh, I'm sorry, dude
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Are you f***ing f***ing kidding me? When Jackass Forever launched in theaters in 2022, many fans still had a great time seeing the guys
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they grew up with get brutalized but it was clear that something had changed With mounting behind the scenes drama petty disputes and the tragic passing of Ryan Dunn the group that made Jackass was now fractured And they made the unfortunate decision
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to put a Band-Aid over a bullet wound by adding those Shark Week cast members back into the fray
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The vibes were tense, their chemistry was strained, and to make matters worse, the stunts now felt professional
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Long gone were the days of fighting with MTV to keep the shoddy, hyper-dangerous nature of Jackass alive
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These felt like highly choreographed stage events with weeks of planning put into them
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Because, well, that's exactly what they were. We still got all the expected gross-out humor and hard falls
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but every big moment felt noticeably tamer than the more reckless stunts of the past
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It was safe. And safe is just not what fans come to see when they sit down for a jackass film
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Nevertheless, fans did come to see it. The film made $80 million off a budget of just $10 million
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which all but guaranteed we'd be seeing more Jackass in the future
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And that future is now. Jackass Best and Last promises to be a sort of finale for Jackass
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And really, it might be best to put the franchise out of its misery at this point
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Even the poster with its homage to the original movie echoes the ever-increasing issues with the franchise
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They decided to bring back the iconic shopping cart to play into our nostalgia and remind us of the good old days
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but that was the unfortunate side effect of, you know, reminding us of the good old days
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In the original poster, the shopping cart was so full that three of the guys had to hang off the side of the thing
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In the new poster, though, we're missing a couple key features. Of course, due to his passing, Dunn can only be there in spirit, but Bam's absence is pretty conspicuous
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and with those two familiar faces out of the literal picture, the cart just feels empty
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You'd think they'd rectify that by including some of the new crew, but they aren't recognizable enough to put on the poster
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so we're stuck with a bunch of empty spaces and half-hearted nostalgia ploys
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And the irony isn't lost on us that the original movie was parodying Hollywood tropes
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and now this movie is using its own iconic imagery to bring people back to theaters
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The original poster conveys speed, adrenaline, and pure chaos. The new one looks like an obviously staged photo shoot
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with each cast member's personal assistant just off screen and a massive crew behind them
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They're literally looking directly into the camera. This is no longer a group of thrill-seeking friends going on an all-out adventure because they love what they do
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It's the tattered remains of a well-known brand being reassembled for one last ride
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Still, with all that said, this is Jackass after all. And as long as Stevo is putting his life on the line and Knoxville is thinking up new ways to torture Aaron McGeehy
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we'll be here laughing right along with them. Clearly, the Jackass crew still loves what they do
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or they wouldn't be doing it 25 years later, risking life and limb for their own entertainment
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Jackass started as one guy's ambition to hurt himself and write about it
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and it expanded into an empire of pain and pranks. If nothing else, you've got to admire the dedication
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even if the outcome doesn't make us feel like it used to