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| Jackass |
Jackass warning screen |
| Genre |
Comedy / Reality-TV |
| Running time |
22–23 Minutes |
| Creator(s) |
Johnny Knoxville
Spike Jonze
Jeff Tremaine |
| Starring |
Johnny Knoxville
Bam Margera
Steve-O
Chris Pontius
Ryan Dunn
Brandon DiCamillo
Rake Yohn
Raab Himself
Ehren McGhehey
Dave England
Preston Lacy
Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña |
| Country of origin |
USA |
| Original channel |
MTV |
| Original run |
April 12, 2000–February 17, 2002 |
| No. of episodes |
27
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| IMDb profile |
Jackass is an American television series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, ridiculous, and self-injuring stunts and pranks.
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Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Cast
- 2.1 Main cast
- 2.2 Other regular cast members
- 2.3 Celebrity appearances
- 3 Controversy
- 4 Ending and farewell
- 5 Jackass: The Movie
- 6 Jackass: Number Two
- 7 Trivia
- 8 Side projects
- 9 Possible return
- 10 Similar groups
- 11 See also
- 12 External links
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History
The show developed from Big Brother Magazine, a skateboarding-related humor magazine that Jeff Tremaine, Dave Carnie, Rick Kosick and Chris Pontius all worked for, and featured regular contributions from Johnny Knoxville and Dave England, amongst others. The genesis of Jackass dates back to 1999 when struggling-actor-turned-writer Johnny Knoxville birthed the idea to test different self defense devices on himself as the basis for an article. He pitched the idea to a couple of magazines and was turned down until meeting with Jeff Tremaine of Big Brother. Jeff hired him as journalist and convinced Johnny to videotape this idea and other stunts for stories. The footage, which involved Knoxville being tazered, maced, and ultimately shot while wearing a bulletproof vest, appeared in the second Big Brother skateboarding movie Number Two. Johnny quickly became a hit. Big Brother would go on road trips, which is believed to be where Johnny met Bam Margera and they became good friends.
Cast
Though the cast members were often classified as a troupe, in reality a lot of filming was done separately by different groups. The main groups were the Los Angeles faction of Knoxville, Pontius, Steve-O, Preston Lacy and Wee Man and the CKY crew from West Chester, PA including Margera, DiCamillo, Rake, Dunn and Raab Himself. England and McGhehey also operated autonomously, filming in Oregon.
Main cast
- Johnny Knoxville
- Bam Margera
- Ryan Dunn
- Steven "Steve-O" Glover
- Chris Pontius
- Preston Lacy
- Jason "Wee Man" Acuña
- Dave England
- Ehren McGhehey
Other regular cast members
- Brandon DiCamillo
- Theodore "Rake Yohn" Webb
- Jeff Tremaine - creator and director
- Chris "Raab Himself" Rabb
- Spike Jonze - creator
- Dimitry Elyashkevich - main producer and cameraman
- Phil and April Margera - Bam's parents and, more often than not, stunt victims
- Jess Margera - Bam's older brother
- Manny Puig - animal wrangler
- Lance Bangs - cameraman
- Rick Kosick - main cameraman
- Greg "Guch" Iguchi - cameraman
- Sean Cliver - one of the show's producers
- Mike Kassak
- Jason "J2" Raumus
- Stephanie Hodge - left the cast after being severely injured during a skit[1]
- Loomis Fall
Celebrity appearances
- Tony Hawk - famous skateboarder
- Mat Hoffman - famous BMX Rider
- Brad Pitt - participated in the "Abduction" and "Night Monkey 2" skits
- Shaquille O'Neal - participated in one skit, in which he humped Wee Man and Steve-O during the filming of a music video
Controversy
Since the first episode, Jackass frequently featured warnings and disclaimers noting that the stunts performed were dangerous and should not be imitated, and that recordings of any stunts would not be aired on MTV. Such warnings not only appeared before and after each program, but also in a "crawl" ran along some especially risky stunts. Nevertheless, the program has been blamed for a number of deaths and injuries involving teens and children imitating the stunts. In the fall of 2000, Senator and then-Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut began a campaign to have MTV pull the show off the air. MTV responded to the criticism by cancelling all airings of Jackass before 10:00 PM, but Lieberman's continual campaign against the show led to MTV refusing to air repeats of the later episodes, a move which angered the cast and production crew of the series who were furious with MTV's "caving into Lieberman's demands".
Some have argued that Lieberman's attack on the show, which occurred at the height of the 2000 Presidential Election Campaign, helped alienate some young Democratic Party members, who responded to Lieberman's "campaign of harassment" towards the show by refusing to support Lieberman and running mate Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential Election out of spite.
Jack Ass is the legal name of Bob Craft, who sued MTV claiming the series was plagiarizing his name. He's seeking $10 million in damages. Jack Ass changed his name in 1997 to raise awareness for drunk driving, after his brother and friend were killed in a vehicle accident.[2]
Ending and farewell
In a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Johnny Knoxville announced that the show would end after its third season aired so as to allow the show to end on a high note. He also stated discontent at MTV and the censors, who, with the start of season two, began to hound the show's producers with notes towards what the show could and could not do. When the third season ended in 2002, MTV (who owns the rights to the name "Jackass"), contemplated keeping the show going with a new cast of characters (even running a teaser for the show's return during the 2002 VMA Awards Show) before opting to let the show die. Because of problems with MTV's standards and practices department as well as the sudden departure of Bam Margera and his group halfway through season three, the Jackass crew did not attempt to create a finale to bring the show to a close.
Jackass: The Movie
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Main article: Jackass: The Movie
After the show went off the air, the cast reunited in 2002 to film a full-length motion picture version of the show entitled Jackass: The Movie. The cast made it clear that the film was their "farewell" to the fans of the show and the movie format allowed the cast to circumvent the censors. Interestingly, MTV Films assisted in the movie's distribution.
The movie, filmed on a budget of just $5 million, went on to gross over $60 million in the United States alone, and finished in the number 1 spot at the box office during its debut weekend.
Jackass: Number Two
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Main article: Jackass: Number Two
Jackass: Number Two was released on September 22, 2006, produced by Paramount Pictures and distributed by both Paramount and MTV Films.
The entire original cast (minus Raab Himself) returned for the sequel, including Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Chris Pontius, Steve-O, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey, Preston Lacy, and Wee-Man. The trailer can be seen at the Jackass movie website.
As was the case with its predecessor, Jackass: Number Two topped the box office in its debut weekend, earning $28.1 million.
Trivia
- The cast of Jackass is regularly seen jumping into bushes, sometimes being pushed into shrubs from a cart or skateboard. Interestingly, this behavior dates back several centuries. One of the first recorded accounts involves Russian Tsar Peter the Great doing considerable damage to John Evelyn's French style hedges. Peter was in England studying shipbuilding, and at nights had extravagant parties. There, Peter and his friends (including Edmond Halley) would get drunk, hop in a wheelbarrow, and push each other into Evelyn's hedges, causing considerable damage.
Side projects
Johnny Knoxville has pursued a career as an actor, appearing in such films as the 2004 remake of Walking Tall, The Dukes of Hazzard, Men in Black II, The Ringer, A Dirty Shame and Big Trouble.
Bam Margera and the "West Chester clique" were given their own spin-off show Viva La Bam, which follows Margera and his family, who are often made the victim of the clique's practical jokes. Bam and the crew also have Radio Bam on Sirius radio.
Chris Pontius and Steve-O were also given their own spin-off show Wildboyz. Unlike Jackass and Viva La Bam, Wildboyz rejected the formula of practical jokes and instead features the two traveling the world in search of wild and exotic animals and has featured frequent guest appearances by Johnny Knoxville, Manny Puig, and Jason "Wee Man" Acuña.
Ryan Dunn, who is part of Bam's crew on Viva La Bam, was given his own show Homewrecker, in which he finds revenge for helpless victims of practical jokes by renovating the prankster's room according to the original incident.
Brandon DiCamillo formed a band called The DiCamillo Sisters with Jimmy Pop and Bam Margera, and they released a Christmas-related single called "Why's It So Cold?". He also makes regular appearances on Viva La Bam and Radio Bam.
Possible return
On September 7, 2006, MTV featured a half hour documentary on the making of Jackass: Number Two. As the piece concludes, Johnny Knoxville starts to become "depressed" because he is "so hooked on doing stunts." Additionally, the other cast members talk of how Johnny was putting so much on the line for this movie.
After the last day of filming, the documentary goes two weeks ahead where Johnny tells the camera that Jeff Tremaine has agreed to let the Jackass crew film some newer material in November (presumably of 2006). Also, as Knoxville is driving away in his car, he is heard exclaiming, "The show ain't over yet buddy!" This could be hinting at the long-awaited return of Jackass to MTV, or, more likely, MTV2. A third Jackass movie has been rumored, but has not been confirmed in any way.
And, the group announced there's going to be a video game that's going to be released sometime next year.
Similar groups
- There is also a South African parody of Jackass and other 'extreme' shows of its genre, called Crazy Monkey.
- Extreme Duudsonit AKA The Dudesons, Finnish.
- Dirty Sanchez AKA Team Sanchez
- Tokyo Shock Boys
- El Club Chufa
See also
- Tom Green
- Bumfights
- Trigger Happy TV
- Hunting For Bambi
- Damage Control
- Punk'd
- Stankervision
- The show's theme music was a portion of Corona by The Minutemen, originally recorded in 1984.
- Jackass: 3D Movie Maker Style
External links
| Jackass |
| Main Cast |
Johnny Knoxville | Bam Margera | Steve-O | Chris Pontius | Ryan Dunn
Jason "Wee Man" Acuña | Preston Lacy | Dave England | Ehren McGhehey |
| Supporting Cast |
Brandon DiCamillo | Theodore "Rake Yohn" Webb | Chris "Raab Himself" Rabb
Phil Margera | April Margera | Jess Margera | Vincent Margera |
| Crew |
| Jeff Tremaine | Spike Jonze | Dimitry Elyashkevich | Manny Puig | Lance Bangs |
| Television shows |
| Jackass | Wildboyz | Viva La Bam | Homewrecker |
| Films |
| Jackass: The Movie (stunts) | Jackass Number Two (stunts) |
| Miscellanea |
| Big Brother | Corona | CKY Crew
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Categories: Wikipedia articles needing style editing | Jackass | CKY | 2000s TV shows in the United States | MTV television series | Reality television series | Comedy television series