Jackass (stylized in all lowercase as jackass) is an American reality slapstick comedy franchise originating as a television show created by Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, and Johnny Knoxville. The original series aired for three short seasons on MTV between October 2000 and August 2001, with reruns extending into 2002. It featured a compilation of pain-inducing stunt performances and pranks, with the regular cast entailing Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Steve-O, Dave England, "Danger Ehren" McGhehey, Jason "Wee Man" Acuña, Preston Lacy and Brandon DiCamillo. After MTV ended Jackass broadcasts in 2002, it grew into a media franchise, which includes the spin-off series Wildboyz, and Viva La Bam; six feature films released by Paramount Pictures, four of which with expanded compilation films; a video game and a mobile game; boxed DVD sets of unreleased footage of the original TV show, a short-lived website featuring blogs and videos, merchandise, and several other videos released by various other means.
The TV show placed 68th on Entertainment Weekly "New TV Classics" list, and is considered a significant part of 2000s American popular culture and a cult phenomenon among late Generation X and early Millennial audiences.
History
Original series Origins and casting In the mid 1990s, aspiring actor and writer Johnny Knoxville had moved from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Los Angeles, California, and landed work in commercials in order to support his wife and infant daughter. Among Knoxville's various ideas was to produce and sell a magazine article that involved testing various self-defense equipment on himself as a homage to his hero, gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Knoxville pitched the story to several magazines, but each publication refused to cover the story due to severe liability concerns. However, in 1996, Knoxville was contacted by Big Brother, a skateboarding magazine for which Jeff Tremaine was an editor, and Tremaine convinced Knoxville to film his article as a stunt. The stunt featured Knoxville testing out pepper spray, a stun gun, a taser, and a .38 caliber gun with a bulletproof vest, with the gun stunt only being included in the Big Brother video entitled Number Two, which also featured an appearance by future Jackass cast member Jason "Wee Man" Acuña.Epstein, Daniel, Robert, "Jackass Number Two director Jeff Tremaine", SuicideGirls.com, January 8, 2007. Retrieved February 6, 2022 Other major contributors to Big Brother at this time were Chris Pontius and Dave England, who both went on to become part of the Jackass cast; Dimitry Elyashkevich, who became the show's cinematographer; Rick Kosick, who became a cameraman; Sean Cliver, who became the show's main photographer; and Loomis Fall, who made recurring appearances throughout the Jackass TV show and films.
Around this time, up-and-coming professional skateboarder Bam Margera was filming his family and friends from his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Collectively known as the CKY crew (short for "Camp Kill Yourself"), these home videos were ultimately compiled and released as part of the CKY video series. The videos featured stunts, pranks, and skateboarding with a cast that primarily included Bam, Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo, Chris "Raab Himself" Raab, Rake Yohn and Margera's family; his mother April, his father Phil, his uncle Vincent "Don Vito", and his older brother and CKY drummer Jess. Like the Big Brother videos, the CKY releases quickly became a cult hit and attracted the attention of Tremaine, who saw the second CKY video, CKY2K, and flew Margera out to Los Angeles to meet with him.
The video convinced Tremaine that the CKY group would fit perfectly with the idea of a stunt and prank television show that he, Knoxville, and Spike Jonze had been planning. After demo footage had been shot and pitched to several networks, Saturday Night Live made an offer to have the Knoxville be a recurring segment on the show instead. He rejected the offer, however, and a subsequent bidding war between Comedy Central, FX, and MTV resulted in the creators accepting a deal from the latter for a half-hour weekly show and greater creative control. Knoxville, Tremaine, and Jonze are credited as executive producers of the series. Van Toffler, president of MTV, said: "We just knew there were a bunch of knuckleheads out there who had a very high tolerance for stupidity and pain."
Soon after the MTV deal, Tremaine got in touch with periodic contributor to Big Brother Steve-O, who was working as a clown at a local Florida flea market, and had him film various stunts for the television show. However, none of the stunts were cleared by MTV management due to their graphic and suggestive nature. Some time later, Dave England suggested and brought in his friend "Danger Ehren" McGhehey, a fellow Oregon resident and extreme stunt participant."Where Are They Now?", Jackass: The Box Set (2005), Paramount / MTV studios, 2005, ASIN: B000BDH69O. Preston Lacy would be the last of the original cast to join, after he and Knoxville previously worked together with Knoxville's ex-wife's clothing line. Knoxville told Lacy that he was making a new TV show and asked him if he could potentially write some ideas. Knoxville then convinced Lacy to perform the stunts himself. The main cast would then consist of Knoxville, Margera, Steve-O, Pontius, Dunn, Wee Man, England, Danger Ehren, Lacy and DiCamillo. DiCamillo would leave the main cast after the finale of the series, but would still appear in future films as a guest. Stephanie Hodge was initially intended to be part of the main cast, but withdrew after suffering an injury while filming a stunt that almost left her paralyzed; Knoxville admitted becoming reluctant involving women after the accident.
The skull-and-crutches logo was designed by Andy Jenkins, while the theme song "Corona" by Minutemen was picked by Knoxville. Tremaine and Knoxville originally toyed with the idea of a more talk show-like format with Knoxville as the host behind a desk, but Jonze persuaded them to stick to clip show format of the Big Brother videos. The series typography, using only minimalist lower case Helvetica titles and nothing else—a choice Tremaine attributed to it being a stock font on the Macintosh—was also reused from the Big Brother videos, and was chosen as an "anti-design" choice in face of MTV's elaborate motion graphics at the time.
After Tremaine, Knoxville, and Jonze established Dickhouse Productions, a former Viacom company (now owned by Paramount Skydance), Jackass officially debuted on October 1, 2000, on MTV. After the airing of the second episode, MTV gained its highest Sunday ratings in its history, drawing 2.4 million viewers among 12- to 34-year-olds, its target demographic.
Finale In a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone, Knoxville questioned how long the MTV show would and could last, and soon after announced that the series would end after its third season aired. Knoxville also expressed discontentment with MTV and its standards and practices department, who, from the beginning of season two, increasingly gave notes to the Jackass crew regarding what the show could and could not depict. In addition, Steve-O claimed that the cast salaries paid by MTV were "meager at best". Because of the various problems with MTV, the Jackass crew did not attempt to create a finale to bring the show to a close.
Spin-offs and careers after the original series After the TV series ended, each member of the cast found new work in movies and/or television, each achieving their own degree of success. Johnny Knoxville 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, Big Trouble, Coyote Ugly, The Last Stand, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Skiptrace.
Bam Margera and the CKY crew were given their own spin-off show by MTV in 2003 called Viva La Bam, which followed Margera and his family, who were often made the victim of the clique's practical jokes. Bam and the crew also hosted a radio show from 2004 until 2013 called Radio Bam on Sirius XM. Margera was also the primary focus of the MTV show Bam's Unholy Union, which followed him and his then-fiancée Missy Rothstein in the run-up to their wedding, while Brandon DiCamillo and Rake Yohn were featured in Blastazoid, a short-lived MTV show about video games.
When Viva La Bam finished its run in 2005, Ryan Dunn, who was part of Bam's CKY crew on Viva La Bam, was given his own MTV show Homewrecker, in which he found revenge for helpless victims of practical jokes by renovating the prankster's room according to the original incident. The show only lasted one season. On June 20, 2011, Dunn was killed in a car crash while driving intoxicated in Pennsylvania.
Chris Pontius and Steve-O were also given their own spin-off show by MTV in 2003 entitled Wildboyz. Unlike Jackass and Viva La Bam, Wildboyz rejected the standard formula of practical jokes and instead featured the two traveling the world in search of wild and exotic animals. Directed by Jackass director Jeff Tremaine, Wildboyz frequently featured guest appearances by fellow Jackasses Johnny Knoxville and Wee Man, as well as recurring Jackass guests Loomis Fall, Manny Puig, Tony Hawk, and Mat Hoffman.
One year after Jackass Number Two was released, Steve-O was given a new spin-off entitled Dr. Steve-O, which premiered in 2007 on the USA Network. The show followed Steve-O acting as a doctor to help men overcome their fears, thus the tagline created by Steve-O, "Turning wussies into men." In every episode, Dr. Steve-O helped three different men, and made them complete three challenges to overcome their fears.
Two days before Jackass 3D premiered in theaters, Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn starred in a half-hour TV special titled Bam's World Domination. In this special, Bam and Dunn, along with pro skateboarder Tim O'Connor, participated in the Tough Guy Competition. This special aired on SpikeTV.
After Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa was released, Bam Margera created a new spin-off entitled Bam's Bad Ass Game Show, which aired on TBS in 2014. Bam hosted this game show, along with co-hosts Brandon Novak, Tim O'Connor, and Seth Meisterman, in which contestants were instructed to perform a series of stunts while competing against each other, in the hopes of winning the grand prize of $10,000.
Former Jackass and CKY crew member Chris Raab started and hosted his own podcast titled Bathroom Break Podcast. The first episode was released on August 18, 2018. Raab has interviewed every original Jackass cast member and every main CKY crew member, with the exception of Johnny Knoxville and Brandon DiCamillo. The final episode of the podcast was released on November 5, 2019. The podcast officially returned on July 6, 2026, with professional skateboarder Mike Maldonado as guest.
Steve-O would also start his own podcast entitled Wild Ride! with Steve-O, which he hosts along with co-hosts Scott Randolph, Paul Brisske, and Vinny Imperati. The first episode was released on March 17, 2020, featuring skateboarder Tony Hawk as a guest. Steve-O has since interviewed most Jackass cast members, as well as many other celebrities.
After the release of Jackass: Best and Last (2026), new Jackass members Poopies and Zach Holmes will have their own show, titled Sports Hurts. The show will feature Poopies and Zach, along with Khyler Vick, and Houston Jones experiencing the most painful moments in sports. It will feature guest appearances by multiple athletes including; skateboarder Ryan Sheckler, wrestler and MMA fighter Rampage Jackson, wrestler Kurt Angle, and American football player Cam Newton. It is set to release on Amazon Prime Video in October 2026.
Films
Jackass: The Movie (2002)