Johnny Knoxville (PJ Clapp) moved out to LA to persue an acting career out of high school. When it faltered, he took small jobs doing commercials and spent his spare time writing articles and a novel. He had the idea to do the Self Defense skit one day when he read an aritcle about a guy in the newspaper that got shot with Pepper Spray. He pitched the idea to a few different magazines and no one was interested until he met up with Jeff Tremaine from Big Brother Magazine. Jeff not only wanted him to do the article, but to also video it for the Number Two video they were about to put out. So Johnny agreed and was hired to work as a journalist for Big Brother (alongside Chris Pontius, Dave England, Chris Nierakato, etc.). Big Brother used to go on road trips which I believe is where Johnny met Bam (who is, of course, a professional skateboarder) and they became friends. On one of these trips, the Big Brother crew was filming in Albequerque, New Mexico when a guy named Steven Glover was severely burned at one of the shows. The pictures of his injuries (which are on my website) were featured in the magazine and that's how SteveO got his foot in the door. He continued doing crazy stunts and articles for them while he attended Clown College and when they decided to shoot the 'Boob' video, they invited him to tape his own segments. That was around the time that the word about Johnny Knoxville was starting to get around the entertainment industries and a bidding war began between MTV and Comedy Central on who was going to get him for a show. Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine, and Spike Jonzed pitched the idea of Jackass to MTV, which jumped at the opportunity. Johnny assembled most of the Jackass crew based on people he had met in the past. He remembered Bam Margera and called to ask him if he wanted to do the show with him. Bam would not agree unless Bran and Ryan were added to the payroll. When this was all approved, Johnny had his Jackass crew together. Bam and Brandon met in a high school film class. They got up to show their films and noticed that their films were very much alike (Bam and his friends doing crazy shit, Bran and his friends doing crazy shit) so they became friends after that. All the Fools (Bran, Bam, Chris Raab, Rake, Ryan Dunn, Ryan Gee) grew up together in West Chester, PA and so before long, these crazy guys all got together because they were either interested in filmmaking, doing crazy stunts, or skateboarding.
What happened to the petition? I wanted to sign it!Since the show is officially over, I have removed any links to my
petition from my page. All the guys appreciate every one of the 13,000+ signatures. The abundance of support was impressive to everyone who happened upon the petition. The last I heard, the Lind family had not ruled out the option of suing MTV and/or Jackass, so if they decide to take that route, you better believe that all us Jackass fans are going to be back alive and strong! I'm following the news closely and if there are any changes, it will definitely be on my website. Thanks for everyone's support!
Where did you get the pictures of the newest episodes for your site?The newest pictures on my site were taken by using a
video capture card that I bought from Best Buy for $40. It allows me to hook my VCR up to my computer, watch TV on my monitor, and take stills. It is a wonderful piece of hardware, easy to use, and easy to install. If it is something you are interested in, you should check it out.
Why do these guys do such crazy and extreme stunts?"Wanting people to listen you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore, you have to hit them with a sledge hammer, then you'll notice you have their strict attention." -Kevin Spacey SEVEN
I think this is a perfect quote for what Johnny and the rest of the guys have done. You can't get noticed in the entertainment industry without doing something pretty extreme, and that's what they have done. Johnny originally moved out to LA to become an actor, but aside from a few commericals (for Mountain Dew/Coors Light/Taco Bell) he couldn't get any work. So he started doing extreme stunts for Big Brother Magazine and now look at him. He's got his own hit TV show and 7 movies coming out in the next year (including Men in Black 2 where he'll play a 2 headed alien). Plus he got paid $1,000,00 to star in 'The Tree' and I'm sure that the other two movies he just got scripted to star in ("Gringo" and "The Ringer") had a nice little paycheck attached, as well. So I guess extreme works.