For a quarter of a century, Johnny Knoxville has mined low-brow gold from the prank genre. The mellowed madman talks about hanging up his crash helmet with Jackass: Best and Last.
If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough, and Jackass has been tough enough to endure over 25 years of the dumbest self-inflicted torment imaginable. At the centre of it all is the silver-tongued ringleader Johnny Knoxville, whose unfettered daring and unflappable charisma has led him to shepherd the physical and scatological havoc into comedic mayhem and box-office gold. As the franchise grew from amateur camcorder footage on MTV to higher-budget theatrical affairs, so did its audience, many of whom – this writer included – saw themselves in this bunch of screwballs who were dead set on making one another laugh.
But all good things must come to an end. Jackass: Best and Last caps off a quarter-century of escalating hijinks, a merging of the series’ most indelible moments with new footage that is just as crude and ludicrous as ever. With the final film crashing into cinemas on 26 June, we sat down with Knoxville as he took us through his influences, the wild onscreen feat that never was, and the unexpected poignance of taking Jackass for one last rodeo ride.
LWLies: What was behind the decision to definitively make this the last Jackass movie?
Knoxville: The short, simple answer is that I feel like it’s time. After that last injury in Jackass Forever with the bull – Mr Pecker Wrecker – and the resulting concussion and brain haemorrhage and all that good stuff, I can no longer ride rockets or get smoked by bulls. Yet we wanted to go out on our own merits and do one last one for the fans, and for us. Jackass was born among friends and that’s how it will end.
Did you find that your injury on Forever affected what kind of role you played in this film?
The fact is that I can’t have any more concussions, so I can’t do certain things. And honestly, that felt very odd. It’s tough reconciling that. But then again, I feel like we were able to work to our other strengths and make a really great film. I don’t only do stunts. I write the stunts and pranks, and orchestrate the set along with [longtime director Jeff] Tremaine. It wasn’t that hard of a pivot.
That’s always been what Jackass has been at its core too – orchestrating that chaos and playing to that collective energy with the whole cast.
Yeah, it was always very chaotic, and that proved to be the same on this movie as well. It’s amazing we get any footage at all.
One of the more chaotic things going on in Best and Last is Larry the Robot. I’m so curious to hear about what it was like working with Larry on the set.
Larry’s not the smartest robot you ever met. I absolutely fell in love with Larry. It was enough of an idea to do another movie for. Sometimes we have those ideas where we have to do another movie just for them, and I really wanted to do another movie to introduce a humanoid-robot Jackass cast member. The comedian Adam Ray was the voice of it and he was amazing.
When did you decide to incorporate the “best of” material within the film?
That was there from the beginning. We thought that would be a good way to do this, because we do not plan [laughs]. Jackass does not plan. It’s a feeling. From the moment we got the feeling – with the 25th anniversary last year – and knowing we wanted to release [a new movie] this year, it seemed like the best way to go about this and get something in the theatres. I’m glad we did it this way, because it’s a strong movie. All our best bits combined with new bits just seemed like a good way to go out, for us and the fans.
How did you go about picking what clips from the past would make the cut?
Tremaine, Spike and I made big, individual lists of our favourites, and we took a look at ones we had in common. We just saw where the crossover was. We took most of it from that, but sometimes, one of us would go, ‘I really think we should put this in,’ and the other two would listen. We screen these a lot – then it’s just people reacting. With comedy, people either laugh or they don’t. If they’re a little more quiet on one bit, then maybe you re-edit it or maybe you drop it.
Where did your own inspirations in physical comedy originate? And how have they evolved over the years?
I got into stunts because I had a daughter on the way, and that was my best guess at being able to provide for my daughter – writing an article on self-defence equipment, and Tasering and stun-gun[ning] and shooting myself in the chest with a .38 while wearing a bulletproof vest. I did it for Big Brother magazine, Jeff had me film it and then he put it in his skateboard video. Then I just kept doing more and more things.
Of course, growing up in the ’70s, Evel Knievel was a huge influence on my perspective on physical comedy. But I think cartoons were the biggest influence, and I would say my father was my influence on pranks. Over the years, around Jackass Number Two, I started getting into Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, and that opened up a whole other side. But, stuntwise, I’d give it to Tom and Jerry.
You recently shared a post on Instagram about the legal process of making a Jackass film. What’s the wildest thing you’ve tried to make happen under that process?
Dave [Englund] has got one nut and we wanted to get him a new nut and make it be able to light up. And for the past 15 years, we’ve been trying to do it, and all the fucking lawyers kill it at the last second. Everybody wants to be indemnified, from the surgeon to the people who construct the nut. It’s very disheartening.
Maybe someday, after the cameras have stopped rolling.
It’s our white whale. I still think about that.
You alluded to the sentimental value of this film earlier, and you’ve been so openly emotional about the end of the series. What’s been the toughest thing for you in letting go of the series?
It’s kind of like putting down a dog you love. You know it’s time but it just absolutely kills you. Even though we’re locking picture at the moment, I’m still in a little bit of mourning. As soon as we get picture and sound locked and we’re starting to premiere it, I think I will snap out of it and give it the celebration it deserves.
I imagine that the bonds everyone has made are for ever, even if Jackass doesn’t keep going.
Oh yeah, we’re friends no matter what. We have plans to do other projects together. It just won’t be Jackass. We can do other films and things.
Do you have any ideas yet for how you’d want to get everyone together again after this film?
I’d really like to get the cast together and rob banks. It’d be a glorious heist crew, and by ‘glorious,’ I mean ‘absolutely terrible.’
Like an Ocean’s Eleven where everything goes wrong?
It’d be like the Peter Falk movie [The Brink’s Job]. It was based on a true story. And boy, they pulled off a big heist, but just by the skin of their teeth, and everyone got busted because they just weren’t wired for it. I don’t think we’re wired for it.
When you think about the legacy that Jackass has created, has the sentimentality people have for it surprised you?
We’re constantly surprised. In the beginning, it was a TV show that got shut down while we were making the pilot. We didn’t think it was going to get on air, and then we thought no one was going to watch it. And then we thought no one was coming to the first film. So we were constantly surprised by this success, and that it means something to people is touching. It means a hell of a lot to me, and us. It holds a special place inside me.
One of the things that’s been really touching for me – as a queer trans woman – has been seeing how much the queer community has embraced Jackass. How has that felt for you over the years, as you’ve seen more queer people have that kind of attachment?
I mean, that’s incredible. Jackass is very inclusive, to say the least. That it has spoken to the queer community is fantastic. We get to be in the Los Angeles Pride parade in June, and I feel like, after that, I can retire. I’ve wanted to be in that parade for years. It just makes me happy that we’re accepted. I mean, we’ve had rainbow-coloured flags in our show from the beginning. The community means a lot to us, and that we mean something to them is just wonderful.
I can’t believe it’s taken that long to get you in a Pride parade. You would think it would’ve happened sooner!
Hey, it’s happening, and that’s all I care about! And now we just have to pick out outfits. And I’ve got to get in shape. I’ve been editing a lot. I’m about 10 pounds from where I’d like to be.
Do you feel like your audience has shifted over time? The legacy of Jackass could have so easily been an exclusively ‘bro culture’ thing, but it seems like the types of people who are into it keep growing.
The ‘bro’ type is not us. We’re a bunch of misfits. I think people see that. Physical comedy speaks to everyone. We’re just very happy it speaks to such a wide array of people.
And also you’ve never been afraid to show each other a very physical love.
Yeah, there’s a lot of male nudity and hugging. In Best and Last, there’s hugging while there’s male nudity! I got overwhelmed with a thing that [Chris] Pontius did while he was buck-naked, so I jumped on top of him. It felt great! Very dangerous, because if he gets excited… ooh-wee! And he gets excited a lot! He just hates clothes. This isn’t about Jackass, but I was doing a movie with John Waters called A Dirty Shame. I had reached out to American Grizzly, a magazine for large, hirsute, gay males, because I wanted to be on the cover. And they said, ‘We don’t think that’s a great idea, and we don’t want you on the cover.’ I was so heartbroken, and I told John Waters, ‘I’m writing them again today!’ And he was like, ‘Do not write them any more! Just leave it alone!’ [laughs] John Waters did not want me bugging American Grizzly to be on the cover. He put his foot down. And so I dropped it.
As you look back on the whole of Jackass now, what do you feel proudest of?
‘The hole of Jackass’! [laughs] It’s not as taut as it used to be! I think that me and my friends created something that means something to people and us. It’s all very humbling, because if you met us and hung out with us, you’d be amazed. You’d be like, ‘How did these idiots do this?’ And we can’t answer that question. But we certainly appreciate all this success that we’ve had and that the fans have stuck with us all this time. And that more fans have come along. Especially our gay fans!
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