jackassworld

The majority of the core production crew on jackass—Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, Dimitry Elyashkevich, Rick Kosick, and myself—all have roots in skateboarding. Johnny Knoxville … not so much. Perhaps the only semblance of a toehold he may have on it is the fact that he once wrote articles for Big Brother skateboard magazine and performed feats of idiocy for its videos, one of which did in fact involve a skateboard. Other than that he can’t roll more than a few feet before twinkle-toes loses it. To Knoxville’s credit though, this bumbling inability didn’t deter him in the least from attempting the one true rite of passage that all skateboarders must eventually face one day: dropping in on a vert ramp. The result wasn’t pretty—it’s not much different than someone attempting to jump off a 12-foot high roof and hooking a foot in the process—but really damn funny. He almost bounces! What’s lesser known about this stunt, though, is that it was first filmed in 1999 for the Big Brother skateboard video boob and following Knoxville’s drop-in, which was sure to end in tragedy, Dave Carnie was to walk up with a taser and zap him while he’s rolling around in pain. Carnie did just that, but didn’t fully grasp the instructional beforehand and fired one of the darts straight into Knoxville’s throat. Whoops! Boy, was Knoxville sure pissed about that one…

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