Steve-O, the star of MTV show ‘Jackass’, talks to the Badger ahead of his stand-up performance at Brighton Coalition on 7 November.
How was Clown College?
For me it was part of my plan to become a crazy stuntman. I dropped out of university, embarking on a mission to have a career as a stuntman. I didn’t make a lot of progress in those first few years. So when I found out about clown college I thought it would be a great way to further my goal of becoming a stunt man, if I could be affiliated with this reputable circus.
You are the most famous stuntman I have come across.
The profession of being a stuntman is inherently anonymous, it’s weird. Initially I thought my highest goal would to be a body double but thankfully that didn’t happen because I’m such an attention whore.
Hence your tour of the UK. This is you doing what you love?
It’s a good time, I’ve been blessed and cursed to have this ridiculous life – its hilarious. I’m finding humour in it.
What do you think of Dirty Sanchez?
I haven’t seen that much of it, from what I can tell it’s certainly probably crazier, those guys are really pretty nuts man.
What is the craziest stunt you have ever had to perform?
Top three would be: having Ryan Dunn strangle me unconscious 6 times. That was nuts man – that was probably the craziest. There was also the time I jumped out of an aeroplane with no parachute that was really intense. I talked an unemployed unregistered nurse into administering an IV into my arm and I proceeded to pour five ounces of vodka into the bag, I then injected five ounces of vodka into my arm, that was pretty wild!
How was the filming of ‘Wildboyz’? In particular your interation with shamanism?
I remember not really looking at that as much of a spiritual at that time, I wasn’t a very spiritual individual at the time.
Would you say you are more so now?
I have got a whole other idea, I kind of have to be a more spiritual person right now otherwise I would be doomed to a life in jail and institutions.
What are your opinions on having kids?
I really feel that this world is in a rough shape. I think that rather than create a new person to inhabit this world, I think that helping an existing person is a more noble and a better idea. For me to have kids, that is just creating more of a nightmare in this world than it needs. I like the idea of adopting a kid, or kids, I should say.
What is your opinion on current economic affairs in America?
I don’t know that America, England, Europe are all that different. We are on the verge of a global economic crisis; I think you could say we are already in one. It’s going to get worse before it gets any better, the distribution of wealth is so off kilter, I guess you could say that is probably behind all the riots in London over the summer. I think you could probably safely predict that there are going to be very similar riots in America, you just can’t watch the rich get richer and poorer get poorer you can’t eliminate the middle class and expect to have zero consequences.
What would you have done if you weren’t a jackass?
I was working as a circus clown when ‘Jackass’ started, I imagine that I would have been doing that for quite a while. I don’t know if I would still be doing that today, but I think I would have been entertaining people in one capacity or another.
I understand that you have become sober. What’s it like performing stunts sober?
In one sense it’s more difficult – I need to prove that I still have it in me, it gives me a new motivation to do that, and that is to prove that sobriety hasn’t turned me into a boring uptight stiff.
Is there anything you would like to say in advance of your Brighton show?
I’m very much looking forward to coming and doing a crazy show man, it’s a good deal man, fans of ‘Jackass’ will have a great time. I genuinely enjoy being on stage, I absolutely love what I’m doing, it’s a real blessing that I get to do it. I’m going to make sure that I make that show in Brighton count.
