Jackass: Number Two's Johnny Knoxville and Bam Margera have made a living filming outrageous stunts that violate all notions of common sense and self-preservation. Last week they joined Street in a round-table discussion, presumably to explain themselves.
Street: I heard Steve-O has a heart condition.
Johnny Knoxville: He did get diagnosed with a heart condition but he did see another doctor and he was cool. I mean if anyone's heart deserves a condition, it's Steve-O's.
Street: Are there any ailments that you have or have attained?
JK: Yeah, I got scars from whatever. [Bam Margera enters room]
JK: Here's Bam Margera. He's famous.. Yeah, I have some scars. I don't think any permanent damage, but ask me in 10 years. I'm sure both of our livers are in pretty bad shape.
Bam Margera: Yeah, I've had 12 of these today. [Points to beer]
Street: I was watching the first Jackass the other day and I noticed you were enjoying Miller High Life a lot. Is this where you come up with a lot of ideas? Is this where you get the courage to actually do it?
BM: For me, its red wine on an airplane. That's where I come up with some ideas.
JK: Mine is scotch, amphetamines and ignorance.
Street: Good combo. Do you guys have a limit on when, like, enough is enough, like too many injuries?
JK: No. I think there used to be a line but everyone keeps drawing over it and drawing a new line and I don't, I don't know if we're driving the ship.
BM: I cracked my head open and got 15 staples; that sucked and that wasn't even on Jackass. That was.
JK: That was on Vicodin.
Street: I was talking to [film director] Jay Chandrasekhar last month. He said you two were very good friends after The Dukes of Hazzard.
JK: Well, I don't know about the "very good friends" part but he was in awe. We had him in the movie and he's in the funniest bit we ever shot. He was great. And I really don't know why everyone's not going to see Beerfest. It was fucking hilarious.
Street: So have you gotten anything planned with him for the future?
JK: Well, I saw him the other night at an afterparty for Willie Nelson's wife. Willie played LA. And Jay was there and I go up and light his foot on fire a couple times with 151 and matches but then I realized the next morning when I came to that he was wearing sandals. And so I got his bare feet and he's so hairy I'm surprised his leg just didn't go like a fuse and go all the way up.
Street: Do you ever get recognized when you're out doing all this stuff in front of people?
BM: Oh yeah, that's why [Johnny's] dressed up like an old man all the time.
JK: We couldn't do as much pranks on Joe Public in the movie, so there's more sabotage against the cast, and we did a lot of stuff with me as the old man.
Street: I read that's why you did a lot of stuff in Japan.
JK: For the last movie I wanted to go to Japan.
Street: How was that for diplomacy? I was watching the last Jackass and I wonder how the Japanese view Americans with what the Jackass crew does.
BM: They didn't know what to do.
JK: Well, they don't like to deal with any confrontation at all. We couldn't come out with the movie for over a year in Japan because we violated some type of cultural laws.
Street: Is there any filming in the Philadelphia/Westchester area for this movie?
JK: Yeah we always film in Westchester.
Street: Why?
JK: Ladies and gentlemen, Bam Margera.
BM: 'Cause I live there.
Street: I noticed that pretty much the original cast is back. But in the show it seems to be a thing with Ehren McGhehey. He seems to get picked on a lot. He's sort of the clown of the group.
JK: He's kind of the whipping boy, but the whipping boy has the funniest fucking bit in the movie. Ehren really stepped it up. I mean the whole cast. This movie is so much better than the last. The first movie, 30 minutes of it would have maybe made it into this one. This one, everyone's just going nuts. Bam just comes across huge. I mean everyone.
Street: The title of the film - by putting in a number two, can we expect a number three?
JK: I don't know if we'll do another one.
BM: We'll die if we do another one.
JK: So I don't know. I didn't think we could top the first one and now I don't know how we could top this one.
Street: Is there anything that you are scared of, something you won't do or something you won't work with?
BM: Bulls and snakes.
Street: Did you see Snakes on a Plane?
BM: Fuck Snakes on a Plane. What's next? Fucking bees on the shitter? Turtles on a bus?
Street: Do you think you drive on criticism?
JK: We don't give a fuck either way. We just started the show just trying to make each other laugh and we're still doing it; [no matter] whatever happens outside of that. We never thought we'd even be a TV show, much less a successful one, so we're just happy we can fly around and shoot really dumb stuff and people pay for our beers.
Street: What's the reaction you get from family members when they see bruises and stitches? What are some comments that you get?
JK: It kind of sucks to tell my family because I never tell them what I'm doing and they just worry. But they know something's going to happen. Actually I'm not supposed to be on this trip because my mom saw the preview to this movie and saw the rocket and some other things in the movie. She told me I was grounded, so I'm not supposed to be here today.
Street: Has this whole Steve Irwin issue changed your outlook on the risks you guys take?
JK: No.
BM: He was pretty gnarly.
JK: We knew what could happen, but we knew before Steve Irwin passed what could happen.
Street: How long did it take you guys to film this movie?
JK: Six months.
BM: Is that it?
JK: January to June or something.
BM: It felt like nine months.
Street: I heard there's going to be a Jackass video game. What will that be like?
JK: Hopefully it will be a good representation of the movie and the show. We're still working on it.
Street: What other projects do you guys have? Do you have any idea what direction you want your careers to go in? Is there anyone you'd particularly like to work with?
JK: Oh man, I don't know. I just want to drink some more beers with Bam and talk about the new movie.
BM: I just want to stick a hot poker up my ass and rip my dick off.
