narrative coherence about cruelty and chaos

July 11, 2022 3:13 PM

Eve Peyser writes about why watching Jackass in 2022 makes her feel better about the world.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs (20 comments total)

One of the things I noted that distinguished Jackass from its follow-ons (and some of its spinoffs) was that it was at its best when the stunts and gags were primarily silly and confusing to outsiders rather than being cruel to them, and they reserved the real pain for only themselves.

There were plenty of times that Jackass did cross the line to meanness toward innocent bystanders, but generally its stock in trade was, for all its adult themes, a fairly childlike whimsy (and more than a bit of internal harshness toward one another, to be sure). It was at its worst generally when it indulged Bam's frankly casual cruelty to his family and to whoever else might be around.

Jackass at its peak, IMO, was seen in segments like the Firehose Rodeo, The Gauntlet, Party Boy, and the rocket-propelled BMX bikes.
posted by tclark at 3:46 PM on July 11, 2022 [7 favorites]

I agree with tclark. The interstitial, old friends goofing around stuff is the best, and it is all rather touching as they get older. (And as I get older too.)

We called our son Party Boy during his run around house naked phase as a toddler.

The constant dick and ball torture in the latest movie was just too much, though. Woof.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 4:23 PM on July 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

It was at its worst generally when it indulged Bam's frankly casual cruelty to his family and to whoever else might be around.

Wow I was never bothered by this, I got the impression 100% that his family - particularly his parents - had opted into this stuff and freaking loved it. They are effectively part of the jackass crew and sometimes you can even see April sort of hamming up her reactions, which always stood out to me in a show that is otherwise so unscripted. I always loved the sketches with his parents especially because the story of Bam's parents based on interviews is that they have always been insanely supportive of him and proud of him his whole life, ever since he was a teenage amateur skateboarder, which to me makes the segments feel like a family that had to be really close if they were that comfortable with such extreme hijinx (and makes his descent into addiction so much sadder to me but I know it can happen to anyone). But that was always the appeal of Jackass to me, the insanely fun camaraderie among this group of friends and family basically celebrating that they are paid to live like kids.

No objection at all that Bam has the biggest asshole presence on screen and seems to have a shorter temper, but I actually thought the show was at its "meanest" when they'd prank him with snakes because he seemed to have a legit phobia and is just NOT having fun. Like the dude begins to borderline panic and experience genuine terror and anger in a way that felt disturbingly different from the other types of pain on the show - even the dick/ball/vomit stuff! - which I could otherwise easily laugh along with
posted by windbox at 4:30 PM on July 11, 2022 [7 favorites]

There were plenty of times that Jackass did cross the line to meanness toward innocent bystanders

I think Party Boy, especially in Japan, flirts with assault. Pontius is funny af, don't get me wrong, but when a mostly-naked dude of his size starts humping people who are culturally very different and whose social space is totally different...I put it in the "over the line" category...

Dance around, sure, but when you make contact and actively prevent someone from escaping the situation? That's always bugged me.
posted by Chuffy at 4:39 PM on July 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

I so completely agree with this. "Jackass" is (weirdly) comfort watching at this point for me.
posted by thivaia at 4:48 PM on July 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

I still haven't watched much Jackass, but the recent NYT profile of Jason "Wee Man" Acuña cheered me up a lot when I read it.
posted by ryanshepard at 4:56 PM on July 11, 2022 [12 favorites]

Niko Stratis’ essay from a few months ago, “Jackass” Made Me the Trans Woman I Am is also a great take on the show.
posted by chococat at 5:00 PM on July 11, 2022 [5 favorites]

I have a theory about the funniest joke in the world, and its basic elements are:

1. a young man
2. attempting some physically unwise act
3. in front of his friends
4. fails at the task
5. and injures himself, not seriously, in the crotch
6. while his friends laugh at him.

If all the elements are present it seems like a cross-cultural universally funny series of events. I have been myself both victim and audience. But the key is the light humiliation, and the gap between expectation and achievement, rather than the shock, and Jackass really seemed to me to ride the gap between glorious slapstick and gory slapstick.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:37 PM on July 11, 2022 [5 favorites]

I can't remember if I read this profile of Johnny Knoxville via the blue? As someone who mostly thought of Jackass as the thing idiot dudes in my high school/dorm always had on tv, I felt a shocking amount of affection for how...decent (?) the whole thing was, and how nostalgic it made me.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 7:02 PM on July 11, 2022 [4 favorites]

Metafilter: even the dick/ball/vomit stuff!
posted by vorpal bunny at 8:55 PM on July 11, 2022

Fiasco de Gama: I think you left off the last, most important point.

7. His friends remain his friends.

Jackass is all about love and bonding rituals.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:18 AM on July 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm from Bam's hometown. I'm familiar enough with early CKY (which folded into early Jackass) that I can watch the shopping-carts skit and go "that's the Acme on the pike... that's the one on 926... that's what was the Clemens out in Westtown..."

One of the things that changed over the years was that the east coast contingent morphed from being its own little family -- Bam, Ryan, Dico, Raab, Rake, Ape and Phil and Don Vito -- into The Bam Show Starring Bam. Dunn died, of course. Dico tired of the spotlight. Raab kind of went his own way. Rake went back to being a chemist. Vito got sanctioned, then died. I run into April and Phil around town once in a blue moon; I have April's cookbook, which is more of a photo album cash-in with simple recipes than an actual recipe book but is charming nonetheless. They're refreshingly normal people at heart, which is something Bam refuses to be, and like many a celebrity he detached from himself anyone capable of frowning at him and telling him "No."

But Knoxville is the true spirit of the show. As Terry Funk once said (approvingly) of Vince McMahon, "He doesn't do this for the money. He does it because, deep down, he loves it and wants to be part of it." He takes massive punishment for our entertainment and always comes up grinning, cackling and wanting more.

It's all about that basic impulse -- watching a skit and thinking, "This is the worst idea in the universe." And then the next skit begins, and you think, "No, this is the worst idea in the universe..."
posted by delfin at 6:35 AM on July 12, 2022 [4 favorites]

one of the Jackass pranks involved someone taking a dump in a toilet at a hardware store

I'd like to think they went back and cleaned it up themselves, off-camera, because that always stuck with me.. did someone have to deal with that.. because I clean up a portable in a public park every week, and there are times the property damage and wanton disregard for other members of the public really gets to me. Jackass did not create that in people, but I hesitate to applaud Jackass for the good it has brought into our lives.
posted by elkevelvet at 8:55 AM on July 12, 2022 [5 favorites]

I was just discussing the golf course sketch and how the line "I have bursitis" is either incredibly well written or one of the best ad libs ever because that kills me. And if you're going to annoy members of public I can't think of a better target than golfers.
posted by Ferreous at 9:00 AM on July 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'd like to think they went back and cleaned it up themselves, off-camera, because that always stuck with me

According to things I've seen, they went back and cleaned it up, and bought that toilet, and paid the store owner a bit of cash for the trouble. When the store people have their face visible, it's because they later went and got a release signed, and that's almost always because they, one way or another, made up for damage and hassle with a payment. The owners of the car rental place for the demolition derby and the people at the plumbing store have their faces visible.
posted by tclark at 10:18 AM on July 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

To add, even some of the golf people they pestered don't have blurred faces, and I don't remember if it was in one of the oral histories or a commentary track, but they took them to the bar at the golf course and gave them cash and bought plenty of rounds to make up for it.
posted by tclark at 10:20 AM on July 12, 2022

Echoing a point made above, as my sister said when we were discussing it, Jackass at its best is about friendship. The pranks at the expense of the public don't do it for me, and there are points where the skits involving Preston are getting close to "LOL he's fat." But the best work is warm rather than mean.

As a colleague of mine said, they are your idiot kid brother and his dumb friends. You know you shouldn't laugh because it only encourages them, but sometimes it's just too funny not to, and it keeps them out of the house.
posted by YoungStencil at 11:33 AM on July 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

Jackass isn't my thing ("no shit."--literally every other member of MeFi), but I like how they used "Corona" by the Minutemen as their theme song. Mike Watt's observations about the song and how Jackass royalties helped D Boon's pop are very wholesome.
posted by pxe2000 at 11:26 AM on July 13, 2022

I was just discussing the golf course sketch and how the line "I have bursitis" is either incredibly well written or one of the best ad libs ever because that kills me.

It's either that or "Is Butterbean okay?" coincidentally also from Jackass.

I love this media empire so much. At its best it captures the chaotic freedom of dicking around on summer nights with your friends in high school.
posted by saladin at 7:30 AM on July 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

5. and injures himself, not seriously, in the crotch
6. while his friends laugh at him.

It's funny because it's true, Carnap.
posted by jackbishop at 9:43 AM on July 14, 2022