In Interview: Steve-O
After sending footage of himself performing tricks and stunts to Jeff Tremaine, then editor of Big Brother Magazine, Steve-O, a circus clown based in Fort Lauderdale, was recruited by Tremaine for a television show he was putting together for MTV; Jackass.
Spawning three series, three movies, and countless imitations, Jackass made it cool to watch people hurting themselves. From putting a fishing hook through his cheek in the hope to bait a shark, to getting his hand caught in a bear trap, to getting paper cuts on his face, drinking a beer through his ass, which was later pierced and sealed shut by a metal rod, having leeches on his eye-balls, snorting Wasabi sauce, and tightrope walking over an alligator pit while having bits of chicken attached to his underbits – none of the stunts on the show made me cringe and laugh hysterically like the ones performed by Steve-O. If anything that no one else wanted to do had to be done, he did it – except the car in the ass thing.
This was all I knew about Steve-O when I was given the opportunity to interview him. That, and the fact he had a tattoo on his back of himself. Then I heard he was performing stand-up comedy on TV for the first time ever on the Comedy Central roast of Charlie Sheen. I watched in anticipation as Steve-O took his place behind the microphone to make fun of Sheen and the other comedians on the stage. I was afraid for him. I have seen non-stand-ups do stand-up comedy before, and it never goes well. The Situation from The Jersey Shore bombed doing stand-up on last year’s roast of Donald Trump, and I was expecting Steve-O to follow suit. What made me feel worse is that I was going to have to interview Steve-O the following day about his new comedy tour he is bringing to the UK. As he drew his first breath I was already practicing my “that was amazing,” so it sounded genuine when I spoke to him. But, thankfully, it really was amazing. He was funny. Really funny. His jokes were polished and his timing was great. Steve-O had gone from clown to stand-up in the space of an hour. Then, he asked Mike Tyson, who was also on stage, to hold his fist out while he ran into it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpMr2JATrNk). It looked sore.
I didn’t know what to make of him. Is he a clown or a stand-up? I was confused. I was even more confused when I spoke to him, as he wasn’t at all what I expected. I expected a lunatic. A crazy, drug fuelled lunatic that might harm me. But that isn’t him. Steve-O is a very charming, articulate and funny guy, who has been sober three and a half years he was quick to point out. I spoke to him about his upcoming stand-up tour of the UK, comedy, and Mike Tyson.
Me: What was it like to get a punch from Mike Tyson?
Steve-O: LAUGHS I cant tell you what it’s like to get a punch from Mike Tyson, but I can tell you what it’s like to dive face first into his fist; it’ll brake your nose. That was something I had wanted to do for a long time. When I was at the Charlie Sheen roast, I said that the last time I hung out with Mike Tyson was when we locked ourselves up in a bathroom and we went through, roughly, five grams of coke. And that’s true, we did that. But technically the last time I hung out with Mike Tyson is when we were locked up on a psych ward together. Which is something I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but when I was with Mike he told me he doesn’t care, so I said I’ll tell everybody then LAUGHS This wasn’t the psych ward I was famously locked up in by Johnny Knoxville, it was 100 days into my sobriety. It took about 100 days of me living clean and sober for the fog to clear, and for me to see with clarity what a douche-bag I had turned into, you know? I was so mortified to see myself for what I had really become, and I was in despair. I felt like I couldn’t stand to live my life, you know? I just hated myself so much that I checked myself into the psych ward, and while I was in there Mike Tyson came through. This was in July of 2008. It was ridiculous! I’m sitting in a fucking nut-house with Mike Tyson watching bullshit on TV, and I was begging him to punch me in the face. I was like, dude you don’t have to punch me, just hold your fist out, and I’ll fucking run into it. It’ll be awesome! It’s called the black eye game. Every time I’ve ever played it, I have got a black eye! But he didn’t want to do it at the time, and understandably so – it just wasn’t the time or place LAUGHS But it’s a hilarious stunt, and the ultimate way to do it would be with Mike Tyson.
Me: The first time I saw you do stand-up was at the roast, and it was surprisingly, wait, I don’t mean that to sound…
Steve-O: No, you’re good man.
Me: It was really good.
Steve-O: Thanks. I’ve been doing stand-up comedy for a good chunk of time now, over 5 years, and I’ve been on a comedy tour for the last year. I started this tour in November 2010, and I’ve been putting in the work, you know? At the roast, I wanted to prove myself as a comedian – and I think I did a good job of that, because if anybody thought that my jokes bombed, or that they weren’t funny, then everybody would be saying that, but my comedy was well received and that means a lot to me. Just like the tour that I am coming to the UK with, I turned up to that roast well aware of what people were expecting. I am well aware of the brand I’ve created, and I know why I have fans, and as important as it was for me to prove myself and do comedy, but it’s equally important for me to remain faithful to my brand, which is why I did the stunt with Mike Tyson, and why on tour I make people laugh with stories, and then I do the stunts and tricks as well.
Me: So, what can people expect to see at your show?
Steve-O: Well, I call it the entirely to much information tour, and I think that’s a pretty appropriate name for it because the shit that comes out of my mouth is just absolutely shocking. What sets me apart in my stand-up comedy is that everything that is talk about is 100% true. It’s based on how fucked up I got on drugs and alcohol, how Jackass changed my life and the crazy shit that went on behind the scenes, the most outrageous shit that happened with groupees – like the time when I accidentally got a blowjob from a transsexual.
Me: Accidentally?
Steve-O: LAUGHS A somewhat accident. What I’ve been doing with my comedy is searching around for where my line is, for where things get too awkward, and what I’ve determined is that I do not have a line – I’m shameless. I tell the most ridiculous stories, and that can make some people feel uncomfortable, but anyone who is a real fan of Jackass will know that what made Jackass as fun and appealing as it is, is that we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we don’t mind looking uncool, we are very self-deprecating, and I think that is very endearing.
Me: Of course.
Steve-O: And my stand-up comedy is much the same way, and this will sound like I’m tooting my own horn a little bit, but I don’t get on stage and make myself sound like a cool dude – like I honestly share the story about the transsexual sucking my dick.
Me: What made you get up on stage that very first time?
Steve-O: The very first time I did stand-up comedy, I was invited to a comedy club in Los Angeles, this was over 5 years ago, and I was asked to get on stage and do something crazy. When I showed up at that comedy club, I looked around and I thought – man, there is just nothing I can do that would be crazier than trying stand-up. The craziest thing I could think of was to get up on that stage and try legitimate stand-up, and that’s what I did. I wasn’t on stage for very long, but I thought up some ridiculous shit to say, and I got laughs, and I was hooked right away.
Me: Why get on stage in front of an audience? Isn’t doing TV and films easier?
Steve-O: I’m a bona fide attention whore. That’s really what my deal is, you know? I have always had an unreasonable hunger for attention. I love to get on stage. I’m a genuine performer through and through. I love to make people laugh, I love to make them shriek, I love to make them moan, and clap and cheer – as long as I am getting a reaction from a crowd, I am genuinely enjoying myself.
Me: Did you have a joke, or have you ever had a joke that you were certain that was gonna work, and for whatever reason it just bombed?
Steve-O: Um… That’s a really good question man.
Me: I don’t hear that a lot. Thank you so much.
Steve-O: LAUGHS Yeah, no, it’s a great question. I’m just trying to… Um… I’d say it was rare. I think I have a pretty good sense of when something is going to work. I’m trying to think of an example… Um fuck… It’s a good question and I want to give you a good answer… There were some jokes that didn’t make it to the broadcast cut of the Charlie Sheen roast. I said, Charlie and I have a lot in common; we both love porn, we’ve both done tons of drugs, and neither of us are actors.
Me: LAUGHS
Steve-O: Also I said, I have to give it to Charlie, he is a warlock who actually has magical powers. Look at all the things he’s made disappear; his wife, his kids, his job…
Me: LAUGHS
Steve-O: The only things he can’t make disappear are those barnacles on his dick.
Me: LAUGHS
Steve-O: He’s like that great warlock in Harry Potter. He not only went to Hogwarts, he has them.
Me: LAUGHS
Me: So people can get a taster, can you tell me what the first joke of your set is? Or the first story.
Steve-O: I’ll talk a bit about how fucked up I got on drugs – I’ll say – make some noise if you’re getting loaded tonight – and then – good luck with that shit – then that’ll get a cheer. I talk about how I’ve been clean and sober for three and a half years, ever since the day Johnny Knoxville stepped in and pulled an intervention on me. And you know you must have serious fucking problems when your interventionist is Johnny Knoxville. Which is true. You know, comedy is at its funniest when it has some truth to it. You know, I’d love to rattle off comedy. It just doesn’t work in interviews.
Me: I know, I just want people to get a sense.
Steve-O: Well we can tell them that the show is about how fucked up I got on drugs, Jackass changing my life, accidentally getting my dick sucked by a transsexual, a toothless groupee that pulled out her dentures to go down on me… LAUGHS
Me: GROANS Who was better, than tranny or the toothless groupee?
Steve-O: The tranny did a better job.
Steve-O “The entirely too much information tour” runs from October to November 2011 in the UK, with a performance in Glasgow at the ABC1 on 6th November. Tickets priced between £14 and £17.50 from www.kililive.com
Visit www.SteveO.com for more information
