To celebrate the upcoming release of the very funny looking Bad Grandpa, JOE takes a peek (through our fingers of course) at the career of the demented daredevil that is the film’s star, Johnny Knoxville.
The man makes a crazed Gary Busey look like a cuddly widdle bunny and, although he’s best known as the creator and star of MTV’s Jackass, Knoxville actually had a life before finding fame as a sadistic stuntman.
Don’t believe us? Then check out this REALLY CREEPY Johnny Knoxville tribute video made by one of his fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-30T844_t0
Just. Plain. Weird.
Knoxville really came to the sore fore when, at the beginning of the 1990s, he contacted Jeff Tremaine, the editor of Big Brother skate magazine, offering to test certain self-defence equipment on himself while videoing the results. Horrified hilarity ensued and the rest, as they say, is history.
Tremaine went on to direct the Jackass films while Knoxville went on to do, well, exactly same batshit crazy stuff he always did. Here he is starring in the first ever episode of Jackass.
“AWW! It feels like my eyes have gonorrhea!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJgQzmYOAzM
And here are some of his best bits with the rest of his Jackass jokers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNB1Arks0_U
Knoxville has since gone on to become a huge global star in his own right, regularly appearing on talkshows around the world and talking about how brilliant his stunts are. Sometimes though, as he revealed on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, everything doesn’t really go quite the way he would have wanted:
The MTV appearances helped launch Knoxville’s acting career, the line of work that he had originally hoped to get into. Obviously he starred in the Jackass films, but this new career path also allowed him to star in movies like Men In Black 2 and The Last Stand, and also let him take on some more dramatic roles, as he impressively did in the 2003 film, Grand Theft Parsons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJTR5Lr3U80
There were also certain, shall we say, perks to the job, as Knoxville was cast as one of the lead actors in The Dukes Of Hazzard in 2005. Sure, he starred alongside fellow funny man Seann William Scott but, more importantly, he also shared the screen with very lovely Jessica Simpson.
OK, OK, so he may not actually act in the video for These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ but it would be wrong of us not to include, right?
Right.
The indestructible Johnny will be returning to our big screens shortly as he stars in the fourth film of the very popular Jackass series, Bad Grandpa.
This time round, Knoxville stars as 86-year-old Irving Zisman, the dirty aul man made famous from his regular appearances in the television show.
The semi-scripted movie sees Zisman taking his young grandson (Jackson Nicoll) on an inevitably inappropriate road trip from hell and, through the usual Jackass hidden cameras, captures the priceless reactions of the public as the pair destroy weddings, funerals and even infiltrate a kids’ beauty pageant – with Nicoll dressed as an 8 year old stripper.
Here at JOE we can’t wait. Check out the excellent trailer below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m3HD1lN69g
It really doesn’t matter how many films the man stars in though, becasue he’s most likely to always be remembered by crazy-ass stunts like this.
Sweety Jeebus in heaven:
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is released 25th October and previews are available to view 23rd and 24th October.
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