With Jackass Forever just around the corner, let’s take a look at how one prank show defined an era. The era of the Jackass generation.
Considering Jackass’ enduring legacy, it’s easy to forget that the show only lasted a little over a year. Its initial impact was short and sharp, yet those three seasons between 2000 and 2002 would alter popular culture forever.
Now, here we all are two decades on, and with Jackass Forever about to crash-land in cinemas worldwide to bid us a final farewell, this feels like the perfect moment to reflect on just how much one prank show change the game.
From the moment the show’s jovial frontman, Johnny Knoxville, introduced himself to us before being fired out of a comically oversized canon, you just knew the world would never be the same again. Looking back, that very first stunt feels tame compared to the many bone-crunching, ball-busting one’s that followed, yet it set the tone for what would swiftly become a true pop culture phenomenon.
Arriving at the dawn of a new millennium, Jackass would swoop in to give MTV a huge slap across the face and wake it up from its post-90s funk, becoming one of the channel’s most successful creations as it went. Riding high on the era’s lad culture obsession, the show was undoubtedly rough around the edges, yet its scruffy charm was positively infectious, and through three seasons of blood, sweat, tears, and more blood, the show would craft a blueprint that many would follow.
Bringing together Knoxville’s gawkish charm and a rag-tag group of collaborators ranging from circus performers to professional skaters, the show’s crew were an unlikely collection of stars, yet they were very much a reflection of the times and of a generation stuck awkwardly between the tail end of Gen-X and the rise of the internet.
To its audience, the attraction was simple. From Candid Camera to the UK’s Beadle’s About, Jackass would use television’s long-standing prank show tradition and build upon its universal appeal with a grungy, light-hearted approach that drew fans from all walks of life. From skaters to punks to stoners and everyone in between, the show and all its eventual spinoffs would go on to become one of the biggest cultural phenomena of the 00s and almost singlehandedly keep MTV’s relevance alive.
Melding a gloriously disobedient showmanship with the kind of death-dodging stunts that had censors and parents sweating bullets the world over, Jackass would swiftly become the perfect middle-finger viewing experience. For anyone of a certain age and persuasion, the show was must-see tv and an act of rebellion that would leave an indelible mark on those caught up in its unique brand of idiocy.
Dogged by controversies, lawsuits, and tragedies through the years, the show would nonetheless persevere, with the popularity of its initial tv run solidified in the huge success of Jackass: The Movie. Despite an increasingly strained relationship between the group and MTV, the popularity of this first movie kept the wild ride going, and despite dozens of questionable sequels and spin-offs threatening to kill things off, the franchise – much like its stars – proved indestructible, spawning a legion of copycats in the process.

With varying degrees of success, the likes of Punk’d, Impractical Jokers, and Wales’ own Dirty Sanchez soon jumped aboard this prankster bandwagon, however, many of these attempts to recreate Jackass’ winning formula would drop off our screens just as quickly as they stumbled onto them. Honestly, television never truly felt like a comfortable home for the Jackass legacy, as the rapid rise of the internet offered a far more accommodating platform for the show’s spirit to live on.
Just one look at the view numbers and subscriber counts of the many likeminded YouTube channels out there and it’s pretty clear where the true influence of Jackass can be found. Of course, people’s inherent attraction to a classic prank means an outlet was likely to come about regardless of Jackass’ existence, yet the franchise’s rowdy energy, rebellious spirit, and punkish presentation would stir a generation more than anything before or since.

However, while the influence of Jackass on this throng of online videos is clear for all to see, the show’s spirit has never truly been recaptured. Perhaps merely products of their time, there’s a spiteful, off-putting mean streak to this new breed of online prankster that may well look like the stuff Knoxville and co. produced all those years ago, yet the lovable, ramshackle charm that defined Jackass is frequently found wanting.
Now, of course the Jackass gang could regularly be seen finding inventive ways to inflict untold damage on one another’s body parts, yet underneath all the pain and slapstick beat an authentic, oddly earnest heart. The sense of camaraderie between the crew was genuinely endearing, and despite various internal frictions that would frequently threaten the group, their infectious drive to make one another laugh despite themselves goes a long way to explain why the show’s appeal has endured.
They may be older, and they may be (kind of) wiser, but as we hurtle face-first towards the release of Jackass Forever, it’s clear the crew’s bond with both one another and their audience remains. This new film may be arriving at a time when access to millions of likeminded prankster vids is but a few clicks away, yet it’s clear none of this matters to the guys that started it all, and it’s precisely this bold, brilliantly brazen approach that encapsulates Jackass’ appeal perfectly.
The fact that most of them are still with us at all is a miracle in itself, and to see Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man et al give it one last whirl 22 years after they first hit our screens feels genuinely poignant. In many ways, Jackass always came with an expiry date, yet the legacy the crew will leave behind when they fire themselves out of their last canon and taser their last scrotum will never die, and the unconventional comfort they offered a generation of awkward teens and kidults won’t soon be forgotten.
Next: Netflix’s Bad Trip Movie Review: Pretty Stupid, But Pretty Funny
About Jackass Forever
Celebrate the joy of a perfectly executed shot to the groin as Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and the rest of the gang return for another round of hilarious, wildly absurd and often dangerous displays of stunts and comedy.
Jackass Forever hits theaters everywhere February 4th.
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