the 10 rules of jackass

There are no rules in Jackass.

Well, that’s what they would like you to think. But it’s not that there’s no rules in Jackass. It’s that there are no limits. These are two entirely different things.

However, they are easy to accidentally compound. I mean, it is hard to look at Steve-O launching himself into the sky in a carefully-filled portapotty or Dave England puking the ingredients of an omelet onto a hot pan or, right, Johnny Knoxville shooting himself in the chest, and conclude that this franchise has rules.

But these are stunts created with 10 rules in mind before they are brought to life. They are products of this mutual agreement the crew seems to have with themselves and the audience. I am not saying these are actually formally agreed-upon rules, they're more like standards kept in mind while crafting the stunts.

So yes, the appeal of the stunts is that they are so outrageous and dangerous and gross that they seem lawless and without consideration for others or their own body. This, sure, is true, but this is the wrong way to look at the project, instead it needs to be understood that Jackass is only bound by a set of agreed-upon principles. From there they can make magic. Or, you know, launch themselves out of a cannon.

NOTE: To clarify — Jackass is a magazine hit turned television series (MTV 2000-2001) turned movie franchise (Jackass: The Movie, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 3D, and Jackass Forever). It was created by Jeff Tremaine (director), Spike Jonze (yes, that one), and Johnny Knoxville, the de facto ringleader from East Tennessee. From there, the original crew, and the one that I am focusing on most in this essay, consists of Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Bam Margera, Dave England, Preston Lacy, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, “Danger” Ehren McGhehey, and the late Ryan Dunn.

The premise of the franchise is simple: what would happen if I [BLANK]? Ultimately, the series depicts something between X-Games but Bad, Purposeful Injury, and Stuff That Would be Public Humiliation if They Weren’t Themselves.

While on MTV, Jackass had more obvious limitations by the nature of the FCC watch, but that doesn’t mean they didn't bring everything to the brink. The show was always kind of an exercise in the First Amendment, spawning from the team behind Big Brother, which was owned by the one and only Larry Flynt. In its earliest form, the show pushed the limits of what was allowed on cable television: hitting regulations on language, questioning the extremes they could take nudity, and asking the question “If you swallow a live goldfish on camera and then barf it up, will you get cited for animal cruelty?” (Still haven’t found the answer for that one but Steve-O did it again recently.)

For the first two seasons, the show reveled in its boundary-breaking, combining the fearlessness of its skatepark-grown cast with the budget to back up their equally fearless ideas. But when parent groups and Senator Joe Lieberman cracked down on the show and MTV rewrote the guidance for the program to be safer, Johnny Knoxville walked and the show ended. “Safer” in terms of Jackass meant no more jumping off high places and sturdier builds — on all accounts it was just antithetical to what they wanted to do and the DIY-vibe they curated. It’s a ridiculous project sure but it undeniably demands fierce independence. So, despite the popularity of the show, this exercise taught everyone involved that the project simply cannot survive the scrutiny of TV regulations and it had to stop rather than be watered down.

So they got a movie. With a newly minted R rating and a presumably less-strict set, Jackass immediately took advantage of the legroom. The crew filled the first franchise movie with full frontal nudity, more bloodied injuries, and a tortured April Margera who dealt with a crocodile in her kitchen until she screamed “fuck!” just because they could drop the F-bomb within the new movie rating. This was all just tests of the limits, kind of like feeling out an unknown space. Spike Jonze confirmed this gleefully and by the time they credits rolled on the first movie, they truly found that there wasn’t much stopping them from anything.*

So the series grew. Each movie got larger than the one before and each one tested the impossible in a way that probably no one else in the world has tried. Now, after 25 years of Jackass’ stunts, pranks, and general behavior that causes a physical reaction, there is an impression that there are no rules at all outside of FCC guidelines and MPA designations.

But I hold that this is actually all workable because of the agreed-upon guidelines. These rules are more communal than anything, and, in my mind, make a better project. So welcome to the point of this whole essay, The 10 Rules of Jackass.

*Jonze said that in something I watched but didn’t write down, so you’re gonna have to trust me.

Rule #1: It’s not funny if you do it.

You probably know the first.

This is the iconic warning screen that airs before every Jackass episode and movie, positioned between the production cards and the title credits. The warning has evolved, with a couple of textual variations, to symbolize the start of the show, and while a viewer may ignore it while streaming or cheer when they see it in theaters, it is a true rule of the show. Jackass is not about anyone but them doing these tricks. It’s not fun and it’s not funny if you do it. It’s also a fairly tongue-in-cheek rule — they’re not professionals, but you’re in on that joke with them. Together you are about to embark on a viewing experience in which these “professionals” will get hurt and your job as the viewer is to laugh with them.

Author’s note: This “rule” nature of the warning is best reflected in my personal favorite iteration of the card – a version that spoke directly to the audience “WARNING: The stunts in this movie were performed by professionals, so neither you nor your dumb little buddies should attempt anything from this movie."

#2: If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

The rule originates from a brief moment after Steve-O unicycles into the L.A. river in season 2. After watching Steve-O spew the raw sewage he ingested after falling in the water and swimming ashore to the barren and equally disgusting grass that lines the river, Knoxville shrugs to the camera and says “if you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.” This is a reference to the Roger Alan Wade song, a tune that gets prominently featured throughout the series, often soundtracking compilations of crashes and injuries, or in this case, Steve-O puking gray water in a parking lot (Roger Alan Wade is Knoxville’s cousin and I am like pretty sure he wrote the song for Jackass). Unlike the more outward nature of the audience warning, this is a rule for the crew. It’s a reminder of not why they do this but how to react while doing it. Again, this is an acknowledgment of the content of the program — this is all ultimately absurd, what makes it good is that everyone is willing to do it.

Rule #3: No fire

Testing weaponry is fine, dozens of concussions are fine, wild animals are fine, nudity is fine. However, fire is the line. Go back and watch the show or the movies. You would be shocked at how little fire there is. You would think there were like 20+ fire stunts but there’s honestly maybe 3 or 4? Fewer? This rule seems to be a holdover from the MTV days where the Suits specifically banned fire stunts from the program.

FactAss: The fire ban is why Steve-O is not really in Season 1, at least not as much as you would think — he kept submitting fire stunts and MTV wouldn’t let them air. Sometimes I think about those lost pyrotechnics…oh well…my pop culture white whale I guess.

Follow Up FactAss: Did you know that Steve-O originally got the attention of Jeff Tremaine because he got like I think maybe like Rick Kosick (hold on, fact-checking this.) (Hi, this is me 10 minutes later, it was Kris Markovich, Kosick just took the pictures.) to spit rubbing alcohol on his head (which was lit on fire) and did a backflip? It was his signature stunt. Banned from TV.

Rule #4: This all belongs to Johnny Knoxville

There have been lots of popular members of the Jackass cast with people like Steve-O and Bam Margera getting other shows and merch. Outside the cast, the crew is run by Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze’s name is listed as a producer. Despite this all — this is Johnny Knoxville’s project. I can imagine that in a lesser version of this show, Knoxville would be scorned for this, hated for being a pretty host and making other people take the hits. But in reality, Knoxville dishes it as much as he takes it. Johnny Knoxville earned this kingdom by getting over a dozen concussions, so what he says is what ultimately goes. No one has tried to overthrow him or anything, which I really can’t believe. But, of course, there’s a rule against doing that.

Rule #5: Humiliation isn’t an option

Speaks for itself, but no one can be embarrassed by anything they do. The Jackass crew exudes a weird kind of confidence in everything. Sure, Johnny Knoxville almost got stabbed when a homemade rocket exploded by his ribcage, but he got back on it and flew on it into a lake, very nonchalantly. But I mean that they are confident about everything they do. Dave England has never once been embarrassed by the gross things he has done on camera that I will not list in this version of this essay, and it's because he can’t be. Being embarrassed isn't funny.

Rule #6: It’s not funny if you don’t fuck it up

One of the reasons Bam Margera’s crew, Camp Kill Yourself, was recruited for the original show, was because they were obsessed with recording and publishing how they fucked up skate tricks. Even as a group of professional skateboarders, what they really gained a following for was showing how they fell or how they slid or how many tries it took them to nail whatever. That authentic, loser ethos is foundational to Jackass.

In the franchise, this translates into a couple of things: their props are clearly amateurly homemade, there's a certain reactionary flexibility to the rules of the games they create, and the biggest — they don’t test stunts off camera, what you are seeing is the first try. This all means that the stuntman is supposed to fail to some extent. A prop will break, a prank will fail, they will forget about counterweight, whatever, its all supposed to fail. Sure, it's cool to see a stunt work, but if I wanted to see that, I would watch Dude Perfect. And I hate Dude Perfect. Instead, the unexpectedness and repetition caused by the Jackass “it’s not funny if you don’t fuck it up” attitude is what lives at the heart of it all.

Rule #7: Nothing is off limits

As mentioned earlier, this is a limitless show, meaning that any idea is on the table.

Rule #8: Some things are off limits (because that’s your friend)

While not always present or apparent, there is a line. This line is grown out of a mutual respect.

The most infamous example is probably in the final stunt of Jackass: The Movie, The Butt X-Ray. All accounts of how this stunt happened off camera and on camera mention how this was kicked around the writers’ room for a bit and ultimately assigned to Steve-O because he’ll do anything. Not getting into the details here, but Steve-O unexpectedly declined. Nowhere on camera does anyone try to pressure Steve-O into doing the stunt, instead Ryan Dunn volunteers, and the film moves on. This is the camaraderie of Jackass – it’s not a matter of punishing you for hesitating around a stunt, it's a matter of getting the job done. This agreement led to one of the most outrageous 6 minutes in the series.

However, when this mutual trust breaks down, so does the show. In Jackass Number Two as well as Jackass 3D, Bam Margera makes it abundantly clear that he is terrified of snakes. Margera is always a reliable performer, unafraid to look bad or cry on camera, but this, his fear of snakes, is very obviously a line that is weirdly not taken seriously. In both movies, Knoxville plots a way to trap Margera with a snake and the results are just not funny. Instead of laughing with him, the crew laughs at him, as he literally claws his way out of these situations, screaming and crying. As an audience member, it gets uncomfortable, especially as both stunts result in Margera leaving the set explosively, candidly muttering about quitting. The result isn't a completed stunt, it's a loss of trust and results in a tenser flick. Scenes like this, where sheer terror outweighs the prank, make it all feel actually gross and momentarily change Jackass from a group of buddies joking, to a grim franchise where coworkers exploit each other for profit. It hardens the story into something more business-driven. Like of course, you can get a big reaction from Bam Margera if you scare him with snakes, but that evaporation of trust that happens immediately creates a new setting. At times it’s simply awkward and cold, and other times it opens the door for more revenge-based pain and more horror instead of good-natured goofing off.

So it is a limitless show in the sense that the ideas are limitless, but their comfortableness with each other? That has the most limits.

Rule #9: You are not trying to hurt each other

This rule is crucial to the world of Jackass. It is not that they won’t hurt each other — they undoubtedly will (see: Dunn giving Knoxville a concussion after trying to jump a sand trap in Jackass: The Movie, Dunn branding Margera in Jackass Number Two, and England pogoing on Danger Ehren’s cup in Jackass Forever, the list goes on). However, hurting each other is not the point, it’s not the goal. If they wanted to hurt each other they could just do that, instead what they want is to do a stunt or prank or challenge. The crew recognizes that this all might come with a cost of their wellbeing, but they will never be targeted by the others. This is, again, the camaraderie of Jackass in action.

This expands into the conversational conduct they hold with each other as well. While I can never speak to what happened offscreen, I know that onscreen, the crew was always largely kind to each other — laughing at the success of a prank or stunt, not exclusively at the detriment of the other. It’s actually kind of weird how not-mean they are.

This unexpected undercurrent of kindness leads to my final point.

Rule #10: You can hurt that guy if it’s an accident and you help them get up again

While this might be a bit basic, the crew’s obsession with checking up on each other is a critical part of the safety and well-being of the project. I think back to my previous examples:

One of my favorite stunts from Jackass: The Movie is Golf Cart Antics. The premise is simple — just driving golf carts as fast and recklessly as possible through an abandoned golf course. It’s typical low-stakes debauchery. They drive up hills, smash into each other, and throw each other off the top of the moving vehicles. Eventually, Ryan Dunn attempts to drive through a sand trap, underestimates the logistics, tips the cart, and his passenger, Johnny Knoxville is ejected from the cart. The moment turns mildly harrowing when Knoxville lays unresponsive in the grass. As fast as the viewer realizes what’s happening, so does the team. Everyone off camera is calling for a medic and protecting his body until the paramedics make it over and wake him up. The scene cuts to Knoxville and Dunn sitting on the grass, catching their breath. What was suddenly intense is lightened by the recovery and their joy about catching something big on film. It all ends with Margera excitedly telling Knoxville, “Dude, you were haulin’ so much ass, dude.” To which Knoxville giggles.

I get it, I get it, this was probably a bit too sweet or sappy for Jackass. But it's like right there. How can you not get wrapped up in this weird world of respect for each other in the most self-imposed extreme circumstances?

My favorite moment in Jackass, or at least a favorite moment, is in Jackass 3D when a giant papier-mâché hand swings out of nowhere and smacks Ryan Dunn to the floor. He lies on the ground catching his breath and absolutely red in the face from laughing. Almost everyone is standing around, laughing with him, and once he can, he is pulled up and helps them prank the next person. It’s a truly rambunctious break in a movie that gets pretty mean-spirited when these fairly unspoken rules are broken at the expense of ego and The Perfect Shot or whatever. To me, High Five is the result of these 10 agreements and that's why it’s so funny.

Sometimes it's hard to explain why Jackass works and how it still feels so separate from similar stunt groups today. But I think it really comes down to these 10 rules. These agreements build a kind of structure for the franchise to operate within as well as protection for the closeness of the cast. It creates the funniest outcomes and the most jaw-dropping experiments.

Okay, I think I am done talking about this now. Until next time.