How Jackass Star Steve-O Avoided Getting Arrested While Filming His New Special [Exclusive]
Pranks. Pain. Penises.
These three words arguably encompass just about any of the stunts pulled by the "Jackass" crew, and when it comes to Steve-O, often all three at once. For the last two decades, Steve-O (real name Stephen Gilchrist Glover) has been putting his life and body on the line not just for all of our entertainment, but as a wild form of therapy.
On its face, the "Jackass" franchise seems like nothing more than grown men acting like immature fools, but as /Film's own Valerie Ettenhofer rightfully pointed out after watching the franchise for the very first time, "These movies are precisely designed to push the limits of cinema, of good taste, and of the human body." Ettenhofer also declared Steve-O the most fascinating of the bunch to watch, writing:
"He's wholly present, a funny and well-adjusted weirdo proving it's possible to grow up, take care of yourself, and still be a Jackass. As someone who plans to stay sober for the rest of my life, I feel lucky that a guy like Steve-O is out there, proving once and for all that being sober doesn't mean being boring. Steve-O's genuinely inspiring real-life character arc shows that if you put your mind to it, you can treat your body like a temple and a funhouse."
Now, Steve-O has a new, unrated special called "Bucket List," a hybrid comedy event featuring hilarious stand-up and stunts that only he could pull off. /Film's Jeremy Smith recently had the chance to talk to the maestro of masochism about his new special, turning 50, and being a "Jackass," including learning how Steve-O avoided getting arrested for public indecency while pulling public stunts in the buff.
Public nudity brings the most stress
One of the sketches featured in "Bucket List" is the very self-explanatory "Dick Painting." And despite the fact Steve-O does everything from going horseback riding after getting a vasectomy to recreationally receiving an epidural, he tells Smith that "there's zero question" that "Dick Painting" was the most stressful thing to shoot for the special. In order to avoid getting slapped by the police (and avoid accidentally exposing himself to minors), his production team had to go above and beyond with preparation. As Steve-O explains:
"What we did was we had a towel, a robe, whatever it was, and we just sprung me on people, and then covered me up. We did our damnedest to isolate areas with no kids. We had people on a perimeter looking for kids and stuff. Yeah, it was f***ing stressful, man."
Filming for "Bucket List" actually began before "Jackass Forever," but the two pieces share a similar, as he describes it, "Hurry up and get this done while I can" energy. When he was a youngster running around half-naked on the first season of "Jackass," there was a silly, bro-ish energy to it all. Now? He's over the hill and refusing to let it stop him. "I've got to hurry up before it becomes creepy to watch," he jokes. "The next one, I'm planning on just leaning into the creepy."
"Bucket List" is available to rent on Moment through Steve-O's official Patreon.