Welcome back to the deep dive. Today we are strapping
ourselves in really. We're diving into someone
who's built a whole career, maybe even an empire,
out of... Well, chaos, controlled chaos, perhaps.
That's a great way to put it. We're talking about
Philip John Clapp. Yeah. You almost certainly
know him as Johnny Knoxville. Right, Johnny Knoxville.
And our mission today, looking through all this
source material, is to figure out how this guy
went from, you know, filming himself getting
tased for a skateboarding magazine to becoming
this multimedia force, a producer, a writer,
a legitimate actor running production companies.
It's a fascinating trajectory. Because the sources
really lay out this paradox. You've got the on
-screen persona, pure jackass mayhem, right?
Yeah. But behind that, there's this incredibly
sharp business mind. Exactly. That's what we
want to unpack. How did the architect of all
that physical failure build such a lasting structure
in Hollywood? And the source material is pretty
clear on his identity. We're talking Philip John
Clapp, born March 11, 1971. He's from Knoxville,
Tennessee, hence the name, I guess. Makes sense.
And that means, as of today... October 2nd, 2025,
he's 54 years old. 54? And that age feels significant
now, doesn't it? Especially when you look at
some of his more recent ventures. Absolutely.
It perhaps signals a shift, or at least an expansion,
beyond just the stunts. But his core identity,
the one everyone knows, is co -creator and star
of Jackass. Started on MTV in 2000 -2001, then
the movies. Jackass. The movie. Number two. 3D.
forever in 2022. He's a stunt performer, actor,
producer, screenwriter, quite the list. Quite
the list indeed. Okay, so let's go back. Where
does this all start? Knoxville, Tennessee, you
said. What were his origins like? Anything that
hinted at? Well, jackass. Honestly, not really.
Not in the way you might think. The sources paint
a picture of a pretty normal Southern upbringing.
His dad, Philip Clapp, was a car and tire salesman,
passed away in 2018. His mom, Lemoyne, she was
a Sunday school teacher. She passed in 2017.
He also has two older sisters. It sounds very
stable. Stable isn't the first word that comes
to mind with Johnny Knoxville. So where did the
performance bug come from? The desire to put
himself out there? Well, the sources point to
a specific influence. And it's a bit unexpected.
It was his cousin, Roger Allen Wade. Oh, the
singer -songwriter. That's the one. Apparently,
Wade gave him a copy of Jack Kerouac's On the
Road. And Knoxville himself credits that book,
that Beat Generation classic, with sparking his
interest in acting and exploring and maybe doing
something different. On the Road leading to Jackass.
That's quite a connection. Okay, so he gets the
acting bug. What happens next? High school. Yeah.
Attended South Young High School. And get this.
He was actually athletic. Played baseball. No
kidding. Yep. He was a pitcher. Got an all -Knoxville
Interscholastic League honorable mention. Even
played in an All -Star game. So there was structure
there. Discipline, maybe. Huh. Pitcher. Interesting.
Then California. That was the dream. Right after
high school, 1989, he heads west to make it as
an actor. Did the whole struggling actor thing,
commercials, background roles, you know the drill.
Standard Hollywood story so far. But here's a
great little nugget from the sources. In 1992,
he actually worked on Francis Ford Coppola's
Bram Stoker's Dracula. Wow, Coppola, what did
he do? He was Keanu Reeves' stand -in. Keanu's
stand -in, that's amazing. So he's on these big
sets, he's in the mix, but the big acting roles
aren't landing. Seems that way. The sources suggest
that the traditional path just wasn't opening
up for him. And this, this is the critical moment,
the pivot. Right. This is where it shifts. Instead
of waiting for someone else to give him a shot,
he decides, OK, I'll create my own shot. He starts
writing article ideas and pitching them to magazines,
basically creating his own content. Smart, proactive.
What kind of ideas? The one that stuck, the one
that changed everything was pretty out there.
He pitched the idea of testing self -defense
equipment. On himself. On himself. Like stun
guns, pepper spray. Exactly. That kind of thing.
And this idea, this absolutely bonkers idea,
lands on the desk of Jeff Tremaine. Who was editing
Big Brother magazine at the time, the skateboarding
magazine. Precisely. And Big Brother had this
edgy counterculture vibe. Tremaine loved it.
He didn't just want the article. He wanted to
film these tests. Ah, so the filming starts there.
Yes. Those stunts, Knoxville willingly taking
hits from self -defense gear, were filmed and
put into the Big Brother No. 2 video. That footage.
That's the bedrock, the absolute foundation stone
for what became Jackass. So it all spirals out
of that one magazine pitch. Incredible. But it
wasn't just Knoxville's stuff, right? There was
another element involved in creating the Jackass
pilot. Correct. Tremaine was smart. He saw the
potential in Knoxville's self -abuse footage,
but he also knew about another sort of... homegrown
phenomenon happening on the East Coast. You're
talking about Bam Margera. Exactly. Bam Margera
and his crew in Pennsylvania were making these
lo -fi chaotic videos called the CKY videos.
Camp Kill Yourself. Right. Lots of skating, pranks,
hitting his dad, that kind of thing. Yeah. That
mix of stunts, family pranks, just general mayhem.
Yeah. Tremaine saw a kinship between Knoxville
stuff and the CKY videos. If you brought them
together. edited this footage into a pilot. And
that became the pitch reel. That was the pitch
reel. He took Knoxville's Big Brother segments,
banned CKY footage, added some other like -minded
individuals, and that was the package. And they
needed someone to help sell it, right? That's
where Spike Jonze comes in. Yeah, Spike Jonze,
the director, was friends with Tremaine. He had
the Hollywood connections. He helped them shop
this very unconventional pilot around. And MTV
bit. MTV bit hard. It was exactly the kind of
provocative, youth -oriented content they were
looking for around the year 2000. But here's
where it gets really interesting from a strategy
perspective. Okay. Before the show even aired
on MTV, they got another offer, a huge one. Which
was? Saturday Night Live. SNL wanted them to
perform stunts as a recurring weekly segment
on the show. Wow. SNL, that's the big leagues
for comedy. Did they do it? They turned it down.
They turned down SNL. Why? Think about it. SNL
means Network Standards Restrictions Oversight.
Jackass was built on total freedom, on pushing
boundaries way past what network TV would allow.
Ah, I see. They knew their brand needed that
raw, unfiltered edge. Exactly. They chose creative
control and authenticity over the immediate mainstream
prestige of SNL, which in hindsight was probably
a genius move for building the jackass identity.
Absolutely. Keep it pure. Though ironically,
Knoxville did end up hosting SNL later, right?
In 2005. He did. But on his own terms, as an
established star, not as a weekly stunt segment.
It shows he could play the game eventually, but
he protected the core brand first. Smart. Okay,
so the MTV show is a hit, albeit short -lived.
Then comes the movie empire. Yeah, the films
really cemented the phenomena. Jackass. The movie
in 2002 was massive. The number two in 2006,
3D in 2010. They kept finding ways to escalate
the stunts and keep audiences hooked. And forever
in 2022, which felt like maybe a passing of the
torch, but still very much centered on him. Right,
but it wasn't just about stringing stunts together,
especially later on. There was an evolution.
You mean with Irving Zisman, the old man character?
Precisely. The sources really highlight Jackass'
presence. Bad Grandpa in 2013. That was different.
It wasn't just dunce. It had a narrative. Knoxville,
buried under incredible makeup, played Irving
on a road trip with his grandson. The pranks
happened within that story framework. And that
movie was huge, right? It reached a broader audience?
It did. And here's maybe the most unexpected
validation of the whole thing. Bad Grandpa got
an Academy Award nomination. An Oscar nomination
for jackass. For best makeup and hairstyling.
But still, an Oscar nod for a movie featuring
hidden camera pranks and, well, some very questionable
behavior from Irving Zisman. That's incredible.
It speaks volumes about the technical skill involved
underneath the chaos. Totally. It showed they
weren't just messing around. There was real craft
there, especially in creating that character.
It solidified Knoxville as not just a stunt guy,
but a character actor, a producer overseeing
quality. And beyond the main films, there were
the .5 releases, like Jackass 2 .5, 3 .5, 4 .5,
using leftover footage, keeping the brand alive
between major installments, plus other stuff
like the Gumball 3000 rally participation. Yeah,
he stayed very involved in that world. But here's
the other track we need to follow. The one wedding
parallel to Jackass the whole time. His legitimate
acting career. Exactly. And this wasn't just
an afterthought. He was pursuing serious roles
right from the start, almost immediately after
the first Jackass movie exploded. Like Men in
Black 2 in 2002. He played that two -headed alien,
Scrad and Charlie. That was a massive blockbuster.
Huge. Going from MTV cult figure to a role in
a Will Smith sequel. That's fast. Then in 2004,
he's co -starring with The Rock in Walking Tall.
Okay, so big studio action films. But he didn't
just stick to blockbusters, did he? No. And this
shows his range, or at least his ambition. He
worked with the legendary cult director John
Waters in 2004 on A Dirty Shame. That's a very
different world for Men in Black. Definitely.
John Waters is unique. And then 2005 was a big
year for him acting -wise, too, wasn't it? Huge.
He played Luke Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard movie.
Pure mainstream comedy fare. Right. The orange
car, the whole thing. But in the same year, he
starred in The Ringer. And that was a very different
kind of movie. The Ringer. Okay. Refresh my memory
on that one. That was the one with the controversial
premise. Extremely controversial. He plays Steve
Barker, this regular guy who pretends to have
an intellectual disability. He calls himself
Jeffy so he can compete in the Special Olympics.
Oh, right. To win money to help his friend, I
think. Yeah. To pay for surgery for the office
janitor who lost his fingers. It's a really dark,
tricky premise, trying to mine comedy and heart
out of something that could easily be incredibly
offensive. It takes some serious acting chops
to even attempt, let alone pull off without disaster.
It really does. It showed he was willing to tackle
complex, risky roles, not just play variations
of himself or do straightforward action. He also
had a cool cameo as a sleazy corporate type in
Lords of Dogtown that same year. So he's building
this diverse acting resume. Did that continue?
Absolutely. He kept working steadily, popped
up in The Last Stand with Schwarzenegger in 2013,
co -starred with Jackie Chan and Skip Trace in
2016. Not always lead roles, but consistent work
in major films. And more recently, he did TV
series work too, right? Yes, significantly. He
was part of the main cast of that Hulu show Reboot
in 2022. Played Clay Barber, a comedian trying
to get his career back on track. A sustained
role in a well -regarded series that shows real
commitment to acting as a long -term path. So
acting on screen, check. What about just using
his voice? He has a pretty distinctive voice.
He does. That gravelly tone. Yeah. And he definitely
leveraged it. The biggest voice role the sources
highlight is Leonardo. In the 2014 Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles movie. Leo. The leader. That's
a big get. It was. Interestingly, he didn't return
for the sequel. Pete Plachek, who did the motion
capture, took over the voice too. But getting
cast initially was major. Any other voice work?
Yeah, dipping into animation. He voiced Johnny
Krill, an extreme sports fish, on Spongebob Squarepants.
And later other character, Randy Cheeks. Ah,
Johnny Krill. Perfect. Right. He also did voices
for Family Guy and... Maybe less surprisingly,
given his southern roots, a couple of characters
on King of the Hill, Peter Sterling, and Hoyt
Platter. Okay, so stuntman, actor, voice actor.
But the sources really emphasize the behind -the
-scenes stuff, too. The producing. This is where
the business acumen really shines. It starts
with Dickhouse Productions. Dickhouse. Gotta
love the name. That was him, Tremaine, and Spike
Johns. That's the trio. And Dickhouse wasn't
just the entity that produced the jackass movies.
They had bigger ambitions. Like documentaries.
Exactly. Yeah. They produced The Birth of Big
Air. about BMX legend Matt Hoffman. That film
was actually part of ESPN's prestigious 30 for
30 documentary series. Wow, okay. That's serious
credibility. It is. And they also did The Wild
and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, another
documentary exploring a very specific subculture.
Both got distribution through Tribeca Films.
So they were using their platform to tell other
kinds of stories, not just their own. Using the
jackass clout to get more serious projects made.
Smart. But then there was another shift on the
production side. Yes. After the huge success
of Bad Grandpa in 2013, which showed this new
narrative potential, Knoxville made a big move
in 2014. He formed a new company called Hello
Junior. Hello Junior. Okay, who was involved
in that? This one was with Derek Freyda, who
was an executive producer on Jackass. And the
key thing about Hello Junior, the thing that
really signals Knoxville's status in the industry.
Let me guess. A studio deal. Bingo. They immediately
signed an exclusive two -year first -look deal
with Paramount Pictures. Okay, break that down.
What does a first -look deal actually mean in
practice? It means Paramount paid Hello Junior
a chunk of money up front. In return, Paramount
gets the first right to see, finance, and distribute
any movie or TV show idea that Knoxville and
Freyda developed through that company. So Paramount
is basically betting on him, on his ideas, before
they even exist. Precisely. They're saying, we
believe in your taste, your ability to generate
successful projects, and we want first dibs.
It's a huge vote of confidence. It locks him
in as a key creative partner for the studio,
especially for their comedy slate. That really
elevates him beyond just being the jackass guy.
He's a player. a content generator the studio
wants to keep close. Absolutely. And his quote
at the time was perfect. Knoxville, something
like, I'm over the damn moon. I have many more
films to make and bones to break. I'm glad I
will be doing it for Paramount. Bones to break
for Paramount. That sums up the paradox perfectly.
The chaos brand meets corporate partnership.
It's brilliant self -awareness, really. So he's
got the acting, the producing. But he didn't
entirely leave the world of physical performance
and spectacle behind, did he? No, definitely
not. Which brings us to professional wrestling.
Yes. His involvement with WWE wasn't just a one
-off appearance. It was actually quite extensive,
especially in 2022. I remember hearing about
this. It started earlier, though, right? Yeah.
The sources mention a debut way back in 2008
on Raw, having a little run -in with the Great
Khali, and another guest spot in 2010. But the
main event, so to speak, was 2022. What happened
then? It kicked off around the day one pay -per
-view. He announced he was entering the Royal
Rumble match. The actual Royal Rumble, not just
commentary or something. No, as a competitor.
He entered at number nine, and almost immediately
he got into it with Sami Zayn, one of WWE's top
stars at the time. Okay. Classic wrestling storyline.
Established wrestler versus invading celebrity.
Exactly. Zayn eliminated him pretty quickly,
which just fueled the fire. Knoxville then started
showing up on SmackDown repeatedly, just tormenting
Zayn, costing him matches, playing pranks. Classic
jackass tactics in a WWE ring. So he brought
the jackass vibe to wrestling. Totally. He even
challenged Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship
at one point. Zayn refused, naturally. Building
the heat. So how did it culminate? Knoxville
eventually cost Zayn the Intercontinental title
by distracting him during a match against Ricochet.
That led Zayn to finally snap and challenge Knoxville
to a match at WrestleMania. WrestleMania. The
biggest show of the year. What kind of match?
An anything -goes match. Perfect for Knoxville.
Weapons, stunts, chaos. It was right up his alley.
And did he? He won. At WrestleMania 38, night
two. Johnny Knoxville pinned Sami Zayn. He actually
won at WrestleMania. Half a lot of help from
his friends. The sources say Chris Pontius, Wee
Man, Jeff Tremaine, even Jasper Dolphin and Dark
Shark from the newer crew all got involved. They
used giant mousetraps, bowling balls, air horns.
It was pure jackass meets WWE. That's incredible.
A perfect crossover. Talk about understanding
your brand and how to leverage it. It really
was. And it shows his willingness to keep trying
new platforms, new forms of performance, which
also connects to his most recent venture mentioned
in the sources. Podcasting. Yep. In April 2024,
he launched a podcast called Pretty Sure I Can
Fly with Johnny Knoxville and Elna Baker. Interesting.
Moving into audio storytelling seems safer. You'd
think so. But safety is relative when your other
projects still involve pranks. And that leads
us to some of the legal issues that have popped
up more recently. Ah, right. The prank panel
show. That's generated some controversy, hasn't
it? It has. And the sources detail a couple of
specific lawsuits. It highlights a key difference
from the old jackass days. Which is? Consent,
essentially. In jackass, the core members knew
what they signed up for. Waivers and all. The
danger was mostly internal. The prank panel seems
to involve pranking unsuspecting members of the
public. OK, yeah, that's a different ethical
and legal landscape. What were the lawsuits about?
The first one mentioned is from December 2022.
A handyman hired through TaskRabbit sued Knoxville
in the show. He claimed he was put through a
terrifying ordeal as part of a prank filmed for
the show. So alleging real emotional distress
from being the butt of the joke without consent?
Exactly. The second lawsuit is more recent, May
2024. This time, it was allegedly a segment producer
on the show suing Knoxville. A producer? What
was the claim? The allegation was that Knoxville
tased him during the filming of the show. Tased
a producer. Okay, that's blurring lines even
within the production. It definitely raises questions
about workplace safety. And the inherent risks
when your whole premise is built on surprise
and sometimes simulated violence or shock. Yeah.
It shows the potential downsides, the legal blowback,
when the chaos spills over onto people who maybe
didn't fully sign up for that level of involvement.
Right. The cost can be more than just physical
injury. It can be legal fees and reputational
hits. Which brings us to the personal cost, the
physical toll this career has taken on him. We
touched on the injuries, but let's talk about
his personal life, too. Yeah, the sources give
us some insight there. He's had two long -term
marriages. First was to Melanie Ling Cates. They
married in 1995. Okay. They had a daughter together,
born in 96. She actually popped up in the credits
of Jackass No. 2 in 3D, which is kind of sweet.
Ah, that is nice. How long were they married?
They divorced around 2008, finalized in 2009.
The sources note there was a child support agreement,
$6 ,000 a month. Okay. Did he remarry? Yes. In
2010, he married Naomi Nelson. They had two more
children. a son born in late 2009 and another
daughter in 2011. So three kids all together.
Was the second marriage still going? He filed
for divorce from Naomi Nelson in June 2022, and
the sources say it was finalized in 2024. So
two significant marriages, both lasting over
a decade. It suggests a desire for stability
in his personal life, even amidst the professional
chaos. It really does. A family man behind the
mayhem. But that mayhem definitely took its toll
physically. We know about broken bones, concussions,
but the sources mention one injury in particular
that sounds... Uniquely horrific. Ah, yes. This
is probably the most extreme example of the physical
price he paid. It stems from a stunt he did for
a tribute to Evil Neville. Jackass presence.
Matt Hoffman's tribute to Evil Neville. Okay,
what happened? It wasn't a bone break, was it?
No. He tore his urethra. Oh, sorry. It tore his
urethra. The tube inside. Yes. Medically speaking,
a severe injury to the urinary tract. Extremely
painful, obviously. And complicates... Well,
basic bodily functions. I can't even imagine.
How do you even recover from something like that?
Well, the recovery detailed in the sources is
intense. Yeah. It involved a procedure called
urinary catheterization, but not just in the
hospital. What do you mean? He had to perform
it on himself twice a day. Wait. He had to insert
a catheter tube into his own penis up to his
bladder himself. That's what the sources state
he described. He had to do the self -catheterization
twice daily. The reason was crucial to prevent
scar tissue from forming and potentially blocking
the urethra permanently. My God, that's beyond
a stunt injury. That's long -term invasive medical
self -management. How long did he have to do
this for? This is the truly staggering part.
According to the source material where he discussed
it, he had to do this procedure on himself twice
a day for three and a half years. Three and a
half years. Three and a half years. That just,
that reframes everything, doesn't it? That level
of hidden... Painful, disciplined commitment
required just to function normally after one
stunt. It's not just about being reckless. It's
about enduring the consequences with this almost
unbelievable level of fortitude. Exactly. It
moves jackass from just guys hurting themselves
for laughs to something deeper. Yeah, highlights
an extraordinary level of dedication, not just
to the stunt itself, but to the incredibly difficult
long -term recovery. That's not anarchy. That's
resilience. That's professionalism in a very
strange, painful way. Wow. Okay. So pulling all
these threads together, the stunts, the acting,
the producing, the wrestling, the injuries, the
business deals, what's the final picture? What
does this deep dive tell us about Johnny Knoxville?
I think the key takeaway is that he's fundamentally
a creator who refused to be pigeonholed. When
plan A traditional acting didn't work, he didn't
quit. He created Plan B. He literally invented
his own path by turning self -destruction into
content. And that content became the foundation
for everything else. Dickhouse Productions, Hello
Junior, The Paramount Deal. He leveraged the
chaos into real Hollywood power. Absolutely.
He built a production house, maintained a parallel
acting career, playing diverse roles from aliens
to Oscar -bait parts like The Winger, even conquered
WrestleMania. He managed his brand across decades
in different media. It all comes back to that
central paradox, doesn't it? The wild man on
screen, the shrewd businessman off screen, the
guy getting gored by bulls who also negotiates
first look deals. Precisely. And we've seen the
immense physical cost that urethra injury requiring
years of self -care is just mind blowing. And
the potential legal costs as seen with the prank
panel when the tranks affect non -consenting
parties. So now he's 54, he's podcasting, he's
producing, still acting. Seems like maybe a slight
shift towards less physically demanding work,
maybe. It seems that way. Which leads us to the
final thought, the question for you, the listener,
to consider. Okay, what's that? The jackass brand
is still incredibly potent, but Knoxville himself.
The man, Philip John Clapp, is evolving. He's
building this legacy as a producer, an actor,
a businessman. How long can the commercial appeal
of the jackass chaos really sustain itself? if
the central figure is increasingly moving towards
safer, more behind -the -scenes roles? That's
a great question. What endures more strongly
in the end? Is it the image of the fearless,
often -injured stunt performer? Or is it the
legacy of the savvy creator and producer who
built an empire out of it, the guy who signed
the Paramount deal? Will the producer ultimately
overshadow the performer, especially given the
incredible hidden price that performance demanded?
What will define Johnny Knoxville 50 years from
now? The stunts or the studio deals? Something
to definitely think about. The architect of controlled
chaos, indeed. Well, that's all the time we have
for this deep dive. Thanks for joining us. We'll
catch you in the next one.