AVC: It's funny to hear all of this considering you'd sworn off doing anything Jackass-related after the first film.
JK: After the first movie, all the guys were like, "Let's go out on a good note," if that's a good note. [Laughs.] I was done, and it wasn't until Jeff and I went out with Wildboyz to shoot that he convinced me… I don't know. But I'm gonna get another beer. You need one? That was a pretty good answer though, huh?
JF: But Knoxville, on his downtime, would come out with [Wildboyz], and for no money. We had no budget to pay him, so he was just coming out for the love of the game.
AVC: Were you feeling stifled by the other stuff you were working on?
JK: No, nothing like that. Fuck, I'd have a ball with the Wildboyz. I know what we do is silly, but I love it.
AVC: You've mentioned in the past how you wanted to work with Wes Anderson, but are you concerned at all that Number Two will reinforce your image as "that Jackass guy" with other producers and directors?
JK: I don't give a fuck. [Laughs.] I don't care. I do like your example, Wes Anderson, but if someone doesn't want to work with me, that's fine. What'd Paul Newman say? "I can always go back to scotch. It's been very good to me."
AVC: So you don't feel limited by this persona of "Hey, I'm Johnny Knoxville—I kick ass!"
JK: Is it that bad? Is it that fucking cheesy? [Laughs.]
JF: It's just what we do. It's not an apology. It's so fun to have the band back together.
JK: Fuck 'em. [Laughs.]
AVC: Is it true you once turned down joining Saturday Night Live?
JK: That was right before we were getting to shoot the pilot.
JF: The ball was rolling on Jackass, but it was going slow. We made a little tape basically showing what Jackass was. It was going around, and it was really popular. SNL got a hold of it. They made an offer, and it almost killed the deal because it was a sure thing for him, but he gambled on…
JK: My smart friends, most of which haven't even graduated high school. When we were doing the rocket stuff [a scene in which Knoxville rides a rocket over a lake], there were like 23 rocket scientists on the set. Two we hired, and the rest were everyone telling me what the rocket's going to do. I'm like, "These fuckers didn't graduate high school, and suddenly they're rocket scientists?" "The torque's gonna take you in this…" I'm like, "Are you fucking serious?
JF: Bam [Margera] gave you sound advice.
JK: Yeah: "Hold on like a motherfucker." And he didn't graduate high school, so see, you don't even fucking need high school.
AVC: You came out to California right after graduating high school, on a scholarship at the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts. But you dropped out after just a few weeks. Why?
JK: Looks like I should have stayed in, huh? I could've used those extra few weeks—you've seen some of my films. I don't know; I was 18, man. I was two months out of high school, and I started at this place. I'd just sit in class and tap my foot.
AVC: How weird was it coming from your home state of Tennessee to Los Angeles?
JK: I took some years of adjusting. I was just going nuts—five, six years, doing nothing but getting loaded. I didn't know anybody. I'd always had family; I come from a really close family. Then, suddenly, "Have at it." And I had at it. What calmed me down finally was when my girlfriend got pregnant. It was like, "Oh, I guess I gotta do something." So I started writing for magazines. My next-door neighbor helped get a commercial agent for me. That's what gave me focus.
AVC: Now that you're 35, have you noticed a difference in how your body takes all of this punishment?
JK: Nah, I could just stand there. The only two things I can do, we decided, are "stand in that one spot" or "grab onto this." I can do that at 29; I can do that at 35. I'm in just as shitty shape now as I was then.
AVC: You don't feel more aches and pains like an old NFL quarterback? Supposedly John Elway needed help to get out of bed at the end of his career.
JF: That's probably coming.
JK: That's a pretty long distance, from Elway to me.
AVC: You're the John Elway of this.
JK: Of this. [Laughs.] Oh man, no. Hopefully I'm more of the Conrad Dobler.
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