RAWTALK - Steve-O Reveals His Near Death Experiences, Substance Abuse & The Craziest Jackass Stunt

Episode Date: November 28, 2023

Sponsored by: MANSCAPED : http://Manscaped.com Use Code Rawtalk at checkout for 20% off your order & Free Shipping.Factor Meals: http://Factormeals.com/rawtalk50 and use code rawtalk50 to get 50% off your order! 0:00 intro 0:53 How old was Steve-o when he started making content? 2:19 Spike Jonze 3:04 1990, Steveo makes his first video 3:30 steveo hated school 4:05 why steveo decided to do crazy videos 7:15 How steveo used to edit his own videos 8:55 How the downfalls of steveos life helped him 9:14 steveo was a circus clown 10:08 steveo and substance abuse 12:15 when steveo realized his lifestyle was taking a toll on him 12:50 steveo tries to become a rapper 13:50 Steveos history with substances 16:55 Crazy substance stories 18:45 steveos spiritual trip 20:19 Steveo doesn't follow a religion 21:15 steveos crazy shoe story 24:00 How steveos life changed being sober 27:00 How addiction affected steveo & the cast members of J.A. 28:40 Bam Margera and His addiction 31:00 Steveo gives advice on how to overcome addiction 32:26 Why it's hard to take accountability 35:15 would steveo be alive if he still struggled with addiction? 37:15 how important it is to be informed on recovery 39:33 How rehab helps with other aspects of life 45:25 Near death experiences/life review 47:59 Why steveo stays away from any type of substance 50:25 the benefit of near death experiences 54:36 Humans make life complicated 55:39 Money will NEVER fulfill you 57:04 steveo thought he was going to pass in his early 20's 59:34 Steveo gets sick from money 1:03:15 Money isn't everything 1:03:40 "a man who has nothing" 1:06:25 steveo realizes his progress in his recovery 1:07:45 Life is a catch 22 1:10:08 Are people taking pranking too far? 1:10:55 Jack*** is all fun and games 1:13:24 The most harmful pranks did the best 1:17:35 The craziest story steveo has never told 1:19:20 The poo cannon 1:20:00 Steveo talks his new "bucketlist" Movie 1:23:00 Are all Steveo's pranks original? 1:24:16 Swallowing a live goldfish 1:24:39 Most viral bit in jacka** 1:26:10 The most dangerous prank 1:26:50 was jacka** johnny knoxville's idea? 1:29:28 Steveo was the favorite of the cast of Jacka** 1:30:30 Steve-o got taken advantage of with business deals 1:33:18 Why steve started making YouTube videos 1:35:00 would steveo go back to change anything in his life? 1:37:20 Steveo and synchronicity 1:39:44 Letting go can bring you success 1:44:30 Negative self talk is not good for humans

Dude, thank you for coming. Dude, thank you for having me, man. Candidly, everybody, I hit up Bradley. I said, dude, can I come on your show? Yeah, but I wanted you on for a while, honestly, for a long time. For tons of reasons. I mean, dude, I watched you when I was growing up, and I think a lot of people probably can say the same thing.

I want to get right into it, though. Obviously, you sent me the kind of stand-up variety show type multimedia thing you sent. Yeah. And I watched probably the first seven minutes of it. I guess, like, what I'm so interested in you is, like, when you started all this shit in the very beginning, number one, how old were you when you first started, like, making content? Okay. And then number two, prior to you doing that, was there any examples of what you do not currently today, but when you first started being successful? Yeah, not even, man.

I, like, where did the idea come from? Just to be like, I'm going to do this, the craziest outlandish. Skateboarding led me into the video camera. You know, like, basically all skateboarders make videos of themselves doing tricks. 100%. I remember that those days. And there's really no other activity which lends itself to, you know, being documented quite the way skateboarding does.

Like, if you want to be a professional tennis player, then you get to win matches. You don't need to videotape anything. You just win. Anything with sports, you just win. Like, if you think about it, man, I don't know of really anything except skateboarding that, like, you know, really, really involved, like, so much videotaping. And, like, lifestyle, right? Well, yeah, I mean, think before YouTube, you know. Like, I made my first videos with, you know, cassette recorders, VCRs.

And that gave skateboarders a big head start on video production. Like Spike Jones, the Academy Award-winning movie director. His first video project was a skateboarding video. Yeah. And, you know, I wasn't that great at skateboarding, but I just loved the way that the video camera allowed me to edit out failures and effectively manipulate people's perception of me you know you can just show the times when you made it yeah and uh the idea of i don't know just the idea of being able to exist in more

places than you actually are because people are watching you you know like that blew me away and i was always an attention horn and uh you know it was 1990 when i made my first video i was one year old one year old there you go man I was 15 So 15 years old I made my first video I went to the University of Miami When I was 18

And I just couldn't Bring myself to go to class I couldn't keep a job Like I failed out of college And I just thought man I don't have what it takes To survive in the world You know like

Can't work Can't go to school Like I'm just not going to make it And my only plan As I dropped out of the University of Miami was I'm going to become a crazy famous stuntman by videotaping, you know, crazy stuff with with the home video camera. You know what's so interesting.

You said you started it by being like skateboarding and showing the highlights of when you win, like when you do good. Yeah. But your whole career is like showing all the f***ed up shit. Sure. Because I find it interesting because it makes sense. Like you've, I'm assuming you're filming skateboard stuff and you guys probably start around.

Like where did the idea come out to be like, let's do this like outlandish shit? Well, the thing about skateboarding, like from the very beginning, even skateboarders, even the most diehard skateboarders couldn't sit through an hour of nothing but skateboarding. It would just become tedious and monotonous. So from the very beginning of skateboarding videos, they always had like comic relief to break it up. And that comic relief would be like really, really, you know, reckless, wild, like, Just, you know, crazy, crazy shit. So when I was dropping out of college, I wanted to be like crazy, famous stunt guy, but I still really loved skateboarding.

And I wanted to make it my mission to be that comic relief in skateboarding videos. And as it turned out, the first, like, real, I mean, I got some, I got a number of different skateboard videos. but the ones that were like the most impactful were made by this skateboarding magazine Big Brother and that they had the craziest crap in their videos and the guy in charge of Big Brother magazine was Jeff Tremaine and he he in Knoxville reached out to Spike Jones Spike Jones grew up with Jeff Tremaine in Maryland

and they said to Spike they're like dude people love our Big Brother videos but nobody cares about the skateboarding They said, we think if we take out the skateboarding, just the crazy crap that's left over could be a TV show. And when you took out the skateboarding from Big Brother, you were left with Weeman and Knoxville and Pontius and me. So it's crazy that my lack of skill for skateboarding, you know, I was like, oh, I'll just settle for being the crazy guy

and doing dumb stuff in the skateboarding videos. You built an entire life around it. Yeah, it turned out to be the thing. And, you know, going back to when, like, when I first started making content, yeah, I was 15. 1993, I devoted myself to pursuing a path of just videotape and crazy stuff. And in 1993, I imagine that they had the real world by then, like the very first seasons. Is this when you were 18 then? In 1993, I had just turned, like when I dropped out of the University of Miami, I had just

turned 19 okay uh yeah i just turned 19 and um yeah maybe they had real world but back then the the home video camera was not a household item there wasn't they didn't even have the internet and the internet came out in 1996 we had a lot to talk about all this stuff keep going yeah the internet didn't you know and even after the internet came out you wouldn't be able to watch video on the internet until way later in the 2000s um so yeah so the way that i would get noticed like i would literally like plug together to vcrs which stands for video cassette recorder i would hit play on one and record on the other like selectively like you know that's how i edited and then i would duplicate the videos and literally walk to the post office and put you

Isn't it crazy that like 99% of the content creators now probably would never do that then to make content? Because it's so easy now. Just pick your phone, Ben. Right, for sure. Like you went through everything to figure out how to make content. Yeah, it was, there was a very little noise to rise above because there were very few people creating any kind of content. And it's a valid and interesting question. Like if I was born 20 years later, would I have been able to achieve like the,

the notoriety, like the modicum of success that I did. And in one sense, it would be very, very difficult. There's so much noise to try to rise above. Yeah. But in another sense, I am such a persistent bastard, such a genuinely, like, rabid attention. I think I would have done it. I think you would have done it too.

I mean, bro, the fact that you're the age that you are now, you're in your mid-40s, right? I'm almost 50. Yeah, and you're still doing it. I mean, you've gone through everything. You know what I find so interesting? Like, you obviously, you dealt with drugs, right? Issues.

Oh, yeah, big time. Where did that fit into your success in like your timeline of like jackass and everything that you did? I had a serious issue with alcohol before jackass. Yeah. And before jackass, I was a circus clown. Like an actual circus. Yeah, yeah. I dropped out at the University of Miami in 1993.

I was homeless for three years. Then I moved in with my sister in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and she found out about Ringling Brothers in Barnum and Belly Clown College. And she was like, oh, this would be perfect for my brother. And I thought the same thing. I thought if I could be a graduate of Ringling Brothers in Barnum and Belly Clown College, then people would take me more seriously because I'd be a trained circus professional, and this would further my goal of becoming a stuntman.

But, you know, it kind of worked out that way. And I went to clown college. I had a career as a clown working on cruise ships and in this pretty haggard flea market circus. And then, you know, and then Jackass starts. Like, it did it just a wild thing? So did you start obviously leading up to Jackass? Right.

The drug started. I mean, I didn't really do cocaine on any kind of a regular basis until I moved in with my sister in Albuquerque. Like, there was just, like, more of that going on. The drugs, I mean... And what's specifically? I come from a long line of alcoholics. Like, everybody on my mom's side of the family is all, like, 100% of that family tree has alcoholism and addiction issues. I started, like, getting loaded, smoking pot every day, drinking all the time.

when I was 16 and that just you know that that was from then on um when Jackass started I like I was even when I was in the circus I like was heavily abusing and always drunk um did you do it to perform I don't think I mean I would definitely do it to stay awake you know like I'd be awake for like a whole weekend of shows in the circus and yeah and if I didn't keep doing and I'd just like fall asleep. Crash out, yeah, for days. But yeah, it wasn't necessarily like to work or on any level to try to be successful. I don't think it ever, I don't think drugs or alcohol ever furthered my productivity or my success on any level.

And at the same time, though, it did work for me, man. Like in the first so many years, it was like my persona, like the wide. crazy drunk you know like whatever like he'll do anything and I leaned into it but then it uh it distinctly stopped working

for me and got to when was that um I was really out of control by like 2003 and shit doesn't see I mean I was really really out of control but it hadn't like turned on me really badly I would say it

really turned on me badly in 2007, and I got sober in 2008. What were you doing at the time in 2000? Were you still working on jackass? There were four years in between each of the first three jackass movies, and we had a jackass, the second jackass movie came out in 2006. So I wasn't really doing a whole lot in 2007. I was trying to become a rapper. It was pretty bad.

And I was like doing a lot of drugs in 2008. When you say a lot of just mean like a lot of cocaine? A lot of cocaine. I would go through like the stead. It was a steady, like a permanent thing. And I would go through like phases of like heavy duty inhaling night time. Bro. Okay.

Like that's insane. Because I did this, I remember doing this once when I was like, I must have been 15. You're talking about like, you know, like the dust off things? Yeah, yeah, I never did the dust off thing. Okay. I never did the dust off thing. I'm talking about whip it, which is like they make, like, they have the shit at Starbucks, you know? Like they put the little cartridge in and they make whipped cream.

Yeah. Yeah, like I would inhale those cartridges. Can't that just like kill you though? I'm sure I can. I'm sure there are some people who. They do it and just done. I'm sure some people have died. idea. It's definitely not good for you.

It's weird. I remember I did that once and was like this was, it was like, uh, everything felt like, whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah, for sure. You know? I would do it with the, the express purpose of losing consciousness where I'm like flopping around like I'm conscious and then I would wake up and like, whoa. Did you do it to like, to like, to like, you're doing it because like a group of people and they wanted to see you do it or you were just like, I just wanted to have that experience. You just by yourself. I'm going to crash. Whoa. See, that's, that one's, there's video footage of me, too, like, doing that. Just crashing out, too?

Yeah, just l-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-lo-l-l-lo-you-ro, you know. That's insane. What else? I would go through phases of heavy, uh, kid, um, yeah. And, and, like, if I could get it and pee-st-you've taken, yeah, I, I smoked a lot of pieces, particularly when I was in New York. Isn't that, like, they say that, like, you could take that and could just, like, change. you forever like one time um obviously i've never tried it i just that's what i would rule that out

as a possibility but i don't know that what do you actually experience on that um people and are uh a class of drugs known as dissociative and um dissociative i would describe it as uh not like not an upper or a downer per se but it uh it uh it just throws like a like a warp filter on your on your realities like I remember like one time like like and like just I was in a bathtub and like I'm only in a bathtub but like to look at my feet they were like 30 feet away you know like there's like there's just like depth perception was off and like it's a mixed bag too like you'll have different experiences at different time all right boys quick and rush to the podcast check this out holiday season

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So you were, none of those things scared you. I loved it. I loved it. I couldn't get enough of it. I would just like, I would just be piling more and more into my body to try to keep more stuff like that happening. And you were never afraid of just like dying. No, no, um, I, I, like when I was really in it, like there were times where I thought, like, man, I'm genuinely killing myself. Like, there's one time, I, you know, I've described that I was, like, hearing voices.

Like, it, to stay awake for so many hours would bring about what's known as psychosis, where you're, you're hallucinating, you know, seeing. Well, perhaps, yeah. I would have to be the cause of it. But I would be hearing voices, you know, like in my ears. Like as if I had like an ear piece, I'd be hearing like voices talking to me. I would have hallucinations, which, you know, any number of things would happen. But like there would be people walking around that I would see. And they were just never actually there. I had like these experiences with with hallucinations, like tactile. hallucinations where you actually feel things like there was a this big chair that that I sat in and like it just erupted into flames and I thought it was the coolest thing ever ever because like the flames weren't burning me I was just in this big chair and it's like wow cool it's on fire you know like and uh and uh again I would just keep wanting to do more and more drugs and at one point I had like all these pills and all this pain and all this nice oxide and I was just looking at it like in front of me and I was in that same chair

And I remember, like, having the distinct thought, like, like, like, I'm straight up killing myself with all this. And I remember thinking, like, you know, like, who cares? And just in that one moment of thinking, I don't care if I die, like, the chair just with me in it. Like, I just had the experience that it was like, like, a big guy like you, like spun the chair. you know like it was a tactile hallucination and i know that if there was like a video camera set up that like nothing would happen you were just i had i had the experience you know i had the experience and it was like a really really powerful message like that like in response to me thinking i don't care if i die it was just like like some spiritual entity yeah thought like think again like it was

in response to that thought like where your subconscious was like no yeah and and uh that that That happened in 2007, and the following year in 2008, when I went to rehab, they put a lot of emphasis on, like, having a higher power. You know, like, it's, there's just a spiritual component to recovery, and it was very impressed upon me, very, very important to have a higher power. And, you know, I've hated religion as long as I've been alive. I just think it's awful, and I can't stand it. but i i remember making a very deliberate decision in rehab that my higher power whatever i what i'm

going to pray to yeah is whatever made that chair spin with me in it because like it was a response to the thought like i don't care if i die and like whatever spiritual entity made me have the experience of that chair spinning like is an entity that cares about me that's not me and it's It's like whatever it is. Do you have a relationship with God? Do you pray? I meditate every day. I maintain an average of more than 40 minutes meditating every single day for coming up on four years.

Yeah. Damn. I take it super seriously, too. So spirituality is more so like you lean towards that. Sure. I mean, like, you don't identify it as like God or some sort of religion. I mean, I just call it the universe. You know, I think the word God is super polarized.

because it's trying to like attach some kind of human traits to uh all that is yeah if you if you just say the universe like the universe is not a polarizing concept and it's like very synonymous with whatever people are referring to as god yeah i get it dude that's that's that's i mean that's beautiful though that like something it's like almost as if you know you weren't supposed to keep going down that road. I mean, yeah, I had a bunch of like little spiritual interventions where they were like, what the, what the, are you doing moments? I had, yeah, I had, um, this, this wall of, of shoes that it was like there were horizontal shelves and vertical shelves. So there was all these cubby holes. And I had a shoe sponsor and in each little cubby was a pair of shoes like on display. Yeah. And, um, I remember like

at one point like just again i was just in such a dark place in 2007 and um like the the the powerful message was like all right like stop it you know stop with all the and and and stop it and all of the shoes the whole wall of shoes just started like you know like tapping their turn like you know like impatiently tapping their choice like okay like we're waiting like you know stop already you got to be done with this yeah you got to be done with it and um There was a notebook that I did my work with in rehab, and I wrote on it. Like, that chair spun those shoes tapped, period. And that was like, that was my thing.

I wrote on the notebook, man. Did you have people around you at the time that were, like, encouraging or not encouraging? I surrounded myself with yes people that would allow for me to keep. And it's sad because, like, there was nothing about those people. Like, they weren't bad people. They were, you know, like, they were just people who I was able to, you know, have a power dynamic over, you know, like, Steve-O and this guy. If you were going to have a relationship with me at that time, that relationship was 100% on my terms. And if you were going to push back or tell me, like, anything I didn't want to hear, you were gone.

So the only people that could be around me were yes people. And they were all wonderful people. but, you know, they were, like, arguably as sick as I was. Yeah. So, so when that started to change for you, did you notice that, like, other aspects or other dynamics of your life got better? Like, obviously taking things and not taking it's better. For sure.

I mean, if you're asking, like, did I notice my life change when I got clean and sober? Yeah, obviously, yeah. And I think that, like, that there's, like, it's. spiritual law that like the way we treat others is a reflection of how we feel about ourselves absolutely and at over the course of of uh you know just the deterioration of of me like with drugs and alcohol like i think that i can just it's almost like a timeline of just my self-esteem just deteriorating because my actions were just so shameful and like I was just so pathetic man you know and like I my self-esteem my self-worth just got

lower and lower and lower and I developed an ability to be like genuinely nasty you know like the way that I treated others was was very affected and like I would try to hurt people's reputation I would try to do damage to people's reputations like hurt their feelings like I was just nasty and venomous at times and that's something that took a long time to heal from yeah because you were doing it essentially to yourself like you said right for sure and and like in recovery that you know like in recovery rehab you know they talk about building self-esteem through esteemable acts you know like we uh we just how we help how we feel about ourselves by behaving in a way that that we can feel good

about you know like and and we can improve the way we feel about ourselves by deliberately changing the way we treat others it works both ways yeah so if you go out of your way to be cool to people and do the right thing then like the natural effect is that you're going to feel better about yourself is this something that you you've always believed in or was it just like rehab made you realize that i think that i would have always believed it and um you know when i was in my descent into you know a really, really dark addiction, my whole deal was that I would have said, nobody's perfect. We all know that. There's no such thing as perfect.

So if you're going to be happy, you need to embrace your imperfections. And that was just my story. Like, yeah, I'm not perfect. Nobody is. So I'm just like okay with being a, like, validated it. Yeah, I'm just okay with being a pathetic addict who's, who's capable of being really nasty. Yeah. That was just like I called it my imperfections, which I'm okay.

with so everyone leave me alone yeah um i'm curious so so in regard to like the stuff and jackash did that ever affect your relationship with other guys or other cast members sure sure there was um you know the movie boogie nights yeah where like at the end of the movie marky mark is like super tweaked out on and like bert reynolds you know like won't film him He's like, you're, you are in this condition, you know, in this state, I will not have you on camera in the state. And, and Mark Wahlberg's like, no, come on, like, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. It's like, you know, like that kind of same exact thing was like what happened on Jackass, you know.

Like there was a point when, on the second movie, like one of the scenes in the second movie, BAM was being branded. You know, it was like a brick-shaped brand. And, you know, he kept moving, and then they kept reburs. It was like a bunch of brands, like all a mess of it. And that was like the funny bit. But I swear, I'm pretty damn sure that that was supposed to be me getting branded.

But, like, you know, I think of that I would, maybe I was late for call time or something. Like they sent somebody into my room. And I was just laying there with blue lips, like, was all, like, fished out on the dogs had, like, huffing night. And they're like, yeah, dude, like, yeah, that's not it, dude. Like, you're not on camera today. Yeah. We're not filming you in this state.

So Bam got the bit. Yeah. Did, because I know he, he dealt with some, like, drug abuse and alcohol abuse as well, right? Oh, Bam? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

For sure. Like, famously. Yeah. I mean, and, and it's going, from what I understand, Bams isn't really. the best place that he's been in in a long, long time. Like, you know, I think that he's credibly clean and sober for 90 days now. Yeah. And personally, I attribute that to a criminal case that he's got going on.

Like he assaulted his brother. Like he made terroristic threats to his family. And he was arrested for that. And I think that the court system, the judge, is really taking the case, like, pretty seriously, not based on the severity of the crimes, it's misdemeanor stuff, but the court is recognizing, like, how seriously he needs help. And so I think the court is ready to impose very real consequences if Bam fails a drug test or, you know, like it runs into trouble with alcohol. And I think Ban is super, super scared of like being in a jail cell. Yeah.

And I think that that is like that the fear of being locked up is inspiring him to like actually like be really clean and sober. And that's a great way to get a start. Yeah. You know, that's a whatever it makes us like start out the journey of recovery. It doesn't matter what it is. But as of. Yet, we've not seen any accountability, like, you know, like everything when BAM's talking about stuff, it's like, oh, it's everybody else's fault but his. And I think that really, like, what, what brings about change is accountability, you know, like, you really can't expect sobriety to last or be meaningful if every, if all your problems are somebody else's fault.

100%. So to someone who might be dealing with that or someone who may deal with that, what sort of advice would you give someone to like start that process of really accepting that like, yo, this is a me problem? Because most people go like, yeah, it's everyone else's fault. Yeah. And I'm not even suggesting that like that it's about, you know, like admitting your rhyme. I mean, it is. It is. It's about admitting you're wrong. It's about accepting responsibility for your mistakes. But more than that, it's, like we can't control like other people places and things and as long as we uh you know see ourselves as being at the mercy of other people places and things then we're going to have a

mental like a victim mentality and if you've got a victim mentality then it's like congrats you're a victim you know and you're living in everyone else's like whatever confinement they put you in it's like congratulations you're a victim and you've got a valid excuse for why your life sucks you know but that's like what's going to happen if you put your destiny and the control of things that are you know people in places beyond your control like yeah like the only thing we can control is our own actions our own thoughts our own behaviors and um that's what that's where it's at yeah why you take control of your own shit why do you think it's so hard for people to do that Because there's so many times when, like, I even look back and I'm like, oh, I knew this was me and I let it drag on because I didn't want to accept it like I needed to fucking change it.

Dude, that's the million dollar question, man, because most people are just so unwilling, even unable to admit that they're wrong. And it's counterintuitive because when somebody admits they're wrong, that like automatically like earns respect. Yeah. somebody steps up and says, yo, I'm wrong. I want to acknowledge that I'm wrong. And I want to like do what I can to make it right. That person has just won the respect of whoever this thing that they're saying that they're saying that too. Yeah. And it's it commands respect. It's endearing. It's productive. And it, you know, it paves the way forward for becoming a better version of yourself. Yeah. And most people are just not willing to do that. I wouldn't

have ever been willing to do that if I wasn't conditioned to buy like this this whole you know 12-step recovery yeah you know community that I live in so as far as like what what would I recommend it's just really super simple that um that alcoholism addiction is uh it is a disease it's centered in our mind and it's characterized by an inability to choose when or how much you're going to drink or take drugs. You just literally do not have the power to choose. You do not have the ability to stop. And nothing that you do on your own will ever give you that power. You have no power. That's step one of the 12 steps is we admitted we were powerless over alcohol or drugs or six or whatever.

And so in admitting that, you're recognizing that you can't beat the problem by yourself. You can only do it with help in a community. Yeah. And so the advice is find that community. Even if it's just one person, find that one person and say, hey, I admit that I'm powerless. I got my ass beat and now I'm ready to accept help.

Just don't try to do it on your own. Yeah. And, dude, that's amazing what you've done, honestly. Well, thanks, man. I'm super, super grateful for it. Like, I owe everything to it. Like, 100%, man. Do you think if you kept going down that road, you wouldn't be here today?

If I was still alive after going down that road, to this point today, I'd be better off dead. I think, you know, if I wasn't dead, I'd probably, I think everybody would wish that I was. You know, it's sad to say, you know, but like, I think there are certain people who when, when you learn that they did die, you think, hmm, you know, like, finally that person is at peace. Damn. You know, like. Yeah. And I don't, like, you know, I know that when, when we all learned that Aaron Carter had passed away, like, like, I remember thinking, you know, he's in a.

I think he's genuinely in a better place now. I think a lot of people, I saw a lot of people saying that. I think he's genuinely in a better place now. I think that he's finally at peace. That's a good thing. And it's just like unbelievably tragic and sad that he left behind like a one-year-old baby. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, it's always like, yeah. So that's how it is, man. I don't know. I would like to think that if I didn't get clean and sober that I would have been dead by now, because I think that peace would be much better than any possible life that I could have had. Yeah, dude, it's heavy. But it's, but it's a blessing that you just sit and talk about it

because you could help so many people with this kind of stuff, man. It was something I really wanted to talk about today. Hey, man, I never shy away from it, you know? Like, I don't ever seek to do interviews just to talk about recovery, you know? Like, there are like all kinds of podcasts, there's all kinds of like, you know, whatever media outlets that are like solely focused on recovery. And I always like turn it down. The reason why I like talking about it beyond just the idea

and the aspect of recovery and how important that is, is that everything in our lives like fall down to that same concept of it's up to us. Right. Like the idea of things that happened to me is everyone else's fault but my own. Right. Like I've dealt with that. I know tons of people who I have conversations with. And you always see the minute that they realize like, yeah,

like I could be the best person do all these things right and like he thinks could happen to me and I can find myself in a situation where like you know I think the best situation is going to happen but like there's still like my not everything's my fault but there's still faults that like I will look back and I'll be like ah well I could have given this a little bit more time but I was overly optimistic not that everything's my fault that that person struck me or this but everything does start here it's all it's all like of self right so the same concepts right yeah And it's so, it's so rad to hear, like, somebody who's not kind of in, you know, my world describe it. Because they're describing precisely what it is.

And the way that we say it is that, you know, it's not that everything's our fault. It's that we have a part in everything. Yeah, our choices. Yeah. And, like, and, you know, in the 12 steps, the fourth step says, you know, we made a fearless moral inventory of ourselves. searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves which i don't necessarily agree with the wording of that because the word fearless suggests that it's something to be afraid of and the word moral suggests that it's something about being like a good or bad person right and it's neither of those

things the inventory is is about uh listing examples uh of things in your life which make you uncomfortable and drive you to soothe yourself with whatever substance or behavior it is. You know, like what the reason why the alcoholic drinks is because there's just this unbelievable discomfort in their own skin, and they just can't stand it, and they have to soothe it by drinking or taking drinks. You know, and so the idea of the 12 steps and of the inventory is to get to the root of that discomfort and so in the inventory process we start off by making a list of resentments you know like we just feel so so burned up with resentment we're so angry like you know it's everybody

this person did that that happen yeah that the discomfort of the resentment we have to sue that with drinking and then in so we make the list of resentments with with four columns the first column uh i feel resentful towards and then it's a person place or a thing and then the second column the cause and in that second column this is where you can write your victim story about how you got screwed over by the and then the third column the like what what is affected like what's the what's the the button that's being pushed that's really affecting you like and that that can be uh they're they're messing with my money you know like like my my financial security is at stake here my sex relations is at stake my uh you know my um

my personal relations, my pride is at stake, my self-esteem. It's like with whatever button is being pushed, which is important to know. And then the fourth column is the only one that really matters is what is my part in this? Yeah. Like what, what, like, what can I change about myself that would, you know, and in that fourth column, you, you identify how you could just handle it differently. So that no matter how much the world has wronged you, that you're not going to have to be, like, be, like, so affected by it.

Yeah. Well, that's the thing that's so interesting is, like, because I've never dealt with, like, severe addiction in this sense. Right. But all those concepts in that last column, like, the self, like, okay, this is, this was my place and how I got to this point in this situation or whatever. It's relevant, not just to, like, alcoholism or addiction. It's relevant just to, like, self-improvement.

And, like, that's what everyone should be. thinking about in all these circumstances, whether it be like a love relationship or a business relationship. For sure. You have to find your point where it's like, okay, I know that like, yeah, I came here with the best intentions. And, you know, for a lot of people, it's like heartbreak or it's a business fuck up or someone fuck you over, right? I've been there many times. And I could always, I'm on, I don't really do all these other ones, but I'm on the last one where I're like, okay, well, I did allow this because I wasn't checking that. You know, I wasn't as aware of this thing that I could have been aware of that I'm now aware of that if me over in this way,

but now I'm able to look at it differently and be better moving forward. And this is just literally everything and every success in life is related to the same exact concept, which is why I think it's so dope. And I've never even heard these steps before that. I mean, dude, it's epic, man. And what's great about the inventory and that fourth column where you identify your part and how you could have handled it, you know, differently so that you wouldn't like have to get loaded over it, no matter what it is.

Let's say like, you know, I'm resentful of like the, you know, say hypothetically, like, I was, I was molested, you know? I'm resentful towards the person that molested me when I was a kid. Like, what's the cause here? Well, you've got, like, a defenseless, innocent kid that was, like, terribly violated, you know? Like, the kid didn't do anything wrong. And then it's like, so what do you put in the fourth column there? You know?

And the answer is, like, I'm still hanging on to it, you know? Like, I'm like a, I got like, I'm, the, I, I'm failing to have forgiveness. Yeah. You know, like the, like, you didn't, I need to cultivate forgiveness. That's my part. Like, I'm hanging on to this, you know, and I'm like letting, I'm not, I'm, my part is I'm not letting go of it. And then, like, you can go even further and deeper where it's like, anybody who's going

to commit that kind of an atrocious crime against a child is by, definition, not a healthy and happy person. You know, like there's a saying, hurt people, hurt people. Yeah. So as difficult as it is in that fourth column, you've got to say, hey, I'm resentful towards this person because I lack compassion. Like whatever their deep rooted sickness is that drives them to be even capable of harming another like this, that this is a sick person who needs compassion.

And it's tough, man. Yeah. It's really, really difficult to pray for people, to have compassion for people, to forgive people who have done such atrocious things, especially when they've done to you. But we're not doing it for that person. We're doing it for yourself. And that's where the power is. That's where the power of it is.

And I really, really heavily subscribe to, you know, the story. spiritual concept of oneness you know and and we're all interconnected like that the separation between you and i is just an illusion you know it's just an illusion and it's for the distinct purpose that the universe can experience itself because if the universe is just one thing and then it can't have any any experience yeah so the universe divides itself into me and you and everything else so that these different parts can relate to each other and in that relativity comes experience. And then if you've ever heard people have, people give their account of a near-death experience where they're dead, whether like they're like actually physically, like dead or not, like

these experiences are all so, so similar. So like they're the same thing. The people are coming back, and they're describing, like, what's called life review. You know, this thing, like, your life flashes before your eyes. Right. Like, I trip out on near-death experience videos on YouTube. Like, when people are describing the life review, like, there's no time component to it. Like, the amount of detail that these people are describing is, like, unbelievable.

And in going through the life review, you not only relive all of the worst shit that you did to others, but you relive it as that, as the others. Have you heard about that? No, but that would make sense. Like you, this whole, this whole illusion of separation is gone, and then you go through your whole life, and you actually experience from the perspective of the person who you harmed,

you have their experience from when you harm them and without the component of time so it's like like an eternity and like and the detail is like insane like it scares the crap out of me for how much like I'm going to have to you know to reap what you saw yeah for sure yeah and when you think about this life of you and if anybody's listening watching this like you know I'm here to promote a crazy multimedia comedy special but it's not more important than yeah checking out life review because like when you think about the person who screwed you over like man you know they tell you that the way to heal is to forgive the person to pray for the person not only to pray for the person but to pray for that person to get everything in their life that you want for yourself which is a

tall ass order it's a tall ass order but if you think about the life review process it makes it all just reflections like of ourselves is like the way we treat people like even the people that we bring into our lives is because like that was like that's us in a way in different versions yeah like what we allow to happen to ourselves is so much it man damn so so so you even you even avoid the ones that are like can could be beneficial all i mean people describe ayahuasca and the experience of it as like going through hell and like you know in in like this like in the trip like you're you're in like this gnarly hell and you're you're resolve all of these issues and you come out of the trip like having resolved like the your

things and it's like right you know like I really don't need I've been through plenty of hell I got I've been through plenty of hell and what do they say to about religion um they say religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell spirituality is for people who have been to hell. Interesting. Yeah, and they're over it. Because I had a, I had a, I've done it a few times now. And like my experience with it was like, I guess the best way I could summarize it, I had this moment where like life and death felt not the same, but everything felt kind of like okay. Like it was, it, it didn't feel like they were separate. Okay. And the best way I could describe that, maybe for me, because I was, I had struggled so much. And like, even to this day,

I'm still very pretty fearful of death, but way, way less than I ever was growing up. Right. it just created a sense of calmness for me in relationship to that and I think overall I think not having that like that idea and that your back of your shoulder your mind your head thinking like oh you know obviously someday I'm going to die we all are and I just lost that fear and I think it I'm not saying somebody needs to go do this to experience this because obviously the work even outside of like taking this medicine or this this is needs to be done in in our real life but I did get this sense of like it's it's okay even though forever you know I'd have these conversations and you talk to people and they be like yeah it's going to be okay and you know it's an

inevitable and you're it's going to be it's fine but i i really had this moment where like i really felt it not just heard it not just thought it not was just told it i had this weird feeling of like no this is like it's it's it's all it's all good 100% so i'm not obviously like i'm not i'm not trying to convince you to do this because you're past it like uh it's fine it i'm not even uh i'm not offended i'm not i'm not concerned um it's another benefit of watching these near-death experiences too because like it so the accounts are so similar like you can't have all these different people describing like the you know some similar stuff and not lend credibility to what they're saying

yeah and like the the common thread is that that that this physical like reality that we're in now is the tough part like that like they're the you like the consensus among everybody is that they're that they feel that they've gone home that they're embraced by pure love in in something that's more beautiful and spectacular than anything we could ever experience on earth as humans and that when like when they're in their you know like on the other side like it's they they're told that they have to come back and that's why they're back they're told that now you have to go back into your body and like across the board everybody's like yo that i don't want to go back you know i don't want to go back

into that you know and uh and they're like they're like made to go back in some very rare instances like they they they they feel they know that that a child or a loved one or someone like really needs them to come back and they'll do it willingly but like you know universally they're they all think it is way, the fact, way better on the other side. And you're talking about

all these different accounts that you've like, people have, you know, spoken about and like filming YouTube videos and like everyone's saying the same stuff. Yeah,

I mean, there's like, what do they? Like the near death society or so there's a whole like, there's literally a society of people who meet. Yeah,

it's, it's pretty epic too. I'll text you a particularly good one. Yeah, I'll send you a particularly good one. And, um, yeah,

It's just, it's so comforting. You know, they talk about being, like, reunited with, you know, everybody that you loved and lost, you know, like, they, like, when people come back from these near-death experiences, they, you know, they don't fear death at all. They're, like, they're, all of their, uh, materialism. They just don't give a crap about it anymore. They literally just want to, to just be loving and love others and, like, you know, they're just so much like happier and um i just i could if i benefit so much from from consuming that

content and uh it really puts yeah it quells a lot of anxiety about like dying about living about like yeah all right guys quick and run for the podcast factor meals check this out obviously i've talked about me with prepping in the past and how important it is clearly if you want to get bigger get leaner get stronger if you're not in your meals you're missing big time i mean you People always say, oh, how important is diet and compare 80, 20% this, 10% that as far as diet, as far as working out, you cannot outwork a bad diet. Okay, like, it doesn't matter what your goal is, whether it's body fat, whether it's building muscle. If your diet's not on point, you're going to be failing over and over again. Yeah, you might get a little stronger, you might get a little sturdier, but you're not going to begin closer to whatever that goal is specifically for weight, right?

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Let's get back into this podcast. What I find so, so, like, interesting is how complicated we, we, like, make our, our lives and ourselves being, like, divisive within ourselves and, like, with other people. Like, it seems like, like, one of the biggest parts of the human experience is, like, being better than other people or trying to be better. Like, people are, like, we're all taught, like, specifically now, and this day and age is, like, it's, like, it's this constant race to, like, money or, like, some sort of status or notoriety and it's it's crazy out all comes down to the same thing where it's like not that it

doesn't matter because like you know obviously someone with more notoriety or popularity can like spread a good message and also can spread a terrible message but i just find interesting how you know you talk about the idea of the oneness and the unity of all of us but like how humans in general it's when we're here in this space it's all about being better than someone else for sure competition man and and uh that that's kind of by design too because we got to eat we want to live you know food and shelter and all that so like that's sort of the purpose of the ego is is for survival but like the also the ego can never be satisfied no matter how much money you get like if anything the more money you earn like money does not uh there's no satisfaction

in in earning money you not only do not get satisfaction after a point right a basic Right, right, exactly. Not only do you not get satisfaction from earning money, but the more money you earn, it creates a vacuum where you need more and more. And like, dude, I was just talking to my brother about it. My brother lives in his van. You walk past the van for me. He's lived in a van for like eight, 10 years basically. That's epic. Like fully. But, but yeah. It's a sickness, dude. It's a sickness. And like, I look at, um, you know, how my views on, on money and success, have changed as I've become more successful and saved more money. Like I find myself way more afraid of financial insecurity, the more money that I have.

Yeah, because you've got to keep it going. Yeah, it's insane. And like before I got clean and sober, you know, like I described, I'm doing drugs and I think, oh, I don't care if I die. Like, I expected that I would die super young. I thought that was even kind of cool. I was like, oh, do you, I'm like flame out like a rock star. I'm going to be dead like super young.

Like no part of me believed that I was going to make it to 40 years old. And so like I didn't care about like what I was saving or anything. Yeah. And then I get sober in 2008. And like there was just this perfect storm of number one, like I had burned all the bridges in my career. There was no jackass going on. on. And so, like, I didn't have any, like, money coming in. I also, like, everyone's talking about you got to have a higher power. You got to deflate the ego. You got to, like,

live spiritually. And I'm like, how does that jive with being stevo the attention from jackass? You know, like, how do you go and be like, look at me, look at me? I'm going to shove something at my butt and have no ego about it. You know, like, I didn't even know if I could continue to pursue a career in entertainment and be in recovery. And then on top of that, now all of a sudden I stopped, like, actively killing myself. I started, like, taking care of myself. And then I was confronted with the very real possibility that I was only halfway through, maybe not even halfway through my life. So now I'm like, holy crap, maybe I'm going to be alive for many more decades and maybe my earnings potential has just like evaporated like and maybe I've I don't know how

I'm going to like eat I don't know how I'm going to support myself and I might be alive for many many more decades and then remember it was 2008 so the financial crisis comes and just wipes out what little I had saved yeah and I'm like all of a sudden it became literally terror terrorized by like financial insecurity and and and I was like yo I'm gonna I'm gonna hustle and hustle so that so that I can support myself you know I got this whole life in front of me now I don't know how I'm gonna support myself and then like I very very deliberately became more aggressive about trying to earn and be successful and be savvy and smart and then in that that just began a journey of sickness honestly like a different kind of sickness a different kind of sickness it began it began a different kind of sickness

and like you know i i know what human nature is i don't want to be like you know a greedy guy i don't want to be like you know but at the same time like i am subject to the laws of of human nature and i hate it because like as i become like more successful and i'm now i'm at a point where I've got all kinds of people whose livelihood is on my shoulders. You know, I've got, like, payroll for all kinds of people, you know, warehouses and staff and, like, like, people who rely on me for their livelihood. I understand, for sure. And, like, my whole mentality about that has been, like, yeah, like, hook everybody up super

generous. And, like, through, like, this last jackass movie, man, all. my just went through the roof like my touring like i mean i bought my own tour bus i'm going to huge doing shows and big ass theaters and making all kinds of money all over the place and then since the interest rates went up like we've seen like people's expendable income really dry up you know and so then so now like money is is uh like tougher to come by like not as much revenue coming in um you know tougher to sell tickets on tour like you know tougher to sell merch online and uh the the the mother for me is that like i said dude i was selling so much merch i got my own

warehouse and then it was going so well i added a second warehouse yeah i've got like i've got insane overhead like fixed costs yeah that are like ridiculous and like and so i got so much money going out and it's great when like you're killing it yeah but like it's been it's been kind of a downturn you know and so now like I've got too much overhead too much fixed costs to to to have like my revenue dip down so now like I'm in a position of straight hemorrhaging money and and like I'm in as you know like what are you doing to plug the hole well that's the thing I got to like you know like on Monday I've got like a call with the accountants.

The problem is that, like, everything where, like, if I do anything with anybody, it's like, oh, yeah, you get this percent, you know, like, just like, you get this, you know, like, I've been stupid, generous. And now, like, just looking at the overall picture of all my businesses and all of everything, like, I have to stop being a fucking maniac with money. And then that means that now I got to, like, make the tough decisions of, like, okay, dude, like, we're cutting off this. Too bad for that person.

Yeah, you know, we're shutting down the, the warehouse that's, you know, like, we're doing this, we're doing that. And, and I'm like, it's like, it's all, it all feels like an exercise in me becoming like what I hate, you know, like, I want to be like the man and hook everybody up. And I'm at a point where I got it, I got to like cut it off because I don't want to be the dumb asshole who earned millions and millions of dollars and lost it all and is now struggling. Yeah, I get it. So it's tough, man. It's tough. Like balancing, no, you're great. Balancing doing like the right spiritual thing, being a right guy and like not being a stupid asshole with money is tough.

It's so tough. It's just, but that's like that's the money thing. Like that's the whole that's that's the whole like cash 22 on it. Right. You need it and it's never enough. But then it's like, you know, I don't want to. It can't just be about money. But then you have to cover these bottom lines.

I get it, man. Like, I've, I've totally, I totally understand it. Dude, check out this, this saying that, that f***ed me up, dude, because it, like, it makes so much sense. A man who has nothing only has to worry about his next meal. But a man who has everything has to worry about his last meal. Yeah. Is that messed up? Like, because, I mean, when I think back to, like, dropping out of the University of Miami, like,

like homeless for three years like you know like i had literally nothing and like i expected that i would die young having failed at life you know but i also really thought that i was filming some dope at it and that like it would you know like that the videos i was making would somehow like play after i was dead and gone and like i look back on those times i mean dude i had everything to be terrified of and and just depressed and bummed and like i don't remember it being that i remember being like like there was just some some special like magic about each day and like i was so stoked on life and i had no good reason to be stoked on life all i was worried about was my next meal yeah and now and now you have everything to be stoking but it's like you

you start worried totally totally because it's like i've got everything to be stoked on my life is so epic and i'm like man like bunny's going out the door like i got it how do i show shut down all of the spending and then like what's going to be left and like how like how long really will will my savings last it's sitting there like agonizing anxiety over like what your last meal is going to look like yeah so it's like it's like finding some balance within that because like I think the special part like you get to the point of the money and having it from like that you have that clear those clear thoughts of like you have that crazy optimism that you were talking about without all like the expectations you got to you know sign these checks

all this stuff right right right so it's like how do you get back to having that clear optimism you know with like the obvious answer is in relationships and it's interesting too like I mean I'm sure that for a lot of people like watching this listening to this like it's just totally unrelatable and I'm sure that there's probably but it is but it isn't like it's rather because we're talking on a different scale right but everything's just like a different scale for them and the same concepts will be had in their lives as well sure different scales and and i'm i'm really happy to to like be past a point where i'm like really concerned about you know i'm just relating my own experience and what's what's true to me and like

if uh if anybody thinks it's tone deaf or like and it doesn't you know it's doesn't worry about that doesn't matter don't worry about that i really really don't care about that but i make this point because it's in like speaking up about it like clearly like i'm voicing to you Like my fears, you know, I'm voicing my, I'm voicing my fears and I'm speaking up about like what upsets me. And in doing that, just by by vocalizing it, like you take power. Yeah, you let you let you let, you get it, you let a little bit of it go. I'm letting, I'm taking power out of like the fear that grips me and the grip is loosened,

you know, like here I'm describing like being so like fear of this and fear of that. And, like, honestly, by talking about it, like, I feel way more comfortable than I did when I walked in here said down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. And the thing about it, too, is interesting is, like, we all, whether it's them listening on a smaller scale or me listening and being able to relate on a similar scale or whatever, it is an undeniable thing that you're just going to deal with. And it is just, you just have to accept that it is just a part of life to figure out that way. And as you age, as you grow, like whether you're 18, you're 20, 30, 40, it doesn't matter. it's a constant journey to just figure out what fits the best and how and it's just that's life right and then you die yeah which is such a crazy thing to me i know dude for sure i say this all the time

that that the human experience is like a really fucked up catch 22 like it's almost like a cruel prank on us that that we have one instinct which is to survive yeah and one guarantee which is we won't Yo, it's Holy shit. Yeah. Oh, you're dropping bars right now. Dude, I love that. We're not going to survive and we're absolutely all of us just barreling towards our inevitable demise,

which we fear the most. Like we're just on a straight, fucking collision course with the one fucking thing we're most afraid of. And the closer we get to it, like even if we're lucky, we just deteriorate and wilt. it's so real i know and so like the the the whole purpose of the human experience as i see it is to come to terms with mortality you know and that's why people turn to religion that's why

religion was created because people are fucking shit scared to die and religion promises you're going to go to heaven everything's going to be great and that's why people have kids like that you know like oh i'll be dead but my bloodline lives on i've got a legacy he'll still be alive. And then there's us with our cameras, you know, to leave proof. So we're going to, I'm going to pee real quick,

but I want to talk about, we kind of talk a little bit about prank stuff. I got some other stuff I want to go into about social media, but you know, me pee real quick. Yeah. I could talk about this life and death shit forever. Sure.

But I like, I do want to, I'll switch it up a little bit because I know people might be like, bro, stop talking about dying and shit. But dude, okay, you're obviously,

it's 203, you're on the internet, you make content, you make podcasts. you started with like the jackass stuff you guys created like a wave of pranksters essentially that like i grew up i was a little kid literally watching your shit like i watched all the jackass i mean it was like everyone any boy ever talked about this stuff at all great how come she's shaking i don't know she's probably hype yeah let her out let her out so you you guys like created this

wave right and and nowadays i don't know if you've seen or if you watch people but like people are taking like the prank thing like specifically like TikTokers and like this like interview sequence type stuff to like a crazy level of yeah i think that people are like hitting people like i saw some guy in texas like just swung on someone it was like oh it's a prank it's like no you just like assaulted someone right so what's your take on like how people push because like because nowadays to to get noticed you have to keep pushing the envelope and it's gotten so far and there's so many people doing it that like what's your opinion on that now knowing where you came from

I haven't had like any of that stuff come through my feed so like I'm not super aware of it but I'll say this that I think of jackass as something that's genuinely wholesome

and I know that that's counterintuitive because we're like hurting ourselves real bad like we're like you know being like super gnarly and crazy but at the same time like for all the terrible things that we put ourselves and each other through like we want these things to be happening so like it's okay we we sign up for that stuff to happen and because we want it to happen that makes it okay for the viewer to enjoy watching it yeah we're willing participants but when it comes to third party people yeah on jackass

we have like profound respect the third party. There's nothing like malicious or mean-spirited. We never target anybody to make them feel bad. We always have the joke is on us. Yeah. And that's like the most important thing.

And that's why I think Jackass is so wholesome because the spirit of it is positive. We don't want anybody to feel bad. We want them to feel good about us feeling bad but we're fine with it it's okay so anything where you know youtube pranksters like i think a lot of the time they're just missing the point and the and they're actually letting their the spirit of their content be mean yeah malicious you know like i just think that it's really really important when you're creating content

to ask yourself, what is the spirit of what I'm doing? And, you know, is this, am I being mean to people? You know, you don't want to be mean to people. Yeah, because it's different. It's just so different nowadays because people, like, compete to get the next thing. Sure. The crazier thing, the crazier thing. Right.

And like now, since it's like everyone, you know, has seen an opportunity on whether it be like TikTok or Instagram or YouTube, that people really push the envelope where it's like, I think they miss that a lot. They lose that because the joke's not on them. like the joke will be on like a bystander that's innocent. I've actually been guilty of that myself, you know, and I'll fully own up to it. And like what's crazy too is that where I've, where I've been guilty of,

of, you know, targeting people in a way that wasn't like a positive spirit, like those videos were wildly successful. You know, I had one called, I mean, I never did anything that bad, but I had one called a... I just find, I mean, In a sense of, I find interesting that people like to see that sort of, like, negative shit on other people.

Right. I had one. It was called the Golden Shower Prank. And in the middle of the summer, down in San Diego, I went to like a super crowded beach with what's called a Wisenator. It's like a fake that you'll buy at the smoke shop. It's so that you can put like, you know, a clean urine. into it and then you go in to take a test it'll even have a thing to warm up i see the urine's the right temperature and you so that's to beat test to beat yes yeah so but it's like very

realistic you know fake in case someone's watching you right yeah and they will be so i got that i got the wizzinator and i went out to the beach i just put just clean water in the whizanator but like with a hidden camera i went to went up to people who were uh who were tanny tanning yeah laying out in the beach and I pulled out my whizanator and squirted just water out of it like onto people you know and on to like like on to dudes like on to dudes and they like you know they feel the water they feel that they're like face down whatever they feel the water and then they look up and it's like they got a guy with their the wing it's like screed peeing on them they freak out but like 90% of the people they looked up and they were like a new.

initially like really like shocked and then they go stevo so it was like kind of okay and at the end i did it on like a guy that was like not much smaller than you like a big old dude like a big old he was ready to absolutely he's like take off your glasses oh and then he goes did you take him off yeah yeah and then he goes take off your shirt and then it's like you know and then he saw the tattoo like he goes dude i'm almost killed you you have that all in camera yeah it's on my youtube channel so like where because i i know because i wait yeah and i'm sorry for cutting you off go ahead but uh knoxville i showed that to him and he was like man the spirit of this isn't right you know and and and and i put it up anyway

i put it up anyway but like there was there was one guy who who did take it badly and it wasn't like you know i think i put him in the in the video too like there's one guy that just like didn't react well and I put it in there and then like as another example of where I would you know acknowledge that that I came up short was it's just like the body on the ground prank where like I poured fake blood like all over myself and just went face down on the concrete like on the sidewalk and like people come by and we get their reaction to like this body fake covered in blood face down on the sidewalk they pull out their phone and then like somebody comes running over like hey this isn't really like don't call 911 we just wanted to get your reaction

you know that was tough that one's really tough and and it's like it's it's like top five yeah and at the end of it like the like there like there's a cop in my like banging in my hotel room and he goes dude like if you want to do this man maybe give us a heads up but we got three fire trucks out there we got like you know like so I'm not proud of that too yeah I'm like pretty bummed on that like anytime that I'm that I've wasted like emergency responder yeah that sucks you know city resources for the tying up emergency responders like I am distinctly not proud of that

yeah that makes sense um what what have been in your opinion what's the craziest thing that you've ever done that maybe people don't know about or like for you personally was like this was just maybe like you were so close to that line where you're like I shouldn't have done this not necessarily these ones that are yeah I mean these ones I clearly shouldn't have I mean these ones I clearly shouldn't I mean, I don't know. The golden shower prank's not too bad. It's not too bad.

You don't get watching kids on TikTok, going to go find that and go face it. Because you know, a lot of stuff, it's interesting, man. Like, there's a lot of people, like, watch old stuff and, like, do it now. Right. You know, because it's not done now, but it was done then. The golden shower prank is right on the line. I'm not bummed on that because, I mean, I'm not, like, really too bummed on that.

It's because it didn't waste the time of emergency responders. Yeah, yeah. I shouldn't have. have done things that wasted the time of emergency responders. But to answer your question, like the craziest, crazy stuff is what I just put out, dude. That thing I showed you. Yeah. And if you watch the first seven minutes, like it starts out like kind of tame, you know,

like it. I got up to the shit on the fan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just fucking ridiculous. Like there's one angle that I almost threw up. Like it's the down, it's the up angle. I was like, this is. You don't care about showing you at all.

You give zero fucks. Yeah, I'm pretty. I'm pretty mellow about it. Yeah. And the thing, like, it, like, it, it was a tough call to put that the, the, it hits the fan, like, so close to the front because it's, like, it's aggressive.

Yeah. But, but the, the, the reason why I had to is because the, the bucket list items go in descending order of my fiance's approval and support. So, like, in the beginning, she's, like, front and center. She's, like, fully down. Like, she's like, you know, she's like, you know, get the shot. And my buddies are running for their lives and she's moving in for a better shot.

Yeah, this is the poo and the fan. Do you remember when me and Steve came over to your house? Yeah, yeah. It wasn't your shit? It was my dog Wendy's. And you shot it like a potato cannon like at you. Not a potato cannon, a t-shirt cannon. A t-shirt cannon.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, and Jacob was filming the guy who's back here. Yeah, yeah. That was like I got shit on me. The fact of me not having an ear plug in my ear when I did that was like completely really. Because you really, like, I blew a hole in my eardrum.

I literally blew a hole in my eardrum, dude. Like, I was not okay. I just remember you're in your front yard. And you had like, didn't you also have like gallons of piss? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was for the bucket list, dude. That's like, I was saving up for a world record. It's in the bucket list.

So, so I love this. I'm going to watch the rest of this when this is done. But like, were these all things that you couldn't put in any jackass? Like, how did this work? for the most part yeah the um like uh you saw in the beginning i talked about like you know as an example of my bucket list like uh skydiving oh yeah the guy on your back yeah like you can't on camera and jackass so that said that one like when um you also like for jackass we can't like just blatantly break the law and like there there's a couple things in the bucket list where um medical

professionals stole this from the hospital like one uh like i had general anesthesia pumped into an iv in my arm while i'm riding a bicycle through a field which is like oh to see how long you could ride it for yeah just to be like let's knock me out while i'm hauling out my bicycle you know like uh is that that's in the video you said uh yeah yeah and then there's another one you know what an epidural is yeah they stick a four inch needle in your spinal cavity and inject it which paralyzes you so they pull out the foreign needle out of my spine and I take off running to see how far I can go you don't worry these things are going to like you up ever those those were both like legitimately life-threatening stunts yeah that's what I'm

saying like yeah I mean I had medical professionals in disguise which which helped you know for the generally anesthesia one we actually um hired a a private ambulance so we had like an ambulance there and the ambulance people had no idea what was even had they didn't even know why they were there we're like like we're not going to tell you what's happening we're just going to call you if we need because that one's like directly like you're breaking all kinds everybody everybody's lost their careers and going to jail and like I could absolutely have died because generally anesthesia drugs make you stop breathing yeah if you go in surgery they jam a tube down your throat because your respiratory system shuts down yeah so you just like you just have no

like you literally don't fear you're just like fuck it um yeah i mean i i uh i was on a mission to raise the bar yeah and so i filmed all of these different things and uh after i filmed each thing i'd go to the local comedy club and uh like tell the story of the bit like you know like how it came about you know i'd work out the material yeah and then ultimately i put them all together into one show and uh it's the bucket list and after each bit i show the video of the thing. Yeah. I literally watched, I think, about seven minutes of it.

I loved it. So my question, my question to you about it, just that those concepts and just all your concepts are like ideas or pranks in general, was it, is it always of your own like creation or did you have a team or? Like when you did a lot of the stuff in Jackass, was it like you being like the things that you did were they like your ideas?

What you can be sure of for the most part. There's only one exception to this that I can even think of. um if you see somebody doing something on jackass you know either they came up with the idea or they were given permission uh to do it by the person who did come up with the idea okay like intellectual property is something that's gotten like like true respect it's like the only thing that got respect you know like and um a lot of the times like uh people write ideas oh i got one for you you know i got one for you like uh so If anything I did on camera, either I came up with the idea or I was given permission to do it by the person who did come up with the idea.

And in a lot of cases, the idea they specifically came up with for me. So, you know. Yeah, I see. But yeah, if you get like the goldfish was like the first thing that was like, and I hadn't been sitting on that idea for like over a year. I thought that swallowing a goldfish and barfing it up into a fish bowl was just going to be a banger. and I was saving it for the right project, like the right big skateboard video or whatever. And yeah, I saved it for what became jackass.

And it was fucking bad. What was one of the most viral bits you've done for jackass specifically? For jackass, the goldfish was the first one that was a big deal. Body waxing, like where I got my eyebrows waxed off was a big deal. And then in the first movie, the alligator tightrope was a big deal. big one. The wasabi snooters was a big one. The second movie, I had the fish hook where they cast me out with the sharks. We put a fish hook through my face and I was on a fishing line and I jump in the water and like they're like fishing for sharks with me. And that one was not my

idea. Actually, you know what? Of those ones I just mentioned, the goldfish was my idea. I was put up to the well you know what i i did come up with uh the waxing but i i said let me get my armpits waxed and they were they got me and didn't do the whole thing uh see i came up with that one too alligator tightrope was never my idea they just had they just knew that there was an alligator pit in the everglades um yeah wasabi snooters i can't remember and snooters was like my term for a snorting like let me get a snooter you know like give me a line of I can't remember if I came up with that or not and the fish hook was not

yeah who got most hurt like who's got the most hurt on one of these wasn't there like some shark thing someone got yeah poopies yeah that's absolutely the worst and I wasn't about to come up with that one either like that's definitely the worst his hand is for life

yeah like he can like I don't I forget what his limitations are but like yeah this hand's never going to be the same so out of out of like all the the people on jackass i think so it's like in my opinion it seemed the people who went i guess the furthest it would be you in knoxville right yeah knoxville by far i think the the farthest the biggest risks yeah because he's getting in front of bulls and yeah you know like was it was it was like it was jackass like his idea you can't really say that it was anybody's idea like we were all like most of us were brought together by that skateboard magazine big brother yeah and we were uh you know

we we all found big brother because we were doing this type of thing yeah big brother just kind of like brought us together and uh you know then there was bam and he was doing his ck y videos which was a similar dynamic you know like take out the skateboarding and um so yeah i'd say that we were all doing this kind of stuff in our own right Why did it seem like Knoxville got the most popularity from it? Because Knoxville was absolutely the main guy, the face of it, a creator of it. He, you know, the actual deal happening was because Spike Jones and Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville brought it in. Got it.

To, you know, to the boardrooms where the MTV, you know, they got it. They got the deal. Yeah, okay. They got the deal. They're the executive producers, the creators, the, you know. Do you ever wish that you were more involved in that process? I mean, sure, you know, you wish that you had more power, prestige, and money. But I don't second guess a damn thing.

And I've never felt like, you know, resentful or, you know, jealous of Knoxville for being the the main guy like the the face of it because without you know like it would be to root against Knoxville for me would be like the definition of cut off your nose to spite your face yeah you know it's because Knoxville was so like such a beautiful handsome man like leading man looks and like the care the charisma and like and like and everything that he did, like the huge risks that he took. Like, he absolutely, uh, is the captain, you know, and I call him captain. Yeah.

And, uh, like without him being everything that he is and all of the, you know, success that he's had, like, yeah, I never would have got anywhere. Yeah. You definitely, like, from my perspective, you definitely were like the, I would say you were like crowd, like fan favorite though. Like, you do that really quickly. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not trying to like create.

I, you know, I, I, I love the kind words and I'm grateful. I think, like, different people, uh, maybe gravitates it, you know, certainly Bam was like, wow. Bam as well, yeah. Bam was like the, you know, I, Bam really gave Knoxville a run for his money as far as like, you know, the Viva La Bam days and like, you know, Bam was, was, uh, absolutely, it was really just those two, you know, and I was like a distant third. and whatever man i'm fine with it like uh i just you know if anything you know like in the

beginning of my career i i did not have sophisticated representation i did not get good contracts i had uh you know like i'd like what representation i did have was uh like really like really quite unprofessional people who arguably like pretty badly took advantage of me yeah i said it's pretty common in that industry too for sure like like when jackass was was just a tv show i was already on uh like a base of what would become a world tour you know like it was the don't try this at home tour yeah and uh what i know about touring now like when i what i know about the the economic The business of touring tells me back, yeah, yeah, I got really, really is what I think. And I don't have any resentment, any anything, if anything, I genuinely feel grateful that I was not paid like what I should have been getting paid back then.

why because because i don't think it would have been very good for me to have like uh all kinds of money at my disposal in that at that time that's not a very good reason but like where i sit today like i've had a career an absurd career which like by all rights should never have even begun yeah and i've had it for like more than 23 years now And the fact that my career has endured for this long is like just lightning in a bottle. And the craziest part about it is that I've maintained a largely upward trajectory. Yeah. You know, like I didn't make it in the beginning and like just gradually got a little bit.

You know, and like it's pretty awesome to think like, man, like I've been on an upward trajectory. I'm pushing 50 years old and like, you know, like I have this one friend because there had been like peaks and valleys a little bit. I know in 2013 I was like in a pretty dark place. Like Knoxville was was filming the bad grandpa movie. And I was like, dude, they're making a jackass movie without the jackass guys. You know, we got timber laked over here. Like now I'm the Jackson four.

Like it felt like it was dark, man. And I was just starting out in comedy, and I didn't know how well that was going to go. And I just felt like I was done. I felt like I was done. In 2013 is when I was literally in this terrible dark place. And to keep my sanity, I made my first YouTube video. I didn't think there was any money in making YouTube videos. I thought it was just like a terrible demotion from being a big movie star.

But I was just like, screw it. I'm just going to do it. The best movie I ever made. But at that time, I had a buddy of mine who was like, dude, Steveo, you haven't even peaked yet. And this was like, this was like this guy's mind, my buddy Adam Jablant, best dude. And he's like, dude, you haven't even peaked yet, dude. And I just didn't believe it.

And I was like, oh, yeah, he's just trying to be a good bro. And like, he just kept saying it and saying it. And like, at a certain point, I started believing it, you know, like, like, dude, I'm on my way up still. You know, I haven't even peaked yet. Like, I kind of feel like 2022 might. of 2020 was huge for me it was huge yeah it was huge yeah and now like uh you i don't know i don't know but i think that what i got to do is move the goalposts on some level and be like hey i got to let go of of like basing my my self-worth on like how much money i'm earning

how many views i'm getting you know because like if my self-worth is tied to how many views I'm getting and how much money I'm earning, then eventually, like, it's all, it's going to be all bad. Yeah, 100%. So I got a, I have to, like, separate myself from that and assign my self-worth, my identity, my, my quality of life to my relationships, you know? That's like, and that's a tall disorder, but. If you, I mean, if, you, you know, this is a stupid theoretical question, but if you knew

everything you knew right now today, would you go back and do things differently? I mean, back to the future taught me not to mess with the space time continuum, you know? Like, I wouldn't want to mess with the space time continuum. And like, here's a good example of where, like, that would be a problem, is that, like, very recently, like, one of my ideas for a YouTube video was to recreate a bunch of iconic jackass bits, you know, to do stunts that were, like, huge on jackass. and like kind of just see what it would be like to do them like 20 years later yeah and uh i did seven of them it was the goldfish the worm trick um like wasabi snooters butt piercing um paper cuts and uh and t ball and the butt chug the butt chug yeah and and and uh i lined him up and and knocked him down back to back and

like the space of like an hour and a half like two hours and like it's it's just really really striking to think like man you know i just got all that done so fast and it was it was interesting it was fascinating but like knowing that it was done a long time ago like they're i don't know like i feel like any version of like going back armed with the knowledge you know like imagine like I've got these last 23 years of like ideas that came up organically over the time to go back and have all those ideas like what I just like line them up and knock them down and be like okay what you know yeah like it's it's it's a weird thing to think of but um but yeah there's something special about about just the way it happened dude yeah I mean that is that that's

the thing you know people talk about the idea of like fate or like things being the way They're just supposed to be. 100%. It's interesting because it's like, yeah, like everything is that way. Like even if you went back, it's like it wouldn't exactly be the same. But I just find that concept really, really interesting, the idea of fate. Because what we choose, no matter what, is fate. Me too.

Me too. And the thing is that I've been really, really tripping out lately on synchronicity. But watching like YouTube videos about synchronicity and like, and fate like kind of goes into that a lot. that like on some level I believe like things are what things are supposed to happen like kind of the way they're supposed to happen yeah and no matter how much I bang my head against the wall trying to force something to happen like maybe it's just not in the cards you know and we can let go of a lot of stress and anxiety by just like kind of going with the flow you know like I think that and the difference there is in like it is in following your intuition like following

like what like what you're passionate about you know and and letting like kind of the universe guide you it's a tall order man it I'll never be I'll never be able to do it but like it does give me comfort to think hey man what's supposed to happen is going to happen yeah and the cool thing about it too is that, like, the idea that we're talking about earlier, you, like, when you had nothing and you were, you know, you had, yeah, it's, it's that same concept. It's like, you're just doing what feels best or what you believe will, you know, make you happiest. And then all the stuff started, the money, the thing started coming from it. And so when you have the money, you're like, I got to make sure this and that.

And it's like, how can you have it but live in that? Right. It's okay. Whatever happens state. And that's how I think you've continued to grow. And because the reality is if you spent all your days being like, I'm so worried about this, you're just going to get more of that energy back.

Instead of like, I'm going to live in a state where I'm at now and whatever happens happens. I'm going to try my best. I'm going to do my best. I'm going to show up and like be happy and try to stay there. Then like you keep getting more of the good instead of more of just what you're, I don't want this to happen. Right.

And like it's so true. It's so true, man. And there have been times when, when I was like I really felt like I was banging my head against a wall trying to force something to happen and it just wasn't happening

and like at one time I wrote a script for a movie which would be like a scripted movie but in it I could do all these like I wrote all these crazy stunts into it and stuff and like nobody cared nobody like nobody cared

and I was trying so I cared so much and I was so stressed about it it and there are other times when I was like trying to like pitch TV shows to networks and they just didn't care like nobody cared you know and it was just like all of this uh effort and all of this like just willing and trying to force it to happen just wasn't working and it just got me like to a point of like despair you know to a point of despair where I was just like depressed and I was bummed and then finally like in both cases I was like dude like I can't like the the the depression the anxiety is just too much I can't bear it anymore

I'm literally just kind of like just let go of it and just turn all of my I'm just going to turn all of my attention to just my world of recovery just like all this you know just like my recovery stuff I'm just going to focus on that and every time that I just focus on my recovery stuff everything else works out yeah yeah it's interesting how the thing you resist the most like just keeps persisting sure and and um and for people who aren't in recovery like I would just say like like this and and this applies to me more than anything and this has been at the forefront of my of my thinking like but the forefront of my consciousness is that like when when I'm when I'm scared that like oh man my up what I'm trying to make happen isn't

going to happen or what I worked on it isn't going well or like whatever like you know I'm like I'm hemorrhaging money because like the the overhead with my business is so high like all of these different things that I can focus on in my mind and and feel like scared or just negative and bummed like whenever I'm in that place it's like let me ask myself who could I shoot a text to to be like yeah man just thinking of you and like just wishing you well you know like who could I like call up and just to get them. stoked you know like like what how could i reach out to somebody in a way that like they're actually i'm going to make their day better and like it's so it's just so cliche and it's so but it's there's such supreme value in that even making a list like if you think it's like oh man if i if i reached out to somebody if i reached out to this one person and told him that or if i said oh hey man i've got something for you or if i gave something to somebody like whenever you have that thought and have a little notepad like oh i'm going to stoke this person out stoke that if you

just if you just get someone stoked then like that obliterates like the the fear and the anxiety yeah and that's back back to the whole interconnected oneness you know like like uh it helps you in practical terms in this moment if you just think i'm going to get somebody stoked and then in your life review you don't just experience the awful you did to people you experience the good too yeah and people say that in their near-death experiences a lot that that uh you know the bad stuff like especially because you have a spirit guide like bring you through that you're there and then people are like oh my god i was just so embarrassed so ashamed that the spirit guide is sitting here like experiencing of this life review with me but it was rad that i had done more good stuff than

bad stuff yeah bro this is this has been fucking incredible man yeah dude thank you man i honestly didn't that I was going to have this sort of like conversation like so deep with you but like you it makes sense you know it's I mean it's like very much like where I'm at like it you know I've been it's very therapeutic for me to like voice like things that are bothering me things I'm afraid of like and I feel really comfortable having done so yeah and I just think it's a really good thing for people to hear too because there's no way anyone's going to make it through with their whole life and never be in similar situation. Not necessarily financially or whatever,

but it's like this whole concept of like resistance of the things that I want to accomplish or I want to achieve is relevant to everyone forever. Dude, negative self-talk is so destructive, dude. And I don't even know how to how to like try to dismantle it. You know, the only thing is like negative self-talk, it's like, okay, look, just like I can't undo it because I want it. It's like, I just got to be like, okay, acknowledging that I'm in the middle of negative self-talk. talk like let me just do something positive separate you know let me just get somebody stoked yeah and I try like for me I try to like I mean obviously meditation is the way that I do this but like I'll

try to not necessarily catch the thoughts to reverse them but I'll just try to be mindful of my of my actual thoughts and be like okay let me switch it to something else and like let it go and relax but it's but it was a blessing speaking to you man like and I and I really really actually did and at the seven minutes that I saw I really did enjoy the show I'm gonna watch the rest of it when we're done it's unbelievably fucked up and yeah entertain I'm not kidding. Like, I'm not kidding when I said I saw that second shot and I wanted to throw up. It just does nothing but get crazier the whole show. Like if you're a fan of jackass and you're like, wow, like, now I'm going to watch a whole show of shit. There was like two fucked up for jackass. Then like that's what it is. Yeah. And like the fact of how it goes in descending order of my fiance's approval and support is meaningful because like by the end of it like these stunts are straight putting my. relationship to the test in very real ways yeah and uh like our relationship endured

that and my and it's a love story you know it's a love story and like i said to you man i got to let go of of uh like my identity and my self-worth being tied to my success with money and fame and i got to turn to my relationships and like i genuinely put so much in my relationship with my fiance and it's all up in this this bucket list show and my fiance was the production designer too she came up with the idea for all the tv sets that was honestly he's dope as yeah i was like i honestly think it was like who did whose idea was it's my production was great too yeah it was not cheap man yeah no it was yeah it looked like a like a like a legit production special yeah for sure man and and dude thank you for helping me get the word out about it because uh there was never a chance that

this was going to make it on netflix it's too fucked up no way you know No way. It's not going on Netflix. It's not going on YouTube. And so, like, I got to, like, really, really pounded the pavement and try to get the word out for it. So where are you selling it? It's at stevo.com. Okay.

At my website. Yeah. And, yeah, like, everybody, please do go enjoy this fatt past special. He's got some stuff overhead, too. So you guys got to support it, all right. We got to get this man right. Yeah. Yeah.

But, dude, thank you, man. Absolutely. Bless you, man. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, dude, likewise, man. Thank you so much. Make sure you guys subscribe to the channel every Tuesday, 11 a.m. love you guys. We're on iTunes. We're on Spotify. We're everywhere. Drop a comment, drop a

like. See you guys next time.