The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Steve-O

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

Steve-O (Jackass) joins Andy Richter to talk about doing Jackass stunts in his 40s, finding stand-up comedy and more!

hey everyone uh this is andy richter and i'm very excited today because i have uh one of my favorite entertainers on the show um a big thrill to have a member of the jackass squad i'm talking to steve oh and also one of the fucking most hardcore members well thank you man and yeah dude it's great to be here is there is there competition among you guys of like hardcoreness like who is the most and like is there a ranking within you guys that you you know that you guys try and one up each other i mean historically i've definitely gotten more credit than i deserve in that department yeah you know like sort of i was uh kind of branded as the guy who wouldn't turn down anything.

Nothing was too gnarly for me, and I was the most unhinged and craziest of them all. But again, I don't deserve that title. Absolutely the craziest of us all. The most hardcore is Knoxville. Yeah. There was never any getting me in front of a bull. Right. That's for sure. You know, but with that said, I always felt very unaccountable for my actions around sharks. So I think that you're just, you're just so like, you're, you got a crush on sharks and

you can't help yourself. It's it it i've described it as like superheroes you know like different superheroes have different superpowers my superpower is sharks yeah and knoxville's superpower is bulls um but you know it's it's a loose um it's a loose analogy to superheroes and i really think knoxville is just by far the craziest particularly because the rest of us most of the rest of us grew up skateboarding so you know we have this uh kind of ability to fall down we're used to it you know like we uh you know we throw our bodies around where we're pretty used to it. We've got a sense for where we are in the air and how to land.

And Knoxville has never had any of that. So when Knoxville's in the air, not only does he not know how to land, but it's just always devastating. And I mean, like bad at it is what you're saying yeah he's he's bad at it he's bad at it and and his commitment to the art is is unparalleled now is there a variation between you guys of like like what you rank you know sort of like within the internal status of the group, you know, the actual sort of physical harm, like a shark or a bull, and then being covered in human shit.

Like, you know, like the, because to me, that port-a-potty thing, like that's, like I'll let a bull, I'll let a bull hit me, but I don't want to get covered in shit. I don't know why that is. Wow. I don't know why. I don't know why that is. I don't know why. I think we're onto something there because that's where, that's where I truly excel is. And,

and I think that like to demonstrate a willingness to be covered in feces really, really conveys the kind of message of like, wow, this guy's crazy. He's gnarly, you know, unhinged, the wildest, the most hardcore of the bunch. However, I think that's perhaps the secret to my success because I've been really pretty careful about picking my battles over the years. Like I'll go, I'll go for a, I'll roll my dice with hepatitis all day long before I put my spinal cord in jeopardy.

All right. You know, there's a lot, there's a logic to that. Yeah. And, and, and furthermore, I think that it's rather clever on my part because I view my immune system as a muscle which needs exercise. And this is something that goes way back to when I was in eighth grade. I went to a very privileged school, the American school in London. I was there and gone and back from fourth grade all the way through high school. And during eighth grade

at this very privileged American school in London, I went on a field trip to Egypt, you know, because, because yeah, it was like an alternatives week. And, and, um, you know, it kind of makes sense because when I did graduate from high school, my, my senior graduating class, 12th grade, 80% of my class went on to Ivy league universities. And I was a loser for going to the university of Miami where within two weeks of class starting, I was placed on final disciplinary probation. Right. But back in eighth grade on this field trip to egypt i remember being told that um that it was very dangerous to drink the tap water there that it was uh

you know they would make us very sick that that uh we should be careful in the shower, that if we were to order a soda with a meal, do not put ice cubes in it because the ice cube, you know, like, and they were, you know, they seemed really serious about that. But while we were having a meal outside a restaurant, it was like a patio situation, really parked right on the Nile River. I watched I watched this this Egyptian dude literally kneel by the Nile River and dunk a toothbrush in it and sit there brushing his teeth. And I thought to myself, what, you know, if the tap water here is so bad, then what the hell is the Nile? Right. I mean, God. And, and, uh, you know, I, I thought if that guy. Who's okay. Evidently. Okay. Brushing his teeth in the Nile. If he went to England where I live,

or if he went to America and drink tap water there, he'd probably get sick because it's a quite the question is, it's a matter of what you're used to what your immune system, you know, and I determined in that moment, that the healthiest thing for me to do the smartest thing for me to do would be to deliberately drink tap water everywhere I go around the world. And I was afforded that opportunity when we filmed our show Wild Boys, which was a little bit of a homoerotic nature show. Right. You and Chris Pontius. Yeah. Yeah. It's been up. And that show brought us to so many countries.

It was absurd. every continent except antarctica where i wouldn't be surprised if the water was purer than anywhere else and and and as soon as i checked into every hotel room as soon as i put i i you know long flights and i would go and brush my teeth and i would think that and i would guzzle tap water just guzzle it and. And I drank tap water in Indonesia, Rwanda, like everywhere, everywhere. And as such, I do believe that I am healthier. My immune system is stronger and I can handle being covered in feces, which I've done regularly. stronger and I can handle being covered in feces, which I've done regularly. Well, wait, so, and you never have had any, I mean, have, have any of these been disasters? Like was that first one in Egypt, an explosive ending?

No, I don't, I don't remember. I think that was something that kicked in a little later, but, uh, and I did get a little bit sick in kenya i definitely got a little bit sick in kenya but i think that was from uh drinking the box wine that had been like a kenyan box wine yeah which which I drank with legit, what are they called? Not samurai. There's a famous tribe. Oh, Zulus? Not Zulus.

Not samurai, but it sounds like samurai. Ah, whatever. I can't think of it. Yeah, yeah. Well, but, you know, that's, you know, like a doctor will tell you that. No, no, Maasai. Maasai Warriors. Maas it. Yeah, yeah. Well, but, you know, that's, you know, like a doctor will tell you that. Maasai. Maasai water. Maasai.

Yeah. Now, a doctor will tell you that that's just wrong because it's the particular, you know, bacteria and organisms that are living in the water that the people, the natives get used to. So I don't even know if you're capable of getting an all over the globe kind of, you know, you've done it. I mean, I told you, yeah, I've done it. I'm not here to lie to you, Andy. I understand. I understand. But I mean, so it's like now today, if you were to go like if you were just to go to, say, Oaxaca and start guzzling tap water. Oh, my God. I was in I was in a little sort of a shanty town in Peru called Juarez, where where I found my dog, Wendy, and I've seen the videos of that.

I found my dog Wendy in the street. I've seen the videos of that. Yeah, yeah. And she's on the bus right now. And while I was in Juarez, Peru, I drank toilet water, brother. I literally took a mug and scooped toilet water and pounded it. All right. Just to show the dog that you were serious about i don't know owning it or being its master yeah and you know that the video that i made of finding

wendy in the streets of peru garnered it garnered more viewership than any video I have ever put on the internet. I can imagine. Yeah. Dogs, they're a big seller. Yeah. But can you imagine how that made me feel? I mean, yeah, I can imagine, but you know, right. But when I left out of that, that incredibly viewed video, and probably cleverly left out of it. One of the first things I witnessed Wendy doing, you know, in the streets of Peru was eating feces out of a diaper. I'm like, dude, that's my dog.

Oh my God. She's coming with me. Get that dog. Get that shit eating dog. Put it on the plane with me. All right. Now, you mentioned your early upbringing. And I'm just going to read some of these, just to get her over with.

Family moved to Brazil when he was six months old because his father was the president of Pepsi-Cola in South America. At that point, it was just Pepsi-Cola in all of Brazil. In all of Brazil, okay. And you were born in London. Then they moved to Brazil. Your first words were in Portuguese. Then they moved to Venezuela, and you became fluent in Spanish.

Moved back to the U.S. when you were four. Darien, Connecticut. Not back to the U.S. I moved to the U.S. for the very first time when I was four. Wow. In Darien, or is it Darien, as they say? As I understand Darien, we'll do the trick. Darien, Connecticut, which is a fancy place.

And Miami before moving back to England when he was nine. Yeah, here's the fun part. Okay. My dad was the president of Brazil. Then two years old, we moved to Venezuela. That dad got a promotion. And that's when he was president of PepsiCo in a considerably larger region. Then still working for Pepsi when we moved to America when I was four years old.

But it was when I was six years old, we moved to Miami, that dad became a big tobacco executive. He worked for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, famously the makers of Camel cigarettes.J. Reynolds tobacco, famously the makers of camel cigarettes. Yeah. And this was during the 1980s when it came to light that cigarettes weren't actually good for you. You know, like they actually made the link to cancer, I think, shortly before that. Right. Which they had made, but they just kept coming. And everybody, right. everybody, you all you have to do is no smokers and no, that's not good for you. There's no way like all that shit when they used to have people like smoking menthol cigarettes and saying doctors recommend it for your, you know, for your respiratory health. You know, there's no way nobody could like figure out like, I don't think so. couldn't like figure out like i don't think so you know yeah i'm not sure but yeah but uh but in the um in the the 1980s there that was when it became like litigious about it kind of a thing

and and the the tobacco companies got shit scared about lawsuits and everything and just the future of their, their products. Right. So, so the tobacco companies got proactive about buying up food companies. And that, that's what inspired what at the time was the, the largest corporate merger slash takeover in the history of the world it was called uh the the kkr merger this was when rj reynolds uh bought merged with nabisco and became they became a super company called rjr nabisco and that merger represented an aberrationally good year for my dad. That was when the houses that my family lived in grew. And that was when my mom started drinking a lot more and dad was traveling a lot more. So I had I had a little bit of a pippy long stocking effect.

You know, I I didn't have a whole lot of parental supervision. Right. Right. And the house just got bigger and bigger. But what I think is particularly funny about that is that my dad being such a wildly successful corporate executive started out with soda moved on to cigarettes and then ended up at cookies well that's i was i was gonna say i was gonna say soda wasn't deadly enough for him he had to move on to cigarettes you know yeah yeah but we ended up at cookies and right at the time when uh nabisco figured out cookies and cream oreo ice cream i mean win win right on the cutting edge

my dad thought it was hilarious that that they had such a financial fucking hit with just sweeping the Oreo factory of all its debris. And just dumping it into something. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, dude, hilarious. That's more disgusting than the story of American cheese. Well, now, I mean, you know, you use the word privilege. You know, you had like a pretty special upbringing, you know?

And first of all, why no accent? Why? Did you have a little English accent when you were a little kid? I did not. We got to six years old, moved to Miami. Yeah. I had learned three different languages by the age of three and completely forgot two of them by the age of five. Yeah.

I only remember speaking American like my parents. Yeah. And it was at the age of nine that we moved back to England. Of course, it was my first experience there that I could remember. And when we moved back to England, I attended, again, the American school in London. So my folks at home spoke American accent, my teachers and largely the kids at school. It was sort of an American bubble that I lived in in England. And it didn't help that. It thwarted my English accent, my skateboarding habit.

You know, everything was, yeah, dude. Yeah, so I kind of stayed American in England. Right. Now, was skateboarding, like, did that start early when did you start skating um i i first started skateboarding within 20 minutes of walking out of the movie theater seeing back to the future part one oh really yeah where michael jackson was like or sorry michael jackson michael j fox was holding onto the cars and skating through the streets. And they had like, I just thought that was cool, man.

And that was 1985. And I started skateboarding that day. In London or in Miami? In London. Wow. Yeah. And was there any kind of scene of kids, you know, like were kids skateboarding much in London at that point? Was there any kind of scene of kids, you know, like were kids skateboarding much in London at that point?

Back to the Future brought about a absolute fad of skateboarding. Like you'd save to say that under the majority of Christmas trees and Christmas of 1985 lived a skateboard. Yeah. And I mean, it was really pretty incredible. I don't know that the yo-yo ever had such a run as skateboards did on the back of Back to the Future. But it was really pretty quickly that all of these kids who were gifted skateboards learned that not only was skateboarding incredibly difficult but that it it came with quite a bit of like falling down and and uh yeah meeting meeting the concrete and

getting getting uh scuffed up and and and bruised and dinged and it hurt it hurt a lot it was very difficult and it it really uh i'd say that the overwhelming majority of those kids, you know, like just sort of tried it and thought, oh, this isn't for me. And it was a very, very select few who were willing to persevere, you know, sort of tolerate the injuries, put in the work that it took. it took and skateboarding just absolutely isolated a type of person, a type of person who is, who is just like very, very, uh, dedicated, you know? And, um, well, another thing that skateboarding did in the 1980s was it led kids to the video camera. Now in the 1980s, led kids to the video camera. Now in the 1980s, the video camera was not yet a bona fide household item. I mean, it certainly wasn't in everybody's pockets and there were no other activities which lent themselves to the use of a video camera, you know, but every skateboarder wants to become sponsored. Every skateboarder is going to document their tricks with a video camera.

If you want to excel in tennis, then you got to win your matches. But nobody's videotaping everything. So skateboarders got a very, very significant head start in video production. Yeah. in video production. Yeah. And actually it was, uh, Spike Jones in the 1980s was a photographer for a skateboard company called world industries. And the guy who owned world industries just decided, you know what? Like I'm going to make a, I want our company to make our own skateboard video because he was frustrated that up to that point that skateboard videos were very very sugar-coated because the industry was dependent upon the

approval of mothers you know and and if the skateboarding videos showed really brutal you know injuries and slams and and the like the attitude and the reverence that would turn off mom and it would it would turn off the the flow of money into the industry yeah but this guy this guy who owned world industries he said man i'm so sick of kissing mom's ass and i'm gonna make a video that's just gnarly that shows skateboarding for what it is and spike jones being the photographer for world industries got the job of producing that first World Industries skateboarding video by default because there was nobody else really like on hand to do it. Or who would be as cheap probably either. Right, right, right, right.

James's very first video project ever was in the 1980s. And it was a video called Rubbish Heap, which featured professional skateboarders like forcing a child to eat an earthworm. And then the child barfs and then the dog comes over and eats the barf. And the skateboarders are just howling, laughing. And that and that that was the vibe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can see the birth of Jackass in there. I mean, dude, this is where it gets really good. This guy who owned World Industries

was like the most narcissistic, like Napoleon, like just guy. I mean, dude, he was was epic and this was his attitude he's like i'm not kissing anybody's ass i'm gonna be gnarly the biggest magazines in skateboarding were thrasher and trans world and part for the course steve rocco the guy who owned world industries he made a a full page ad for world world industries which he submitted to thrasher magazine and trans world magazine the ad featured a young boy with a gun in his mouth and it said world industries kill yourself and that was it and oh my Yeah, that was Steve Rocco got a kick out of that. But what happened was both Thrasher Magazine and Transworld Magazine sent back that ad,

both saying that there was no way that they would run that in their magazine. One of the magazines even said this particularly upset me. They're the editor of the magazine this particularly upset me because one of my best friends in high school actually killed himself yeah and steve rocker's response to that guy was okay man um maybe you can put together a little list of every little thing that's hurt your feelings over the years so that I can run my business based on your little sensitivities. He says, you know, he says, he says, you know what? I'm going to never run another ad in Thrasher or Transworld. And I'm going to go ahead and start my own skateboarding magazine. This was Steve Rocco at work. So that was, was that was how that was the reason why big brother magazine was born to serve to serve as a forum for content that would never be allowed to grace

the pages of thrasher and transworld and big brother magazine was chock full of nudity they had articles like objective, like journalistic integrity. They had an article that listed the 10 most effective ways to commit suicide. Oh my God. They had a legit article on how to buy crack in a neighborhood. They had articles on how to make fake IDs.

They had, for one of the covers, they had a pro skateboarder dressed up as Satan doing a skateboard trick through the air over a legit stack of burning bibles. Oh my God. While, while, while holding a pitchfork, they did, they did it all. Big brother was my favorite thing that I had ever, ever experienced. I loved it so much. And how old are you when this is happening? This is my early 20s when this kicks off. And Big Brother, their magazines came out at first they were a little bit sparse because Steve Rocco wasn't so organized

but they ended up becoming a monthly publication. It was a crazy first rights issue. So actually, Larry Flint of Hustler magazine bought Big Brother from Steve Rocco, at which point the guy in charge of big brother magazine was Jeff Tremaine and Jeff and, and, and Jeff Tremaine was really just enjoying it. He was enjoying it because it was bigger than skateboarding. The craziness, the antics was, was bigger than skateboarding. And as well as having the print issues coming out every month, you know, every six months or a year came out an actual video, which really sealed in the gaps and like, and let you behind the scenes of all the crazy stuff that's going on. And by the time the, the big brother skateboarding videos really developed

this cult following and became like bigger than skateboarding. Um, by that point, Spike Jones had become an Oscar nominated Hollywood movie director, I believe for being John Malkovich. He got an Oscar nod. And Jeff Tremaine of Big Brother Magazine reached out to Spike Jones in, I believe, like 1995 or 1996, maybe 96 or 97. And he said, hey, Spike, our Big Brother videos are really like getting attention. People really love them, but they love the crazy shit. I don't think anybody really cares about the skateboarding. And I think that if we subtract the skateboarding from our big brother videos then what's left over like we

can make it into a tv show yeah and so so they they made like the sort of like 10 minute long vhs you know like south park type thing sure to to bring it in they went into a couple pitch meetings they described going into hbo as an absolute disaster where it was like a female executive. They were pitching it to just wasn't feeling the sensibility of it. And they thought maybe this isn't they thought maybe this isn't a good idea. But when they brought their their pitch to MTV, MTV was clamoring for it. And what was left over when you subtracted the skateboarding videos from, or when you subtracted the skateboarding from the Big Brother videos, you had Johnny Knoxville, Wee Man, Chris Pontius, Steve-O.

You know, like I had found Big Brother. I was living in Albuquerque in 1996, and Big Brother came through Albuquerque on one of their tours, and I just tracked them down. I said, dude, I found them at a skate park. And I went up to Dimitri Eliascovich, who's now like the director of photography of our big movies. I told Dimitri, I basically said, I'm going to be in Big Brother. I said, I love Big Brother. And I'm just telling you, I'm going to to be i'm going to force you to put me in

big brother because because what i'm going to do tonight is going to be so spectacularly insane you're going to have no choice but to print me and i don't care if you like me i just i'm going to you know and that night at a backyard tech party i uh taught this um professional skateboarder how to breathe fire with rubbing alcohol, which is a terrible thing to use for breathing fire. But I didn't know that. And I told him, I said, I told this pro skater, I said, okay, I've got this can of hairspray. I'm going to spray it all over my head. And so I'm going to spray it all over my head. I'm going to light my head on fire with the lighter. I'm just going to spray it all over my head. I'm going to light my head on fire with a lighter.

I'm just going to set all my hair on fire. So that's your torch, okay? You're going to spit the fire like using my head as a torch. But I'm going to have my own mouth full of rubbing alcohol, and I'm going to douse my arm. So when you blow the fireball at my head, I'm going to stick my arm into the fireball, which will leave my hand on fire. And then my hand will be my torch. And I'm going to do a back flip simultaneously, blowing fire out of my mouth with my head on fire while I do a back flip. And it was all a pretty killer plan.

But because I wanted to put my hand. Yeah, killer. Yeah pretty killer plan. But because I wanted to put my hand. Yeah, killer. Yeah, killer plan. Because I wanted to put my hand into the fireball. I pictured that it would make more sense to have him blow it from the side. And that was the critical flaw, because from the side, this whole side of my face was exposed. And he blew the fireball point blank into my face, making my whole

head on fire from the shoulders up. But this was my chance to be in Big Brother Skateboarding Magazine. So as I realized that my whole fucking face was on fire, my thinking was, I better hurry up and do this fire breathing backflip quick.

So there's this unbelievable shot filmed from behind me where I do the back flip. I successfully blow the fireball and you see my whole fucking head just in the middle of a big fire. It's all just fire and it comes rotating. But I came up a little bit short on the back flip so i landed on my knees and so like it would like land on my knees and i came down so like it was a struggle to get back up to start putting out some fire right right and like and it wouldn't go out like right away and i'm flailing through this whole backyard keg party batting at it you know like by the time I got the fire out all the skin on my face was like rolled up in my hand like a

joint and and I had to go to the hospital they did someone came over and they said are you okay and I look at the camera and I go, no, dude, not even. And I went to the hospital and they scraped all the skin down. They called it debride. The burnt skin is now going to rot and can cause infections. So they had to scrape it down to the bottom layer.

And with my second degree burns on half my face, they said that I wouldn't be able to go out in the sun for six months that that did this and that. And like, certainly for the next two weeks, like most of the next two weeks, I recall in the morning having to peel my pillow off my face because there was stuff oozing out of it. And that was the condition that I was in, still with these burns, oozing. And when I got the call to let me know that I had been accepted into Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College. And I didn't know.

I had no idea if putting on clown grease paint was going to be in the cards. But fortunately, I heal like fucking Wolverine, probably because my immune system is so strong. Right, exactly. From all the shit drinking. Can't you tell my loves are growing? Now, what do you think it is? Like, do you think there's anything kind of integral?

Well, I mean, yes, obviously there's something, I mean, because, well, first of all, and I mean, you guys are already, you guys are talking about the, you, the jackass crew is already talking about like, this is a young person's game and the fact that you guys are still doing it is incredible. And it's not just, it's not just because your body heals. It's not just because of the physical, because like, you know, I've done pratfalls. I like, you know, part of the comedy that I would do. And I mean,

and we would practice pratfalls at parties. Like I learned to fall downstairs for a laugh at parties and stuff. And you just, you know, and it was like a combination of knowing a little bit about, about, about professional wrestling and how professional wrestlers protect themselves. So I had all these practical things. And then like, you know, like when I was kind of out here, probably in my early 30s, I did something for a video where I was supposed to kind of face plant, but I was using my folded arms to protect myself, kind of my elbows to catch the fall.

And I fucked up my elbow for six months. And I was like, if I had done this three years ago, it would have taken a week maybe of sore elbow. And that was when I really realized, okay, I can't do this anymore. But it's not just the physical part. It's that as you get older, you don't want to die. You know what I mean?

Right. I mean, I view it as, I'm very much with you and I view it as even another level of that where when you reach a certain age that the question becomes, when you reach a certain age that the question becomes, is it creepy to watch? Like, is it funny for like older guys to be like harming themselves? You know? And,

uh, I, when, when Knoxville, when Knoxville, um, this purpose, the idea that he wanted to do a fourth Jackass movie.

I thought, dude, you know, I've been pushing my luck. And I believe that I have that in me because I've stayed active, you know, and it's still working for me, but, but as a collective ensemble, I think it's a lot trickier, you know, like for us to get away with that collectively as a group in our late 40s and some of us in our 50s yeah you know yeah and uh and knoxville um like strongly disagreed with me knoxville's position was the the the older we get the funnier it is and and i I completely don't see it that way.

And as a matter of fact, speaking of pratfalls and such, there was a movie about Laurel and Hardy that came out a few years back. It was called Stan and Ollie. It's really good. Yeah. Not only is it really good, it straight fucked me up. To see those guys in whatever it was, their 60s

and 70s, financially destitute. They were in a position. They had no choice but to keep doing this old stick and they were just visibly like old and it just was very tragic and and upsetting and being the attention whore that i am and and having this career that i've had like the idea of being in that situation which that movie so masterfully portrayed like it just

it put me in a funk and a depression for like a solid week as did the movie about buster keaton as did the movie about judy garland yeah you know like like there's just that story. And so personally, I am so terrified of that. I'm so deeply, profoundly affected and upset by that, that I'm like really, really with you and not even in the sense about whether like my personal healing time is, is any is extended due to my advanced stage. It's not even, it's not even about that. What it, what it's about is fuck. Is, is it,

is it, is it depressing? Is it tragic? You know, you're becoming a circus geek. You're becoming a, right. You like a lot down on his luck guy.

That's biting the head off of chickens right so so so the way that i've approached it now i mean i'm 47 like in a couple of months in a couple months i'll be 48 and uh and i'm very sensitive to all of this so what i've been doing for the last was since jackass 3d came out in 2010 i got into stand-up comedy and i and i really really dove into it in earnest and i spent uh 11 straight years of course 2020 was a little bit less activity but uh but but relentlessly grinding on the comedy club circuit to develop this craft of standup comedy. Not even this is not even necessarily because, uh, I see more longevity and stand up comedy than the fall down game, but, uh, but because I'm an attention whore and, and,

uh, and, and it was a way to just be active and be on stage and get attention. You know, you see, I have a problem shutting the fuck up. Listen, you're making my job real easy. I love it. Right. Well, thank you. But over the, over the course of those 11 years, um, a couple of things happened. Um, my comedy became, it evolved into a multimedia affair where my first stand-up special was, it was me on, me and a microphone and just what happened on stage. I did intermittent, intermittently, I did a couple of stunts on stage, like to pepper it in, but it was just what happened on stage.

As I put together the second show I toured with, which became my second comedy special, like it struck me pretty early on as I put the show together that, you know, the majority of the stories I was telling, I was just going for the craziest stories that lent themselves best to stand up comedy. me that they for the most part had transpired on video so i thought man my head exploded i thought oh my god let what if i make a comedy special where as i tell the stories in my stand-up i edit the footage of the stories actually unfolding interstitially in post-production yeah it would be like the first multimedia comedy special and i was was just like, dude, my head exploded and I immediately got to recording my performances and bringing the footage into the computer and editing it all in. And I saw that it worked. what struck me because up to that point, you know, that like, for a standup comedian to watch footage of their performance can be a little bit tough. And I was, I was very resistant of that, but this exercise in editing the footage into the, into the performance forced,

it forced me to sit down and watch it and study it. And that brought about a progression in my performance of standup comedy that was so accelerated, you know, prepared to before that it, it benefited me so much. And the stories I was telling were old stories. I was regaling the past and the multimedia really worked, but that multimedia came in and post the footage wasn't coming on tour with me. So after doing my second comedy special, I felt strongly about two things.

I no longer wanted to live in the past because I felt like I was turning into a fucking asshole who won't shut up about what he could bench press in high school. And I wanted to have the benefit of bringing the multimedia component on the road with me. Sure. And I was scared about reaching a point where I'm running out of time to do the crazy shit, you know? Yeah.

Yeah. So, so I, so I decided, all right, you know, like, like if I want to film new stuff to create new stories,

then like shit, you know, like we've pretty much done everything. Except I knew exactly what hadn't been done because there were these ideas I'd been just kind of sitting on forever that there were less less actual like, you know, practical ideas than they were just crazy things to say. And I ended up, I called it my, my bucket list. Right. And what, what, so what particularly fucking tickles me is that everything I filmed for this, but I like in my live bucket list show, there are, there are 10 different video breaks where after each bit

each bit represents an item on the list and after each bit i screen the footage of the culmination of the bit and the the backdrop of the whole show the running narrative is my relationship with my fiance and the unavoidable implications of me carrying out these absurd plans on our relationship. You know, there's conflict. There's like mind-bogglingly unlikely loving support. You know, like how it all lands against the backdrop of my relationship really is compelling. And it provides like a cohesive narrative that really brings it all together and it and it plays like a love story which is which is pretty beautiful and uh and and

the things i did for this fucking show are so goddamn ridiculous and many of them flagrantly fucking illegal yeah i got i i got a medical professional to assume a disguise and then administer stolen general anesthesia drugs into an iv that they put in my arm to knock me out that like i'm like i want you to fucking knock me out while I'm hauling ass on a bicycle. And if that is not the most fucking illegal goddamn thing. Sure. Then I went and found another medical professional to put a four inch needle in my spine, inject a drug into my spinal cavity to paralyze me while I was in a full sprint.

Because that's what the fuck I'm up to now. And I might not have that much longer to get away with this. You know, it might not be much longer before it gets creepy to watch me do this. But, you know, I'm going to the finish line and I'm not fucking around. It is a love story. That's for sure. Yeah. And while we have your audience, I really, really want to let everybody know that my, my story is, uh, yeah, as you kind of can, can get the gist it's been,

I lived my life for the purpose of it being notable and memorable and entertaining. And I have a memoir, which is, I mean, the five-star rating on Amazon indicates that it's a goddamn good book. good book. Yeah. And, and, uh, it really is. And it's an unlikely, uh, inspiring story of redemption and recovery. Cause I just, I just celebrated 14 years of continuous sobriety, which is congratulations. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. And, uh, every single copy of my memoir, which is called Steve-O professional idiot, which I sell at my website, which is called Stevo Professional Idiot, which I sell at my website, which is stevo.com is signed by hand with my Stevo signature,

which looks just like a dick. Stevo. So much branding. Yeah, it's great. And I just finished my second book, which comes out in September. That one's called A Hard Kick in the Nuts. What I've Learned from a Lifetime of Terrible Decisions. And that was a little bit of a pivot because what it started out as was, you know, like

Steve-O's Guide to Middle Age. Right, right. Because my confronting middle age is so fucking terrifying, as I explained. I can imagine. But I didn't want to alienate people who aren't necessarily personally concerned with middle age. So I just made it more of a book of general wisdom, which I've gleaned from a lifetime of terrible decisions. Terrible decisions. Now, I want to ask, because we talk about it's a privileged upbringing.

want to ask like because you know we talk about you it's a privileged upbringing most people with privileged upbringings do not have this kind of drive well well there's certainly there's certainly people from privileged upbringings that have a self-destructive drive but then they don't maintain it so that it is like self-destructive, but then, you know, ongoing, you know, like that where it becomes basically a cottage industry, you know, self-destruction. And I wonder, what is it about, what is it that, why do you think you do this? I mean, you have asked yourself that. And I mean, and I imagine you've been in therapy to sort of ask those kinds of questions. I have, and I've got, I've got my own theory about this, Andy.

And it might be more... Here's my take on it. Number one, I spoke my first words in Portuguese because I was raised by live inmates. Dad being the president of Pepsi Cola in Brazil, he was popping off. Mom and dad were partying. You don't have to be Sigmund Freud to maybe think that lack of attention from my parents sort of made me crave attention.

And that could be why I'm such a rapid attention whore. Now, on a bigger level, and this is something that there will be a follow up to my bucket list tour. that my like there will be a follow-up to my bucket list tour and that one's called uh and it's going to be called steve-o's gone too far tour and and holy shit am i gonna go too far and that one will really get into the the physical implications of uh of my age but the thing and and i bring in what what my vision is for the next tour because i had a bit i have a bit on my like as a comedian it's really it's really a challenging bit but i won't let go of it and it really drives at the inspiration for like, what's behind what I do. And the premise for the bit is, I say I have a theory that God hates us, human beings specifically, because as I understand it, human beings are the only living organism which can hypothetically contemplate their mortality outside of the actual present moment.

Yeah. You know, we're the only ones. And now add to that, that we only have one instinct which is to survive and and yet we only have one guarantee which is we won't survive yeah yeah so so it's like i mean right there that to me is a blatant catch-22 fucking cruel prank on us. Like we're sitting here thinking like, well, we have to deal with the fact that we know down the line in a hypothetical

sense, we are barreling towards the one fucking thing that our whole makeup cries out against. Like we're playing a game that we're going to lose. And we know that. Yeah. And so, so I view the human experience as sort of a prank on us but but really from a for practical purposes

i view the human experience as an exercise in wrapping our heads around our mortality. And I've identified three ways that people do that. One is to procreate because they feel like that's why they call them the family jewels. You know, you want to keep your legacy going. So like, it's okay. I'm going to be dead because I've got my lineage carrying on, but that's not for me, dude. I got a fucking vasectomy and i filmed it for my bucket list show i called it the vasectomy olympics you know like and it's the most hilarious bit and

it actually makes dudes pass out sometimes oh really wow yeah but so i didn't ever want to have kids kids the second way people wrap their heads around their mortality is to this religion, you know, like every religion, as I get it, I understand it. The religion is promised to you that it's okay that you're going to die because you're going to go to heaven and everything is going to be great, but it all feels kind of transactional and self-serving and a little silly. Yeah. And also made up and also transparently made up. Yeah. Right. Right. Like I just just can't I could never really grasp onto that and then the third bucket

which is the one I fall into is you know like the legacy bucket and I think that you know that the earliest cavemen you know they scrawled stick figures on cave walls because they were scared that they were going to die.

They hated the fact that they were mortal and they wanted to leave these drawings on the cave walls because those drawings would outlive them. You know, like that's me, man. Like when I took to the video camera as a young skateboarder, Like I was, I was like really blown away by the fact that a, I could edit out the failures and just assemble just the successes. Right. Right. Sort of manipulate how I was, you know, seen. Sure. Sure. Increase your batting average to a thousand. Right. Exactly. And on top of that, that with the whole mortality complex going on that that these videos won't die

you know like this fucking this shit's gonna live for so so i i you know i was final disciplinary probation with within two weeks of class starting and i and i was kicked out of the dorms in short order after failing and dropping out to boot. So I felt that I lacked the survival skills to make it in the real world. I was convinced that I was going to die young, having failed at life. And I wanted to hurry up and,

and film as much crazy as shit as I possibly could so that that would be my legacy. You know, I really like so that that would be my legacy you know I really like my religion my legacy my purpose was to to make myself immortal by doctor you know I was like it was important what I was

doing when I was lighting myself on fire at a backyard keg party because that footage would play and entertain people and have an effect on people like beyond my years so fuck fuck death i'm you know i'm gonna live forever because of this yeah but but what shocked my system was that when jackass came out all of a sudden like i moved out to california as quick as I could to sort of seize this opportunity and ride the wave. And I heard so many people tell me, hurry up and strike while

the iron's hot, because invariably your show is going to get canceled and then you're going to be old news. And, and then like, and I remember just being frustrated by that. Like, ah, you know, like, fuck you. I'll make the iron hot. I'll fucking make the iron hot and fucking everyone else can strike it. Fuck you. You know, but there was really something to that. And what I learned is, is, uh, was scary and depressing is that. What did I, what I V I viewed video footage as eternal as immortal. But once I got actually in the mix of, you know, of basic cable television,

I learned that not only is video footage not immortal, but it has a very distinct expiry date, which is precisely the date when it airs. As soon as it's come out it has expired it has gone rotten and it is no longer of any use to you and now everyone's question is what's next what's your only as good as your last thing so then like what i what i thought i was chasing i was gonna like ensure my immortality all that ended up happening was that i came to find that the spotlight is so fleeting and that that my life was now like the spotlight's moving and I'm chasing it trying to stay in it you know and uh that's where it gets so scary and anxiety inducing and dark and depressing like fame is really not a healthy fucking no dynamic you know it's not it's

not a healthy dynamic and thank god i i fell apart and flamed out with drugs and alcohol because were it not for a spiritual practice and 12-step recovery which has allowed me to find some separation between steve-o the character and then me and what's important to me as a person yeah like i'd be fucked because it like to identify as steve-o would be a dark fucking road yeah absolutely yeah but that's what that's what that that that was my way to answer you That's why I do what I do. Yeah, yeah. Can't you tell my loves are growing? What do you see happening like in 10 years for you? I'll tell you exactly.

I mean, before we started recording this show, I let you in on the fact that I had a very late night last night putting a tattoo on a guy from Italy. I got into tattooing just as a gag kind of a thing. I became active with the YouTube channel. Actually, at this point, I upload videos weekly to four different YouTube channels. I've got my main YouTube channel, which is like kind of jackass-y, like sort of more marquee content. Then I've got my Wild Ride podcast. Then I've got my wild ride podcast clips channel. And then I've got my Steve-O in Spanish language channel with the voice actors, which is a hoot. And I can't wait to add more, more and more,

but for a video, I thought like, I'm always thinking about creating content. I thought for a video, let me make a, you know, let me make a YouTube video dedicated to giving people tattoos, which I had done. People would present me with a tattoo machine and I would maybe put my name on them, whatever. And it would be all half-assed, but I thought, wouldn't it be interesting if I tried as hard as I possibly could to do the best job I possibly could and challenge myself. And I made this video where like, was like hold on a second dude like

this is way better of tattoos than anybody would expect steve-o to do so i did more videos of that and then like now i've got to tell you there's the most inexplicable demand for a shitty tattoo from steve-o that i mean i'm telling you it's ridiculous so i so i had this contest with the members of my subscription page which is uncensored you know i've got this uncensored page where i have no rules that like i'm not getting in trouble for showing my wiener you know like and and every member of the of of the page, I had said, Hey, I'm going to have a contest. If you guys all, if anybody wants a tattoo for me, submit your designs and, and I'll pick the one I like the best. The guy who submitted the tattoo design I like the best happens to be from

Italy. So he won. I said, I'll fly you and a guest out. So I flew these two Italian dudes to join me on my tour bus on my tour and I gave him his design of Satan a Satanic chef with a pentagram pizza. It was a hoot and I was up all night doing that. Yeah, but you flew him to Salt Lake City. Well, I flew him

to LA. Oh, alright. And then rode him on the tour bus cross country to have the experience to be a VIP at my shows. Oh, nice. And then flew him on the tour bus cross country to have the experience to be a VIP at my shows. Oh, nice. And then flew him home from Salt Lake City actually tomorrow, making the visit a little bit long and awkward. But it's all good. The kid's great.

And the reason I mentioned the tattooing is because I do view it as a safety net where, you know, like in the worst case scenario, I have a career as a tattoo artist. Really? I mean, like, I don't think I would ever want to or hopefully ever need to. But I have that. I have that as a potential way out of the attention whore game you know i could i could i could i don't have to do any stan and ollie shit right right you know but but i've got way more way more uh avenues that i'm building for that's what 10 years from now looks like is uh you know everything that i'm setting up for myself now, which represents a way out of the fucking attention whore game.

Big time in that is my merchandising operation. I've got two brands of Stevo hot sauce. When the slides go out on my tour bus, you can see Stevo's hot sauce for your butthole. stevo's hot sauce for your butthole and and my newer brand stevo's butthole destroyer hot sauce and and my you know my hot sauce business is thriving man like when i promote when i promote it it shoots number one hot sauce on amazon we like um i mean i don't want to like brag about like you know money come in but i'm very happy with what we're doing with um with hot sauce and uh i sell so much shit like i'm the gene simmons of jackass dude yeah like a steve o'connell is that in the works yeah i don't have a steve-o coffin but

i've got like obnoxious bluetooth speakers that are the loudest bluetooth boom boxes in the world like i've got i've got all the skateboard sunglasses like like i still signed dick pics on tour but but what's important about that is that i i got to a point of shipping you know like my online merchandising operation reached a level where it became frustrating to me that uh i was sort of lost in the mix of this third party fulfillment center. Yeah. Like I was, I was a client of a where, and I got to a point where I was like, dude, you know what? Screw it. I got my own warehouse, my own where I got my own warehouse,

got my own warehouse staff. And, and so I've got my own fulfillment company, you know, like, and, and, and I love to name my companies. My fulfillment center is called tight box packing. And, and, and, uh, and it's, it's, it's, it's thriving. It's thriving to the point that I've added a second warehouse. Both warehouses are chock full. And in the spirit of trying to set myself up to not have to be an attention whore, I've already developed my fulfillment business to take on third-party clients. That's what I was just going to ask, because, yeah, you got the infrastructure.

You might as well do the same merchandising for other people. Right. I'm already fulfilling orders for certain orders for Tony Hawk, for Dick House, the production company behind Jackass, for multiple other Jackass cast members. Right. For Oprah. You got to get Oprah in in there somehow right right and and there's i mean i'm still with the fulfillment business i'm at a kind of a a level where

the profit margins on my steve-o merch are like so like so it's so lucrative to sell my own merch that selling other people's merch really like you know i would have to level up to uh you know the profitability per square foot of my warehouses for my merch compared to the third party stuff yeah yeah like the disparity is pretty off the charts. I see. I see. Yeah. But with that said, like, uh, it, it, you know, it could really be a volume game and, uh, it could be an absolute retirement party for me if, uh, if I level that up. And so that's one thing where I'm very, very sensitive to being in front of the camera when it's just a bummer to look at me. Yeah. I've, I've considered those options too.

Now, I want to ask, are your folks still alive? Are your parents still alive? Not my mom, but my dad. And what does he feel about his son becoming a businessman? He loves it. Yeah, I mentioned like it's been, gotta been quite a journey to go through setting your head on fire and now talking about the profitability of the product in your various warehouses.

Yeah, for sure. And thank you for asking that too, man. Like when I, when I dropped out of college, I, you know, my dad raised me with, you know, like with, with a level of pride since they, even though I had a very privileged upbringing, you know, like with, with a level of pride since they, even though I had a very privileged upbringing, you know, dad was, was a wealthy man. Um, when I dropped out of the university of Miami, when I left, um, I, like, I, I didn't ask him for any handouts. I, um, didn't even tell him where I was, man.

Like I, I didn't, I didn't have the heart to, I didn't have any good news to report. And you know, I wasn't doing anything that would, that he would have been proud of or, or like, you know, like if I called him, it would have been a bummer. And the sad thing is that I didn't call him. He didn't even know where I was for like six months. And the truth of where I was, I was in a fucking laboratory having the government test drugs on me for money.

And the way that these medical studies go, like the FDA approval, anything that comes into contact with the human body requires FDA approval and, and, and, you know, rigorous testing. And, um, FDA approval. Anything that comes into contact with the human body requires FDA approval and rigorous testing. And the more dangerous the medical study, the more money they pay you. So I signed up to have drugs for pigs and cows tested on me. Yeah, the drug was called Ractopamine Hydrochloride. This happened in January of 1994.

And I was paid $2,000. But wow, I was homeless, man. You know, I actually did not have a home. I was a couch surfer i would say i would say homeless but i was a little more charismatic than that i was i was a couch surfer yeah yeah yeah and you were unhoused but charming yeah yeah for sure you know i i had like i'd make it a couple days before people would or you know it's kind people would encourage me to find another place to go. But yeah, that went on for three years.

And the drugs for pigs and cows thing was hilarious. They knew that it was going to raise our heart rates. The purpose of the drug was to appeal to a more health-conscious consumer. They wanted to give this drug to pigs and cows because it would cause the pigs and cows to have less fat and more muscle to produce leaner meat for the more health-conscious consumer. But by the virtue of the fact that that health conscious consumer would be ingesting a trace of this drug because it was in the meat yeah then that meant that the fda had to run a test to determine how much the human body could withstand of this shit

as i understood it so so the purpose of the medical study was to pump a group of human subjects full of this racked dopamine hydrochloride until one of the subjects had a resting heart rate of 150 beats per minute, which is pretty cool. And at that time, you know, I had dropped out of the University of Miami. I left the University of Miami like Thanksgiving weekend of 1993. And on my way out of the University of Miami, people were like, wow, you really blew it now, dude. Kicked out of the dorms. You were failing and now you're dropping out. Like, what's your plan and i told everybody at that time i said i'm gonna become a crazy famous stuntman with a home video camera i'm gonna home videotape the fucking such crazy ass shit

that it's gonna i'm gonna be famous yeah dude every person, I explained this plan to felt fucking sorry for me. They're like, dude, what a tragedy. What a fuck, what a loser. And, uh, you know, dude, it's just, it's nuts how it turned out. But I didn't talk to my dad for, for six months. I'm having the government test drugs on me. I'm homeless and uh and then you know there was fairly limited communication with my dad period because we weren't really

vibing on the same wavelength yeah and uh and dad was not dad was not fucking feeling that i'm gonna be a stuntman thing like his approach to that was to go to uh he went to the library back when they had libraries in the 90s like uh it was 1995 they didn't have they didn't even have the goddamn internet yet right right you know 1995 my dad was in the physical library doing research on uh cgi back then he said said, son, I've done my research here and, and a computer graphics, computer animation digital is going to make the career of stuntmen obsolete. And I was like, I'm finished. I was like, Oh dad, but I'm going to be gnarly. You know, but I, but I'm going to be gnarly. And I,

he was beating his head against the wall, trying to convince me not to do the stuntman thing. The next thing, you know but i'm gonna be gnarly and i yeah he was beating his head against the wall trying to convince me not to do the stuntman thing the next thing you know i'm going to fucking clown college like he wasn't feeling that for a even a little bit yeah but then and i went to clown college in 1997 and i was living with my sister by that point. And it was after I graduated from Clown College, after I had been featured in a couple issues of Big Brother magazine, there was the first article, there was a little sidebar article called The Burning Boy Festival. yeah like my prediction had become true i i i got the article i was looking for and then um you know i was in big brother a couple times i graduated clown college but not gotten a contract with the circus and i basically had not made a fucking dime from from my you know and that's so special to me because in 1998 specifically in october of 1998 my dad and i were were together um and and he initiated a conversation himself he said i have to tell you

i think i i believe i've done a disservice to you by not supporting you in this career path that you've, that you've clearly committed yourself to. He said, he said, you know, I think I've done a disservice to you. He says, he says, you didn't go the, you didn't go down the path that I would have chosen for you, you know, but I can tell that you're committed to it. And just like my dad didn't, you know, my dad was the black sheep of his family for going into business because, because everyone in my dad's family was PhD by clergy clergymen, zoologists, theologians, like highly, highly academic. And it was, it was not fucking cool to go be a capitalistic

greedy businessman selling soda and cigarettes right so my dad's dad my paternal grandfather had the same he said dad related this to me he said my dad wouldn't have chosen for me

what I did but he said this to me says, now I'm saying it to you, son. I've done a disservice by not supporting you. I want you to know that you're committed and I just want you to be the best at what you've committed. I've got your back. I pledge this for you. I hadn't made any fucking money. I hadn't done shit. And where I went from that conversation with my dad, again, video cameras were not a household item.

There was enough home video footage being produced to support America's funniest home videos. But then there was a second show, which was less comedy driven. It was called Real TV. Video cameras were becoming more prevalent. And after that conversation with my dad, when I saw the commercial for Real TV saying, if you have any home video footage that you think we should see, then call us and let us know. And I called that number and I said, Oh, I don't have footage you might want to see. I have footage. You know, I have footage you guys, I have footage you need badly.

You know, and I put together all my footage, I sent it to them and they called me back and they said, we're interested in the footage of you on the roof of the three story building, lighting yourself on fire and doing the simultaneous fire breathing front flip off the roof of the three-story building into the five foot deep pool. And I was like, and I was like, is that out of everything I sent? That's all you want. Like that's it. And they're, and they're,

and they were like, yeah, that's what we want. We also want you doing it up the same building in a day. So we can show the daytime and then the night with the fire. And we were like, yeah, that's what we want. We also want you doing it up the same building in a day so we can show the daytime and then the night with the fire. And we want to give you we want exclusive rights to this to these clips and we'll pay you five hundred dollars for exclusive rights. I've never heard the word exclusive like maybe ever. Definitely not. Right. You don't know what that means definitely not in that context and I said well what does exclusive mean and they said well that means that we would then own

the footage and only we own it like so I can't do anything with it ever again they were like that's correct so my next call was to my dad I said dad and I'm off like dad they wanted to have an exclusive and they wanted him to be on TV. And dad says, Steve, calm down. This is real simple. He says, ask yourself at which

point is it a deal breaker? Draw a line in the sand. He says, it sounds like exclusivity is a deal breaker for you. So why don't you call them back and say, you will not do the exclusivity, but you'll give them a non-exclusive right to play it and tell them that it's got to be a thousand. And I called them back and I got, I got precisely that. So dad, dad was the mastermind behind my very first ever contract. And dad was, dad was in my corner ever since and and and it makes me emotional like to the point of like goosebumps and like i can imagine to to be able to say that i don't have a great relationship with my dad because i'm successful but rather i'm successful because i have a great relationship with my dad because I'm successful, but rather I'm successful because I have a great

relationship with my dad. And that distinction, that distinction is fucking huge. That's great. And I love it. Yeah. Thank you. That's great. Well, thank you so much. You spent so much time with me. Thank you so much. I, you know, to wrap it up, I just want to know, I mean, it's kind of, you know, the end question here is always like, what do you want people to take away well like what lesson do you want people to learn from the steve-o story i mean i don't know in the beginning it like i i just wanted to be remembered yeah i just wanted i just wanted to to like uh yeah i was an attention whore and I wanted to get more attention. I wanted to keep getting attention after I died. That was my whole thing was like, dude, like, what, like, why do you do what you do? And I was like, I, you know, I do what I do because I don't like work and I don't

like school and, and I want to be remembered forever, you know, like I want to, and, um, and then like over the years, like the, you know, I've sort of become, uh, scared of, uh, not scared of, but, but, uh, nervous around like the implications of the spotlight and, um, where I never, like, I, like I, I never cared about money. I only wanted the attention. And then, and then, you know, once I got clean and sober in 2008, I started thinking, oh shit, I always figured I was going to be dead, like young, like sort of burn out, live fast, die young, drugs and alcohol and crazy. And in 2008, I changed my lifestyle such that I was no longer smoking, drinking, doing drugs. I was like kind of being a little bit mindful about what I ate. I was taking to feed myself. Like what the fuck, you know? And that was,

that was when I really like, you know, that was like from that point on like i i want it was less about about like eyeballs and attention and more about like let me like literally think about my future and what it's going to look like and not have it be dark and depressing and uh you know the life of a touring stand-up comic on the comedy club circuit is a fucking like, I mean, I know that it sounds ungrateful to be like, I'm a headliner in a comedy club and I've got special engagements and I get paid really well. But, but despite that, you know,

it's Groundhog's day airport hotel. It's like, it's a miserable fucking existence. And I, we went on the Conan... In between the Tonight Show and TBS, we went on a tour for about three months. And that was all I could... I was like, if I did this, I would be addicted to every

fucking substance and I'd be 350 pounds. Like, just because it would just... And there was like a day where there was like a rush, rush, rush to get from one matinee show to like rush rush rush to get to our next hotel and it's all this activity and all this push and then i get to the hotel and i almost cried because that's like this is what i was rushing to this empty fucking hotel room like you know and i did that for i did that for 11 years. Wow. And I did it relentlessly. And I just, you know, I'm not going to bullshit you and say, oh, this was my passion.

This was my dream. Like, I was trying to sock away as much fucking money that I possibly could and doing it every week of every year that I possibly could so that 10 years down the road, I wouldn't be in some shitty situation thinking, fuck, why didn't I earn all that money when I could, you know, I did, I, I did it for the money, but the, but the, the, the happy unintended consequence was that I really developed a craft, you know, like, you know, because I don't do anything half-assed, man. I pour myself into everything that I do. And every show that I did, I, I did the best fucking show I could. It evolved. It grew, it improved, it progressed. And then now I've graduated from comedy clubs to theaters,

man. And like the normal night for me is like, like six shows in a comedy club packed into one fucking theater every night. And I don't have to check in and theater every night and i don't have to check in and out of hotels i don't have to fly on fucking airports yeah i live on a i live on a tour bus which i love and i got my editor with me i got my fucking assistant my merch guy and we're all this happy family just running around making crazy videos and flying assholes in from Italy to, you know, like, you know, it's like, you know, and then, uh, you know, the, the Italy guys will fly home tomorrow. And then the next day, uh, our new jackass cast member poopies will fly in. And so that's where, that's what it's keeping

life fresh instead of it being a groundhog day is that I can just fly in people to, uh, make every day a new day. Yeah. So is it about adapting? Is it about just sort of honoring your basic skills and then adapting and finding different ways to? I mean, OK, if we're looking for advice that I have for people, because people will ask me for advice and whether it's like, hey, I want to become a stunt man or hey, I want to get into comedy or like anything. Yeah. I like, I like dysentery. How can I make money off of getting, you know, hepatitis? Yeah. Right. You know, like whatever it is, I just,

I would say very clearly that the meaning of life is to get off your ass and pick one, you know, like, like the life is to get off your ass and pick one you know like like the life is the meaning of life is it's clearly that the purpose is to bring to give meaning to your life you are in charge it like it's like you are in charge of giving meaning to your life and finding meaning for your life. You know, you cannot ever hit a bullseye unless you start by aiming at a target, you know? So without, without identifying a goal, you are never going to accomplish a goal. And I think that that's largely like most people, like the biggest problem I think for most people is that they have not identified something about which they are passionate they have not they have not identified a goal and if even if you don't

identify a goal then you're never going to achieve a goal so it starts with it starts with asking yourself what do you want your life to mean what do you want to do and all those people who are asking me for advice about about how to accomplish, they're ahead of 90% of the fucking world because they've actually got an idea of what they want to accomplish. The fact that they've asked for advice, the fact that they've even asked me for this advice is indicative about what it is they're asking, is that, you know, whatever you want to do, start doing it. Yeah. With one caveat that you be mindful about getting direction or because let's say, you know, it's very possible to let's say you want to be a juggler, you know, it would be a really good idea to have somebody who knows how to juggle help you so that you're not learning bad habits with the one caveat,

be mindful about learning the right way because you don't want to go in the wrong fucking direction and have to unlearn like the wrong shit but with that cab with that caveat make sure you're not going in the wrong direction figure out what the right direction is towards getting good at your goal and start down that fucking path don't waste any time don't wait don't wait for an opportunity to arise don't wait to be picked don't wait but don't procrastinate. Just fucking start doing it. And then I'd say, you know, with that in mind too, that it does not, it does not matter

what you want, but really what matters is how fucking bad you want it because as, as helpful as talent is, talent, talent's great. Talent's a real helpful thing to have. And intelligence will give you an advantage. But those two things cannot fucking touch enthusiasm. enthusiasm. Yeah. All of the talent in the world, all of the intelligence in the world without enthusiasm is bullshit. You know? And, and I say that this is really fucking special to me because I've said that so many times, like, uh, you know, talent intelligence, great enthusiasm is where it's at. And, uh, somebody, um, in, in, uh. And somebody in one of my spiritual, you know, like men's groups, somebody brought up the word enthusiasm. And they said that the Latin root for the word enthusiasm is entheos which means with god and i just and i just got goosebumps

under my fucking hoodie you know so like they said the key to life the the most important ingredient in life is enthusiasm and who knew and who knew that you're on the fucking path of God when you're fired up and fucking enthusiastic about something. So find what you're enthusiastic about. Make that your purpose. Make that the meaning that you're going to bring to your life and fucking hurry up and get off your ass and do it now. Thank you,

Steve-O for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking us into your world uh there's something i have to say uh you that being you the listener can watch jackass forever on paramount plus starting today and buy it on digital starting march 29th with nearly 40 minutes of exclusive stunt footage i'll be there watching that uh and it's 40 minutes of exclusive stunt footage. I'll be there watching that. And it's a 40 minutes of exclusive stunt footage, not seen in theaters. So check that out. And Steve, again,

thank you so much, man. This is really, really a fun talk and I'm such a fan and it's such a thrill to get to meet you and see you. And after we're off, I'm going to give you my phone number so I can see some of those tats. I love it,

dude. I absolutely love it. Thank you so much. And, and thank you for not making me feel like a douche for not shutting up once. Like I said, it's easy.

Anytime I was raised in, in, in with the, with this philosophy that work is always to be avoided. And in this, in this venue, me talking is work. So you were doing all the work.

And I'm getting the same check either way. My enthusiasm is for communication. And I do it with real passion. I communicate. Well, for years you've also, you're very much an open book. And that's a very brave and admirable thing to do and i mean i've listened to you on howard all those years and stuff and you've always been really i mean there's a bravery to be an open i mean sometimes there's a stupidity

to be in that open but sometimes it's just plain old bravery because so many people are afraid to show themselves and you're not quite frequently i I mean, you show every bit of yourself. So. Well, thank you. And when you tell the truth, you never have to keep track of what you said. And that's, that's real helpful too. And speaking of open books, everybody go to steveo.com and buy my Dicko graft memoir, Steve-O professional idiot. And dude, thank you so much, Andy. It's been a real pleasure. And thank all of you out there for listening. And we will be back

next week with more three questions. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production. It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.