When most people think of the show Jackass there are generally three characters that always come to mind first: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, and Steve-O. Of the three of these guys, Johnny Knoxville is probably the most “stunt oriented” of the three. Margera is the guy that picks on his poor dad. And lastly, Steve-O is the guy who does the most disgusting stuff and has no problems with self mutilation.
What you might not know is that of three three guys, one of them is a professionally trained clown. That’s right folks. Steve-O, who you’d think comes straight from the skateboarding culture and just walked right into Jackass, didn’t. He actually attended real life clown college prior to his success on MTV.
He attended the University of Miami but dropped out after one year due to poor grades and acts of disobedience in school. He also attended the University of New Mexico from 1996-1997. He then attended and graduated from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1997. After graduation he was not selected to join the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, but worked as a clown in a circus at the Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop flea market.
He filmed his stunts, including his clown performances, throughout this period. While performing in the flea market circus, Steve-O began sending videos of himself to Big Brother Magazine editor and future Jackass director Jeff Tremaine. After admitting that the only thing he was scared of was spiders, Tremaine recruited Steve-O for MTV’s television series Jackass, which became an instant hit.
So there you have it. The more you know….
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