Jackass is an American reality series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, self-injuring stunts and pranks. The show served as a launchpad for the television and acting careers of Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, and Steve-O, who previously had only minor acting roles. The show later sparked several spin-offs including Wildboyz, Viva La Bam, Homewrecker, Bam's Unholy Union, and Dr. Steve-O as well as three feature films distributed by MTV corporate sibling Paramount Pictures. Jackass sparked considerable amounts of controversy, as it was seen as indecent and encouraging of dangerous behavior.

The show developed from Big Brother Magazine, a skateboarding-related humor magazine that Jeff Tremaine, Dave Carnie, Rick Kosick and Chris Pontius all worked for, and featured regular contributions from Johnny Knoxville and Dave England, among others. The concept of Jackass dates back to 1998, when failing-actor-turned-writer Johnny Knoxville thought of the idea of testing different self-defense devices on himself as the basis for an article. He pitched the idea to a couple of magazines and was turned down until meeting with Jeff Tremaine of Big Brother. Tremaine hired him as a journalist and convinced Johnny to videotape this idea and other stunts for stories. The footage, which involved Knoxville being tasered, maced, and shot while wearing a bulletproof vest, appeared in the second Big Brother skateboarding movie: Number 2. Future Jackass castmember Wee-Man made an appearance in the videos as well. During this time, Bam Margera released a movie titled Landspeed:CKY, consisting of himself and his friends, which he dubbed the "CKY Crew", in West Chester, Pennsylvania, performing various skits and stunts. The Crew included the colorful cast of Ryan Dunn, Brandon Dicamillo, and Raab Himself, as well as Margera's family April, Phil, Don Vito, and Jess Margera. Tremaine saw the tapes and drafted Margera and his crew into what would become the cast of Jackass. Later, the Jackass crew would recruit Steve-O in a Florida flea market where he worked as a clown. To round out the cast, England brought in his friend Ehren McGhehey, a fellow Oregon resident and extreme stunt participant. Preston Lacy would be the last of what is now considered the main cast to join, auditioning midway through the show's run by eating four bananas with the peels on. Tremaine drafted his friend, director Spike Jonze, to get involved with the show, and together, he, Jonze, and Knoxville served as executive producers. The show idea was pitched, and the cast was initially given an offer by Saturday Night Live to perform the stunts weekly for the show, though the offer was turned down. A bidding war occurred between Comedy Central and MTV, which MTV eventually won. It was then that Jackass was born.

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