Am I Really a Teenage Boy? (Jackass)

Member Name: Ophelia

Product:	Jackass
Date:	26/09/03 (351 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, amusing personalities

Disadvantages: Puerile

Jackass is an American equivalent of ?Trigger Happy TV? but it is much, much, much funnier and the stars are more likeable (am I the only one to dream off knocking Dom Jolly?s head off with a croquet mallet?). However, it is also a programme that will sound ludicrous, looks silly and would shock your granny but it has to be seen to be believed.

The show consists of various sketches in which the members of the Jackass team either play tricks on the public, attempt dangerous stunts or just simply cut to the chase and inflict pain on each other. I told you it would sound silly! The first time I watched a programme I sat there for about five minutes thinking, ?This is puerile. How stupid? and then I suddenly caught myself sniggering. Minutes later I was howling with laughter. This programme appeals to the baser side of our nature but, if you?re honest, it is funny. It seems to appeal mainly to teenage boys, oh ? and me!

THE CAST

Johnny Knoxville: the main Jackass member who presents the shows. He is rather cute and has a really appealing smile (it is probably on this issue that male teenage fans will disagree with me!)

Chris Pontius: he seems to get naked more frequently than the other members. His main character is ?Party Boy? who goes into hi-fi shops, asks for a demonstration and then strips down to a g-string and starts to strut his stuff in public.

Steve-O: this insane bloke tends to do stunts involving piercings (as when he had his butt cheeks pierced together), tattoos (having a smiley face tattooed on his arm but while being driven off-road on a VERY bumpy surface) or stunts which may end in vomiting (like when he snorted an earthworm up his nostril and brought it out of his mouth).

Bam Margera: the resident skateboard expert who often does stunts involving skateboards or an equivalent (block of ice, office chair) and also frequently plays tricks on his poor long-suffering father, Phil (awakening him
at 2am with a firework display in his bedroom or digging and disguising a huge hole in the lawn so that he fell into it while mowing the lawn or leaving a real crocodile in their kitchen for his Phil to discover!)

Wee Man: a dwarf who has an amazing ability to kick himself in the head!

And also: Brandon Dicamillo, Ehren McGhehey, Dave England and Preston Lacy.

THE SKETCHES

Tricks on the public: luckily these are rarely as irritating as those featured in Trigger Happy TV and are performed less frequently than the other types of sketches. Amusing incidents include someone disguised as an old man trying obviously to shoplift, a man with two ?broken? arms whose trousers keep falling down and Party Boy?s frequent naked antics.

Stunts: these are some of the most hilarious moments, such as trying to jump-skate over several metal barrels on an ice rink, rolling down hills in giant tubes, going down a steep hill on a tandem with no brakes and skiing down a hillside but inside a portable loo!

Self-inflicted pain: one of the most hilarious of these involved Johnny Knoxville and an experiment to see which would cause most pain to his testicles ? children kicking him, a croquet ball, a pool ball dropped from a two-storey building or a sledgehammer! Other sketches include receiving lashes from a rather brutal looking Japanese fighting stick and having oranges shot at them at a speed of over 100 mph.

HILARITY

What makes the show so enjoyable is that the team members are so obviously enjoying themselves. Their tricks are designed to hurt no one, other than themselves and when injured they proudly show their bruises to the camera. Unplanned attacks sometimes happen between members of the crew and the cameraman sometimes finds himself under attack.

The team is like a group of boys out to have fun together and watching the programme, we feel like one of them sharing in their japes and pranks. They a
re laughing at each other and at themselves and there is certainly no feeling of humour at the expense of others, so despite the nudity, the displays of bodily functions and the pain it is really nothing but good clean fun.

A word of warning, Jackass have made a movie, which is just a longer version of the TV show but it is not, repeat NOT, suitable for taking a girl too on a first date. A friend of mine did this and sat embarrassed as the team held sea cucumbers near their groins and agitated them until the sea creatures released a white discharge. It seems obvious but this is not romantic viewing; go and see it with your mates and not with the girl of your dreams.

Now, I am sure that having read this review you are still convinced that this show wouldn?t be your cup of tea but I urge you to watch one episode and after seeing a grown man dressed as a chicken looping the loop on a BMX bike and following through into a pond you will find yourself laughing ? guaranteed!

Summary: