--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Welcome to Today Explained. I'm Sean Rameswaram.
--:-- Noel King: And I'm Noel King.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Today, we're talking about the No. 1 movie in America, Jackass Forever, and its star, Johnny Knoxville.
--:-- Noel King: That's right. The Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday, but the most popular movie in America is Jackass Forever.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Which stars Johnny Knoxville and his friends hurting each other in all sorts of creative ways.
--:-- Noel King: We're joined now by Alyssa Wilkinson, a film critic for Vox, who recently wrote about her experience watching all four Jackass movies in one sitting.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: So, Alyssa, what was it like watching all four Jackass movies in one sitting?
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It was a real experience. I showed up at the Museum of the Moving Image at 1 p.m. on a Thursday and left around 10 p.m. having seen three Jackass movies and then the new one, Jackass Forever.
--:-- Noel King: Wow, that's a long day.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Yeah, but it was worth it. I was in a theater full of people who are super fans, and it was really fun to watch them with people.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: I can imagine. The Jackass movies are known for their raunchy humor and outrageous stunts.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Yeah, but what I think people love about Jackass is that it's not just about the stunts and the humor. It's about the relationships between the guys.
--:-- Noel King: That's a great point. The Jackass crew is like a big, dysfunctional family.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Exactly. And I think that's what makes the movies so endearing. They're not just about guys hurting each other; they're about guys who love each other and are willing to put themselves through all sorts of pain and humiliation for the sake of a good joke.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: That's really interesting. I've always thought of Jackass as a kind of anti-entertainment, but you're saying it's actually a kind of anti-anti-entertainment.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Yeah, exactly. It's like, we're the idiots here, and we're just going to flop all over ourselves in order to make you laugh.
--:-- Noel King: I love that. And I think that's what makes Jackass so appealing. It's not trying to be highbrow or intellectual; it's just a bunch of guys being silly and having fun.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And I think that's what people respond to. They're not looking for a sophisticated, nuanced film experience; they just want to have a good time.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: That's a great point. And I think that's what makes Jackass Forever so successful. It's not just a movie; it's an experience.
--:-- Noel King: Well, Alyssa, thanks for sharing your experience with us.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And thanks to our listeners for tuning in. If you want to learn more about Jackass Forever and the world of Jackass, check out Alyssa's article on Vox.com.
--:-- Noel King: And if you want to support Today, Explained, make a financial contribution to Vox at bit.ly/givepodcasts.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for Today Explained comes from Saks Fifth Avenue. Fall is here. Might be time to find some nice new pieces you can wear again and again.
--:-- Noel King: With Saks Fifth Avenue, it can be a breeze to shop for your personal style, like maybe a relaxed Prada blazer or Gucci loafers that are great for both work and the weekend.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: This is very Sean. This is very Sean-coated. Gucci loafers.
--:-- Noel King: Saks says Saks makes shopping feel totally customized to you, whether that's from an in-store stylist or a visit to Saks.com, where they can show you just what you want to see.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: They say they'll even let you know when arrivals from your favorite designers are in or when something you've been eyeing is back in stock.
--:-- Noel King: You can find inspiration for your personal style every day at Saks Fifth Avenue.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Support for this show comes from Strawberry.me.
--:-- Noel King: Be honest. Are you happy with your job? Or are you stuck in one you've outgrown? Or never wanted in the first place?
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Let a career coach from strawberry.me help you get unstuck. Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner. Go to strawberry.me slash unstuck to claim a special offer.
--:-- Noel King: Warning, the stunts in this episode were performed by professionals. So for your safety and the protection of those around you, do not attempt any of the stunts you're about to hear.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Also, there's some spicy language.
--:-- Noel King: I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Today Explained.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: The Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the most popular movie in America is... Jackass Forever.
--:-- Noel King: That's right. Came in at number one in the weekend with $23 million.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Jackass Forever did something a lot of the movies that got Best Picture nominations did not. It made boatloads of money.
--:-- Noel King: And like the movies that got Best Picture nominations, critics really seemed to like it.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And the film industry seems genuinely surprised.
--:-- Noel King: The movies inspired headlines like, Maybe Comedies Aren't Dead? The Exquisite Catharsis of Jackass.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And Jackass Forever Might Be the Most Necessary Movie of the Year.
--:-- Noel King: Which is sort of surprising considering it stars a guy named Poopies, subjects cast members to extreme wedgies and exploding porta-potties and generally features just... Miles of cock.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: There's miles of cock in this movie.
--:-- Noel King: We reach out to the Jackass crew's ringleader, Johnny Knoxville, to try and understand the je ne sais quoi of Jackass, how he and his friends manage time and again to turn shit into gold.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Once I don't know what we've done. That's not our job to tell you what we've done. You know, it's up to the public to determine our space in the world and how we're perceived.
--:-- Noel King: He wasn't too crazy about the theoretical stuff, but he did have some idea of what keeps people coming back to see the same dudes getting hit in the nuts over and over again.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Well, people do love the stunts and the pranks and the slapstick of it all and the absurdity of it all.
--:-- Noel King: But I think what they love most is the relationship amongst the guys. You can tell we really love each other.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And it's a family. And I really was struck by that in this movie. More so than ever, the extreme, gross-out, anatomical stunts in this particular Jackass installment end with declarations of love.
--:-- Noel King: You can tell we've been together for so long, we've been through so much, and there's so much care for each other.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Even though, like, we're giving each other hell and I'm putting the guys through the ringer.
--:-- Noel King: After I annihilate them in some way, I want to show them that they did a good job and let them know that, you know, how I feel about them.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: I asked Johnny Knoxville how his job came to be annihilating his friends.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: I was looking to do an article on self-defense equipment in 97 or so, where I tested pepper spray, stun gun, taser gun, and I was going to shoot myself with a bulletproof vest with a .38 because I only had enough money to buy the cheapest bulletproof vest they had.
--:-- Noel King: And I took it to a number of magazines who wanted it, but they want to treat it like a negative pickup.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And like, once you're done with the article, bring it to us because they didn't want to be involved because of the gun.
--:-- Noel King: And one magazine who did want to be involved was Jeff Tremaine's magazine, Big Brother's, a skateboarding mag.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Jeff Tremaine would become the director and producer of Jackass, along with Spike Jones, the Academy Award-winning writer and director behind Her and Being John Malkovich.
--:-- Noel King: Yeah, they supported me in doing the article and Jeff said, why don't you film it too?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And so we filmed it and put it in to a skateboarding video they did called Number Two.
--:-- Noel King: And I was wanting to do a TV show at the time and Jeff was wanting to do a TV show and we had this amazing group of characters that Jeff had assembled at Big Brother and that's kind of how it started.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Hi, I'm Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Jackass. Three, two, one, four.
--:-- Noel King: I think the show launched in 2000 or 2001. I can't remember.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: This is the Shockwave collar mic. It's a fenceless dog collar and what happens is you put this around your neck, and when you overstep the wire boundaries, it administers a shock.
--:-- Noel King: Ow! Did it work?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: But we knew it was, people were like it when we first got the ratings back, right?
--:-- Noel King: And the ratings were like, MTV really hadn't done those ratings before, and we were blown away because we were pretty sure this was not going to be on the air for long.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: I'm Bam Margera, and I feel like kicking my dad's ass all day today.
--:-- Noel King: Come on, Bam. Stop it. Stop it. That ain't hit me nuts.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And then it really took off. Like, it really set in when they asked me to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.
--:-- Noel King: And that was like a big moment for everybody. We're like, wow, this is really taking off now.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville. I'm about to be pelted by three shooters with paintball guns for a Rolling Stone cover shoot.
--:-- Noel King: Uh, that was surreal.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: When do you realize you're not just famous, but you're inspiring kids to do the kind of stuff that you guys are doing in the show?
--:-- Noel King: When is it that MTV tacks a warning onto the top of the show or was that there from the jump?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: The warning was that there from the jump, warning the following show features stunts performed either by professionals or under the supervision of professionals accordingly MTV and the producers must insist that no one attempt to recreate or reenact any stunt or activity performed on this show.
--:-- Noel King: But yeah, we did unfortunately have some copycat incidences which led to the uh downfall of the show.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And we are always stressed don't try this at home and we mean it because we don't want anyone else to get hurt.
--:-- Noel King: We want to be the only ones getting hurt.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: But it was an election year, and Joseph Lieberman made it part of his policy being tough on Hollywood.
--:-- Noel King: But the study that you've released today reminds us that the problems with our culture and the concerns of parents about its corrosive influence go much deeper and broader than simply the question of violence.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: They extend to the larger vision of values that the entertainment media presents and promotes to our children.
--:-- Noel King: And he specifically came down on our show and me personally and the network and it led to MTV assigning an OSHA guy to our show in the second season or third season.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: It's like, hey, you can't jump off anything higher than four feet and all these really ridiculous things when it's like we can't film a show if we can't jump off anything higher than four feet.
--:-- Noel King: So Jackass is absurd and silly, but it means something to us.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And so there's no way we could continue with the show.
--:-- Noel King: So I gave an interview to my hometown newspaper and said that I quit, essentially.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And MTV was not happy, understandably, because I was still under contract.
--:-- Noel King: We all were.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And there was a lot of back and forth, which eventually led to... This summer, Jackass, the movie.
--:-- Noel King: This isn't gonna work.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Which could have meant at that time, you know, that's the end of Jackass. We'll never hear about these guys again.
--:-- Noel King: And then there's this turn when you guys decide to make a movie that just launches this whole thing into a whole different stratosphere.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Yeah, exactly. It took the training wheels off.
--:-- Noel King: Now we can do whatever we want because it's going to be R-rated, hopefully R-rated, and do all the things we couldn't do on television.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: It was such a liberating experience.
--:-- Noel King: And, yeah, it gave us a whole new life.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: We're here with the 3-6 Mafia, and it's time for the rake jump.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: What an idiot.
--:-- Noel King: And here we are, over 20 years later, still doing the same silly shit.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: I mean, 20 years later, you guys have made something like half a billion dollars and counting.
--:-- Noel King: Was there any point when you were making that first movie that you realized it could get this big?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: No, no. It was, we're constantly surprised by any success we have.
--:-- Noel King: We didn't think anyone was going to come to see the first movie, right?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And we especially didn't think that many people were going to come to see the first movie.
--:-- Noel King: So we're constantly surprised but super appreciative of the success we have.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And that's all because of the fans.
--:-- Noel King: Now you're actually 50 years old.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And, I mean, you go up against a bull at the age of whatever it was, 48, 49, now you're 50.
--:-- Noel King: This is bullfighting for dollars. One bull, one dollar, four sissies.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: How does it feel to take that hit in, like, you know, your sixth decade of life?
--:-- Noel King: We never make any plans or have any forethought about what we're going to do.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And how does it feel to get smoked by a bull at 49?
--:-- Noel King: That's what I was then.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: It feels no different than it did to get smoked by a bull when I was 29.
--:-- Noel King: It feels the same.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: It feels like shit.
--:-- Noel King: I've had 16 concussions, and this one was a gnarly one, right?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Brain hemorrhage, concussion. Took me several months to recover from.
--:-- Noel King: I can no longer, I can't take another concussion, right?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: My neurologist is like, your days with a bull are over.
--:-- Noel King: And I hear that because I got kids and I want to be there for them.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: So no more bull?
--:-- Noel King: Unfortunately, no, because I love bulls so much.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Why do you love bulls so much?
--:-- Noel King: It's so amazing.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: One thing, if people don't watch the show or the movies that they should know about, but you in particular, is that the rest of the cast members are typically sitting on the sidelines with clenched fists, with their hands, you know, over their mouths, with their faces buried in their arms and hands, watching you take these hits from Bulls.
--:-- Noel King: And you're out there, the star of the show, you know, first in line to do it.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: What is that?
--:-- Noel King: I just love Bulls.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: You get the greatest footage with Bulls.
--:-- Noel King: And I don't really want the other guys to have to deal with that because there's a lot on the line when you're dealing with bulls.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And I get too nervous watching the other guys with bulls.
--:-- Noel King: So I'd rather take that hit.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: I can't walk, but I got the money.
--:-- Noel King: If your kids came to you and said, hey, Dad, we want to be in the next Jackass installment, if there is one, would you be game?
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Or is this something that you feel like is... No, that's getting shut down.
--:-- Noel King: That's getting shut down.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Not for your kids, huh?
--:-- Noel King: No, I'm doing all this so they don't have to.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The latest Jackass movie is different from everything that preceded it in one key way. A woman joins the group. It's a major evolution, but again, not one that Knoxville wants to spend too much time thinking about.
--:-- Noel King: I mean, when people intellectualize Jackass, I think they're doing it because that's their job. You know, writers and whatnot.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: As far as the masculinity part, luckily we're not that masculine. We're more mincing than masculine.
--:-- Noel King: I think we're all a bunch of sissies who just want footage.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: And that's okay.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: After the break, a writer and whatnot intellectualizes Jackass for us.
--:-- Noel King: Support for Today Explained comes from Chime.
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--:-- Noel King: So when you set up direct deposit through Time, they say you get access to fee-free features such as free overdraft coverage.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit.
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--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Plus they say you don't need to worry about monthly fees or maintenance fees.
--:-- Noel King: You can work on your financial goals through Chime today.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: You can open an account in two minutes at Chime.com slash explained.
--:-- Noel King: That's Chime.com slash explained.
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--:-- Noel King: Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep with a reminder of what sells.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Critics call The Social Network possibly the year's finest movie.
--:-- Noel King: It cost about $50 million to make, and in its first weekend it made $23 million.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Reverse those numbers and you get the far, far more successful opening weekend of Jackass 3D.
--:-- Noel King: The latest movie about guys doing idiotic stunts made $50 million last weekend.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Its cost was $20 million, presumably including insurance.
--:-- Noel King: Today explained.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: I just spoke to Johnny Knoxville about why the world loves Jackass so much.
--:-- Noel King: And he kind of said it wasn't for people like him to say.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: He said it was for people like you to say.
--:-- Noel King: Alyssa Wilkinson, why do people love Jackass so much?
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: I mean, there's something really fun about watching, you know, a guy pogo stick on his buddy's crotch.
--:-- Noel King: But I think maybe what Jackass actually gives us is kind of a hall pass to our chaos Muppet side where we can engage in all of the crazy impulses that we have or that we might think about occasionally.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And we can kind of do it in a harmless way and we can laugh at it.
--:-- Noel King: We can laugh with guys who are doing it and then we can walk out the door and be normal again.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It makes me think of festival clowns.
--:-- Noel King: I am just a lonely, just a lady.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Which have been kind of a tradition from the Middle Ages onwards where, you know, they kind of flip the hierarchy and the rules of the world upside down.
--:-- Noel King: And then people get to enjoy that and then go back to their normal lives.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And it really feels to me like that's what Jackass gives people.
--:-- Noel King: Until a week ago, you actually had never seen a Jackass episode or a Jackass movie.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: That is correct.
--:-- Noel King: Is that because you're a girl?
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: I'm sure that's part of it.
--:-- Noel King: You know, I was sort of in late high school, early college when the show was on and then when the movies came out.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And I definitely remember friends going to see them, but it definitely didn't seem like something I would be into.
--:-- Noel King: I think that there's something about Jackass that fundamentally speaks to the young, creative male.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And it wasn't until last week that you finally indulged, and you really indulged.
--:-- Noel King: I believe you watched every single movie, four movies.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: That is correct.
--:-- Noel King: So that's like five to six-ish hours of Jackass in one sitting.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: I showed up at the Museum of the Moving Image, which is a really lovely museum in Queens, New York, at 1 p.m. on a Thursday.
--:-- Noel King: And I left around 10 p.m. having seen three Jackass movies and then the new one, Jackass Forever.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It was a real experience, I can tell you that for sure.
--:-- Noel King: And you wrote an article for Vox based on said experience titled, How I Learned to Stop Wincing and Appreciate Jackass.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Tell us how.
--:-- Noel King: I knew what I was getting into when I got there.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Like, I am an American. I am familiar with the concept of Jackass.
--:-- Noel King: I've seen clips on the internet or whatever.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: So I kind of knew what I was getting into.
--:-- Noel King: But I found a couple things.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: One, it was really, really fun to watch them with people.
--:-- Noel King: Like, I don't think I would have enjoyed them at all if I watched them in my house.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: But I was in a theater full of people who are super fans.
--:-- Noel King: I probably was the only one who's never seen any of them in the room.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And so much of the fun of these movies is the noise that people make while they're watching them.
--:-- Noel King: The groans, the kind of shouts, the giggles, maybe the anticipation when they know that a crazy thing is coming up.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Somewhere in the middle of Jackass 3D, which is the third movie, a tube of super glue shows up on screen.
--:-- Noel King: April, what kind of glue is this?
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Super Mighty Glue.
--:-- Noel King: This is Super Mighty Glue, and we're going to have a little fun with it today.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Nothing has happened with it yet, and everyone just groaned, and I thought, well, this is really fun.
--:-- Noel King: Who's got tummy hair?
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: You know, these span 20 years.
--:-- Noel King: It's the same guys over 20 years.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It's wild to watch them kind of figure out what they're doing, watch their friendships evolve, watch them just, you know, lose it over and over and over again, laughing at one another, but in a really loving way.
--:-- Noel King: And then when you finally get to Jackass Forever, Johnny Knoxville is around 50 years old now.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It's a very different kind of a situation than it was when he was 30, when the other guys were in their 20s.
--:-- Noel King: But they're really fun to watch.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: They just have a camaraderie that I think is sort of rare in the movies these days.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: You know, I recently watched all four in a row, too, not quite in one sitting.
--:-- Noel King: But, you know, in preparation for my conversation with Knoxville, I sort of reindulged in a lot of the the canon out of the library, the archive.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And one thing that surprised me was how, despite being these jocular sort of puerile dudes, like it hasn't aged all that poorly.
--:-- Noel King: You don't have as many cringy moments as you might watching, you know, some beloved movie from the 90s or something like that.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Please, you know, just go ahead and get changed.
--:-- Noel King: I'll go downstairs and I'll start studying up.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Okay.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Now we're in business.
--:-- Noel King: Yeah, unlike a lot of the movies, I think, that are aimed at the same demographic, raunchy comedies, basically, they certainly are raunchy.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: But it's a different kind of raunch.
--:-- Noel King: Certainly it's not about misogyny.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It's not even really about sex, even though there's a lot of genitalia that show up.
--:-- Noel King: Mostly male genitalia, we should note.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: All male genitalia, I think.
--:-- Noel King: And it's crazy how kind of pure and innocent it almost is.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: I said to my editor when I left, it felt like I was at a bachelor party full of 11-year-olds who really don't have a lot of adult ideas about the world yet.
--:-- Noel King: They just like really purely happy to be with one another just like kicking each other and running into walls.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Playing with snakes.
--:-- Noel King: A fucking cobra, dude!
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And jumping in a bullpen.
--:-- Noel King: And they can do all these things because they're adults, and that makes it funnier.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: But they also just, it's very sweet in a way that's kind of surprising.
--:-- Noel King: I love you, bro.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: You know, someone always has to kind of be the butt of the joke, but it's not a joke at their expense.
--:-- Noel King: It's not bullying.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It's like, you agreed to be here, and we're all just going to make fools of ourselves together.
--:-- Noel King: And so many of the pranks and stunts are like there was no way this wasn't going to end badly.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Like if you're sitting in front of a bear trap and you decide wouldn't it be funny if we just all stuck our hands in the bear trap like you know what's going to happen.
--:-- Noel King: It's not like a trick you know if you're going to super glue yourself to your buddy like then you're going to have to unsuper glue yourself somehow and like you know that going in okay pull it really pull it three.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: You say, oh, that guy's such a jackass.
--:-- Noel King: But what you mean is he's just an idiot, right?
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And it's a little different from like he's mean or he's rude or he's pranking bystanders in order to make the bystanders look bad.
--:-- Noel King: And it's even interesting how I think these movies are adjacent to like a Borat.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: What is more dangerous, this virus or the Democrat?
--:-- Noel King: Democrats.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Democrats.
--:-- Noel King: But Borat is more about showing how foolish other people are, for the most part.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: This Clinton, they make this play?
--:-- Noel King: Yes, yes. Nice.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And that's fine, and it certainly has its place.
--:-- Noel King: But Jackass is just like, we're the idiots here, and we are just going to flop all over ourselves in order to make you laugh.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: That's what we're here for.
--:-- Noel King: Which maybe gets back to the idea that, you know, Borat is trying to say something about the world.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And maybe Jackass isn't.
--:-- Noel King: And maybe that's the beauty of it.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Yeah.
--:-- Noel King: Jackass is like, you know, if you blow up a rubber ball and then you open the release valve and all the air comes out and makes a fart noise.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: That's Jackass.
--:-- Noel King: And it's just sort of letting off steam in kind of the purest way.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: We're not laughing at anyone.
--:-- Noel King: We're not saying, you know, these kinds of people are bad and let us laugh at them, which again has its place.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: But there's this little corner that Jackass occupies that people really, really love and are more than willing to go to a theater and spend a ton of money watching because it fulfills some kind of a need.
--:-- Noel King: And that's always been true for humans.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: There's always been this sort of role that is fulfilled by someone who's just there to make us laugh and not make us even think.
--:-- Noel King: You know, it would be bad if all of our entertainment was that, I think.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: But it's really good that we have a little corner of it that's been so well maintained by these guys.
--:-- Noel King: And I guess that's probably why this movie was delayed, because they really wanted to make sure you could go out and into the theater and see it with a bunch of other people who would appreciate it along with you.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Yeah, I think that's absolutely correct.
--:-- Noel King: I think there's any number of movies that you could basically replicate the ideal viewing experience at home.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: You know, maybe you shut your curtains or you turn off your phone or whatever.
--:-- Noel King: But with Jackass, you just need somebody next to you screaming in pain when they watch something happen or laughing their head off or making these crazy noises.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Or, you know, in my case, I'm like burying my head in the collar of my shirt because I can't watch somebody get paper cut between their fingers.
--:-- Noel King: You know, that kind of thing.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Oh, that is one of the worst ones.
--:-- Noel King: There's no good way to do it.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Yeah, no.
--:-- Noel King: So just deal with it. Take a breath.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: There's something for everyone in this film series.
--:-- Noel King: But I think, you know, the beauty of Jackass Forever is that they're bringing a new cast for it.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: And so they're doing kind of the old things in a new way again.
--:-- Noel King: And that's just a delight to watch.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: It's one thing to watch one of them in one sitting, but to watch four of them in one sitting for even, I don't know, the hardest core of Jackass fan, that might be a lot.
--:-- Noel King: How did you feel at the end of the night?
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: Well, I was very hungry.
--:-- Noel King: I hadn't had nearly as much tequila as I expected between screenings, but mostly I left with a little bit of a headache.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: I admit you can't really help it, but it was sort of that headache that you get when you've been smiling too much or you've been laughing a lot.
--:-- Noel King: And I thought that was incredible.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: I loved it and I hope to never, ever, ever do that again.
--:-- Noel King: Jackass Forever is in theaters now.
--:-- Alyssa Wilkinson: If you want to risk it all to watch a 49-year-old get pummeled by a bull or a guy turn his guy parts into a beehive or watch a woman make out with a scorpion, you can find my article about the series at Vox.com.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: My name's Sean Ramos, for him. Welcome to Today Explained.
--:-- Noel King: Our show today was produced by Hady Mawajdeh with help from Miles Bryan.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Matthew Collette was our skeptic.
--:-- Noel King: Afim Shapiro made us shine.
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: And Laura Bullard had an easier-than-usual job today.
--:-- Noel King: Fair on the beach I can see it in her eyes I only had a girl Best idea ever
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: Yes, it is.
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: I'm Johnny Knoxville and I'm going to the moon
--:-- Noel King: Bye Four, three, two, one!
--:-- Johnny Knoxville: Later!
--:-- Noel King: Are you okay? Give us your phones up!
--:-- Sean Rameswaram: The Ravenp Gordon
