The host and star of MTV's show called jackass. He is a pretty good skateboarder* as are the rest of the cast members. In fact, they often hang out with the likes of Tony Hawk, who was on one of the shows. Basically, this guy is completely crazy. He does all kinds of insane stunts like getting shot with a taser, jousting on BMX bikes, being set on fire, and many others. He is the basically the spokesperson for don't try this at home.

Ok, Some new information has come to my attention...

MTV's jackass is based on/created from video shot mostly by/of Bam Margera and his friends for a series of skateboarding videos including CKY, CKY2K, and CKY3. These videos are very similar to the show, except that there is more swearing, more bare female breasts, and a little more actual skateboarding. They were originally created to showcase the skateboarding talents of Bam and his friends, and the musical talent of the band Camp Kill Yourself in which Bam's brother is a member. It seems as though they have been fairly successful, since Bam drives a very nice Audi A4 in one of the earlier videos, and an even nicer Audi S4 in one of the later ones.

*Compared to me, that is. Compared to the rest of the cast, Knoxville really isn't a very good skateboarder. Thanks to 409 for kindly pointing out my error!

Johnny Knoxville is the closest thing I can think of to a real-life Tyler Durden. The rest of the cast is his Fight Club; but he is the visionary that saw the grand plan, and he will do everything that the rest of his cast will do. Knoxville even hits his friends.

Fight Club blossomed into Project Mayhem, a way of fucking with mainstream society. Jackass does this too, with their public pranks like Knoxville sitting way too close to strangers on a bus bench. Jackass challenges our perception of the innocent bystander the same way Project Mayhem was supposed to challenge our vision of corporate America.

A former writer for a skateboarding magazine, who while writing an article on self defense contrived to test the implements on himself. His editor fiendishly suggested that he have these tests video taped. The resulting movie, which was comprised of images of Knoxville shocking himself with a taser, being shot in the chest while wearing a bullet proof vest, maced, and otherwise brutalized, quickly became an underground hit in the style of the Pamela and Tommy Lee video.

Given the success of MTV's Tom Green show, a bidding war started between Comedy Central and MTV over the right to air Knoxville being a Jackass. MTV won, and his career began.

The subsequent sucess of his non sequitur combination of physical humor, and Tom Green inspired offensive humor, has made this American Academy of Dramatic Arts graduate into a up-and-coming movie star, with roles in Men In Black 2, and the star-heavy Big Trouble, a movie which had its release delayed after the World Trade Center attacks for its depiction of sneaking a nuclear bomb onto an airplane.

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