Foreword Like any good fantasy, this book should probably begin with the tried and true literary opener, "Once upon a time," but this being what it is must obviously fall headlong out of the gate with."hi, my name is johnny knoxville. welcome to jackass."Thanks to Johnny's hick moniker, people the whole world over have been granted the freedom of an idiotic alter ego to hurl themselves into any number of situations they may not ordinarily attempt within the constraints of normal life-if there truly is such a thing anymore. Remember when the term "star" was reserved exclusively for the heavenly bodies and legendary luminaries of the silver screen? Nowadays, thanks to such technological advancements as digital video cameras, video editing software and the Internet, the once gaping divide between the common man and the celebrated Hollywood immortal is becoming dangerously narrow -- literally so, in the case of Jackass.In actuality, none of us had any idea that the joke would even come close to making it this far. I mean, right there on the written pitch first presented to the network in 1999 it was proudly stated that we can be a bumbling lot of fools at times, and we even included a crudely tossed together video to prove it. This self-derogatory reference wasn't exclusively reserved to the talent either, as the term "jackass" is an outstanding description of our crew as well.

(On a number of occasions we've returned from what was commonly believed to be a successful shoot, slapping our knees and laughing our asses off, only to discover that one cameraman didn't bother checking his audio connection and the other filmed his foot during what appears to be a 7.2 earthquake. A real shame when the respective talent just risked life, limb or infection on a stunt for nothing more than the hollow amusement of those immediately involved.) Clearly something is amiss when a project touts incompetence as a major selling point, but since no one clued in to the fact, Jackass has now gone on to smear itself upon the millennium as yet another pop (poop?) culture icon. Who knows, perhaps the end is truly nigh and Armageddon is only a hop, step and a tinkle away from sweeping our misbegotten race right out the universal door. Thanks for coming out!To be quite honest, I probably have no business writing anything about Jackass at all. It's not that I'm biased, it's just that prior to the show's debut in October of 2000 1 thought I had a fairly decent grasp on what and why we were doing these things, like filming Knoxville running around with a tent pitched in his shorts and taping slices of white bread to his coveralls. But then the press began to seriously hit the fan with ponderous reviews delving into the meaning of life and how Jackass shouldn't have or play any role within it.

There was one article in particular, though, that really sank my mental boat in a murky sea of doubt. This wasn't just an average critique, mind you; this was a textual behemoth chock full of rhetoric and multisyllabic words and shit, all in a scholarly attempt to root out the true driving force and allure behind Jackass (a task in itself that has the word "jackass" written all over it). Oddly enough, the grand conclusion drawn by the author was this: We were acting out in anger. But it's all a matter of perspective. I mean, come on, what in the world would any of us have to be seriously angry about? We're all currently afforded the opportunity to dodge the doldrums of a nine-to-five lifestyle and fulfill any number of fantasies that we've been dragging around in a war chest of arrested development since the early stages of adolescence. There's no rhyme or reason at play here, just a diehard dedication to the principle of having a good time all the time-an objective that should be the common goal of all mankind. Copyright copy; 2002 by MTV Networks, a division of.