Ahead of cinematic swansong Jackass Forever, we doff a cap to one of Hollywood’s most lovable goofs.
Words by HANNAH STRONG Illustration by RAYA DEUSSEN
In Praise Of
Philip John ‘PJ’ Clapp was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on 11 March, 1971; the youngest son of Philip and Lemoyne Clapp, who also had two daughters. “I had raised two daughters, and PJ came 11 years later,” Lemoyne would later explain to Entertainment Weekly. “At nine months old, he could climb up on his playpen and throw himself out on the floor. Luckily, we had carpet back then. But he never cried, even when he would get hurt.” When he was 14, Clapp’s cousin – country singer Roger Alan Wade – gifted him a copy of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’. Clapp then fell in love with the idea of being an actor.
Johnny Knoxville was born two decades later, after PJ graduated high school and traded the south for California, chasing dreams of stardom. He secured a prestigious scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, but quickly dropped out, pursuing a more unconventional path to Hollywood, one paved with concussions and catheter rods. Knoxville was the pseudonym he took on while writing for Big Brother, a cult skateboarding magazine. He couldn’t actually skate, but befriended the editorial staff – including young upstarts Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze. Big Brother was in the habit of producing video compilations that they would put out on VHS; usually of skateboarding stunts, but sometimes including pranks and other skits. ‘Johnny Knoxville’ was the pseudonym he used in Big Brother Number 2, which became the toast of the skate scene.
After the success of their Big Brother videos, Knoxville, Tremaine and Jonze, plus their co-conspirators Chris Pontius, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña and Dave England connected with CKY, a fellow group of daredevil rascals from West Chester, Pennsylvania. This brought Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo and Raab Himself into the fold, and the group pitched their idea for a stunt and prank show to various television networks. While Saturday Night Live initially made an offer to Knoxville for a recurring solo pranks and stunts segment, he didn’t want to leave his friends behind in Los Angeles. A lucrative bidding war between Comedy Central and MTV followed. For Knoxville, magazine covers followed: Rolling Stone; Spin; GQ; plus a slightly condescending profile in The New York Times in which the reporter marvels at Knoxville’s good table manners as they dine at an upmarket French restaurant. Where Knoxville had once struggled to make it as an actor in LA, the success – and notoriety – of Jackass began to open
