Steve-O Found a Way to Work 'Manginas' Into His Stand-Up Comedy

It's safe to say that professional wild man Steve-O created his own breed of celebrity. The kind that comes from sticking crazy things up his ass, stapling his nuts to his leg, and for being completely fearless while doing outrageous stunts that seem impossible to live through while on MTV's “Jackass.” But Steve-O the comic? Well that's another story all together. This August 2nd at The Ice House, you'll be able to check out Steve-O first-hand to see his evolution into the world of stand-up comedy and chances are, you'll be surprised at just how great he is. But you really shouldn't be surprised at all because to do the insane things that he's done, well, he better have a good sense of humor right? Before his one-night stop in Pasadena, we got the scoop from Steve-O on his sobriety, on what you can expect from his performance, and of course, we just couldn't resist asking him about Jackass.

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OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): I heard you are pretty into animal rescue and I just wanted to give you quick props because that's awesome. I'm the proud mom of a rescue dog myself.

Steve-O: For sure! I think that if people don't have a pet, people should rescue one. That is something that I really care about. I have this joke that goes something like, I have this gorgeous little rescue dog at home and whenever I sit on my sofa, he comes up and wedges himself between me and the sofa and he just won't stop until I put peanut butter all over my dick. [Laughs.] I always like to start off with a little exaggeration but then I clear it up because the rest of my stuff is all true. I think that comedy is reliant on honesty, that's really what makes most jokes funny. I for one don't appreciate being lied to so it's really important to me. I'm OK with exaggeration in general but for me, I'm telling the god damn truth!

I agree with you. Hearing the truth from a comic makes it a lot more relatable. How much does your sobriety help you with your writing process now?

I definitely feel a lot better sober. I remember in the second Jackass movie I was really far from sober and in the third Jackass movie, I was completely sober. On the second movie I wrote a lot of ideas, like tattooing a cigarette coming out of my lips with smoke rising up my face. [Laughs.] They were like, we're going to go ahead and not do that. Every single idea I wrote for the second Jackass movie never even got filmed but I was on fire for the third one because almost every one I wrote was filmed. So I think it's been a benefit and a testament to my creative side you know?

Oh wow. I'm glad they passed on that tattoo idea. I hate to ask a redundant question but…any word on another Jackass movie?

Well they just announced that there's going to be something called “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” which has a release date in October. I think people are going to hear about that and think, oh wow a new Jackass movie! But the thing is, it's not a new Jackass movie and nobody is in it but Johnny Knoxville. And even Knoxville appears in it in old man make-up.

OK that's totally strange.

Yeah, it's kind of a weird thing so I don't know! You know, there were four years in-between each Jackass movie so with them putting out Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, I just can't reason with them doing one but I don't know. I'm just kind of baffled by what's going on.

Yeah, I think the fans will be confused also. That's weird. So I saw you at last year's April Foolishness and it was really cool to see you in that element.

Oh that's rad! Thanks! I was so intimidated by 6,000 people! [Laughs.] It was really cool though.

Do you think you have to try harder with comedy because people are so familiar with you for something else?

I think that there are two sides to the coin. I think having an existing fan base is really a benefit because people know me already. On the flipside, they don't know me for doing stand-up. So it's an advantage that people know me but at the same time, it feels like a little of an uphill battle because they don't know me for that. But you know I give it hell because I really care about it and work hard at it. I wouldn't still be doing it if it wasn't going well and I've been consistently touring for the last three years doing comedy.

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I think everyone wants you to do well. It's like we want to hug you and be like, do good! Then we want to be like, do something crazy! Will you be doing any stunts at The Ice House by the way?

I really appreciate you saying that. Sometimes I do really simple tricks but I wouldn't really call them stunts. Like, I doubt if I'll be lighting myself on fire. When I first started doing stand-up, I didn't really have faith that people would come out to see me do it. So whenever I was promoting the shows, I would say it is comedy and stunts. I thought maybe people would come out to see the stunts and I could win them over with my comedy. I think it was really important to go that route but for the last three years, there's just been more emphasis on the comedy. I might do a couple of tricks at the end though. I do this one where I kind of flip my wiener and balls back and forth and catch them behind my legs in a mangina position and then I pull down my boxer shorts. [Laughs.] It's pretty funny. I'm a lot more confident in my comedy now though so I don't really feel the need to use physical stunts as a crutch.

Mangina position. Haha. I respect that fact that you are all in.

Oh yeah. Another thing is that I get really self-conscious about going back to a place that I've already been and repeating material. I'm not going to go back and do the same show. It'll be some new stuff and then some old stuff. But I've got plenty of new stuff to make it a new show.

That's important too because people do want to see the classics but it's nice that you don't want to cheat the audience with the same material.

Yeah totally! I think I'm also a lot more self-conscious because for me, when I go back to a place and repeat material, I feel like I lose part of my soul. I just struggle with it so I've been working on coming up with more material. I mean, you can still get laughs from a lot of the crowd but there will still be a handful of people that are pissed. Just thinking about those pissed off people makes me feel like a fraud and a cheat. So in Pasadena, there's going to be some stuff I've never done and I'm also planning on doing a pretty controversial bit that I may actually never do again. [Laughs.] Other than that, I'm just coming to this show with a lot of material and I've got a lot of juicy shit to say and it's all true. I think all of that makes it worth it to come out and see my show!

Steve-O performs at The Ice house on August 2nd, 24 N Mentor Ave Pasadena, CA 91106, (626) 577-1894. For tickets go to www.IceHouseComedy.com and for more info, check out his website www.SteveO.com and follow him on Instagram and on Twitter: @SteveO.

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Ali Lerman

Ali Lerman knows much about comedy, basketball, and celebrating Wu-Tang Wednesday. She’s been writing for sixteen years and still calls her mom with grammatical questions.

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