We all know Steve-O is comical and crazy as fuck. In reality though, you can just go ahead and replace “crazy” with “chill” or “cool” because when he’s not on TV or the stage, that’s more his speed. Don’t believe us? Check it out for yourself when he displays all sides of himself August 4th through 7th (Thursday- Sunday) at the Brea Improv. Before he shows up and shows out, we got the low down about his act and on one of our favorite stories we have heard regarding him and a certain tattoo faced boxing champion.
OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): Saw your special. Loved it. Will you be doing material from it in Brea or are you constantly working on new things?
Steve-O: I haven’t done any local shows really since my comedy special Guilty as Charged came out on Showtime. I’ve been going at it so I have a whole new show and it’s really exciting. That was important to me so before I taped Guilty as Charged, I started writing new material so that when it came out, I would be ready. I would lean on that material for half of the show for a while when post-production was going on and then once it aired, I wasn’t doing any of it anymore.
I heard that’s the way to do it. Once your material is out there for the masses, it’s time to create more. Easier said than done but if you can, it’s a great thing.
Right! Yeah, that’s what is so wild. With music, they get mad at you for doing new stuff and with comedy, they get mad at you for doing old stuff. Comedy is a tough gig!
It seriously is tough, a lot of people don’t get that. One of my favorite stories from you will always be you doing blow with Mike Tyson. Did he know you were going to tell that story to the world?
Well the thing was, when I put that story in my book, the lawyer’s kind of combed through it looking for any potential liabilities. They didn’t think it was really news to anybody that Mike Tyson did cocaine so they didn’t make an issue out of it. Of course I had a little bit of an attack of the conscience so when I saw him at the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen, I pulled him aside and was like, I put the story about us doing cocaine in the bathroom in my book. I told him how I never checked with him and that I hoped it didn’t upset him. His response was, “It happened, you tell it.” Those were his exact words so I took that to mean I had his blessing. When I was working on new material after the special, that was something I just went for and made a pretty hilarious bit out of it. Then I did this interview with GQ and all of the sudden when I told that story again, it turned into some global news event! [Laughs.] It got picked up so far and wide because of some outrageous clickbait headline and my agent called me, who is also Mike Tyson’s agent, and he wasn’t very thrilled with it being in the news cycle. They were like, maybe stop telling that story. So I did. It was that simple. But I can say quite honestly that I don’t believe that Mike Tyson ever gave a fuck. [Laughs.] He told me personally that he didn’t so I know he doesn’t give a fuck.
In my head, I had this whole made-up scenario where you told the story in your book and he didn’t know. Then you saw him at the Charlie roast and he’s all “fuck yeah you can run into my fist” because he’s low-key angry.
[Laughs.] So funny, that’s awesome! It wasn’t that though. I had been begging him to let me run into his fist but he really didn’t want to do it. It makes sense to me now though because now that people are aware that I did that, people will ask me if they can run into my fist. There’s just no way I want to do that! I let one guy do it and when he ran into my fist, I hated it. [Laughs.]
Wait. Now I’m concerned. Should I not print any part of that Tyson story? I genuinely only asked because I have an overly active imagination, obviously.
You know, I don’t mind. It’s an interesting and compelling story really. It’s nice of you to ask too. It’s respectful and I appreciate that. I’m not concerned though because it’s really not news so go ahead and have fun with it!
Ok good. And thank you! Off of that and back to Brea, do you still end your set with a trick?
I do, yeah. That’s one part of it that does make it from the past, like the cup trick and getting naked. I have a different trick that I’m doing, a balancing circus sort of trick. I’m super comfortable with doing that because even if you saw the special, there are a few tricks you’ll still really get a kick out of seeing in person. I think it’s really cool that I have that sort of trademark ending for the show. I think it’s dope to have the physical stuff.
Oh for sure! I think people really want to see that because that’s pretty much how you were introduced to a lot of our lives.
You know when I was first starting out and trying to make a name for myself, I had all of these VCR’s connected to cords so I could dub VHS tapes. I would do it for hours and all of the money I didn’t have, I would spend on Post-Its, VHS tapes, and postage so I could send them to anyone who would watch them. There was no uploading, it was all plugging VCR’s together. What I would write on the Post-It was, “Steve-O’s Stunt’s and Party Tricks.” And now we’re here. Wow.
Check out Steve-O at the Brea Improv August 4th through 7th, 120 South Brea Blvd. Brea, CA 92821. (714) 482-0700. For tickets go to www.Improv.com and for more info on Steve-O, go to his website www.SteveO.com, follow him on Twitter at @SteveO and on Instagram, and grab his Showtime special “Guilty as Charged.”
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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