Jackass (2000–2003) After completing his training at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1997, Steve-O was not selected to join the circus. He instead worked as a clown at a circus based at the
Fort Lauderdale Swap Shop flea market and performed on cruise ships for
Royal Caribbean International. During this period, he filmed his own stunts and performances, often distributing
VHS tapes of his work to promote himself. In the late 1990s, some of these recordings reached filmmaker
Jeff Tremaine, who was developing a stunt-based television project for
MTV. Tremaine recruited Steve-O to join the ensemble cast of
Jackass, which premiered in 2000. The series, which showcased dangerous stunts and pranks performed by Steve-O and other cast members, quickly became a cultural phenomenon. with
an eighth one currently in production. The theatrical installments —
Jackass: The Movie,
Jackass Number Two,
Jackass 3D,
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013), and
Jackass Forever — were box-office successes. In 2001, Steve-O released ''
Don't Try This at Home on DVD, which contained material MTV censored. It went on to sell 140,000 copies. He toured promoting the DVD doing stunts, which was filmed and released as Don't Try This at Home Volume 2: The Tour''. On July 31, 2002, Steve-O was arrested on
obscenity and assault charges for stapling his
scrotum to his leg, and for being a
principal to a second-degree
battery, during a performance at a nightclub in
Houma, Louisiana on July 11, 2002. After several delays, in March 2003 Steve-O made a deal with Louisiana prosecutors placing him on supervised
probation for one year, requiring him to make a charitable donation of $5,000 to a shelter for battered women and children and forbidding him from ever performing in
Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana again. In 2003, Steve-O toured Europe with
Bam Margera, a friend and co-star of
Jackass. On May 22, 2003, Steve-O was arrested and jailed while in Sweden due to footage of him swallowing a condom containing
cannabis to get it past authorities while flying on a plane. He then regurgitated it live on stage, which he showed in his DVD
Steve-O: Out on Bail (aka ''Don't Try This at Home – The Steve-O Video Vol. 3: Out on Bail''). Steve-O reached a deal with the Swedish prosecutors and was released on May 27, 2003, after paying a fine of 45,000
kronor (equal to about US$5,800 at the time). As part of the plea bargain, Steve-O admitted to possessing one
ecstasy tablet and five grams of marijuana, although he claimed he had no knowledge of where the ecstasy came from. The Swedish arrest was included in the third installment of the DVD series titled
Steve-O: Out on Bail. Two months later on July 19, 2003, Steve-O was arrested on charges of
disorderly conduct for urinating on potato chips in public during a
Lollapalooza tour concert in
Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. Steve-O claimed he was kicked off the tour by Lollapalooza producers because of the incident.
After Jackass (2004–2007) After
Jackass ended, Steve-O co-starred with
Chris Pontius on MTV's
Wildboyz, which lasted four seasons from 2003 until 2006. The two performed stunts and acts with animals, often putting themselves in situations for which they were not trained. In 2005, he became the spokesperson for the
Sneaux brand of footwear. Television commercials promoting the shoe company included such acts as Steve-O jumping into garbage, getting his foot bitten by an alligator (simulated) and drinking rotten milk. On March 27, 2006, he and
Jackass co-star Chris Pontius visited
The Dean Blundell Show, a morning show on Toronto radio station
CFNY (102.1 The Edge), to promote their ''Don't Try This at Home'' tour. He urinated on the floor and performed a stunt called "Unwrapping the Mummy" all in front of a live studio audience. Hosts Dean Blundell,
Jason Barr, and
Todd Shapiro were suspended for the week following the appearance, after many complaints. In April 2006, Steve-O later sued manager Nick Dunlap and attorney Jason Berk, accusing them of lying to him to fund their lavish lifestyles. in 2006 On July 18, 2006, Steve-O became a late contestant on the British reality show
Love Island broadcast on
ITV from
Fiji in an effort to boost ratings. Despite stating he had stopped drinking, he asked for beer while on the show. On July 19, 2006, he abruptly left
Love Island because he was not allowed the beer which he had requested. In November 2006, he went on a drug binge after being misdiagnosed with
cardiomyopathy, a serious heart condition. He was later examined by heart specialists who concluded he was in good health.
Psychiatric problems and rehab (2008) On February 23, 2008, Steve-O joined the rest of the
Jackass crew for the
Jackass MTV 24 Hour Takeover, which promoted JackassWorld.com. He participated in several stunts, and even debuted his rap music video which was executive produced by recording artist D-Jukes, leading to
Mike Judge bringing back the duo of
Beavis and Butt-Head for the first time in years to criticize it. During the live broadcast, Steve-O was kicked out of MTV studios on the request of executives for his behavior and intoxication. In a mass e-mail addressed to his friends, Steve-O expressed that he previously had thought of his drug use and bipolarity as a "good thing", but that he now realizes that his drug use was apparently hurting those he loved most. He later stated that his drug use got so bad that he hallucinated an intervention with his friends, humorously stating that he knew he needed help once his hallucinations started urging him to quit drugs. On June 4, 2008, Steve-O pleaded guilty to felony possession of
cocaine. He avoided jail with the successful completion of a treatment program. In July, after 115 days of sobriety, Steve-O announced he was "back in the loony bin". He returned to the mental institution, he said, because "I've had horrible mood swings and severe depression. My brain is fucked up from using so much cocaine,
ketamine,
PCP,
nitrous oxide, and all sorts of other drugs."
Post-rehab, Jackass reprised and comedy tours (2009–2012) In March 2009, Steve-O was on the eighth season of
Dancing with the Stars, paired with
Lacey Schwimmer. After the first week, he complained of
pinched nerves and
back spasms and did not compete in the second week after injuring his back further by falling on his microphone pack during
dress rehearsal. The judges based their scores on his performance at the dress rehearsal. He was eventually eliminated in the sixth week of the competition. On May 3, 2009, MTV premiered a documentary titled
Steve-O: Demise and Rise about how his life was affected by the use of drugs and alcohol. The show featured home-made video footage of Steve-O using drugs and vandalizing his apartment. In an August 2009 interview with Johnny Knoxville for
The Times-Picayune, Knoxville on the topic of Steve-O's recovery and rehabilitation said "He's taking to sobriety like he took to drugs and alcohol, I'm very proud of him. I think we'll see him doing some stuff here really soon. As a matter of fact, I know we are." He later stated "Something's coming. We're pretty excited ... I think it'll be a big year next year, but I don't want to talk about it yet." Steve-O was part of
Jackass 3D, the third installment of the
Jackass series, released in October 2010. The movie was in
3D and began production on January 25, 2010. In late May 2010, Knoxville has stated that Steve-O's sobriety is at its best and "There is no beer on set this time around even if some of us wish there was". He also said "And to be honest it's going great. Everyone has had different injuries throughout which is a good sign and Steve-O is probably getting the best footage out of everybody. He is really going for it. He wants to prove to everyone he can do these stunts sober. It's been two years since he had a drink now. Everyone has been real supportive of him.". When
Jackass 3D was released in 2010, the movie broke box office records. In promoting the movie, he appeared on
The Howard Stern Show, lighting himself on fire. In November 2010, Steve-O began touring the United States performing stand-up comedy on what he called "Steve-O's Entirely Too Much Information Tour". In early 2011, he announced a nine-month-long American comedy tour. He appeared in
Jackass 3.5, which was released in April 2011. On March 27, 2011, Steve-O was arrested at
Calgary International Airport on outstanding charges. He was accused of assault with a weapon after an altercation with an audience member during a 2003 performance. Steve-O was released after paying $10,000 bail. In May 2011, he took his stand-up show to Australia, playing a show in all the major cities. In an interview with Comedy Digital Radio station Barry, Steve-O explained the genesis of his comedy tour, "Someone invited me to a famous comedy club in Los Angeles and they asked that I get on stage and do something outrageous. When I got to that comedy club I looked around and it occurred to me that the craziest thing I could possibly do by far would be to try stand-up comedy. Like, that was genuinely the most terrifying, outlandish just crazy thing that I could do." During the taping of the roast, Steve-O attempted to run into the fist of boxer
Mike Tyson, but the first attempt did not work. Later, at the end of the roast, Steve-O made another attempt and this time connected, resulting in Steve-O getting a broken nose. He also claimed to have been sober and clean for three and a half years. Steve-O was also shown to be visibly upset by
Amy Schumer's joke about
Ryan Dunn's death, but later stated he was not offended by the joke. It was announced on October 3, 2011, that Steve-O would be hosting
truTV's new reality game show
Killer Karaoke, the American version of the British competition show
Sing If You Can. The show first aired at 9p.m. EST on November 23, 2012. He told
US Weekly in November 2012 that he credited his two rescue dogs, Walter and Bernie, with helping him to maintain nearly five years of sobriety.
YouTube channel and SeaWorld arrest (2013–2018) }} Despite joining in 2005, Steve-O did not regularly upload on his
YouTube channel of the same name and other channels until 2013. His main channel
SteveO has amassed over 6.05 million subscribers as of February 2022. In 2014, Steve-O narrated a short video titled "What Came Before, featuring Steve-O: The Truth About Meat and Modern Farms", which was about some of the individual animals rescued by
Farm Sanctuary. He also reveals the life of the less fortunate animals that are born into
intensive farming in the US. In December 2014, Steve-O was announced as one of the competitors in the
second series of the British TV show
The Jump. He was the ninth contestant eliminated. On August 9, 2015, Steve-O climbed a construction crane in Los Angeles in a protest against
SeaWorld. He lit fireworks and inflated a large whale blow-up doll on top of the crane. He broadcast the stunt on his Facebook page, resulting in LAPD and EMS responding with no knowledge of the stunt going on, and later was arrested after climbing down on charges of trespassing. Fans began a
GoFundMe campaign for his bail. For the protest, Steve-O was convicted of two misdemeanors and sentenced to 30 days of jail time and 36 months of probation. Steve-O later admitted that the stunt was poorly thought out as he was nowhere near a SeaWorld. He started his jail time on December 9, 2015. He is quoted saying "I mean, if your goal is to make a statement about captivity, you may as well get yourself locked up!" Steve-O was released from jail after serving just eight hours in the
Twin Towers Correctional Facility. In 2016, he released his first stand-up comedy special,
Guilty as Charged. On March 9, 2018, Steve-O marked 10 years of
sobriety. On the September 2, 2020 episode 261 of the
TigerBelly podcast, Steve-O discusses his work in the 12 step program, especially to address a sex addiction.
Gnarly and Jackass resurgence (2020–present) On March 19, 2020, Steve-O started his own
podcast titled ''Steve-O's Wild Ride!'' He hosts this podcast along with Scott Randolph and Paul Brisske. In January 2023, fellow content creator and friend Vinny "Skinny Vinny" Imperati became the fourth co-host.
Gnarly is Steve-O's second stand-up comedy special at the
Gothic Theatre in
Denver, Colorado. He presented stories, stunts and previously unseen footage to the audience. The special marks the first time the entire cast of
Jackass reunited after the death of Ryan Dunn. It was released on July 18, 2020, and is available to watch on Steve-O's website. In August 2020, he appeared on the
VENN Network with host
Sasha Grey on her show
Grey Area. Steve-O starred in a supporting role in the film
Guest House, released on September 4, 2020. During the first two days of production for
Jackass Forever (2022), both Steve-O and Johnny Knoxville were hospitalized. On December 15, 2020, it was publicly announced that Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O were hospitalized due to on-set injuries. Steve-O also broke his collarbone, but that bit was cut out of the movie. He served as a co-producer on
Jackass Forever, and
Jackass 4.5 (2022). On July 11, 2021, during
Shark Week, the
Discovery Channel aired
Jackass Shark Week. It featured Steve-O as well as other
Jackass cast members including Knoxville, Chris Pontius, and new cast members
Sean "Poopies" McInerney and
Jasper Dolphin. In 2021, Steve-O started going on tour throughout the United States. This tour, titled
The Bucket List Tour, features Steve-O telling stories and showing stunts that he wasn't allowed to do for
Jackass. He occasionally brought other
Jackass members as guests for his live shows. He started going to Australia and New Zealand in February 2023, and to the United Kingdom in June and July 2023. It was released on his website on November 14, 2023. On April 12, 2022, Steve-O announced the title of his new book as ''A Hard Kick in the Nuts: What I've Learned from a Lifetime of Terrible Decisions'', which was released on September 27, 2022. On January 7, 2026, Steve-O made an appearance as a contestant on a YouTube video with
MrBeast titled "30 Celebrities Fight For $1,000,000," where he competed in a challenge of games to win money for charity (against other celebrities, including
Howie Mandel,
Josh Peck, and
Diplo) and won the competition. He will appear in
Jackass: Best and Last, along with the entire main cast of
Jackass Forever. It set for theatrical release on June 26, 2026. == Personal life ==