Steve-O Q&A | 'Jackass' star throws himself into stand-up
The last time Steve-O visited Columbus for a performance, he sparked a short-lived relationship with a woman.
It began when she came onstage to participate in a stunt — he doesn't remember the venue — and continued with an off-hours rendezvous.
The woman, who later traveled with Steve-O and fellow "Jackass" stars Wee Man and Preston Lacy, was featured in a fire-related stunt-gone-wrong that endures in his "Don't Try This at Home" DVD series.
Burns aside, she was fine, Steve-O said, but he lost track of her.
Fifteen years later, as he prepares to return to Columbus for a series of stand-up shows at the Funny Bone, he couldn't help recalling the woman.
"If anyone knows what I'm talking about and can update me, I would love to hear about it," Steve-O said during a recent phone interview with The Dispatch. "I've thought about her over the years and wondered how she's doing."
His comedy tour follows on the heels of the 41-year-old's recent comedy special, "Guilty as Charged," on Showtime — which has since been released on the video-sharing website Vimeo.
The work marks a departure for a man known for outrageous stunts, such as launching himself through the air in a portable toilet attached to a bungee cord (see "poo cocktail supreme" in "Jackass: 3D").
Steve-O took his first stab at stand-up about 10 years ago, he said, but didn't find his comedic voice until a few years after undergoing rehab.
Sober for eight years now, he continues to branch out from the physical humor that made him famous —he is seeking a green light on a movie project, which is in the hidden-camera vein of Johnny Knoxville's "Bad Grandpa" (2013). The premise, Steve-O said, involves him in the role of a fugitive whose criminal exploits have made him so famous that he must adopt disguises to avoid capture.
During the phone interview, the unfiltered and oft-ribald Stephen Glover opened up about a range of topics.
Q: What sorts of subjects do you take on in your material?
A: My criminal record plays quite prominently in the beginning of it. I go through my more shocking and hilarious arrests, of which there are many. . . . I definitely get into a theme of heavy drug and alcohol stories from my darker days, and it lightens up by telling some pretty crazy and hilarious stories about ingesting cocaine with (celebrities). I think a good cocaine/celebrity story is just what the doctor ordered.
I have the ability to bring physical stunts and tricks into the show to make it more exciting.
Q: How long have you been doing comedy?
A: I've been headlining theaters and comedy clubs for close to six years now. . . . I really felt the people were on my side and rooting for me and interested and entertained.
Q: You're famous for your physical stunts, so what made you want to try stand-up?
A: I'm an attention whore, through and through, and I have no trouble admitting it. . . . I have become more comfortable putting my name and stand-up comedy in the same sentence, and that's a big deal for me because I've become associated with physical comedy.
Q: Can you comment on the possibility of a "Jackass 4"?
A: There's nothing happening. . . . It goes without saying that I'm ready to rock, but I got tired of waiting for the other guys to get their act together, so I started down my own path. I'm the only one of all the guys who for a moment has not stopped doing crazy s---.
Q: You recently got some attention for your stunt last year protesting SeaWorld. How do you feel now that officials there recently agreed to stop breeding captive killer whales?
A: I'm thrilled with that. I think it's impossible to gauge whether my stunt actually moved the needle on that, but I'd like to think that I helped.