Television series

Jackass

Name: Jackass
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2000
Cast: Chris Raab, Johnny Knoxville, Ryan Dunn, Steve-O, Bam Margera

Gross-out comedy
Action
Strange
Relentless
Dip in and out

Jackass is unscripted chaos: real guys inflicting real pain on each other for laughs, no stunt doubles, no dignity, no apparent survival instinct. It's slapstick with actual consequences — broken bones, vomit, fire, shopping carts down hills — funny precisely because the risk isn't faked. For anyone who loves physical comedy with the safety net removed and the friendship left visibly intact underneath the bruises.

TVMaze rating

3.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like your comedy sourced from genuinely reckless stunt work, where the laughs come from watching grown men make bad decisions with total commitment and zero shame.

Skip it if you find injury played for a gag more grim than funny, or you need a story, a slow build, or any real plot to hold you.

What it asks of you: Thirty-minute episodes, three seasons in all, so it goes down in quick bites, but it is loud and sharp, and it wants you to sit through the cringe.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Wildboyz2003

Steve-O and Chris Pontius take the same fearless idiocy on the road and point it at wildlife instead of each other, which somehow makes it stranger and funnier.

But Animal stunts replace human ones, which some viewers find harder to watch than a groin injury.

Viva La Bam2003

Bam Margera turns his family and hometown into an ongoing prank war, with the same crew and the same appetite for destruction, just with a plot this time.

But More scripted setup and less pure stunt work; the chaos feels slightly more managed.

Ridiculousness2011

Rob Dyrdek curates the internet's dumbest stunt clips with a laugh track of commentary, basically Jackass distilled into an endless highlight reel.

But You're watching strangers on couches react to clips rather than living the chaos firsthand — it's Jackass at one remove.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Jackass

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sherlock Jr.1924

Same core joke as Jackass: a human body absorbing real punishment for a real laugh, performed by someone who actually did it, not a stunt double.

Buster Keaton did his own real, dangerous stunts on camera with zero safety net decades before Knoxville, and the falls still look genuinely terrifying.

But Silent, black-and-white, and 45 minutes long — a real adjustment if you've never sat with a film this old.

Punk'd2003

Ashton Kutcher terrorising celebrities with elaborate pranks shares the same gleeful cruelty and hidden-camera glee, just aimed upward at fame instead of downward at friends.

But Slicker, more produced, and missing the physical self-harm that makes Jackass feel dangerous rather than just mean.

Landspeed presents: CKY1999

Bam Margera's grainy pre-Jackass tapes of pranks and stunts with the same crew are the raw, homemade blueprint the whole show was built from.

But Rougher production, no MTV budget, and a lot of repetitive skateboard footage between the good bits.

Trigger Happy TV2000

Dom Joly's hidden-camera pranks on unsuspecting Brits have the same anarchic, no-permission spirit, just aimed at strangers instead of best friends.

But No physical stunts or self-injury — it's prank comedy without the reckless bodily commitment.

Nathan for You2013

Nathan Fielder's deadpan business schemes escalate into stunts just as absurd as anything Knoxville dreamed up, but delivered with a poker face instead of a scream.

But Cerebral and slow-building rather than immediate; the comedy is awkward silence, not exploding fireworks.

America's Funniest Home Videos1990

The sanitized ancestor: ordinary people falling off things and getting hurt for a laugh, proof the appetite for this exact joke predates Jackass by a decade.

But Toothless and family-friendly by comparison, with none of the intent or commitment that makes Jackass compelling.

Dogtown and Z-Boys2002

It's the actual subculture Bam and Knoxville grew up inside, showing where the show's DNA of self-inflicted risk and camaraderie actually came from.

This documentary traces the skate culture that shaped the whole Jackass aesthetic — the same reckless, broke, backyard bravado, just told straight and with real stakes.

But It's a serious talking-heads documentary with no jokes; if you want laughs, this isn't where to find them.

Free Solo2018

Both are about people wagering their bodies against physics for an audience; one plays it for laughs, the other removes every joke and leaves just the nerve.

Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan without a rope is the same body-versus-gravity gamble Jackass plays for laughs, except here death is not a punchline.

But There is no comedy relief at all, and the tension around real mortal risk can be genuinely stressful to sit through.