Jackass (franchise)

Jackass (stylized in all lowercase as jackass) is an American realityslapstick comedy franchise originating as a television show created by Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze, and Johnny Knoxville. The original series aired for three short seasons on MTV between October 2000 and August 2001, with reruns extending into 2002. It featured a compilation of pain-inducing stunt performances and pranks, with the regular cast entailing Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Steve-O, Dave England, "Danger Ehren" McGhehey, Jason "Wee Man" Acuña, Preston Lacy and Brandon DiCamillo. After MTV ended Jackass broadcasts in 2002, it grew into a media franchise, which includes the spin-off series Wildboyz, and Viva La Bam; six feature films released by Paramount Pictures, four of which with expanded compilation films; a video game and a mobile game; boxed DVD sets of unreleased footage of the original TV show, a short-lived website featuring blogs and videos, merchandise, and several other videos released by various other means.

The TV show placed 68th on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list, and is considered a significant part of 2000s American popular culture and a cult phenomenon among late Generation X and early Millennial audiences.