Very few people make their way successfully in life by being jackasses – at least not deliberately. But Steve-O has turned it into a career path and a life journey that alternately makes you laugh or just roll your eyes. Or maybe do both at the same time.
For those unfamiliar who may have been living in a cave, Steve-O is, of course, Stephen Gilchrist Glover, one of the seminal members of the Jackass crew. They’ve spent decades endangering life, limb and whatever brain cells they have left doing some of the most unimaginable stunts and pranks any human could imagine.
Steve-O’s net worth is $2.5 million as of 2022, and his various body parts remain mostly intact, despite his ongoing efforts to obliterate them by working with Johnny Knoxville and the rest of the Jackass crew.
Early Days
Steve-O’s upbringing was normal enough, mostly. He was born in London in 1974 to a business executive father who moved the family around a lot, to the point where young Steve-O had already lived in five countries by the time he was 12.
Those experiences formed the foundation of both his coping mechanisms and his future career, as Steve-O began acting the part of a class clown in each new place so he could acclimate and quickly be accepted.
When he was 15, Steve-O took things to the next level. He grabbed dad’s video camera and began making videos of himself doing dangerous skateboarding stunts. It certainly wasn’t readily apparent at that time, but a star was born.
Not surprisingly, college didn’t work out for Steve-O, so he dropped out of the University
of Miami after a year.
Clown College
He then enrolled in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College – yes, you read that right – and he began pitching his videos to various producers.
He met his comedic soulmate when he encountered Jeff Tremaine, the creator of Jackass. Tremaine was trying to create a stunt show with Johnny Knox, when the course of comedy history changed when they managed to sell the concept to MTV, and “Jackass” made its debut in 2000.
The rest is more history, as the saying goes. Steve-O continued his jackass act when Jackass ended, and he went on to do his own comedy tour, “Steve-O Don’t Try This at Home,” along with a couple more Jackass movies.
He’s done things like appear on “Dancing with the Stars” and lighting himself on fire on “The Howard Stern Show,” plus he was once arrested in Canada on a weapons charge. And how can you not love a man whose memoir is entitled “Professional Idiot?”
The new Jackass movie has brought Steve-O back in the mainstream spotlight, especially since the Jackass crew has now added its first female member to its surprise reunion gig.
Steve-O has talked at length about his struggles with a variety of addiction issues, and he’s gone through a pair of marriages as well. He’s definitely a guy who lives his life on the edge, but if a dangerous prank or stunt does catch up to him in the ultimate way, chances are he’ll greet the grim reaper with a big grin plastered on his face.
