When it comes to the stuntman of our generation, Steve-O is deserving of the title. Whether it’s from his antics on the former MTV shows Jackass and Wildboyz or even live on stage, he’s done some crazy stuff that’s been emblazoned in people’s minds. It’s even crazier if you’ve seen what he’s done in the Jackass films. He’s toned things down a little bit over the years but he’s still willing to pull some insane stunts, which is why he’s currently on his “Bucket List Tour”. The tour will be making a stop at The Strand Ballroom & Theatre on 79 Washington Street in Providence on December 10.

We had a talk ahead of the show about a new podcast he started, staying busy during the COVID-19 pandemic, getting third degree burns and skin grafts and what exactly is on his bucket list.

Rob Duguay: Back in March of last year literally right when the COVID-19 lockdown was happening you started a podcast called Steve-O’s Wild Ride and you’ve had guests on including Jason Mewes, B-Real from Cypress Hill, your Wildboyz compadre Manny Puig and even your fiance among others. How has it been doing the podcast and exploring this creative medium? Is it your first time doing anything like this?

Steve-O: Absolutely, man. It’s my first time doing it and the podcast at first was something that I resisted doing for a long time because so many people are doing them and a lot of the time I found it annoying for people to ask me to be on their podcast. I hated the idea of all of a sudden turning around and being the one asking that but I think it’s been super cool, the timing of it was perfect because we had recorded three episodes and right when we put up the first one it was at the very beginning of the pandemic. The timing was pretty killer and out of doing it, one thing that’s really helped me is that it has a different feel hosting a podcast versus being a guest on a podcast. I had a lot of growing to do in that area.

RD: I can see that, especially when it comes to the host vs. the guest dynamic. Other than the podcast, what else were you doing during the lockdown to pass the time? Was the podcast your main focus or were you doing other activities?

S: Along with the podcast I was separately creating digital content like Youtube videos. I figured out a way to distribute my last comedy special on my own website with a paywall. That was a really big deal for me to pull that off. I also got organized with my online merchandising, I hired a warehouse staff to do my own fulfillment. With the merchandise, all the digital content, the podcast and other things I really was able to use the time that the pandemic afforded me to kind of diversify all of my business.

RD: It’s great that you were able to work that all out.  Out of all the stunts you’ve pulled on Jackass and Wildboyz, what’s one that sticks in your mind as either one you can’t believe you did or one you can’t believe you survived?

S: Probably the one I can’t believe I did is the one which ended up with me having third degree burns and getting skin grafts on 15% of my body. Looking back on that I can’t believe how I thought that was going to be ok, it’s really weird. That one wasn’t for Wildboyz or Jackass, that was from my last comedy special, the one that I put on my website. My stand-up comedy has turned into a multimedia affair so I’ve actually been doing the craziest stunts to incorporate into my comedy. That’s why my worst injury ever actually lives in a stand-up comedy special.

RD: That’s crazy. The fourth Jackass film, Jackass Forever, is going to be coming out on February 4th next year.

S: Fingers crossed. Who knows?

RD: Yeah, especially with how distribution is functioning these days and the supply chain being screwed up. You and Johnny Knoxville got hospitalized during the making of the film. Without giving too much away, how much did that affect your involvement in the film and what are you most proud of when it comes to Jackass Forever as a whole? What do you hope people recognize when it comes out?

S: I wanna say that Knoxville and I were each hospitalized twice unless you count the two plates that I had to have put in my collarbone then that would be more times in the hospital. One of the times Knoxville went to the hospital he had a brain bleed which was very serious and a few of the other guys were hospitalized too. Pretty much everybody went to the hospital at least once, it wasn’t just Knoxville and I. As far as what I’m most proud of, let me answer it like this, in the first two Jackass movies I was in the depths of drug and alcohol addiction and it really affected me. In the third Jackass movie I was nearly clean and sober but I had yet to find my voice and I wasn’t really comfortable in my own skin yet.

Now in this fourth Jackass movie, I’ve absolutely found my voice and I’m visibly much more comfortable in my skin. I just found my stride, so what I’m most proud of in the new Jackass movie isn’t necessarily the stunts that I was doing but rather how present I was. While watching it I realized that I came out of my shell. I was super comfortable, I had more to say and what I had to say worked better. It’s a really f***in’ good movie, I don’t think anything will beat the second Jackass movie but this fourth one definitely smashed the one before it.

RD: I’m looking forward to it. How long have you been sober for?

S: I just passed 13 and a half years.

RD: Awesome. Congratulations to you, that’s great.

S: Yeah, it is. Thanks, man.

RD: No problem. You alluded to it earlier how you’ve been incorporating different things into your stand-up so what can folks expect from “The Bucket List Tour” when it comes to The Strand? Do you plan on doing any crazy stunts on stage while telling jokes and telling stories?

S: I’m not doing stunts on stage in my stand-up anymore just because the bar has gotten so ridiculously high. I don’t think there’s anything I could do on stage that would really push the boundaries so with that said the show is called “The Bucket List” and my bucket list is comprised of ideas that I’ve been sitting on for years and even decades. They’re all really too over the top to actually go through with and I never really thought I was going to do any of it but I figured since I’m now in my 40s if it’s ever going to happen I should just go all out. It kind of feels like a bit of a last hurrah to get my last licks in before it starts to become creepy to watch me do this kind of stuff. I’ve done all this crazy stuff like ride a bike while taking anesthesia drugs through an IV in my arm, sprinting after a medical professional put a four inch needle into my spin with this messed up drug so I would become paralyzed while at a full sprint and I did a bunch on insane things after getting a vasectomy among other stuff.

Everything on the bucket list is so utterly absurd that telling the stories about the ideas and what it took to go through with them really lends itself to comedy in a big way. After each bit in the show I stream the footage of the actual stuff happening.