As most of you are aware, Jackass 3D is far from the first of its kind. Most people are familiar with the name made (in)famous by the MTV show in the early double-ought years. What they may not be as familiar with are the videos that preceded it, put together by the then much younger Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Brandon Dicamillo, and Raab Himself starting in 1999. With no budgets, or even quality equipment, they devised stunts some of which are still some of my favorites in the ten years that this jackassery has been going on. The collection is known as CKY, or Camp Kill Yourself. The look is rough, the sound isn’t great, but we’re not talking about The Godfather here.
Like Jackass, CKY’s appeal comes from a bunch of people being willing to do things most of us wouldn’t, and actually pull off some stuff that lawsuits would prevent them from doing on Jackass. Here they could just run away from their victims and destroy the footage. One of my favorites has them dropping a dummy from an overpass onto cars below. Dangerous and reckless yes, but my sadistic self laughed out loud as they slammed on their breaks and bitched out the trouble makers.
Another stunt oriented around strangers and their cars has Bam and gang kicking footballs into cars as they drive by, thus irritating the owners and amusing the audience.
“This is a new car!” An angry driver yells.
“It’s a ’96!” Bam retorts.
The fecal fascination is evident here, too. There is a classic rendition of the oft-copied ATM stunt where they leave a twenty on the ground with shit on the other side of it. One guy spots it and, thinking it’s his lucky day, stuffs it in his pocket. Feeling something mushy, he pulls his hand out, sniffs it, and starts dry heaving. Bam then has the audacity to approach the pissed off stranger to ask him to sign a release form to have his likeness appear on camera.
Of course, there’s plenty more. The last one I will mention involves a tempermental Mike Vallely kicking a security guard off his own ground. It is fascinating to watch the videos with the knowledge that their “stupidity” will eventually land these guys millions of dollars. For those of you familiar with Jackass but looking for more, CKY has what you’re looking for.
