Bam Margera has made a significant return, once again embracing his skateboard and performing tricks. This marks a rekindling of his passion and a return to the very activity that shaped his career. The former `Jackass` personality, having defied medical prognoses following an extensive rehabilitation period for his legs, is now set to feature in the upcoming Tony Hawk`s Pro Skater 3+4 game.
We had the opportunity to converse with the CKY founder regarding his journey, his relationship with skateboarding, and the self-inflicted stunts that brought him notoriety.
Interviewer: You were told by doctors that your legs were too damaged for skateboarding. How did that news affect you?
Bam Margera: In 2013, a doctor examined my legs, likening them to `dry-rotted rubber bands` due to alcohol misuse, advising me it would be difficult to skate. Shortly after, a hamstring injury occurred while attempting to touch my toes, sidelining me for a year. This setback led to a period of hopelessness and increased drinking, as I thought, `If I`m doomed, I`m doomed.` However, I later married a stretch coach, and now we dedicate an hour daily to stretching. Despite being 45, my legs feel as capable as they did at 20. My passion for skateboarding has been reignited, and it`s now my primary focus. My mornings are driven by the desire to film a new skate trick. When you pursue what you love, especially something that has been so foundational to your life like skateboarding has been for me, positive outcomes seem to naturally align.
Interviewer: It sounds like that initial prognosis sent you into a very dark place, but it seems you`re now emerging from it, correct?
Bam Margera: Yes, absolutely. Not to mention, I hold the Guinness Book of World Records title for the longest `Florida Shuffle.` For those unfamiliar, it refers to a cycle of involuntary psychiatric commitments (a `5150`). If an intervention agency realizes you have good insurance, they`ll find reasons to keep you institutionalized indefinitely. So, 88 days would pass, and I`d think, `I`m getting out in two days.` Then, someone would walk in and say, `You`ve been wearing the same pants for four days now.` I`d reply, `Yeah, I`m married. I`m not trying to get any action in here,` if you know what I mean. They`d respond, `That`s poor hygiene. You`re getting another 90 days in a different facility.`
This cycle continued for about three years because they knew they were earning $1,300 a night from me, totaling approximately $660,000. I initially entered treatment for alcohol and Adderall, which I had a prescription for, but I exited on more drugs than I started with—18 different substances that resulted in stiff muscles, erectile dysfunction, hair loss, weight gain, and suicidal ideation. I was experiencing all these adverse effects, and it was truly awful. When I stopped taking them, I realized I didn`t need any medication. Skateboarding is my medication, my therapy. I can`t fathom how anyone thinks it`s acceptable to be on 18 different medications to the point where you can`t even cry or feel any emotions; you`re just comfortably numb. Someone could tell me, `Bam, your cat died,` and I`d just say, `Oh, it did? Neat.` A trick a day keeps the doctor away. I wake up, go out, and land a skate trick. It keeps me grounded.
Interviewer: What significance does your appearance in the new game hold for you?
Bam Margera: For the new game, I aimed for an Elvis Presley `68 Comeback Special aesthetic—a leather jacket and leather pants, which, frankly, are incredibly difficult to skate in. Nobody has ever done skate tricks in leather pants. But anyway, that was the look I wanted to rock, paired with a sharp red button-down shirt, reminiscent of my first look on `Viva la Bam.` I had that black jacket with the red accent. So, I was going for an old vibe like that, combined with the Elvis `68 Comeback Special. I`m genuinely pleased with the outcome. Activision`s scanners are incredibly advanced now; I was actually inside a globe surrounded by 167 cameras, scanning me from head to toe. The detail is so precise you could almost zoom in close enough to read the credit card information on my tattoo.
Interviewer: Is it real credit card information?
Bam Margera: Yeah, I have kids online buying stuff because they`ve deciphered the credit card code on my arm.
Interviewer: You nearly missed the deadline for your game appearance, didn`t you? What happened?
Bam Margera: It`s no secret that I didn`t skate for 10 years, and I was quite a mess. I simply grew tired of that lifestyle. It took three years of treatment. For eight days, I was on life support after suffering five seizures, each lasting 20 minutes, with a tube down my throat. I had COVID and pneumonia, and my health was in extremely poor condition. I thought, `Man, if I don`t change, I`m going to die this way. I need to make a drastic change.` I dove headfirst into sobriety, and as soon as I started losing weight and stretching, muscle memory gradually returned, enabling me to learn new skate tricks again. They say everything happens for a reason. Did I go through hell and back? Absolutely.
There was a time when, having owned a nightclub in Philadelphia for 10 years, you could have told me Metallica was playing across the street, and I had VIP passes for anyone I wanted to bring, and I would have said, `I don`t feel like it. I`ve already seen them. I`m bored with that.` Everything bored me. But when you get out of treatment after three years, everything becomes new and enjoyable again. I`m driving down the street in a convertible with a friend, listening to music. I`m at the beach, sipping coffee at a Starbucks outdoors. This is amazing. Everything became fun again, and I truly began to appreciate all the simple pleasures. Being bored with everything because you`d `done everything` was a real problem.
Interviewer: Did that boredom stem from suddenly having immense wealth?
Bam Margera: Going from being completely broke at 15 to becoming an instant millionaire from CKY videos, `Jackass,` numerous skateboard sponsorships, the Tony Hawk video game, and even random opportunities like earning a million dollars for one day of work on a Right Guard commercial—that kind of sudden wealth can really go to a young person`s head, especially when you grew up with nothing. I recall a time when I was carelessly driving my Lamborghini, and someone asked, `What would you do if you wrecked that thing?` I nonchalantly replied, `I`d just go get another one.` The value of a dollar no longer held meaning for me, and that was a significant issue. We had a $300,000 weekly budget for 65 weeks for MTV`s `Viva la Bam` to blow things up, fly people in, and fly people out…
Interviewer: Your nickname originates from running into walls as a child, right?
Bam Margera: When I was three or four, I`d jump off coffee tables and run full speed into the couch. My dad kept saying, `Bam, Bam.` When I started kindergarten, it was simply shortened to Bam. My real name is Brandon, but honestly, if you called out `Hey, Brandon,` I wouldn`t even turn my head because no one has ever called me that.
Interviewer: You`ve always seemed to put yourself in harm`s way. Where do you think that impulse comes from?
Bam Margera: I remember being in a shopping cart, pushed at full speed into a thorn bush. I was creating a segment for CKY about shopping carts going into bushes. I recall one woman asking, `What`s the point of that? I don`t get it.` I replied, `There is no point. It`s dumb as hell.` Hence the name `Jackass.` Doing foolish things will never stop being funny. Does it make no sense? Does it have no point? Absolutely no point. But, you know, if everyone behaved perfectly and no one ever did anything wrong, imagine the chaos that would create. There would be no entertainment, no news, no need for jails, because everyone would be a goody-two-shoes.
Interviewer: I believe CKY and Jackass profoundly influenced YouTube. I don`t think YouTube, as it exists today, would be the same without them.
Bam Margera: If you look at the CKY videos, they`re essentially a precursor to almost everything you see on shows like `Ridiculousness.` It`s all those silly internet stunts and quick, clumsy falls from people tumbling down stairs. I mean, that`s what we did in CKY, and I genuinely believe that everything would be completely different if those videos hadn`t existed.
Interviewer: What`s the most terrifying experience you`ve ever had?
Bam Margera: The most terrifying thing I`ve ever done was probably being tricked into falling into that pit of 100 snakes. If I had known that was going to happen in reality, I would have been on the first plane out of there. I thought I was going to prank [Jackass co-creator Jeff] Tremaine because he was vulnerable, sitting in a chair in the back of an 18-wheeler. Well, there was a hole in the truck that I fell into and couldn`t escape. Telling them I`m terrified of snakes basically translates to, `Put snakes on Bam.` But yes, that was absolutely horrifying, to the point where I cried. If they hadn`t gotten me out of there within another minute, I probably would have convulsed and fainted or something equally extreme. It was complete panic.
Interviewer: Is there anything you`ve done that wasn`t filmed but you wish it had been?
Bam Margera: Just random things, really. For `Jackass,` they built this real water slide with a jump at the end—you might have seen it when we had the loop going on. Danger Ehren pushed me down the slide when it was all soapy. I went down feet first and tried to balance, because I wouldn`t have done it if I hadn`t been pushed, but since I was, I had to deal with it. I tried to balance like I was on a skateboard, and when I hit that transition, I hit my head so hard that blood was gushing. I jumped off the ramp with my bloody head, knocked out, and fell into the pool. It was just too dark to show. I really wish that, like, dude, if I went through that, and you filmed it, you better put it in a movie. But I think it`s just too much of a liability, or perhaps too depressing, rather than funny. So, things like that. It truly sucks to get seriously hurt and take one for the team, only for the pain you endured never to be shown.
Interviewer: I feel like, with all the safety coordinators nowadays, you wouldn`t get away with that anymore.
Bam Margera: You`re absolutely right. There were two incidents we filmed for `Jackass.` One was the `body bag at the dump` skit, where we pulled up to a dumpster with hidden cameras everywhere, and we got out like bandits. We had these fake crowbars made of plastic that looked real, and we pretended to hit Ryan Dunn, who was wrapped in a body bag. When we threw him into the dumpster, strangers discovered this `half-dead` guy, thinking it was real, but it was a joke all along. The police arrived, and it became a huge deal. When they realized we were faking it for `Jackass,` it turned into a real potential lawsuit.
In fact, the same thing happened with Knoxville in Los Angeles. He thought it would be funny to go to an Ace Hardware store dressed in a full orange L.A. County Jail uniform with handcuffs on. He entered the hardware store and tried sawing off the handcuffs. People called the police, reporting that an escapee from an L.A. prison was now in Ace Hardware, attempting to saw off his handcuffs. The police arrived so quickly that the officer forgot to put the car in park, and it drove up onto the curb, hit a pole, and caused significant damage to the vehicle. But, I mean, imagine if the officer had run over an elderly lady. It was such a serious situation that we could never show that kind of content on air.