Words: Miljan Milekić
There is a bunch of things I never thought I would do in my life. For example, I never thought I would pay to see another man’s genitals, with my girlfriend, and be happy about it. All that in a fricking theatre. But hey, you don’t have Steve-O in town every day, so you better get ready for quite a few things from that list.
Being a teen in the early 2000s meant I was heavily influenced by MTV and Tony Hawk‘s, and Mat Hoffman‘s video games. Skateboarding, BMX, punk rock, and hip hop were a big part of every single day, even though I was, and still am atrocious in the first two, picking up a few cracks or fractures. So there is no surprise that my friends and I were massive fans of MTV‘s series ‘Jackass,’ and that people like Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man, Bam Margera, or Brandon Novak were part of our lives as much as Tony Hawk and Mat Hoffman, Rick Thorne, and Rune Glifberg, or Blink-182, Linkin Park and Eminem.
The moment I learned that Steve-O is bringing The Bucket List Tour, I knew I simply need to be there, although I had no idea what in the world that is. I would be OK with it being the most boring thing ever. I was more than ready to burn the money for a piece of nostalgia and receive nothing in return. I pretty much made my peace with it long before the show even start, but luckily, it turned out to be much more than that.
The night started with a pre-show video, slowly leading the crowd into the world of Steve-O. Introducing the man himself, the video showed some of his crazy stunts over the years, inserts from a couple of interviews, as well a presentation of many of his projects, including his Youtube channel and his podcast Wild Ride. A fun little rundown of his career, before the real thing starts.
The first one on the stage was the special guest and another ‘Jackass’ star – Jason ‘Wee Man’ Acuña, eagerly welcomed by the crowd. Wee Man wasted no time, warming up the crowd with his crazy stories and jokes, most of them at his own expense. He recalled some of his ‘Jackass’ years, some good and not-so-good life choices, and pretty much made everyone in the crowd smile and laugh in the 15 or 20 minutes he had on stage, before leaving it to the star of the night.
So, let’s finally answer the most important question – what the fuck is The Bucket List Tour? Well, it’s a pretty funny concept in which Steve-O himself presents some of the craziest stunts of his life, many of them being a little too much for Youtube, TV, or even his ‘Jackass’ buddies. Before any of those stunts were shown on the big screen, the crowd would hear a story about it – from the first idea to the moment it was recorded, including all the troubles, risks, injuries, and everything in between. Can you imagine there are people who didn’t want to take any part in some of these? Crazy, huh?
Every video that is shown is in typical Steve-O fashion, varying from funny and gross to painful and dangerous, including lots of bare genitalia, body fluids, and often, huge amounts of pain. However, the stories themselves didn’t only focus on that, providing insight into Steve-O‘s personal life – his love and relationship with his fiance Lux, support from his friends, and the hard work of his crew, who made many impossibles – possible.
I am not going into the stunts or videos, but the legend says that one person on average passes out. I guess Saskatoonites are obviously too hard for that shit, as I haven’t seen anything but laughing and disgusted faces, sometimes at the same time, having a great time. And that’s what this night was all about. Everybody on, and off the stage seemed like they had lots of fun, and enjoyed the cold, -20°C, it’s-not-even-real-winter-yet Wednesday night. What else can you expect from a “comedy show?”
