A former writer for a skateboarding magazine, who while writing an article on self defense contrived to test the implements on himself. His editor fiendishly suggested that he have these tests video taped. The resulting movie, which was comprised of images of Knoxville shocking himself with a taser, being shot in the chest while wearing a bullet proof vest, maced, and otherwise brutalized, quickly became an underground hit in the style of the Pamela and Tommy Lee video.

Given the success of MTV's Tom Green show, a bidding war started between Comedy Central and MTV over the right to air Knoxville being a Jackass. MTV won, and his career began.

The subsequent sucess of his non sequitur combination of physical humor, and Tom Green inspired offensive humor, has made this American Academy of Dramatic Arts graduate into a up-and-coming movie star, with roles in Men In Black 2, and the star-heavy Big Trouble, a movie which had its release delayed after the World Trade Center attacks for its depiction of sneaking a nuclear bomb onto an airplane.