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It’s not all that unusual to see celebrities at big sporting events but in Los Angeles, it’s apparently such a common occurrence that it’s easy to get them confused for one another — even when they look nothing alike. That’s what happened during Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium, where Big Sean and Jhene Aiko were misidentified on the Jumbotron as Buffy The Vampire Slayer herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and her husband Freddie Prinze Jr.

On the Jumbotron, a closeup of Big Sean and Jhene Aiko was captioned “Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.,” prompting Gellar to joke on Instagram, “@bigsean do you get mistaken for me as often as I get mistaken for you? (Swipe right to see my actual date at the #ramshouse).” In her post, she compared a selfie with her and her husband to the photo that appeared onscreen at the game, then added a photo of her and her friend Elsa Collins, with whom she actually attended the game.

Sean and Jhene also seemed tickled by the mishap, with Sean posting a photo of the two staring in confusion at the Jumbotron to his own Instagram Story.

As The Batman draws closer to bringing Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson‘s new version of the Dark Knight to screens, the film’s official Twitter account has released a new promo video announcing the start of ticket sales: February 10. In the new preview, Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne is called out for failing to use his family vast wealth’s to help the city. Of course, unbeknownst to the citizens of Gotham, he’s been waging a war in the shadows as Batman, which has put him in the crosshairs of The Riddler.

As the new teaser ominously shows, The Riddler knows Batman’s secret identity and has no trouble outsmarting the vigilante at every turn. Pattison’s Bruce Wayne can’t punch his way out of this one, and it looks to be one heck of a battle of wits. The film also has Jason Momoa‘s seal of approval, so what more do you need?

Here’s the official synopsis:

When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.

The Batman swings into theaters on March 4.

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. The Weeknd, Dawn FM

We’re only in January, and it’s ludicrous to talk about any album released this month as the record of 2022. But Dawn FM… is the record of 2022. At least it is well on the way to being my most listened to album of the year. The highest compliment I can pay this album is that even the spoken-word parts are worth hearing. (Quincy Jones describing how his dysfunctional childhood derailed his adult relationships is the most harrowing track to appear on any Weeknd album that also happens to explain every Weeknd album.) But I’m honestly just swept up by the sound and scale of Dawn FM, how each song seems like it cost $1 million to make and came out sounding like $10 million. Go beyond the extremely 1980s signifiers — the synth tones, the Thriller vibes of nearly every chorus, Jim Carrey’s ‘luded-out DJ (his best performance since Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind!) — and it’s this quality that makes Dawn FM feel like such a throwback. This isn’t an album that simply alludes to the era of massive albums in a nostalgic way. It’s actually able to embody what it is referencing in the present moment.

2. Father John Misty, “Funny Girl”

It’s been four long years since God’s Favorite Customer, the heartfelt song cycle in which Josh Tillman confronted the dark night of his marriage’s soul by venturing wistfully into the poem zone. The album cycle for Customer was practically nonexistent, with FJM implementing a media blackout after the nonstop provocations of the Pure Comedy era. It appears that he’s following a similar playbook for the forthcoming Chloë And The Next 20th Century, which was previewed this month by the first single, “Funny Girl.” Lyrically, the song finds Misty in familiar territory, as he paints a portrait of a distant starlet from the point of view of a lowly observer with some dryly hilarious details. (“Funny girl, your schedule is pretty crazy / doing interviews for the new live-action Cathy.“) Musically, however, he pivots from his usual melodic folk rock to a debauched pop crooner pose, sounding like a Mad magazine parody of Harry Connick Jr. Does this represent the sound of the rest of the record? We’ll talk more about that soon.

3. The Smile, “The Smoke”

Radiohead hasn’t put out a new album in five years, but in the meantime it looks like Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are returning to their band’s rocking roots with the new side project, The Smile. Their first single released this month, “You Will Never Work In Television Again,” is their hardest hitting music in years, with an undertow of sinister malevolence that recalls the pissed-off Bush-era rants on Hail To The Thief. The second single dropped by The Smile in January, “The Smoke,” is more laidback and slinky, sounding like Yorke’s prior side project Atoms For Peace with a serrated edge. My only reservation thus far with The Smile: Why didn’t they invite Ed O’Brien? This seems like exactly the kind of music he’s been dying to make in Radiohead since the late ’90s.

4. Good Looks, “Almost Automatic”

The publicist for these newcomers from Austin, Texas reached out to me back in September about their forthcoming debut album, Bummer Year, which was finally announced publicly this month. “I thought to myself that Steven Hyden would like this,” he said. Guess what? He was right! Good Looks have have been described as “socialist heartland rock.” I can’t speak to the socialist part, but in the video for their new single “Almost Automatic” you do them playing in the middle of a cow pasture, which is certainly heartland rock-y. But it’s not heartland rock in the way it’s commonly defined now, which is basically “reminiscent of Springsteen’s Born In The U.S.A.” period. This is like the forgotten side of heartland rock, with the small-town narratives of John Mellencamp’s mid-’80s records set to the rousing county-fair anthems of The BoDeans.

5. Melody’s Echo Chamber, “Looking Backward”

This modern master of psychedelic pop naturally slots in with acts like Tame Impala and Dungen, though the music of Melody’s Echo Chamber has an ethereal quality that enhances both the trippy and poppy aspects of the music. The forthcoming Emotional Eternal, due April 29, is the first MEC album in four years, though it’s not all that far removed from 2018’s winning Bon Voyage. If you like the sound of harpsichords set against boisterously syncopated drums, this music will feel like bathing your eardrums in honey.

6. Jana Horn, Optimism

This Texas-based singer-songwriter aspires both to the rich tradition of literary Americana singer-songwriter music her state is known for, as well as the atmospheric vibes of Velvet Underground-inspired indie rock. The result is a beguiling debut effort in Optimism, in which Horn relates in an affectless, conversational tone a series of short stories about characters who arrive at small moments of catharsis and dissolution. While I’ve only experienced Optimism as music, I suspect the album would also work just as well on the page. (Horn is a post-graduate fiction writer.) I look forward to these songs revealing deeper secrets the more I play this record.

7. Guerilla Toss, “Cannibal Capital”

This upstate New York band doesn’t like to sit still, literally or figuratively. They combine a high-energy punk ethos with strains of funk and dance music, along with a free-wheeling live show that frequently delves into jams amid a constantly shifting setlist. (They even encourage fans to tape their shows.) Their new album, Famously Alive, due March 25, is loaded with bangers, including the album’s first single, which boasts perhaps the best bassline of the month.

8. M.J. Lenderman, “Hangover Game”

I regrettably slept on Twin Plagues, the 2021 album by the Asheville, North Carolina band Wednesday that somehow combines thick shoegaze riffs with wistful old-time country accents. So I’m determined to get on the bandwagon early for Boat Songs, the forthcoming solo record by Wednesday guitarist M.J. Lenderman due out April 29. On his own record, Lenderman plays a more straightforward kind of choogle, favoring funky country licks and leaning into his back-porch vocal twang. The first single from Boat Songs, “Hangover Game,” is one of the album’s best tracks, with Lenderman singing the praises of Michael Jordan over chunky guitars that recall A.M.-era Wilco .

Neil Young has been in the process of breaking up with Spotify and moving on to greener pastures in recent days: He took his music off the platform due to it being home of The Joe Rogan Experience and has started pushing Spotify competitors. Now, Joe Rogan himself has finally addressed the Young situation (and the Joni Mitchell situation, as she followed Young in removing her music from Spotify).

In a near-ten-minute video posted on Instagram hours ago, Rogan starts by discussing the “distorted perception of what I do,” the alleged “misinformation” that has been shared on his podcast, and hosting people who have a variety of perspectives on the show. Then, at 3:29 into the clip, he addresses Young and Mitchell, saying, “Now, because of this controversy — and I’m sure there’s a lot of other things going on behind the scenes with these controversies — but Neil Young has removed his music from the platform of Spotify, and Joni Mitchell, and apparently some other people want to as well. I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that. I’m a Neil Young fan. I’ve always been a Neil Young fan. I’ll tell you a story at the end of this about that.”

He later told his Young story:

“I’m not mad at Neil Young. I’m a huge Neil Young fan. I’ve always been a Neil Young fan. When I was 19, I was a security guard at a place called Great Woods in Mansfield, Massachusetts. It’s an outdoor concert amphitheater and Neil Young was playing there, and it was the last day I worked there. I quit during the Neil Young concert. The job was kind of crazy because a lot of times, fights broke out and stuff and I think I probably got like 15 bucks an hour, and I was not about to get beat up for 15 bucks an hour. So I would bring a hoodie with me whenever I worked, so in case the sh*t hit the fan and it got too crazy, I would just put my hoodie on and leave and cover my security outfit, my security shirt.

So one day during a Neil Young concert, […] it got a little rowdy, it was cold out, and [the audience] started bonfires, so they had these raging fires on the lawn and we were supposed to go and put these fires out and stop them. So we tried for a little while but then brawls started breaking out and it started getting crazy, and I was like, ‘F*ck this.’ So I put my hoodie on, I zipped it up, and I left, and I drove home. And as I was driving home, I was singing, ‘Keep on rockin’ in the free world.’ That was my last day on the job, I don’t even think I collected my last check.

So, no hard feelings towards Neil Young, and definitely no hard feelings towards Joni Mitchell. I love her, too. I love her music. ‘Chuck E’s In Love’ is a great song.”

Watch the full video above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After years of mostly unfounded rumors and speculation, it has finally happened — Rihanna is pregnant with her first child. Go figure, it’d take a pandemic to finally fulfill every gossip blogger’s dream — and every R9 hopeful’s worst nightmare. People magazine confirmed the pregnancy, posting a photo of Rihanna and her partner ASAP Rocky out on the town in New York, with Rihanna sporting a cropped top to show off her baby bump. You can check out the photos below.

Naturally, the news has Rihanna fans going ballistic on Twitter. Rihanna herself shot down pregnancy rumors as recently as a month ago, joking, “Y’all breed me every year dammit,” on Instagram. However, it looks like this time, the fans were right and they aren’t being shy about celebrating — and lamenting that she may have finished making a whole human from scratch before her long-awaited follow-up to Anti, which crossed its six-year anniversary over the weekend. And some fans just seemed distraught that they have “missed their chance” with the singer — insomuch as that number was very technically non-zero in the first place.

Meanwhile, poor Drake is catching the worst of it, considering how long he openly crushed on Rihanna. Their relationship was short-lived, but that isn’t stopping fans from flaming him up too over the news.

Former MTV VJ and ex-Katy Perry spouse-turned actor, podcaster, and comedian Russell Brand has been on quite a journey over the past few years. His long-time left-leaning points of view (and Fox News opposition) appear to have been transformed into dust while he’s veered to the right. This has included hopping aboard with Matthew McConaughey’s recent toeing of the political line and expression of empathy for Big Lie supporters. Russell also’s gone on an anti-vaccine crusade during the pandemic, which has left people wondering if he’s “officially lost his mind.”

Rusty’s still dangerously (especially because he’s such a prolific and persuasive speaker) cranking away on his YouTube channel (where he posts rants titled “Vaccine Mandates: An ASSAULT On Your Bodily Freedom?” and “SHOCKING Wuhan Evidence: Did Fauci LIE?”). He’s currently shouting for joy over the convoy of Canadian truckers who are protesting requirements to get the jab or find new jobs, and he’s worked up about what he says is the “mainstream media not reporting” the protests. Here’s a taste of him (taken from a YouTube video from Russell’s page) making a “honk” gesture and shouting, “Here’s to the Canadian truckers! Here’s to standing up to freedom!”

Hmm. Countless mainstream outlets, including the New York Times, BBC, and Business Insider, are certainly covering this story. In addition, about 90% of Canadian truckers are vaxxed, but these kinds of truths (including a trucker declaring, “You want a job? Get vaccinated”) don’t sell YouTube clicks.

Instead, Russell’s pointing toward the convoy while hoping it makes the Guinness Book of World Records, and railing against the Man, and so on.

This led people to wonder, “When did Russell Brand come on over to the right side?” as well as “What happened to you?” and lamenting at how “community responsibility” has fallen by the wayside for those shouting “freedom!”

Here’s some perspective on Russell’s, uh, needle-related history in comparison to him declaring that vaccines are a bridge too far for him.

And even though the trucker convoy is being widely reported upon, here’s a Twitter user with a parting sentiment: “Tantrums don’t need to be indulged every time.”

Following the announcement that Spotify will add a “content advisory” to future episodes of his podcast, Joe Rogan has released an Instagram video where he not only agrees with the decision but promises to bring on more experts with “differing opinions.” Rogan’s conciliatory video arrives on the heel of growing pressure for Spotify to rein in the COVID misinformation on his podcast. Shortly after Neil Young pulled his music from the platform in protest of Rogan’s pushing anti-vaxxer views, more artists like Joni Mitchell began threatening to do the same.

The backlash prompted Spotify to finally address the situation, which resulted in a promise to put a disclaimer in front of any podcast that discusses COVID-19. However, no one expected Rogan himself to go into damage control by releasing his new Instagram video where he fully admits that he gets things wrong.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

He said he never tried to be controversial and expressed amazement at how a podcast of “me talking to some friends” grew into “some out-of-control juggernaut that I barely have control of.”

“I pledge to balance out the more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspective so many we can find a better point of view, I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative it, I want to show all kinds of opinions,” on all topics, and not just COVID-19, he said.

“My point was to create interesting conversations, and ones people enjoy,” he said. “If I’ve pissed you off, I’m sorry. And if you enjoy the podcast, thank you.”

Rogan also had nothing but good things to say about Young and Mitchell, who he’s not “mad” at all. He’s a big fan of both of their music, but to demonstrate that he doesn’t always hit the mark, he said he loved Mitchell’s “Chuck E In Love.” There’s just one small problem: It’s a Ricki Lee Jones, which Rogan later corrected in the caption of his Instagram post with an added “Doh!”

You can see Rogan’s full video below:

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

When things get bad and everything sucks and everyone seems to hate each other, there’s only one thing that can bring us together: a new Jackass movie. With a new installment of Jackass, Jackass Forever, hitting theaters February 4th, almost 20 years since the release of the first Jackass movie, it’s high time to acknowledge Jackass for what it is: the greatest American cultural product of the 21st century.

Every time they release a new movie, some boring critic somewhere inevitably calls Jackass the death of art, the death of cinema, the death of good taste, whatever. Trolling for this reaction is essentially baked into the concept. Taking a longer view of entertainment, Jackass actually seems much truer to the spirit of what entertainment has traditionally been than our narrow conceptions of what constitutes a feature film. Strip away the swear words and skate brand t-shirts, and how much different is Jackass than Le Petomane, the famous French farter? Jackass would fit right in on Vaudeville, in any medieval court, and on any boardwalk. It’s spectacle, it’s a showcase for a kind of pure, dadaist creativity that could really exist nowhere else, and it’s probably the best of modern slapstick.

Johnny Knoxville is our Buster Keaton. His old-fashioned carnival barker sensibility suffuses the whole endeavor, and his ability to deliver a perfect one-liner in the midst of death-defying situations rivals that of his greatest contemporary, Sacha Baron Cohen.

On that note, we probably wouldn’t have Borat without Jackass. Before Jackass: The Movie, the movie industry generally assumed that the only way to turn a guerilla comedy TV show into a movie was to insert the star of it into some kind of Billy Madison plot (rather than just doing what Jackass did, which was to just make 90 minutes worth of guerilla comedy). Freddy Got Fingered is a perfect example here, though it’s a credit to Tom Green (who to some extent paved the way for Jackass in turn) that he did his best to destroy the format even as he was embodying it. If you want to know what Borat might’ve looked like before Jackass, look no further than Sacha Cohen’s pre-Borat movie, Ali G Indahouse, which managed to turn Cohen’s subversive, hilarious, improvisational interview show into a conventional and mostly sort of lame comedy film.

Jackass is also, if I may say, an enduring portrait of male friendship. You can keep your First Cow, I’ll take Jackass. It’s the only entertainment product that has ever explored the lengths to which dudes will go and the sacrifices they’ll make simply in order to make their friends laugh. This has traditionally been the foundation of the most enduring friendships. No stunt is too gross or too dangerous if it means a good hang. I can think of few more tender moments in cinema than Wee Man catching a soap bubble made of Preston Lacy’s fart on his tongue, or Chris Pontius hitting a golf ball painted like a baseball with his penis so that Bam Margera can try to catch the ball in his mouth.

The beauty of Jackass is that you get so desensitized to the absolute mayhem of it that you never know what’s going to send you over the edge. The funniest part of a stunt is rarely the stated or even intended goal of the bit. Usually it’s some secondary complication, a totally unforeseen event, or a perfectly executed bit of slapstick the occurs in the midst of it, usually entirely by accident. For me, one moment came about halfway through my rewatch of Jackass Number Two, after Steve-O “buttchugs” a beer and Bam tries to suck it out with a plunger. At this point, Bam yells, “Now you better shit piss, asswipe!”

I couldn’t stop laughing for 10 minutes and I still laugh every time I think about it. It even happens to their own cameramen from time to time, “I think we broke Lance,” being a frequent refrain, every time cameraman Lance Bangs is either laughing too hard or too nauseous to carry out his duties.

Anyway, I did my best to structure my love letter to Jackass in the form of an internet-friendly listicle. I considered ranking every single Jackass bit, but that seemed too tedious, and a top 10 seemed insufficient. So I thought we’d celebrate 20 years of Jackass with 20 of their greatest stunts. (Honorable mention to classic recurring bits like Party Boy and Night Monkeys, among many, many others).

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20. Riot Control Test, AKA The Ball-Bearing Embassy Mine (Jackass Number Two)

In the first Jackass, Johnny Knoxville shocked the gang (and cemented himself as the leader) by consistently being game for the gnarliest stunts. This one, for which all the other Jackass guys begged off, involved taking a “less lethal” rubber bullet to the abdomen. In part two, the crew returns to the same weapons manufacturer to test a riot control claymore filled with rubber ball bearings meant to disperse protesters outside of embassies.

This is one of those stunts that I would definitely describe more as “shocking” or “crazy” than funny (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but for me the beauty of this one isn’t that it’s so insane (even though it is), it’s the fact that while Bam and Ryan Dunn are wearing full face shields, Johnny Knoxville is just covering his face with his hand. Jackass doesn’t get enough credit for being subtle.

19. The Dollhouse Poop (Jackass Number Two)

There’s a recurring bit in Top Secret (1984) where an establishing shot will open on an object in the foreground, then pull back to reveal that it isn’t in the foreground at all, it’s actually just huge. I don’t know why I find perspective humor so funny, but Jackass flipped the script by having Dave England take a man-sized dump in a doll-sized bathroom. Dave England is a former professional snowboarder, but in Jackass became the go-to guy for poop related stunts. Jackass is a great reminder that you can be anything if you set your mind to it.

18. The Dildo Gun (Jackass 3D)

Being complicated isn’t a prerequisite for a great Jackass bit. In fact, some of the best ones are pretty simple. By the time of Jackass 3D, Johnny Knoxville was pushing 40, Steve-O was sober, and it was becoming increasingly apparent that the boys would no longer be able to heal as quickly from throwing themselves down stairs and getting shot with less-than-lethal anti-personnel mines and whatnot. They cleverly compensated for this deficit with better production values, more creative sets, high-speed slow-motion camera work. Firing a dildo into a glass of milk in super slow motion perhaps isn’t the greatest showcase for physical comedy but it is mesmerizing, and the sets were inspired. Also the apple on the head with the dick hitting the face is a classic Jackass misdirect.

17. The Swamp Chute (Jackass Number Two)

Strapping a parachute to Wee Man and having him open it behind a fan boat engine seems like a pretty one-note joke on paper, but the visual comedy of watching him skip across the water gets me every time.

16. The Toro-Totter

It’s not easy to cement yourself as the “craziest one” in a crew that includes Steve-O and Bam Margera, but Johnny Knoxville still manages to do it every time there’s a bull involved. This bit would’ve played just as well in the silent film era.

15. (tie) Snake Vs. Dick Puppet (Jackass Number Two)/Dick Vs. Bottle Rocket (Jackass The Movie)

Most groups of guys have that one friend who gets naked so often that his dick and balls become mundane, as normal to gaze upon as their nose or their forehead. So it is Chris Pontius has become Jackass‘s go-to guy for dick-related stunts, thanks to a nice-sized, not too ugly penis.

Plenty of dudes have lit farts or done the old “hey, do you guys know what time it is?” while wrapping their dicks around their wrists like a watch, but Jackass is brilliant at taking that kind of fairly-common dude humor just one step further. Attaching a bottle rocket to Chris Pontius’s dick with a string, or dressing it like a mouse and sticking it in a snake cage = pure genius.

Labeling the hole Pontius puts his dick through is also a perfect example of the kind of comedic flourish that puts Jackass head and shoulders above the competition. Johnny Knoxville is not only our Buster Keaton, Jackass is our Busby Berkeley musical. Which I guess makes Chris Pontius is Busby Berkeley starlet, if she seemed really, really stoned all the time.

14. Jacking off Sea Cucumbers (Jackass The Movie)

Sea cucumbers are penis-shaped creatures who expel their white, ropy innards when agitated, so you can probably imagine what happened when the Jackass guys discovered them. The best thing they did with this bit was to frame it around the wildlife expert explaining sea cucumbers to the camera. “I made the mistake of showing this to the boys, and…”

It’s a tenet of Jackass that sometimes the funniest part of a bit is the person who doesn’t think it’s funny.

13. Terror Taxi (Jackass Number Two)

Another tenet of Jackass is that the best way to save a bad bit, or to subvert a prank that seems a little too cruel is to turn it against the prankster. The most basic example of this is in “The Gong,” when Rick Kosick (I think?) sneaks up behind a napping guy and holds up the gong. Johnny Knoxville just hits him in the nuts instead. This three second gif might be the purest distillation of Jackass.

Jackass Number Two, released in 2006 in the midst of aughts terror paranoia, applied this same framework to a bit about terrorism. They led Danger Ehren to believe he was going to play a high-larious fake terrorist in a pretend suicide bomber skit (quite obviously a really bad idea!) only to glue actual pubes to his face, lock him in the trunk of a car, and make him believe he was about to get murdered. You could probably write a whole thesis on how this bit subverts the tropes of War On Terror-era propaganda, but that’s maybe giving it a little too much credit. I tend to think it was more just a great way to play a really f*cked up prank and have it still be funny because maybe the prankee kind of deserved it? Brilliant in either case.

12. The Ram Jam (Jackass 3D)

Watching Johnny Knoxville risk death against a raging bull is always impossibly compelling, but how many times can you tempt fate? Having Steve-O and Ryan Dunn try to play trumpets and tubas for an angry ram is a nice way to reduce the danger while maintaining the magic. The ram is sort of “angry killing machine” in miniature, which makes it funnier. And of course not that miniature, that dude still looks like he could snap a femur.

11. Duck Hunting (Jackass 3D)

Through the course of its existence, Jackass has seen a gradual evolution from death defying stunts to inventive sight gags. Duck Hunting is a nice illustration of later-stage Jackass brilliance, in that it’s a wonderful sight gag and is greatly improved by high speed cameras, to the point that you don’t really miss the pathological insanity of
earlier Jackass. Heck, I would probably even try this one, not that it doesn’t still look like it would hurt like shit.

10. Electric Avenue (Jackass 3D)

Watching Jackass bits evolve from getting hit with a taser to this elaborately choreographed and meticulously filmed sight gag is like seeing a Wright Brothers’ kite become a supersonic fighter jet before your eyes.

9. The Butt Chug (Jackass Number Two)

Steve-O almost certainly isn’t the first drunk idiot to stick a beer funnel in his ass, but it’s the spontaneity of this bit, the genuine camaraderie, and the unintended consequences that make it so sublime. That combination is the essence of Jackass. The butt chug itself is only sort of funny, but the genuine glee of everyone involved makes it a little funnier, and then Bam yelling “now you better shit piss, asswipe” really sent me over the edge. (Also great: “look at him, he’s peeing like a girl!”).

The moment when the gang realizes that shoving a plunger in Steve-O’s ass to get the beer back out has actually worked is nothing short of magical.

8. Beehive Tetherball (Jackass 3D)

(*Dave England Shrieking*)

Dave England could’ve had a great career in horror films, no one can communicate sheer agony and physical pain quite like he can.

7. Manfishing (Jackass Number Two)

I’ve grown to appreciate sight gag Jackass probably more than death-defying stunt Jackass, but few could deny that Steve-O jamming a fish hook through his cheek and then jumping into a shark-infested ocean is next level. No, it’s not the funniest Jackass stunt I’ve ever seen, but come on, he almost got his leg taken off by a Mako.

6. The Fart Mask (Jackass Number Two)

This is one of those Jackass stunts that we all want to pretend is too gross and too crude and therefore we cannot in good conscience sanction it, but in practice it has hidden comedic layers and makes me shriek every time. (Yes, I should probably note that I tend to laugh when I am uncomfortable.) This wouldn’t have been funny if Steve-O hadn’t puked inside his own astronaut helmet almost immediately, which turns out to be a better sight gag than the original stunt, and then the tertiary joke of pulling out to reveal that Preston has actually pooped in the funnel leads to a barf-o-rama-esque finale in which it now appears that everyone else in the room is also going to puke. That poor, poor hotel maid. I hope they left them a thousand dollar tip.

5. The Jet Engine (Jackass 3D)

This is such a great stunt in that it is simultaneously: a silly idea (to recreate the old Maxwell ad), a wonderful sight gag, and slightly terrifying in execution. You laugh, then you gasp, then you laugh again. The football they toss into the jet’s exhaust looks like it’s going about 300 miles an hour and appears to end up in a different county. Which doesn’t stop Johnny Knoxville from dressing like an old-timey leatherhead and taking one directly to the chest. Magnificent.

4. The High Five (Jackass 3D)

The old “mechanical boxing glove fist” gag has been around at least since I was a kid, and probably dates back to the inception of film. This hand slap gag from Jackass 3D is a straightforward variation on that, though it’s another great example that simply messing with the scale of the props in a prank can add an exponential degree of comedy. “What my sketch presuppose is… what if hand big?”

Adding hot soup to the bit is a stroke of pure genius, setting up one Jackass‘s all-time great lines, “I can’t believe he fell for the soup!”

This gag is perfectly planned, and yet, as with all the greatest Jackass stunts, there’s an element to it that couldn’t be planned. The way Bam Margera’s feet tilt straight backwards like he’s a falling tree makes me indescribably happy.

3. Department Store Boxing (Jackass Number Two)

This one goes from silly to terrifying in a hurry, thanks to Eric “Butterbean” Esch punching Johnny Knoxville into another dimension in the middle of a “swap meet location deep in the valley.” It was a remix of a bit that Knoxville had originally done on the show with director Jeff Tremaine, but for the movie they flew out Butterbean from Alabama, apparently in economy class (keep in mind Butterbean’s official weight in his final boxing match was 425 pounds). Knoxville’s instruction to Butterbean was reportedly to “go game speed.”

Butterbean famously smashed Knoxville’s face, knocking him out cold, though in fairness it’s hard to say whether it was the fist, the sharp corner of the counter he hit on the way down, or the concrete floor he landed on that caused the unconsciousness. It was mostly too scary to be funny, but Johnny Knoxville saves the entire bit by asking, immediately upon waking up, “Is Butterbean okay?”

Such is the power of a well-placed Dad Joke. I don’t know that it can cure a TBI but it can sure make it feel okay to laugh at one.

2. The Rental Car Crash-Up Derby (Jackass: The Movie)

I admit, I didn’t initially remember this bit as well as I did Department Store Boxing, but after rewatching all three movies for this piece I’m convinced that Rental Car Crash-Up Derby is one of the greatest things they ever did. Conceptually it’s already a winner, cathartically exercising the anxiety one is bound to feel every time one signs all the papers and makes all the inherent promises it requires to rent a car. All of which boil down to, “Now, you’re gonna drive real safe, right?”

“Yes, of course, I pinky promise to be the most careful driver there ever was.”

Of course, it’s Knoxville’s general knack for dopey silent film comedy that makes the whole thing sing, starting with the way he arrives to the rental agency seemingly dressed like his idea of “serious adult business traveler,” complete with newsboy cap and orthopedic-looking glasses, perfectly evoking three kids stacked on each other’s shoulders underneath a trenchcoat. His one-liners are all sublime, starting with “We’ll take good care of ‘er,” continuing through “Yeah I hit a dog,” and finishing off with Knoxville’s insistence that he couldn’t be held accountable for the car’s repair costs because he was drunk when he signed the paperwork declining the insurance.

1. Golf Course Air Horn (Jackass: The Movie)

Yes, my favorite Jackass bit is one that’s neither stunt nor sight gag nor even particularly creative. It simply combines golfers, air horns, and Orlando, Florida, all leading up to arguably the greatest exchange in Jackass history:

I’m sorry, I’ve got bursitis.

You’ve got bursitis. So that means you gotta play with a horn?

…It helps.

I’ll give you something to play with, pal.

This man turned out to be the perfect Knoxville foil, matching his one-liners with his own, even while furious. It’s perfect.

‘Jackass Forever’ is set to hit theaters February 4th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Last year, The Black Keys embarked on the cheekily named “World Tour Of America,” which consisted of just three shows in the southeast part of the US. Now, though, they’ve announced a new tour that better fits the name of their previous one. This one is called the “Dropout Boogie Tour” and it runs from July to October, actually hitting venues from across the continent this time.

They’ll be joined by Band Of Horses on all dates, while supporting on select shows will be Ceramic Animal, Early James, and The Velveteers.

Check out the full list of shows below.

07/09 — Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena *
07/11 — Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre *
07/13 — Denver, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
07/15 — St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre St. Louis *
07/16 — Indianapolis, IN @ Ruoff Music Center *
07/17 — Chicago, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre Tinley Park *
07/20 — Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center *
07/22 — Jones Beach, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater *
07/23 — Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center *
07/25 — Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion *
07/27 — Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion *
07/29 — Boston, MA @ Xfinity Center *
07/30 — Philadelphia, PA @ Waterfront Music Pavilion (formerly BB&T Pavilion) *
08/24 — West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre ^
08/25 — Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre ^
08/27 — Atlanta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre ^
08/28 — Huntsville, AL @ Orion Amphitheatre ^
08/30 — Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium ^
09/01 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek ^
09/03 — Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center ^
09/06 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage ^
09/07 — Detroit, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre ^
09/09 — Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Center ^
10/02 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena ~
10/03 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena ~
10/05 — Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre ~
10/08 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum ~
10/10 — Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion ~
10/13 — Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP ~
10/15 — Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion ~
10/17 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center ATX ~
10/18 — Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion ~

* with Ceramic Animal
^ with Early James
~ with The Velveteers

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last Halloween, I wrote about the pros and cons of watching every movie in a long-running horror series. The post was inspired by a marathon of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, from 1974’s classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (“Back in my day, chain saw was two words…”) to the 2017 prequel Leatherface. It was a forgettable finale to a classic franchise (although one with more cons than pros), so hopefully 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre gives everyone’s favorite misunderstood skin-wearing monster a better sendoff… at least until the inevitable next movie in the series.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre takes place decades after the events of the The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and has Leatherface getting “canceled” for his head-bashing ways (he’ll tell his side of the story on The Joe Rogan Experience by the end of the week). It also brings back Sally, the blood-covered survivor from the original film, although she’s now played by Olwen Fouéré (the original actress, Marilyn Burns, passed away in 2014). The rest of the cast includes Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher (Kayla from Eighth Grade!), Mark Burnham, Jacob Latimore, Moe Dunford, Alice Krige, Jessica Allain, and Nell Hudson.

You can watch the trailer above. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

After nearly 50 years of hiding, Leatherface returns to terrorize a group of idealistic young friends who accidentally disrupt his carefully shielded world in a remote Texas town.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre was directed by David Blue Garcia with a screenplay from Chris Thomas Devlin, based on an original story co-written by Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead). It hits Netflix on February 18.