ShareThisJohnny Knoxville rounds a corner on Sunset Boulevard, pedaling a bright red bike and looking more like an overgrown kid than a TV producer with an idea to sell.
Don't ask why he's riding a bike. Just accept it as one of his quirks -- like the time he let a banana peel bake in the summer heat on the roof of his car. He just wanted to see how rotten it would get.
Once inside his office, it's still hard to take Knoxville seriously. The walls are bright pink, and a bottle of booze is on the floor. But when he starts talking about the projects he's helping bring to television, Knoxville turns seriously passionate.
On his slate today is "Nitro Circus" -- the first series he's producing outside the "Jackass" universe. It is a new reality show built around world-class freestyle motocross champ Travis Pastrana and his buddies. "Circus" premieres 10 p.m. EST Sunday on MTV.
On paper, it sounds like another version of "Jackass." In reality, it's about a group of daredevils who know their stuff and can bring it.
"It's not like he and his buddies flip their bikes all day long and then go home and rest," Knoxville says. "They can't stop."
After meeting Pastrana a year ago, Knoxville found a kindred spirit. Pastrama is the type of guy who'll jump out of an airplane without a parachute to see if he can make it. He'll build giant water slides just so he and his buddies can slip down and narrowly avoid smashing into trees.
And then, there's the whole triple-back flipping he'd do on a motorcycle.
"He's an idiot to the point of genius," Knoxville says. "He's not only fearless. He's an amazing athlete."
Knoxville says bringing "Circus" to MTV isn't his way of showing the world he's more than a one-trick pony, with that trick being the highly successful "Jackass" franchise -- on TV, on the Web and in films.
In Hollywood, career longevity is often about what one can do behind the camera, too. An actor can be lucky enough to be in a hit. But if that actor can start creating programming that is successful, that actor-turned-producer has a sustainable career.
Now 36, Knoxville became a MTV star as the ringleader of "Jackass" in 2000. After he quit the series, he launched a movie career with such comedies as "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "The Ringer." His projects attract the young-male demographic, one of the hardest audiences for advertisers to reach and one they highly desire.
Somehow, they identify with Knoxville wherever he goes.
Having been a producer for years now, mainly on "Jackass"-related projects, Knoxville has many irons in the fire these days. Those plans include another series he's bringing to MTV (though he won't star in it), documentaries, a record label and feature films.
"It's pretty nuts right now," he says. "... This is a good time for me."
Knoxville sees this as a highly creative time for him because, he says, he's gotten his personal life in order. He says he doesn't party like he once did. He's diving into his work more.
"I'm not spending my time spinning out," says Knoxville, who divorced a year ago. "And now, I am in a completely different place in my life."
Knoxville isn't starring in "Circus." He's working behind the scenes and was instrumental in getting it on MTV. He says he has nothing professionally to prove by this series.
"It's not even in my head," he says of the notion that "Circus" represents anything more than just a project he enjoys making. "I love these guys (on 'Circus') and want to promote it as much as I can."
(E-mail Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at morrow2(at)knews.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
