Steve-O

When Steve-O joins Johnny Knoxville and Chris Pontius in laughing at another friend's discomfort, the laughter can be funnier than the stunt. In Jackass: Best and Last (2026), nobody seems anxious to be the sensible one, and their willingness to take part keeps the cruelty in check. We laughed and felt slightly ashamed of ourselves, because that pleasure in someone else's pain proved catching. He remains good company, though the film leans too heavily on old footage to make a wholly satisfying farewell.

The television series Jackass (2000) established the format of dangerous stunts and pranks; the first feature film brought it into cinemas in 2002. Jeff Tremaine recruited Steve-O for the series and became a recurring directing collaborator. Film appearances continued through Jackass 3D (2010) and Jackass Forever (2022), while stand-up and multimedia shows gave him room to develop as a storyteller. The move towards storytelling is a sensible way to develop an act so closely associated with what a body can endure.

His gravelly voice is immediately recognisable, but his willingness to be ridiculous does more of the comic work. Pain, bodily functions and on-camera vomiting are regular material, and there is no point pretending that everyone will find them funny. The danger is repetition: knowing he will go through with something does not make it funny in advance. Knoxville and Pontius help because the collective laughter can improve a premise that would otherwise seem thin.

That is what keeps Jackass: Best and Last worth an evening, even when its new stunts struggle to justify the farewell. The old footage supplies too much of the entertainment, and affection for the people cannot quite make up for that shortage. We would recommend it for the company, with the warning that liking Steve-O is likely to matter more than wanting to see something new. Watch him with someone who laughs at the same things; this is an awkward place to discover a difference in taste.