Johnny Knoxville Reveals Where The Iconic Jackass Intro Came From

In an interview with Fox 5 Washington, D.C. (via YouTube), in anticipation of the group's seemingly final film of highs and lows, "Jackass Forever," Johnny Knoxville went into the history of the legendary greeting and revealed that it came to fruition at the start of their bone-shattering enterprise.

In 1996, Knoxville did a stunt video for skateboard magazine Big Brother, which at the time was being edited by soon-to-be "Jackass" producer Jeff Tremaine. The video had Knoxville using self-defense weapons on himself, beginning the recording in the only way he could think of. "When I first did the first thing I shot for the Big Brother video on self-defense weapons, I just introduced myself 'hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville, United States of America.'"

This basic intro that led to a brutal viewing experience was a choice that Knoxville's friend — actor, director, and "Jackass" producer Spike Jonze — deemed starting point to stick by. The team's frontman added, "I think it was Spike [Jonze] who said, 'I think you should introduce yourself that way every time.' I'm like, 'alright.'" The rest, as they say, is history and medical bills. An affirmation and a welcome became cemented in popular culture, as did the classic theme that followed it that you can now probably hear in your head. Twenty-two years on, though, Knoxville's most famous line gained a higher notoriety status, reaching that few can only claim — it became meme-worthy.