As soon as it aired, Jackass became an instant cult favourite – and while the show only lasted three seasons, it never really ended.
The spinoffs, films, and countless imitators kept it in our cultural consciousness for years, giving birth to a whole new genre of comedy.
But while some of its cast members like Johnny Knoxville have launched themselves into successful and well-documented careers, we haven’t heard much from Bam Margera.
Sure, we had Viva La Bam and Bam’s Unholy Union, but the Margera era at MTV is long over. Here’s where he’s been.
He’s made some movies, but they haven’t exactly been Blockbusters.
In 2003, Bam directed, co-wrote, and co-starred in Haggard: The Movie, a comedy loosely based on one of Dunn’s real-life relationships starring Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo, and other members of the Jackass collective.
In 2008, Margera starred in and directed the sequel, Minghags. Both movies had extremely low budgets (combined, they cost just over $1 million) and were released by small, independent distributors directly to DVD.
He spent a lot of time at the club he opened in suburban Pennsylvania.
GettyIn 2006, Margera approached businessman Don Moore with the idea of opening a bar/restaurant/venue in Margera’s hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Note opened two years later, but due in part to Margera’s reputation, the bar had to agree to many concessions just to open and was forced to hire extra security personnel. Day-to-day operations ultimately fell to Moore, who closed the bar down in 2014, Looper reports.
He tried being an author and a show host. Neither really worked out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTLC85Y1Olw
Making the leap to authoring books, Margera released Serious as Dog Dirt in 2009 – it was essentially a collection of his drawings, personal photos, and random thoughts. However, it wasn’t a hit with fans.
In 2014, he returned to television to host a TBS series called Bam’s Bad Ass Game Show. Co-created by Margera, the show invited contestants to complete stunts similar to the ones on Jackass for the chance to win as much as $100,000 but was cancelled after just six episodes.
His uncle got into some serious legal trouble.
GettyMargera’s uncle, Vincent Margera or ‘Don Vito,’ a beloved member of the Viva La Bam family, was charged with child sexual assault for groping two girls, ages 14 and 12 in 2006. While Bam brushed off his uncle’s crimes as a frivolous lawsuit, Vito was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to 10 years of probation, Looper reports. He died in 2015 at age 59.
He was in therapy.
In 2015, Margera and his mother April appeared on VH1’s Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn. Bam had well-documented struggles with alcoholism and substance abuse, and his mother felt it grew problematic after the death of Ryan Dunn. Their appearance on the show was a far cry from the silly relationship between mother and son depicted on Jackass and Viva La Bam. Fortunately, Bam did sober up and reportedly giving up booze cold turkey.
He’s still working on a documentary.
GettyIn 2015, Margera announced that he was transitioning from reality TV to documentary filmmaking. He released a trailer for a film he claimed to have been working on for three years called I Need Time to Stay Useless, about his journey to ‘Jackass fame’ and how he dealt with Dunn’s death. Margera also planned to include dreamlike scripted sequences about Dunn, to be portrayed by Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds. As of 2016, the movie, retitled Earth Rocker, has yet to be released outside of a handful of test screenings.
