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Comment by tmountain | Hacker News Reader

Jackass came out of CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) which started off as a bunch of friends who rode skateboards making homemade skate videos with a bunch of bloopers/excerpts.

They quickly realized that people liked the filler as much as the actual content and capitalized on that interest with Jackass.

It felt authentic because it was. The people making the videos had a genuine connection / were actually friends, and were really just doing it for fun in the beginning and that makes it feel different than a lot of the manufactured content that people are exposed to today.

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That's a vital aspect. Kenny vs Spenny is an example of this too, I think. You wouldn't be able to capture that authenticity with a top down approach.

This is it. I'm a huge fan of Impractical Jokers for this same reason: they really make you feel you're part of them, they let you into the inside jokes, etc.

It's really just a group of people making funny content. They feel genuine and that draws people in.

I'm a fan too, but as the seasons roll on it's hard to believe the guys are shocked or embarrassed about anything they do at this point. It's starting to feel like the scripted reaction vids from instagram

They're definitely no longer as scared of doing things anymore, but it is still hilarious to see the off-the-cuff stuff they come up with in the later seasons.

I find now they're more mature and aware of their influence. I watch mostly because it's just fun to watch them have a great time (you can tell they really enjoy their job and that makes it for me).

Yup. The "Bingo" episode was many years ago.

Don't forget (as the article mentions) Big Brother. In some ways, it was very similar, but also, very different, being a print magazine. Video really changed things.

I was going to post this. Big Brother was a good-ass magazine, the peak of skate magazines, and also launched the career of Spike Jonze.

Videowise, there was another skate vid during that period called "Whisky: The Movie" that was in the same hilarious vein as the Jackass stuff. Looks like it might have been DMCA'd off of youtube.

Such a good magazine, I (finally) threw a bunch of them out when I moved house maybe 10 years ago… I should have least kept the issue that introduced Johnny Knoxville to the world - who knew it would go so far!

thanks for this comment - puts genuine creative collab. into perspective (authenticity rocks;)

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