After catching COVID-19 and isolating over the 2021 holiday season, Eric Andre was tasked with the unique challenge of navigating an uninvited Johnny Knoxville pop-in.
On Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, Andre—who this year can be seen in The Righteous Gemstones and Jackass Forever—was asked about joining Knoxville’s beloved franchise, ultimately spurring a play-by-play of a certain holiday season surprise. But first, Andre detailed how the Jackass crew “raised” him and helped shape his worldview.
“They called, they asked me to be in it,” Andre said around the 6:38 mark above. “It was, like, the quickest I’ve ever said yes to a project and then immediately terrified because being on a Jackass set is like the Vietnam War of comedy. Every step you take, a real land mine or an explosive could be underneath.”
From there, Andre briefly reflected on a porta-potty detonation experience on the Jackass set and conceded it’s “scary being friends with those guys,” using a staged break-in at his house last December as an example.
“I’m trendy so I got Omicron over Christmas,” Andre said around the 7:50 mark. “So I got the ’cron. I’m negative now. I’m not spreading my droplets. But I just sat at home and watched Bad Santa over and over again and smoked pot. I mean, what else are you gonna do? And Knoxville broke into my house on Christmas Eve. He thought, he was like, ‘I gotta cheer Eric up.’”
According to Andre, Knoxville showed up “in an Andy Warhol wig” and began to toilet-paper his home.
“My alarm goes off,” Andre recalled. “I’m stoned by myself, paranoid. And I opened the window and my alarm’s going off and I don’t know it’s him. So I’m just yelling at the window like, ‘I’m calling the police! I have a gun!’”
And when Andre did finally figure out that it was Knoxville and not an actual stranger, the topic of good Jackass Forever publicity couldn’t help but enter the conversation.
“He’s videotaping me which is driving me nuts and he presses his face against my window,” Andre told Kimmel. “I’m like, who is this guy? And I was like, oh my god, it’s Knoxville. And I opened the door and I’m like, ‘I’m gonna kill you, man! I have a gun and the cops are on their way!’ And he goes, ‘Dude, how good [of] publicity would it have been if you had gotten me arrested and shot me right before Jackass comes out?”
Catch the full discussion up top. Jackass Forever is out Feb. 4.
