If you’ve noticed Steve-O getting up to various hijinks over the past few months, it’s because the Fool The alum has filmed a wild collection of stunts that will be featured on his upcoming live tour, The Super Dummy Tour. But as he says Consistency in a recent interview, one of his most difficult experiences came about because of a stunt that he didn’t happen — his plan to get breast implants for a short time.
The almost it happened, to be clear. “I was within 10 hours of surgery for this,” he says. “The surgery was supposed to be done at eight in the morning. And at 10:00 p.m. the night before, i got a call that the anesthesiologist pulled it out because he found out i was doing it as a trick. And that kind of set off a chain reaction where the doctor didn’t want to be associated with it anymore and they were having a hard time finding another surgery center to do it.”
At the time, he says, this was just seen as a setback and the idea wasn’t dead yet. “They were talking about going to another county and getting smuggled out at six in the morning and they were urging me to say it happened in Mexico.”
But then, he believes, fate intervened. “On the day of the scheduled surgery, I checked out at the supermarket. And the person who called me at the grocery store was apparently trans and it seemed like a sign from the universe. So I asked the transsexual if I could manage something with him, and I had a conversation with this person that had a profound effect on me.”
Before then, Steve-O hadn’t felt he needed to run the idea from anyone because “I knew what my motivation was, I knew what my intention was, and it wasn’t to hurt anybody. I was just trying to laugh. I had done a bunch of shows in workshops to try out material and had a lot of trans people come up to me after the shows to express support [the stunt]. And I think some people would be okay with that, and some people wouldn’t. It would be a mixed bag.”
However, she confirms that before her scheduled surgery date, “I didn’t really have any dedicated meetings or conversations with trans people, because I didn’t feel like I should. But I feel like the universe put this meeting in front of me and I finally decided that the universe had intervened.”
Here’s one of the pieces Steve-O had planned to do after getting breast implants, which he felt would be “really funny”: my tattoos and I literally lost 20 pounds to get really thin and petite. So I’d be hairless, tattooless, in a pink bikini and Daisy Duke shorts and a motorcycle helmet that covers my entire face and head.”
In this ensemble, he says, “I would ride a pink Vespa at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally completely in disguise, where no one could tell who I was. And the plan I had was to film with hidden cameras as I drove up to large gangs of motorcycle riders, who would probably check me out. And I’d walk up to take my helmet off and I’d be like, ‘Yeah, man,’ and I’d get this crazy reaction, which, predictably, would be controversial.”
The person Steve-O spoke to said that “I felt like it was the ultimate statement of body autonomy, I was saying my body, my choice… That place was okay. But the place where I purposely went out to trick people into thinking I’m a woman and then make fun of them and then celebrate the idea of hating [trans people] — that was one thing.’
Additionally, the person Steve-O spoke to “described how they weren’t allowed to use the restroom at their workplace, that there were maybe 28 states in the country that would arrest them for having an ID that said female. . That there were politicians making concerted efforts to lock them up in internment camps. It was really quite heartbreaking, the level of oppression that was described.”
So, says Steve-O, “framed like that, I thought about it in a way I hadn’t before, where you know, wow, maybe it’s not all fun and games. Especially the pranks. Like, I’d consider it a better video if I got hit in the motorcycle rally. Just having that mindset was deeply flawed, because ultimately it would be an exercise in celebrating violence against trans people. At least, it would be interpreted that way by some, and when it was put to me like that, I thought, wow, maybe I missed the mark on that.”
In addition to the motorcycle rally stunt, Steve-O says he had plans “for hidden camera pranks and in strip clubs. And I took my pole dancing training very seriously. I did some serious pole dancing acrobatics.”
Footage of his pole dancing training will be featured on the tour, along with footage from his doctor’s office — “there’s some pretty shocking stuff,” he says. And he’ll explain to the audience why he ultimately didn’t go through with it: “I’m not really avoiding the issue – I’m explaining that I felt like the universe intervened on my behalf.”
While he seems at peace with the decision not to do the trick, Steve-O admits that “it was hard for me. Looking back on it, I’m extremely grateful it didn’t happen. I’m so glad I didn’t pass it. But that didn’t make it any easier, because I was so vocal about my plans to do it, and I’ve never been the kind of artist to say I’m going to do something and then not do it. That’s what I had a problem with, I wasn’t keeping my word.”
That said, he continues, he thinks the trick not happening “is a good thing. The show still has a bunch of really good comedy from this entire episode. And the extent to which I was prepared to deal with it is hilarious in itself.”
Steve-O continues, “I think it’s a very valuable trait to be able to admit when you’ve got things wrong.”
To learn about the tour, including when it might be coming to your city, go to Steve-O’s official website. For more on what you box wait to see during the upcoming Super Dummy Tour, return to Consistency soon.
