Steve-O Discusses Love For Motley Crue, Meeting Ozzy + New Tour

“That experience spoke to me of the potential for perseverance and tenacity in life.”

Steve-O joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday (Nov. 6) and as he celebrated his latest comedy tour, Crash and Burn!, he spent some time reflecting on what started his lifelong journey of creating crazy, unforgettable stunts for the world.

“I was living in Toronto [and Motley Crue] were coming to Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in 1987 on their Girls, Girls, Girls tour,” Steve-O recalled to Loudwire Nights host Chuck Armstrong.

“I was 13 years old. I saw in the news that they were in town and having gotten in some kind of trouble, the news was complaining about them.”

At 13 years old, Steve-O quickly realized that if Motley Crue were in trouble in Toronto the day before their show, they must be staying at a nearby hotel.

“I made it my mission to find out which hotel and track them down,” he said.

“I ran to my music collection. I pulled out my tape cassette sleeves, looking for the name of their manager, which of course was Doc McGhee. Every album said that.”

So, Steve-O took this knowledge, opened up the Yellow Pages and started calling every single hotel in Toronto, asking to be put through to a room under the name of Doc McGhee.

“I sat there for hours and finally got through,” Steve-O remembered.

“It was Doc McGhee’s brother, Scott, who answered the phone. I asked him if Motley Crue was there, he asked me how I got the number. When I told him that I had called every hotel in the Yellow Pages trying to track down Motley Crue, he was so impressed. He said, ‘Dude, that’s awesome. How would you like backstage passes?'”

Steve-O said that was a formative experience in his life, putting him on the path that he remains on to this day.

“I attribute that experience to empowering me,” he told Chuck.

“I like to argue that it made me a monster. That sheer determination to will it to happen is something that’s characterized everything I’ve accomplished in my life.”

For Steve-O, his love of Motley Crue was more than just about the music they were making.

“Motley was that rock stardom, all the debauchery, all the lifestyle, that’s what it was all about for me,” he said.

“When I was 10 years old, my first Iron Maiden album taught me that I was a metalhead. Then when I was 11 years old, my first Motley Crue album taught me why I was a metalhead. And then when I was 12 years old, my first Slayer album taught me how bad the situation really was.”

What Fans Can Expect From the Crash and Burn! Tour

Though stand-up comedy is nothing new for Steve-O, it seems as though he pushes himself further and further with each tour or special he embarks on — and that is certainly true for his latest tour, Crash and Burn!.

“It’s like an extra naughty Jackass movie meets a stand-up comedy show,” he explained.

“I started doing stand-up in comedy clubs in 2010 and I’ve been on the comedy circuit for 15 years now. When I taped my first comedy special, it was just me and a microphone and what happened on stage.”

As he put it, his comedy career has naturally evolved since that first special, morphing into a multimedia experience that captures his onstage personality but also features footage of his latest and wildest stunts.

“I wanted to stop telling old stories and I wanted to bring the multimedia component on tour,” Steve-O said.

“That’s when things got serious … I went about filming my third show, which was Steve-O’s Bucket List, and it was just at the highest level of illegal, life-threatening, uninsured, all of it. I had medical professionals administering stolen anesthesia drugs. I had the epidural foot race. Pretty high-level, wild stuff.”

READ MORE: John 5 Dives Into New Solo Album, Reflects on Vegas Residency With Motley Crue

Everything he’s bringing to the Crash and Burn! tour will ultimately become his fourth comedy special.

“I’ve found my stride, man,” he said.

“Each show has been markedly better than the last … I want to be careful and not call it a masterpiece, but I don’t know what else I could have done to make this show any better. If you like Jackass, you’re going to love this.”

What Else Did Steve-O Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• The one time he met Ozzy: “We bumped into each other at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I was so excited at the time. I had my knuckles tattooed, my right hand said ‘shit’ and my left hand said ‘fuck.’ It was totally inspired by Ozzy. I kind of felt like I was making Ozzy proud, it was the next level. I got my knuckles tattooed like him, but even crazier. And that was my approach to everything. I wanted to party like Ozzy. I wanted to be more out of control and Ozzy was a big deal for me. Again, more than the music — the mystique.”
• What’s cooking for Jackass following its 25th anniversary in 2025: “We had a number of Zoom calls and stuff to figure out different ways to commemorate [the anniversary]. What we landed on was a bit more ambitious than timely, but this next year, we’re likely to see the Jackass franchise rear its ugly head.”
• What it’s like getting wilder and crazier with everything he does: “I set the bar so high with the Bucket List that I was properly daunted as I began working on [Crash and Burn!]. It took a full two years to get it into the kind of shape that it needed to be in to really reach that level. And by gosh, dang, darn it, it’s there. Now all the anxiety is, what am I going to do next? And that’s a good place to live your life, thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’ve painted myself into a corner. How am I going to outdo this?'”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Steve-O joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, Nov. 6; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.