Careercow Brandon "Bam" Margera - From Jackass to Lolcow

[Tootsie Bear]

Phil and April Margera were likely just the typical overindulgent boomer parents: good people who mean well but should have put their foot down when he was hanging out with skateboarders. They tolerated it because he got rich off of it at a young age but he ended up a broke drug addict with a druggie groupie for a wife.

I agree. We look at the end result of Bam being a loser but Phil and April weren't horrible. Sure they could have put their foot down and forced Bam to better himself when Jackass was over and he had to go back being Brandon, not Bam. Unfortunately Bam never matured, the friends who could have helped him abandoned him and now Bam resembles his obese alcoholic uncle, Vito, and is surrounded by enablers who kiss his ass because he was the pretty goth boy skater who beat his father up on T.V.

 

[Dr. Geronimo]

Not sure if this got posted earlier, but since we are a decade past Dunn's death, here's the tribute they did for him, which funnily enough offers a lot of insight into Bam's upbringing as well.

 

[Hoi Polloi]

When you enable your child for decades to the point where he is in his 40s walking around like a homeless person drinking with randoms outside a gas station, then yeah, you're a shitty parent. They clearly did not enforce any sort of discipline or boundaries throughout his entire life. I have actually known families like this, where the parents are affable people who everyone likes to spend time with but their kids are spoiled turds that needed a good smack.

It is possible to be nice and to be a bad parent, bad parenting is not just some cartoonish angry and abusive caricature you see in afterschool teen dramas. They clearly did not provide Bam with the skills to succeed in life and to function normally in society, hence they did a piss poor job of being parents to him, I don't see what's to debate here. And I fail to see how wanting to shove your cock inside his mom makes her a good parent.

Bam was famous from a young age, he was getting attention in the skating world from when he was 14-15. That's difficult for any parent to navigate and there aren't any established paths to follow like if your kid is acting up at school or whatever. Their approach seemed to work for his brother, but then the brother also had more time to mature. They definitely have enabled him massively but it's hard not to feel bad for them because not many people would know exactly what to do in that situation. Child stars who aren't fucked up are a minority.

 

[NeoGAF Lurker]

Not sure if this got posted earlier, but since we are a decade past Dunn's death, here's the tribute they did for him, which funnily enough offers a lot of insight into Bam's upbringing as well.

I’m glad Bam is involuntary committed now because we would be spared some maudlin over the top meltdown from him over Dunn’s death. Plus the subsequent drug and alcohol benders that he totally has to do because he’s just sad for his dead friend and totally not a druggie piece of shit, honest!

 

[3MMA]

His parents definitely enabled him, (Bam). They seem pretty alright, as people.

At a certain point though, it becomes your own responsibility, no longer is it about parenting.

I draw that line at about age 25, once the prefrontal lobes are fully developed & a person is fully capable of making adult decisions, regardless of upbringing.

There comes a time where everyone has to drop the chip on their shoulders regarding parenting style or lack thereof, & once the brain is fully formed, impulsive decisions are no longer biologically related as much as a choice.

The choices we make become more important indicators than the people we were born to.

 

[Kat The TanTen10]

Some info from Jesse Margera about their childhood and parenting.

https://youtu.be/V-DA6Ldkkro

 

[marfusha]

 

[Cardenio]

Steve-O looks high on life being a total degenerate stuntman freak. I wonder if he translated Bam's Laskain Striggoi diary to discover the genius of shaving strangers pubes so you can see a variety of cooks. Poor Bam must be seething that he's missing out on all that NOT GAY fun.

 

[Hollywood Hitler]

Some info from Jesse Margera about their childhood and parenting.

https://youtu.be/V-DA6Ldkkro

Jesse looks much younger than Bam, even though he is older. Just think of how Bam would've turned out if he was able to party less, or stay sober.l: he'd be good looking, skinnier, and in the Jackass movie.

 

[Cardenio]

Rock Feed made a short video about Steve-O commenting on Bam via podcast.

Nothing particularly groundbreaking but I hope it's true that Bam is getting the professional help he badly needs.

Also I never saw this posted on the thread but here's Bam failing at throwing a cake at Scumbag Vinny.

I don't want to bump the thread while Bam is currently in alleged rehab and gone quiet. But here's the full Dr. Phil episode.

 

[Jeep1971]

Rock Feed made a short video about Steve-O commenting on Bam via podcast.

Nothing particularly groundbreaking but I hope it's true that Bam is getting the professional help he badly needs.

I think his thyroid is off, his eyes practically bug out of his head.

 

[Bassomatic]

Rock Feed made a short video about Steve-O commenting on Bam via podcast.

Nothing particularly groundbreaking but I hope it's true that Bam is getting the professional help he badly needs.

With his black listing and no ja4 I wonder if he can humble himself enough for help.

Most every one in JA has/had issues and I really think a lot of distance comes from needing to be safe sober etc. I bet Steve O isn't only one who hopes best for Bam. But they all gotta keep sane other wise.

 

[Hollywood Hitler]

Bam is a fucking jerk.

I just wanted to leave that off on the get go.

It sucks he's not in JA4. Other than a cameo by Raab, there's no CKY people in this flick. Shit, they were only able to get one Loiter Squad guy for this movie. JA4 is going to suck. Not because Bam isn't in it. It's because seeing 40-50 year olds trying to re-live what they did to entertain us 20 years ago is fucking gay. Nobody is going to watch it actively. Paramount might make their money back from the subscriptions from their streaming service. But if this weren't a poz'd world, where the theaters, (that are still open) didnt treat their patrons like niggercattle, this movie would still flop.

Bam is a little bitch for crying and being upset for not being in this movie. Nostalgia isn't the money-grabber that it used to be. That shit gets old real quick.

So Bam, if you're reading this in rehab, (or realistically, at a gas station parking lot) get over it. You have a 4/5 year old still sucking on your wife's tit, straighten up your house. Maybe after that, you might be in JA5 if there is one

Old video, but ROTC makes good commentary and riffs

 

[Danger]

When I was in high school, I was really into Jackass / CKY / Viva La Bam, you know it was the early 2000s, all my little scumbag friends wanted to launch themselves off roofs in shopping carts and shit.

Bam is very clearly one of these people who can't grow out of his teenage persona.

Funniest thing about Bam was his friends, and its looking like he's pissing through them quickly.

It'd be sad to watch, but thankfully Bam can be pretty unlikable, so my sadness passed quickly.

 

[Rogowski]

With all the dead air lately regarding Bam I’ve dug deep and found some rarely-seen mudman behavior and I’ll start it with a phone call to Dr. Drew’s Loveline from roughly ten years ago:

TLDR - Ten minutes long. He’s obviously wasted, slurring his speech, and he wastes their time to brag about manipulating his own mom from forcing him see a psychiatrist with his Jedi Mud Tricks and stroking his own ego because he’s sad that everyone else quit drinking.

Up next, pure Bam cringe. An original Bam song called “Bend My Dick To My Ass”, it’s got everything:

Dubstep, Bam rapping, doing a shitty Jamaican accent, and Nikki pretending to suck Bam’s dick as he raps.

In fact, check out YouTube for Bam’s old music videos. So much cringe is hidden away these waiting to be dredged up:

And finally, a failed pilot for an animated Bam show:

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

With all the dead air lately regarding Bam I’ve dug deep and found some rarely-seen mudman behavior and I’ll start it with a phone call to Dr. Drew’s Loveline from roughly ten years ago:

TLDR - Ten minutes long. He’s obviously wasted, slurring his speech, and he wastes their time to brag about manipulating his own mom from forcing him see a psychiatrist with his Jedi Mud Tricks and stroking his own ego because he’s sad that everyone else quit drinking.

Up next, pure Bam cringe. An original Bam song called “Bend My Dick To My Ass”, it’s got everything:

Dubstep, Bam rapping, and Nikki pretending to suck Bam’s dick as he raps.

In fact, check out YouTube for Bam’s old music videos. So much cringe is hidden away these waiting to be:

And finally, a failed pilot for an animated Bam show:

Lol, look what a long thin neck, chiseled jaw line and skinny body cartoon Bam has. It looks nothing like him.

His level of vanity combined with his current state probably cause most of his mental illness. I don’t think he can survive being fat, old, ugly, broke and sober.

 

[Leon Breitling]

That Loveline call is extremely telling. The TL;DR is he's jealous of Steve-O for getting sober and doesn't understand why/how multiple people (his beloved Ville Valo, as well) can enjoy life while sober.

 

[Annie Adderall]

I came across some episodes of Viva La Bam a few years ago, and I was very confused. Why is he tormenting his parents? Why is he famous? Why did he have a tv show? Why do people find this entertaining? My inconclusive google search led me to Tony Hawk. His fixation with fucking with his parents and "friends" while they were sleeping was particularly annoying. Even the most basic shit like using a fog horn to wake someone was hilarious in his eyes. It was like watching an adult-rated version of a children's movie set at a summer camp.

It's sad that he still hasn't moved passed that part of his life. I wonder how fucked his liver is.

 

[Frank D'arbo]

I came across some episodes of Viva La Bam a few years ago, and I was very confused. Why is he tormenting his parents? Why is he famous? Why did he have a tv show? Why do people find this entertaining? My inconclusive google search led me to Tony Hawk. His fixation with fucking with his parents and "friends" while they were sleeping was particularly annoying. Even the most basic shit like using a fog horn to wake someone was hilarious in his eyes. It was like watching an adult-rated version of a children's movie set at a summer camp.

It's sad that he still hasn't moved passed that part of his life. I wonder how fucked his liver is.

I'll answer all of that

because its a spinoff of Jackass
because of Jackass
Because of Jackass
because its funny and schadenfreude makes great entertainment; yes its juvenile but its what makes people laugh and it made Paramount/MTV a shit ton of bank

 

[Octo Mullet]

I came across some episodes of Viva La Bam a few years ago, and I was very confused. Why is he tormenting his parents? Why is he famous? Why did he have a tv show? Why do people find this entertaining? My inconclusive google search led me to Tony Hawk. His fixation with fucking with his parents and "friends" while they were sleeping was particularly annoying. Even the most basic shit like using a fog horn to wake someone was hilarious in his eyes. It was like watching an adult-rated version of a children's movie set at a summer camp.

It's sad that he still hasn't moved passed that part of his life. I wonder how fucked his liver is.

I'll answer all of that

because its a spinoff of Jackass
because of Jackass
Because of Jackass
because its funny and schadenfreude makes great entertainment; yes its juvenile but its what makes people laugh and it made Paramount/MTV a shit ton of bank

This was also a time long before youtube. People weren't saturated with it from any direction; you had to know what you were looking for a where to find it on the web back then. NOBODY was putting this stuff on mainstream TV.

A relatively few people knew who Tom Green was before he went to MTV. After that happened this kind of thing just exploded. Then Jackass. There were others but I'm kind of generalizing here.