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PART OF INTERVIEW WITH JOHNNY FROM THE KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL

JOHNNY KNOXVILLE THE PAIN-RECEIVING MTV PRANKSTER HAS FOUND SOMETHING FUNNIER TO HIM THAN BEING SMACKED IN THE FACE BY A BIG FISH OR HAVING EAGER SCHOOL CHILDREN KICK HIM BETWEEN THE LEGS.

HES GETTING SUED FOR BEING AN IMPOSTER. NOW THATS FUNNY TO HIM AT LEAST.

THESE PEOPLE SAY THEY INVENTED OUR SHOW, HE SAYS WITH A LAUGH DURING A TELEPHONE INTERVIEW FROM HIS OFFICE IN LOS ANGELES. ITS SO GOOD.

IN FACT, KNOXVILLE, THE SUIT CLAIMS, IS NOT FROM EAST TENNESSE AT ALL BUT FROM ORANGE COUNTRY, CALIFORNIS. THEY WONDER HOW I DEVELOPED MY ARKANSAS ACCENT OUT HERE ON THE COAST, HE DEADPANS. ITS SO GOOD. ITS SO FUNNY.

ITS ONLY ENTERTAINING BECAUSE THERE NO DOUBT WHO HE IS. THIRTY YEARS AGO KNOXVILLE WAS BORN P.J. CLAPP, THE SON OF PHIL AND LEMOYNE CLAPP, SOUTH KNOXVILLE RESIDENTS. THEY STILL LIVE IN THE HOUSE OFF CHAPMAN HIGHWAY WHERE HE WAS BORN. HES A SOUTH YOUNG HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE. THE GUYS SO PROUD OF BEING FROM HERE THAT HE CHANGED HIS NAME TO JOHNNY KNOXVILLE YEARS AGO WHILE WRITING FOR THE SKATER MAGAZINE BIG BROTHER. HIS BIG BREAK CAM SIX MONTHS AGO AS THE STAR OF THE STUNTS-AND PRANKS SHOW JACKASS (10 P.M. SUNDAYS, MTV.)

EPISODES FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS CONTAIN SEGMENTS SHOT AROUND HERE LAST FALL WHEN KNOXVILLE WAS VISITING HIS FOLKS FOR THANKSGIVING.

SUNDAYS LOCAL SEGMENT WILL SHOW A PRANK PULLED ON EDDIE HARVEY OF EDDIES AUTO PARTS, NEXT TO THE I-640 BROADWAY EXIT. AN ACTOR WITH A THICK RUSSIAN ACCENT COMES INTO THE PARTS STORE AND HARASSES HARVEY ABOUT BUYING SPARK PLUGS.

HERE IS ANOTHER ARTICLE THAT I FOUND...

'Johnny Knoxville' was a Fairstein creation of the '80s, he claims Johnny Knoxville, the MTV version, says he's being sued by a Southern Californian who claims to have been the original Johnny Knoxville. But South Knoxville's infamous Johnny, real name P.J. Clapp, a graduate of South Young High School, may have to contend with another, closer-to-home Johnny Knoxville, too.

John Fairsteinartist, filmmaker, designer, and builder of the area's only full-size electric motorcycle says he created Johnny Knoxville in '86 or '87. He believes Clapp probably picked up the name from an overheard conversation at Hooray's, the late Old City nightclub. "I was shocked and dismayed when I heard there was another person using the name on television," Fairstein says. "And I don't believe the stuff he does, all that grossness, the poo cocktail, I mean having the contents of a portable john dumped over your head? That's not wit, that's [word that rhymes with wit]. The real Johnny Knoxville would never do that. He can be way out there, but the real Johnny Knoxville is never gratuitously offensive."

As an example, Fairstein cites a recording he made. "One year I sent out Johnny Knoxville's Christmas Album to a few friends. It was just one line: 'Have yourself a happy little holiday.' It was simple, but it had a positive, forward-looking message in the lyrics, uh, I mean lyric." The original Johnny Knoxville, he says, has a cult following and "it's my obligation to provide those people with wisdom and entertainment, and that does not include the kind of gratuitous grossness the other guy does." The "other guy" is Clapp, who uses the name Johnny Knoxville as one of the creators and stars of Jackass, a Sunday-night offering on MTV that is perhaps best characterized as dumb-stunt comedy. So Fairstein is talking to lawyers, "including a patent and trademark attorney."

The real Johnny Knoxville was born, according to Fairstein, at a campout on the shore of Norris Lake. "It was after a few beers and a lot of sun; we all were coming up with nicknames--Kneezie and Gilligan and Leapin' Lena and Squeegie and I became Johnny Knoxville." Over the years, Johnny took on a couple of different personae. "I made a CD about modern office romance, called Johnny Knoxville Sings the Blues, with songs like 'Mail Room Fax Love' and 'Your Lips Taste Like Stamps' and 'Hurts Like a Paper Cut.' Well, I made the artwork and put it in a jewel case, but I haven't actually recorded the songs yet, or even written them, but that part's easy once you have the titles." Johnny admits that he doesn't sing or play any instruments, but does not see that as an obstacle. "Hey man, look at Madonna. "

And there is General John Knoxville, whose uniform jacket is weighted with enough medals to provoke envyor at least a herniain any Third World dictator. The general regularly makes appearances at high-concept, fancy-dress social occasions in greater Knoxville. "He's well-known among the area's highest social milieu," says Fairstein. "And, I might add, always in demand because of his urbane wit and amusing ways." Fairstein is at work on a TV show for his creation, "to debut in the community-television venue."

Chris Wohlwend