Johnny Knoxville afraid his son will want to perform stunts

Johnny Knoxville doesn't want his son to watch Jackass because he's afraid he'll want to copy his father and perform stunts.

The Jackass star tried to keep his two younger children blissfully unaware of his career, but his son Rocko, who is now aged 12, found out about his father's TV show from his school friends when he was six. The comedian discouraged Rocko from watching the stunt show because he's worried he would be inspired to follow in his footsteps.

"I said: 'Yeah, Dad has a silly show where he does pranks and stunts, but it's not really appropriate for you to see.' Especially for him, because he's wired like my father. He has that rambunctious spirit and I'm afraid that he would want to do it. And that's just not going to be on the cards," Knoxville told The Guardian.

The 50-year-old has often suggested that the genesis of his career lies with his late father, who liked to pull pranks and was his "biggest comedic influence".

"Sometimes he would wake me up by throwing a glass of water in my face," he recalled. "I'd wake up and, of course, I would laugh. He would just start telling me jokes - he couldn't wait for me to be up so he could start telling me jokes!"

Knoxville's father passed away before he began filming the fourth Jackass movie, Jackass Forever, and the stuntman didn't get to tell him the news.

"He was my hero," he praised. "In the back of my mind, I was like: 'God, I wanted to tell him we were making another film, because that would have made him so happy and lifted his spirits.' But I didn't get to do that."

Knoxville shares Rocko and 10-year-old daughter Arlo with his wife Naomi and has an adult daughter from his first marriage.