By Jaiveer Hundal
The NUS culture centre, 7pm. The Jackass star was on tonight and everyone was prepared for an evening of outrageous jokes and extreme tales. Steve O, renowned for his devil-may-care antics and over-the-edge lifestyle was dropping by to entertain his fans in South East Asia, as part of his Guilty As Charged tour.
Before the man himself made an appearance, the opening act of the night, Orion Perez, warmed the crowd up with his fluid use of accents and impressions. Hailing from the Philippines, he had the British accent down pat and few would have guessed at his origins. The pompous English accent, however, wasn’t the only thing in his arsenal. Addressing popular stereotypes and imitating some popular culture figures, he reaffirmed his title as ‘the international man of mysteries’. He had the audience in splits and folks could have been forgiven for forgetting he wasn’t the main act.
After Perez had set the tone for the evening, it was time for the star, Steve O, to come out and do what he does best. Given his fame and shenanigans, nothing stunned the crowd more than him announcing his abstinence, which he’d been practicing for the better part of a year. It was outstanding that a man who’d had long-term drug problems, was now clean and sober and fully functional to boot.
The jokes and the tales aside, his love for his fans was evident when he stayed back after the show to sign autographs and take pictures with anyone who asked. All in all, it was an interesting evening that offered insight into the life of a man, who time and again put his body on the line in order to please millions of fans all around the world.
