The man behind the Jackass phenomenon is eager to learn Hokkien. Or more specifically, a colourful Hokkien phrase popular in National Service circles.

Jeff Tremaine, the creator/producer/ director of the teenage cult hit Jackass, sits down and immediately dissects the degree of abhorrence concerning certain swear words.

For the next five minutes, the air is poisoned by an incessant spray of invective.Tremaine wonders aloud why his favourite four-letter vulgarity is considered such a shocking utterance in Australia, when it is commonplace in the United States.

That's debatable, but to break the ice, I throw in the Hokkien equivalent for Tremaine to chew over.

He goes ballistic.

"C*** b**! That's a great word, man," he shouts at everyone in the hotel suite here in Melbourne. "Hey, where are those posters for the movie distributors, I'm gonna sign them c*** b**."

And he does. The posters are adorned with the American film-maker's signature and his first Hokkien words.

When it's delicately explained how offensive the term is in Asian circles, Tremaine replies: "Great. Make sure those posters go to the Asian markets. Can you imagine it? Jeff Tremaine, c*** b**! Just think how much those posters will sell for on ebay."

Unapologetically distasteful, definitely puerile and occasionally disgusting, this is the world of Jackass.

Tremaine is in Melbourne with host/actor/professional party animal Johnny Knoxville to promote Jackass Number Two, a movie that topped the US box office and is in Singapore cinemas now.

Tremaine giggles at puerile jokes throughout the interview and it's hardly a stretch to see why this is the man who kicked Jackass out to the world.

In 1992, Tremaine was taken on as the editor of a skateboard magazine called Big Brother. Almost immediately, he upped the notoriety factor, introduced writer's whose contributions questioned their sanity and watched the sales figures soar.

It was also where he met a struggling freelance writer/stunt dummy called Johnny Knoxville.

"When Knox joined us, the first thing he wanted to do was test self-protection devices on himself," Tremaine laughs. "So he bought pepper spray, a Taser gun, a stun gun and a cheap bullet-proof vest and planned to go off in a desert and basically destroy himself.

"Being the concerned editor, I was like 'take a camera and shoot yourself shooting yourself. So he pepper sprayed his eyes, 'tasered' himself and fired a gun into his bullet-proof vest. It was insane, but Knox was captivating on screen.

"I thought this guy must host a TV show."

Jackass was born in 2000 and spawned an international cult phenomenon that outlived the TV show, which ended in 2002 after three seasons on MTV.

The stunts were uneven and dangerous, the pranks were often no more sophisticated than the work of playground bullies and Democrat senators called for the show to be banned.

But in the teenage world of MTV, if it's bad, it's good. And Jackass was really, really bad.

Elaborate theories have been put forward to explain Jackass' longevity. Like Mr Bean, Charlie Chaplin and the silent comedies, Jackass depends on obvious, physical humour which transcends language and appeals to a broader audience.

The appeal of violent cartoons is universal and Jackass is cartoonish live action where the buffoonish hosts get to play both Tom and Jerry.

"Content is everything," says Tremaine. "Jackass is funny and America needs comedies. We have a big TV audience that has gained momentum over time. We only made 24 episodes in total. But they are repeated over and over. So, we have a legacy."

But how do they make it funny?

In Jackass Number Two, diverse skits include a human bungee jump that involves a little man jumping off an obese man and a character being duped into wearing a fake beard made up of, well, take a guess.

"We all pool ideas," recalls Tremaine. "(Jackass star) Steve O was at my house and said 'hey, I got this big stash of pubic hair that I shaved off a couple of years ago, let's do something with it!' So I said we should trick one of the guys into wearing it as a beard."

It's the movie's most offensive scene and Tremaine knows it. In the hit and miss genre of comedy skits, the Jackass team constantly walk the tightrope of success and failure.

"I've figured that the ones we spend the most money on rarely work," admits Tremaine.

"But then something else unexpected often happens. On the last movie, we constructed a life-sized Mousetrap game and the set cost $60,000. Then, while we're sitting around waiting, (Jackass co-star) Wee Man starts to kick himself in the head.

"So, we filmed him booting himself in the face and it was way funnier than the big Mousetrap."

And Jackass is still box office gold. Shot on shoestring budgets, both Jackass: The Movie (2002) and Jackass Number Two both went to No 1 in the United States.

Tremaine is at a loss to explain Jackass' success.

"Can you believe that a movie with this harshness was No 1 in the United States?" Tremaine asks.

"It's the wide spectrum of fans that amazes me, including my mum's friends. Women in the 70s say, 'Ooh, I loved Jackass Number Two.'

"Just hearing little old ladies saying 'Jackass' is great." - TODAY/so