By Thomas Chau, on set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

(WARNING: Some material below may not be suitable for children)

I'm going to make a statement that not many of you will agree with: Johnny Knoxville is more of a genius than you think.

Last winter, as we were on location in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to tour the sets of "The Dukes of Hazzard", Johnny Knoxville was not scheduled to shoot any scenes the day that I and eight other Internet movie guys were there. We were in an office in a room waiting for Johnny to arrive after a long day of strolling through the woods. As we saw him walk in, he was carrying something interesting in his hands: a porn magazine. It was the latest issue of "Big Black Butts." And as you will read later in this article, he definitely did peruse through the magazine at some point. But I honestly believed he brought it in just to get us to laugh and in turn, get us to write about a really great experience.

Well Johnny, you definitely got my attention. In my four years of interviewing celebs left and right, this was by far the funniest interview I have ever done.

Below, Johnny talks about his eye-catching magazine, but more about starring in "Dukes of Hazzard," which opens in theaters August 5th. Knoxville stars as Luke Duke in the film adaptation of the popular TV show that ran on CBS from 1979 to 1985. He also co-stars with Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson, Willie Nelson, and Burt Reynolds. "Dukes of Hazzard" is being directed by Jay Chandrasekhar ("Super Troopers", "Club Dread").

Q: What are you up to nowadays?

JOHNNY: (referring to the porn magazine) I’m just catching up on my reading.

Q: What's the best article so far?

JOHNNY: Well apparently, 'Sexy Red' has the world's largest ass with the world's smallest waist. She's claiming a 23 inch waist. I'm calling bullshit. [Laughter]

Q: Did you actually go in and buy that?

JOHNNY: I stopped at the liquor store and they had “Big Black Butts” and you can't afford not to buy it.

Q: So how did you join this movie? Was it Seann who really got you interested in the project?

JOHNNY: I didn't know Seann before this. I think he's hilarious. Though I'm a huge fan of Seann's but I didn't know him before this. It was just through a phone call and it was, "What do you think about Dukes?" Could be good. I met with everybody and talked and I was trying to see what they had in mind. I'd never seen Starship...

Q: You mean "Super Troopers"?

JOHNNY: "Super Troopers". Yeah, that's it, fuck! [Laughs] I met with Jay and then I watched it. It's such a great film, I don't know how I didn't see it when it came out the first time. So, yeah, I sat down with [producer] Billy Gerber and Jay and we all seem to be on about the same page so those guys have really done all they said they were gonna do. They're really open and great to work with.

Q: Your co-stars have said that you've been really good off-camera with the practical jokes and stuff. Is it a misconception that you're this wild prankster all the time because of "Jackass"?

JOHNNY: I just don't do it on set. People just kinda expect stuff and it's no fun if people expect it.

Q: We hear you have some bar fight scenes in the movie...

JOHNNY: The bar fight was so much fun. I trained for it four weeks with this guy Chad Stahelski [the film's stunt coordinator]. He did a lot of the work on "The Matrix." He's amazing. I mean, he got me to look like I could punch!

Q: But you got to fight Butterbean for "Jackass" and had your ass whooped...

JOHNNY: Yeah, but that was for real. [Laughs] God, that guy's strong. He arrived that morning and I go, "Butterbean, I need you to go full speed today." He goes, "Johnny, I can't do that." I say, "I need you to go full speed man." He goes, "You don't have to beg me." It's like, "Aww, shit, I should've shut up."

Q: In the original "Dukes," Bo has this thing where he never lets Luke drive the car. Did you get to drive the General Lee at any point?

JOHNNY: I mostly talk on the CB. Bo does the driving but, with that said, I do steal Boss Hogg's Cadillac so I got to train with Bobby Ore, who's the world's greatest stunt driver. Seann was training like four hours a day with Bobby Ore and Seann's damn good now. Reverse 180s, drifting, he's really good and he gets to do a lot of the driving in the movie.

Q: Did you go back to the show to reference anything?

JOHNNY: We just tried to capture the spirit of the original series. It's not like we're trying to do an imitation of Tom Wopat and John Schneider. We just get the spirit and do a lot of great stunts and show Jessica in her Daisy Dukes and get into some fights. It's a big action picture.

Q: Were you a "Smokey and the Bandit" fan before this movie?

JOHNNY: Oh, huge. I saw this movie almost more times than any. It was on last night somewhere. I was watching it. There's such a crazy following.

Q: Did you grow up on the show?

JOHNNY: Yeah. I didn't know it still had such a huge following though. It's crazy.

Q: Did you own a Catherine Bach poster?

JOHNNY: My, my my. What a lovely young lady.

Q: Which brings us to Jessica...

JOHNNY: She looks amazing. She's so pretty and she looks so great on film. She's so natural and comfortable. I didn't realize until we shot the first day with her. We did a scene and she goes, "That was my first take ever." I didn't realize it was her first film cause she's so natural and good. And gorgeous. She’s been doing lots of squats betweens us fellas. Lots of squats.

Q: There was a weird tension between the Dukes brothers and Daisy Duke in that she was incredibly sexy but also their cousin. Is any of that in this movie?

JOHNNY: Well, I'm trying to argue that it doesn't matter if you're related but she's not buying it. [Laughs] The waiter asked me today. I was at this bar. And he's like, "So, I know you guys are cousins but are you guys gonna get it on?" I was like, "Well, you know, talk to them, not me."

Q: Is that what's the difference between a PG and PG-13?

JOHNNY: That might put it into R. Incest might really tip it over into R. [Laughter]

Q: After taking fight lessons, what's the best way to throw a punch in a bar?

JOHNNY: Have an empty beer mug in your hand and punch with that and then run like hell.

"Dukes of Hazzard" opens in theaters August 5th.