Bam Margera! What will he do next? Whatever the fuck he wants. note
He's Bam Margera!
He loves to skate!
He also likes to shake things up a bit...
Viva La Bam, one of the Spin Offs to MTV's hit show Jackass, focused on Bam Margera — but instead of focusing on brief stunts and skits, Viva La Bam focused more on the general antics and shenanigans of Bam, his crew of friends, and his family in his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Bam's friends included Ryan Dunn, Chris "Raab Himself" Raab, Brandon "Dico" DiCamillo and Rake Yohn, while family members featured on the show included Bam's dad Phil, his mom April (aka "Ape"), and Bam's uncle Don Vito. Although the show didn't focus much on stunts, it still carried a Don't Try This at Home disclaimer before each episode.
The show lasted for five seasons (from 2003 to 2005), which means it technically lasted longer than Jackass itself. Most of the episodes had some kind of theme or challenge that the cast members (usually Bam and his crew) had to accomplish through stunts, pranks, or assistance from a number Bam's associates and celebrity friends. Although Bam and his crew improvised a good deal of the show, a greater degree of planning and organization supported the entire endeavour. Either way, when Bam and his crew got going, Hilarity soon followed.
Viva La Bam presents examples of the following tropes:
- Angrish: Don Vito
- Actually Pretty Funny: For the most part, April found herself hating the shenanigans of Bam and his crew, but on occasion, she'd lighten up and enjoy herself — especially when Don Vito, who April disliked, got humiliated.
- Buffy Speak: In one episode, Vito made a bet with Bam to learn ten sentences in Spanish to win Bam's Hummer. This tidbit followed the bet:Don Vito: What do I do if I don't learn the Mexican people language?
Bam: You have to be my pet Mexican.
Don Vito: A pet Mexican? What the hell's a pet Mexican?
Bam: You'll find out...note - Butt-Monkey / Chew Toy: The appeal of the show in it's first season was to see Phil and Ape get tormented by Bam and Co. with Don Vito as just an odd Cloud Cuckoo Lander. By season two, Vito became easily the star of the show because he'd actually attempt to fight back against Bam (as opposed to Phil who will let Bam get away with anything and April who will just kinda shout at Bam).
- Rake Yohn constantly found himself abused, humiliated and made fun of by the rest of Bam's crew.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander:
- Technically, the entirety of Bam's crew qualify.
- Brandon DiCamillo is this to Bam & the crew.
- The Dog Bites Back: Don Vito, after having his home destroyed by Bam, has had enough and steals Bam's Hummer (and Ryan Dunn by accident), takes it on a road trip and finally destroying it by dropping it off a cliff.
- Dirty Old Man: Don Vito
- Dumbass Has a Point: Don Vito usually talks out of his ass, but in "Bam in the River", Bam sets out a challenge to take the Brandywine river to the Delaware River, Don Vito tells them it's not possible because it doesn't go that way. Turns out, Don Vito was completely right, as Phil and April calls Bam to notify him. Bam had to completely get Vito stone cold drunk to trick him as such to make the fix.
- Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: Don Vito's Angrish mode often had subtitles accompanying it — and part of the time, the subtitles consisted of question marks.Vito: Here's the thing. I liapli-??????????-by myself.
Mike V: I don't even know what the fuck you're saying! Let's go! - Freud Was Right: In an episode where CKY and Vito go sailing down the Brandywine River in boats that look like a Viking ship, shoe, Tom Sawyer raft, and hot dog, Vito comments on the design of the last one, saying "it looks like a giant penis."
- Fun with Subtitles: A lot of the time, the production staff would just subtitle his speech exactly how it sounded.
- Good Parents: Phil and April.
- Happily Married: Phil and April.
- Hilarity Ensues: Naturally.
- Insane Troll Logic: Brandon resorted to this in the episode where Bam's Lamborghini got stolen. When he finds Don Vito at an Italian restaurant, he denied stealing it, but Brandon thought he did it because he saw Vito eating veal scallopini, which rhymes with Lamborghininote .
- This was after he'd used it to clear himself with "How could I steal it, I don't have any hair"
- It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: The show justified this trope when Bam and his friends and family traveled to New Orleans over a two-part episode — they went specifically for Mardi Gras.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bam, shockingly enough, did this a lot.
- He revealed that he'd bought Phil a new vehicle after mangling his dad's beloved van.
- He managed to get Don Vito note inducted as a member of the Metal Mulisha.
- He constantly made April's life a living hell, but got Billy Idol (April's idol) to visit her as a birthday gift.
- For his parents' anniversary, Bam got them a seat for dinner in Monaco, gave them a bottle of wine that he had drove from Munich to Dracula's Castle in Romania — through a snowstorm in the Swiss Alps, no less — to get, and tied Don Vito to a pier to stop him from ruining the dinner in any way.note
- In one of the earlier episodes of the series, Bam did the whole "Don't Feed Phil!" shtick in order to stop Phil from over eating. April suspected was out of fear of Phil's health (and also because he fears he'll "look like him").
- Large Ham/Keet: Dico pretty much out hams BRIAN BLESSED in this show!
- Laser-Guided Karma: April needs to do chores, but Bam & the guys have filled her car with snow; April promptly just takes Bam's Lambourginhi.Bam: I would've thrown a snowball at it, but then I realized it's mine!
April: (to the camera) Justice. - More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Raab
- Not So Above It All: April. After initial shock to Bam's antics, she usually wound up laughing along with everyone and would sometimes even partake; for instance, when Bam built a skatepark inside the house, April wound up kicking holes into one of the walls along with the guys.
- Oktoberfest: The crew went to Munich during Oktoberfest, which made this a Justified Trope.
- One of the Kids: Phil often found himself joining in and having fun with Bam and co.'s antics.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted - Bam, Novak & DiCamillo all share the first name of Brandon. Bam's an obvious case of Only Known By His Nickname, Novak's on a Last-Name Basis, and DiCamillo's somewhere inbetween.
- Only Known By His Nickname:
- Bam & Don Vito.
- Raab is a subversion - Raab is his last name, but he's credited as Raab Himself.
- Edward Webb, stage name Rake Yohn.
- Only Sane Man: April qualifies as this, but even she could sometimes find herself Not So Above It All.
- Piano Drop: The prize for the out-of-control scavenger hunt that ended the first season provided the name for Bloodhound Gang's "
Hefty Fine". - Pride Before a Fall: Bam is extremely overconfident in his challenges sometimes, to the point where he doesn't put much effort and rarely wins, especially against Don Vito.
- Running Gag: It's an achievement if one of Vito's cars lasts more than 2 episodes.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Never really said explicitly, but probably WHY Bam gets away with breaking so much stuff.
- "Stop Having Fun" Guys: Invoked by the show - The Township of West Chester is depicted as such, lodging complaints about the Margeras due to some of Bam's antics. After receiving the first complaint of the series, because Bam broke zoning laws when he had an elephant on the property, Bam immediately tells the viewer that the neighbours had written the family a thank you note over the same incident, as their children had enjoyed playing with the elephant. The complaints are also given as the reason for the cast moving into "Castle Bam" at the start of season 2, and the creation of the "State of Bam" in the fourth season.
- Straight Man: April definitely qualifies, but Phil arguably fits in here as well. He enjoyed the shenanigans on occasion, but he mostly remained a passive observer and joined in when he didn't become a victim.
- The Unintelligible: Don Vito qualifies so much that even the subtitles got in the act.
