MTV touted an appearance of Grammy-award winning singer Usher as the main attraction for its “Behind the Screen” pseudo-upfront presentation last week. (Most of the presentation was familiar to those who attended or read about MTV's show-and-tell at the Television Critics Association press tour in January.)
For The Wire, though, the most memorable moment at the New York City upfront was the on-stage performance by two extreme stuntmen.
The two Finnish performers, part of the foursome starring in MTV's upcoming series The Dudesons in America — co-produced by Jackass star Johnny Knoxville — took the term ball-busting to a new visual level.
Using a see-saw as the main prop, one member of the duo, Jukka Hilden, stripped to his underwear and stood astride the lower end of the see-saw. His partner, Hannu-Pekka Parviainen (he goes by “HP”), jumped from a ladder onto the higher end, causing the lower end to strike the unfortunate member in the family jewels.
The impact caused most in the arena to openly groan as the pained stuntman struggled to his feet after the blow. The duo received polite applause as they both walked off the stage under their own steam.
MTV has ordered 12 episodes of the show, part of a small wave of Finnish male-oriented humor shows in the United States. The other, as the Finnish Broadcasting Corp. (YLE) noted, is National Geographic TV's Madventures, which debuted in November.
