Comedian features Butler in GQ photo shoot
A comedian whose TV show captivated the careless youth of the early 2000s inexplicably wore a T-shirt for a GQ magazine photo shoot that has his Butler fans talking.
Johnny Knoxville, a comedian, stunt man and actor who appeared in all three seasons of the “Jackass” reality TV show and in three “Jackass” movies, decided to slip into a vintage blue shirt that read “Bill's Beer Barn, Butler, Pa.” for the photo shoot that accompanied a recent GQ feature story on him.
The dark blue shirt also features “Bud Man,” which was the red-clad Budweiser cartoon mascot for decades starting in the late 1960s.
Butler natives who followed the crazy stunts of Knoxville and his merry band of daring-doers have been abuzz about the shirt since the article appeared online a few days ago.
The men's fashion magazine lists the brands and prices of Knoxville's other clothing items, but lists the shirt as “Knoxville's own.”
Bill O'Donnell and his family started Bill's Beer Barn in Parker in 1979, and in 1980 moved it to New Castle Road, where it still provides cold cases of brew to residents today.
O'Donnell sold the Beer Barn more than three years ago, but was thrilled when he heard Knoxville had selected the mint-condition vintage shirt for his GQ photo shoot.
“I guess we're a collector's item now,” O'Donnell said.
He said he sold the T-shirt, along with sweatshirts and other merchandise, in Bill's Beer Barn in the 1980s.
It also appeared in Sports Illustrated around that year, when the brother of former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly wore it in a picture of the three Kelly brothers.
O'Donnell explained that he attended Slippery Rock University with Kelly's brother and got him to wear the shirt in the national magazine.He was thrilled for his shop to make Sports Illustrated way back then, and had the same feeling when it appeared on Knoxville.“It's cool that someone would come across it 40 years later,” he said. “It looks like it's in good condition.”Bobby Loflin, the current manager of Bill's Beer Barn, said a former employee messaged him at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning to tell him Knoxville wore the shirt for the GQ photo shoot.Loflin said others have called or come to the store to ask if they still sell shirts.“Everyone's kind of excited about it,” he said.Neither O'Donnell nor Loflin have any clue how Knoxville got his hands on the shirt.“We're guessing he bought it at a second-hand store,” Loflin said. “He's never been to Bill's Beer Barn, to our knowledge.”He said he is looking into having the same shirt made again and selling them at the store, but he's not sure if he is permitted to use Budman.“We are looking into whether it's trademarked,” Loflin said.
He had heard Knoxville's name and knew of him, but did not watch the “Jackass” TV shows or movies.“It's not my generation,” Loflin said. “I remember the Three Stooges as far as slapstick.”He agreed with O'Donnell that seeing Knoxville in the shirt is a shot in the arm for Butler and Bill's Beer Barn.“I think we've reached our peak,” Loflin said of the beer store. “It's our 15 minutes of fame.”O'Donnell also was tickled that Knoxville chose the shirt for the photo shoot.“It brings back memories, for sure,” he said.
