This type of prank would be rotten except these guys are happily in a prank war by agreement. Like when good friends mock each other, it's mutual and funny for both sides.
I always think the required point of a prank should be all people involved are laughing almost immediately after. Otherwise it's just being nasty to people.
The genius of Jackass is that the joke is always on them. When the public is involved they are there as participants to witness something insane. The butt of the joke is always one of the crew.
This one demonstrates a key aspect too: after the prank ends, they're laughing together.
I think that was the biggest difference between Jackass and everything after. Most of the copycats just felt mean, because they didn't have the comradery.
