Jarno "Jarppi" Leppälä is a Finnish stunt man from a stunt group called ``The Dudesons``. He wanted to be a stunt man because already loved sports but because of an accident where he broke his knee during a Stiga water accident and the doctor told him he can't play sports any more. Not only did he break his knee he also lost his thumb in a power tool accident. Stunts must have seemed like a perfect replacement.
Leppälä's motivation was that he and his childhood friends Jarno Laasala, Jukka Hilden and HP Parviainen wanted to remember all the good times they had as opposed to thinking of all the good times they could have had when they were young. Like the time they flipped their car trying to drive it over a barn driving it off of a ramp while being blindfolded. Or the time they got The Bloodhound Gang to use Leppälä as a human dart board.
To realise this goal Leppälä and his friends formed ``The Dudesons`` around 2001, a stunt man show that originally aired on Moon TV and shortly after they began touring and performed live on stage along with the band The Odorants. Around 2004 they started their show ``Duudsonieleppälä``. At one point in their career Steve-O from Jackass noticed The Dudesons and Steve-O said ``Before I saw The Dudesons I thought I was the king of pain, but I was wrong``. Not only that, Steve-O went to Finland and performed stunts along side of The Dudesons. Not only that The Dudesons went to America. Leppälä is the clumsiest out of the group, he always manages to break a bone somewhere in his body because if you bother him long enough he will finally do the stunt. He is also missing a thumb because of a power tool accident. His catch phrase is two thumbs up because of this.Leppälä once performed ``The Human Dartboard``, a painted dartboard on his stomach and got members on the band The Bloodhound Gang to throw darts at his stomach, not only that he got them to smash beer bottles on his head. He loves doing stunts.
He has been many places on TV, like in 2005 he's made guest appearances along with Jukka Hilden onViva La Bam, a series on MTV with Jackass star Bam Margera, him and The Dudesons have been on a Finnish radio station call ``Kiss FM``and made quite the outstanding display of being a group of rebellious stunt men and him and The Dudesons have made an appearance on Jackass 3D in 2010. With this he's definitely made quite the memorable lifetime. Not only did he complete his goal with his friends, but he achieved much more than people could have expected. It's rare to hear ``hey did you hear of that stunt group from Finland called The Dudesons?``. As one of the fellow Dudesons quoted ``Video is forever`` it was certainly true as some TV stations still air the Dudesons more more than 10 years after they originally formed their group in 2001. Though people see people like Leppälä as idiots I see something different, someone who won't stop doing what he wants to because of an injury or the opinion of others who see him doing these actions. He lives his life to the fullest he can while he can so people can remember all the great times with him. That is why Jarppi Leppälä is one of my heroes.
Page created on 3/20/2013 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 3/20/2013 12:00:00 AM
