Fox News' Johnny Joey Jones on His New Show Exploring the History of Tattoos

When you see Fox News contributor Johnny Joey Jones on-air, you'll also see his tattoos. He's fiercely proud of them, of course, and wants you to see them as they represent things of great personal and shared collective meaning. But he didn't really have the ultimate say in the matter.

"What made the decision for me is that my tattoo artist in Arlington, Virginia, went further down on my wrist than I meant for him to," he laughs. "Up until then I had not made my mind up how I wanted to handle it but I knew the tattoos I wanted to have a sleeve for were worth it."

The body-art enthusiast has a new Fox Nation show debuting Friday called USA Ink. The five-part series explores the history of the practice and its growing pervasiveness in American culture.

"Learning the history behind this medium that had become a passionate part of my life had me wondering if I should have read all that before I started getting them," he told The Big Lead. "Should I have? And the truth is, no, because we're still making that history. The thing about tattoos is that as much as anything is you get to make it what you want it to be."

Jones' full interview is below. In it he touches on what surprised him the most doing this project, the connectivity gained by exploring the primitive origins of the practice from 5,000 years ago, and teases an on-air piece that he got as part of the series.