Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Impractical Jokers
How far would you go to complete a dare from your friends? Would you use the toilet in a crowded restaurant with the door wide open and loudly ask dining patrons if they had any toilet paper? Or try and touch complete strangers with your nose?
That’s the premise of the hilarious hidden-camera comedy show called Impractical Jokers. Four guys have to perform incredibly embarrassing pranks in public (all thought up by their fellow castmates) while a hidden camera captures it all. The show has been airing on truTV and Comedy Central since 2011. Here, you’ll learn some little-known facts about the stars of the show and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on some of the guys’ craziest moments!
You won’t believe what one of the guys had to do in a punishment that he calls his most embarrassing moment ever.
The Cast Of Characters
Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images for Turner
The Impractical Jokers are a group of four best friends: James “Murr” Murray, Brian “Q” Quinn, Joseph “Joe” Gatto, and Salvatore “Sal” Vulcano. They’ve known each other since meeting at school in 1990 (in a religion class, no less) and can make each other crack up. The guys make their viewers feel like they’re in on the joke, which makes the show so appealing to watch. As Comedy Central says, “[w]hile their pranks are as hilarious as they are painful to watch, the stuff that comes out of their mouths makes us cry-laugh every time.”
All The Cringiest Moments Are Genuine
If you’ve ever wondered whether the guys’ apparent discomfort on the show is fake or exaggerated in any way, rest assured that it’s not. In an interview with Las Vegas Magazine, Murr said: “this show must be real. Nothing’s fake, everything’s 100 percent real, and it has to be. And I think you can tell. It’s so obvious that’s it’s real. You see it on our faces. I wish it was fake (laughs). Unfortunately I live through it every day. It has to be because it has to … if it’s not real, it doesn’t work. We have to be nervous to do it. That’s what makes it funny.”
Later on, we’ll find out about Murr’s most embarrassing moment on the show.
The Tenderloins
The guys formed a comedy troupe called The Tenderloins in 1999. Lifelong friends, they had started performing improv together while still attending high school in Staten Island. As Sal later said, “it was the only way to meet girls.” The Tenderloins grew more successful and began touring nationwide, drawing more fans and attention. Soon they were filming comedy sketches, many of which attracted millions of views online. They won the grand prize ($100,000) in the 2007 NBC It’s Your Show competition, for a sketch they called “Time Thugs.” Things really took off for The Tenderloins from there!
Sweet Success
Spike TV signed the Tenderloins to a comedy pilot, which was filmed in 2008. Although Spike TV eventually decided not to proceed with the project, the guys’ momentum couldn’t be stopped. In 2011 they submitted a pilot video (filmed on an iPhone!) to Tru TV’s Impractical Jokers. They were signed for a 16-episode season. Murr says that the forum of the show works for them: “We needed to find the right format… thing is, we’ve been doing this for years, but when it’s on camera, the embarrassment is amplified.” They’re doing something right, as the show is several seasons in, with no end in sight.
Answering Questions About Q
Brian “Q” Quinn was not one of the founding members of The Tenderloins although they had all attended high school together. He became the fourth member of the improv group in 2007, when original Tenderloin Mike Boccio departed. Prior to transitioning to comedy, Q was a firefighter with the FDNY. He donates substantial amounts of money to his old firehouse, and some of the pranks on the show revolve around him being embarrassed in front of his former firefighter colleagues.
Not-so-fun fact about Q: while in Germany he got into a fist fight which led to him losing some teeth. He was arrested but got bailed out by the other Jokers. Also, Q has a cat named Benjamin that he absolutely adores.
Meet Murr
Photo by Monica Schipper/FilmMagic
James “Murr” Murray is the constantly-smiling guy who looks like a ferret, according to his fellow Jokers. Like the rest of them, he’s from Staten Island. Murr has been acting and doing comedy for years. About the success of Impractical Jokers, he’s said: “I think the comments that we get all the time, and I consider this a huge compliment, is that we remind people of the friends they had growing up and what they do with their friends. That means we’re doing our job right.”
Murr told DenOfGeek that some of his comedic influences include Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Kids in the Hall, I Love Lucy, and the Zucker brothers movies, among others.
Read on to learn how Murr’s fans might be able to score some FaceTime with him…
Eatin’ Joe Gatto
Joe is known as the Joker who’s usually the most eager to take on his challenges. And he seems more immune to humiliation than the other guys.
Joe loves to eat and is frequently seen eating on the show. He explained his obsession with food to ScreenerTC: “My mother had an open-door policy,” he tells Zap2it. “She always had enough food a friend could stay for dinner. Absolutely my favorite memories are around the table. The meal is an event.”
He’s not above stealing food, either. “If we’re at a bakery I’ll just grab something,” he told Looper.
Facts About Sal
Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage
Sal really doesn’t like Continental breakfasts. His reason, as explained to OC Weekly: “Continental is a big word, it sounds worldly, and when you put the two together, you think it’s going to be a breakfast of champions! Then you get down there and it’s literally tea, granola, and that’s it! It’s complete [expletive] and it’s the stupidest thing. I’m not passionate about politics but I am passionate over a good breakfast.”
Sal has a tattoo of Jaden Smith on his thigh as the result of a Joker-inflicted punishment. Another really important fact to know about Sal is that he is completely freaked out by germs and cats. The other Jokers used this knowledge in a brutal prank against Sal, which we’ll read about later.
Ladies Love The Jokers
Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Turner
Although you might guess that a comedy show that frequently features bad language and lots of juvenile potty humor might appeal primarily to men, the truth is that a lot of women watch the show. In fact, the Jokers say that it’s not uncommon for there to be more women than men at their live shows.
Murr’s theory about the Jokers’ appeal to women: “I think the reason for that is that we seem like the kind of guy you can score. Like you can get us,” he said in an interview with Green Bay Press Gazette. “The average woman looks at Brad Pitt in a movie and is like, ‘Oh my God, he’s gorgeous. I probably don’t have much of a shot to get him nor will I ever meet him.’ We’re the kind of guy that at the end of the night you see in a bar and you’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s good enough.’ We’re the kind of guy that you settle for.”
Are They Married?
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
One of the most-asked questions the guys hear is whether they’re married or not. Of the four, only Joe Gatto is hitched. He married Bessy Gatto in 2013. The couple now has two children, a son named Remington Joseph and a daughter named Milana Francis. Joe frequently talks about their kids and their many dogs on the show. This photo shows Joe and Bessy at a 2017 gala for the North Shore Animal League.
The other guys are not yet married, although Q is said to have been engaged at one point.
Q’s Most Embarrassing Episode
Q told Creative Loafing about which Impractical Jokers moment had been the roughest for him. “I mean, the worst one was when I had to teach Sex Ed to my parents. That was [expletive] bad,” he said. The scene took place in the second season episode called “Birds and Bees.” As punishment for losing the most challenges, Q is told that he must teach a class of sixth graders about the birds and the bees. But when he enters the classroom, it’s occupied only by his parents. Q then proceeds to give his parents “the talk,” complete with a hot dog and a donut as visual aids. So awkward!
The Show Accidentally Exposed An Affair
Every non-Joker who appears on the show must sign a release form saying that they’re fine with their footage being included. Most people sign the form although some ask to have their faces blurred.
One couple, however, completely refused to appear on the show after they were filmed in an IKEA store. As Joe described to Comedy Central, “When it came time to release them so they could be on camera he said he had a great time but he couldn’t sign because he was married. He wasn’t with his wife – he was with his mistress and he was buying her discount Swedish furniture.” Oops.
Well-Read And Well-Written
It turns out that Murr is one seriously smart guy. Besides his thriving comedy career, he’s also an accomplished author! He co-wrote a sci-fi horror book called Awakened that’s been optioned to be turned into a TV series. He told DenOfGeek, “I wrote the book in 2004. I spent a year of my life writing it. I have a degree in English from Georgetown, I can write a book, I felt confident in my book writing skills. I spent a year writing this book.” Murr plans to add two more novels to this one, making it a trilogy.
People who buy multiple copies of Awakened are in for a close encounter with this Joker. He says that he FaceTimes every person who buys at least 10 copies of it and reads them a chapter out loud.
Sal’s Worst Punishment
Do you remember that Sal’s a total germophobe and hates cats? Well, the other Jokers certainly did when they devised this harsh punishment for him. Q explained the scenario to FoxSports: “We broke into his house with our camera crew and filmed ourselves doing awful things to his house while he was away. Joe rubbed his naked ass all over Sal’s couch. Murray raided his fridge and dipped his fingers in just about every edible item Sal owns. I took my kitten and rubbed her all over Sal’s bed. On his pillows. Everywhere.”
They recorded the whole thing and Sal only saw the footage as he gave a PowerPoint presentation. The topic he was supposed to talk about was stress prevention. This photo shows him trying to keep his composure as he continues with the presentation.
The Blunder Years
Murr’s most humiliating moment came in the fan-favorite episode “The Blunder Years.” In it, Murr is the episode’s loser, and as his punishment the other guys arrange for him to come face-to-face with heartthrob actress Danica McKellar from The Wonder Years. The kicker: he’s wearing only a thong and a whole lot of body oil. Later, Murr said this to Channel Guide Magazine: They made me dress in this little thong, and I had to go interview my childhood crush. That was mortifying. Physically embarrassing. Absolutely destroyed my ego, you know? I had no game whatsoever, and she looked so beautiful, and I looked so not.”
Make No Bones About It
They’re everywhere! Murr and Sal both had small guest roles in a 2015 episode of the crime drama series Bones. The episode is called “The Senator in the Street Sweeper” and the guys play sanitation workers who discover a Senator’s body while they’re on their route. They use their real names and even play jokesters, just like their real personalities. Twelve Monkeys is another show that’s hosted the guys – all four of them have appeared on it. Q, in particular, is a big fan of the series and told HiddenRemote that Twelve Monkeys “picked up on it and asked me to be a part of it – which I was over the moon about!”
Which Punishment Did Joe Both Enjoy And Hate?
Joe has repeatedly said that he doesn’t embarrass easily. One punishment the other Jokers came up with for him involved being strung up in a flying apparatus onstage while dressed as a genie. He liked that part of the bit, telling Life & Style, “so the whole punishment was to destroy this building set, and I was a genie so it was set up with brass urns, and they just threw me around the whole stage. I was wrecking the stage and trying to perform and that was really fun.”
His opinion changed when the other guys flipped him upside-down, however. “I’m pink and purple, my belly is out — very weird and embarrassing in that sense. I never thought something like that would happen to me.”
Murr’s Part In Private Parts
Murr, who had acting aspirations when he was growing up, had a bit piece in the 1997 Howard Stern movie Private Parts. In the film, which is based on Stern’s autobiography of the same title, Murr plays an uncredited student. In a reddit AMA, one fan wrote “Hey Murr, Were you ever an extra in the movie Private Parts? I swear I saw you the other day.” The response? “Very good! Yes, I was. With FAR more hair.” He posted this screengrab to Instagram with the caption “Yep, that’s a young me as an extra in the movie Private Parts starring Howard Stern.”
The Larry Mystery
In the opening credits and in many of the challenges, we hear Joe Gatto scream the name “Larry!” Who is this mysterious, unseen guy? There are two versions of the story. In the first, Larry is one of Joe’s made-up friends. Larry appears several times in Season One, and occasionally throughout the rest of the series. In one episode, Larry is a political candidate that Joe is campaigning for, and in another there’s a challenge based on a book called The Adventures of Larry. In an interview with In Touch Weekly, Joe said: “Larry’s just a fun name to yell and it’s always gotten a rise out of us through the years.” James Murray added, “one day we’ll find him. I don’t think he exists! But we’ll find him.”
The Truth About Larry
Larry is supposedly a fictional character that Joe made up, but that’s not accurate. Larry Crisci was a crew member during the first season of the show, and the shoutouts and references to him are an inside joke among the guys. It turns out that Larry got kind of tired of the Jokers using his name, according to TMZ, and in 2016 he sued the show’s producers for $500,000. They’ve continued to use the name so perhaps all parties involved were able to come to an agreement regarding the show’s use of the name Larry.
