From a low-budget show on TruTV to a globe-circling phenomenon, Impractical Jokers is this century's
little comedy show that could.
Compulsively watchable and impossible to watch at the same time, the good-natured cringe
comedy stars lifelong pals Joe Gatto, James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, and Sal Vulcano,
who grew up performing comedy together in Staten Island, New York.
Together, the four produce and act out some of the best grown male buffoonery you can
find on television today.
"I run a project where I bring pictures of girls in bikinis to prisoners in exchange
for woodworkings."
From their original intentions for the show to the most angry mark they ever pranked,
here's the facts you didn't know about Impractical Jokers.
"Let the ceremony begin!"
Jokers: The Next Generation
You know what Impractical Jokers doesn't have?
A really prim and proper narrator.
But in their original pitch, they wanted one, and had the perfect guy in mind.
"When we first created the show, we wanted the narrator to be Patrick Stewart, and we
wanted him to hate us."
"Ha."
As fans are aware, it didn't work out but it was a pretty inspired idea.
In the Jokers' minds, Stewart would spend the episodes hating the show, openly disparaging
the Jokers as they went about their pranks.
"He would introduce every challenge and he'd be like these d---- are at it again".
To Stewart's credit, he's already had more than enough of a guy named Q.
Murr's cringeworthy debut
On paper, James "Murr" Murray is the most professionally put-together of the Impractical
Jokers, with his position as a seasoned producer and an ample amount of showbiz savvy.
Of course, even talented people have to work up to their biggest successes and what comes
before the success can be really rough.
Murr got a harsh reminder of his indie film roots with a challenge involving his disastrous
first feature film, Damned!, which he wrote, produced, and directed in 1998.
As part of a punishment in the episode "Damned If You Do," Murr was forced to watch a packed
screening of his first movie, suffering through an embarrassing Q&A session in front of the
audience after it wrapped up.
"Possibly the budget was very tight."
The budget was about $25,000 to $30,000."
Following the misadventures of a modern-day teenage Jesus, Murr's expensive debut is embarrassing.
The most incredible thing about the movie is that it cost $30,000 to make.
From the look of the finished product, it's like only fifty dollars ended up onscreen.
"Orson Welles was in his 20s when he made Citizen Kane, what's your excuse?"
After the episode, TruTV uploaded the entire 52-minute movie to its website for free streaming,
kicked off with a new intro from Murr.
So if you want to see the story of the Bible, but with a lot more butt rock on the soundtrack,
you, and only you, should definitely check it out.
Shut down at the ball game
Much of Impractical Jokers' tension lies in peoples' reactions to the pranks, and waiting
to see whether they're going to play along or throw a punch.
"Who threw the chicken at me?
I want the guy right now."
"Ah I'll be on the lookout."
Turns out, seeing someone absolutely lose it on the Jokers is actually extremely uncomfortable.
According to Joe, the angriest person the production ever encountered took place at
Citi Field.
The prank, a punishment for Joe, involved stealing baseballs autographed by Mets pitcher
Noah Syndergaard from the funniest possible victims little kids.
The sight of Joe casually robbing young baseball fans of their souvenirs is one of those atrocious
ideas that the series is so good at but things went off the rails when one mark went full
mama bear on him.
"You cannot do that!
Give me the ball!
That's wrong!
This one?"
According to Joe and executive producer Pete McPartland, the mother was so furious that
the whole production was derailed.
"No, Never, ever, in a million years has anyone been that upset at anyone on Impractical Jokers."
That is… until this happened.
"Do you think this is funny?
Do you think this is f------ funny?
No, see what it is ...come here!"
Even after the situation was explained, the anonymous, giant gentleman waited outside
for Murr to appear so he could finish the job, and wouldn't allow his face to be on
television.
Sexist or racist?
Cringe comedy is baked into Impractical Jokers' DNA, but it can still make the show torture
to watch.
The Jokers never look worse than the times they're forced to personally antagonize people
based on their gender or race.
"The Michelle Obama thing… she got there because she ah ah ah… slept with a man."
In one "Ask the Jokers" aftershow, Joe was asked by a viewer whether it's more difficult
to pretend to be sexist or racist.
"I'm trying to think of the right answer here, because either way feels like a trap."
After a couple minutes of thinking about it, Joe came to the conclusion,
"It's probably harder to pretend to be sexist."
It's not too surprising of an answer.
These jokers are Italian boys from Staten Island, after all.
Of course they defend the honor of their mothers and sisters first.
"Hello?"
"Hey Ma, what are you doing?"
"I'm at work."
"I hate you you bitch!"
Background focus
One accusation that's dogged Impractical Jokers over the years is the same one that gets lobbed
at every reality show: "This is fake."
For the most part, these accusations are off-base but sometimes viewers can raise real questions,
especially when they spot the same extras participating in completely different episodes.
Fortunately, you don't have to be too skeptical about the show.
Q addressed the issue head-on in 2018, saying,
"We don't use actors.
We use the people who go to focus groups a lot and sometimes the same person shows up.
But they never realize they are on the show for some reason."
"Can I tell you where I think I know you from?"
"Yeah."
"But not right now.
Because where you think you know me from is happening."
"Oh"
The last resort
Impractical Jokers' sole mission is to be weird in public and get the funniest footage
possible.
Once the production gets that footage, they'll go to just about any length to make sure they
can use it.
In order to show interactions in their unobscured glory, the production has to get signed releases
from every mark they want to use onscreen which can be pretty tricky after they've spent
five straight minutes making someone angry on purpose.
Asked on Reddit if the production ever hands out money to people that they're pranking,
Sal said,
"Usually people are pretty cool when they find out it's a show.
The few who get mad we try to convince otherwise, or they get blurred, or cut from the show.
On rare occasion[s] if the person was gold, we try and throw them a few bucks to coerce
them."
Our advice?
Keep that info in the back of your mind, just in case the Jokers ever happen to pull a prank
on you.
No matter how you really feel about it, your best move is to get mad, stay mad and get
paid.
"ah."
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