30 Best Impractical Jokers Pranks Ranked

Since its debut in 2011, "Impractical Jokers" has been one of the top improvisational comedy shows on TV. It features a cast made up of lifelong friends Brian "Q" Quinn, Sal Vulcano, and James "Murr" Murray, and also featured Joe Gatto until his departure in 2021. There have been nine seasons so far and a full-length feature film was released in 2020. In 2021, "Impractical Jokers" won the MTV Movie + TV award for Best Comedy/Game Show (via IMDb). Though some people have speculated that the show is scripted, the hosts have confirmed that it is all real.

The premise of the show revolves around the hosts competing against each other in a series of challenges involving unsuspecting members of the public, which are all caught on a hidden camera. Whoever has the most losses at the end of the show has to perform a punishment concocted by the other hosts. Since they are all lifelong friends, they each know the best ways to mess with each other, though some of their punishments come off as a little cringeworthy at times.

Over nine seasons, the guys have pulled hundreds and hundreds of pranks and ensnared countless victims. Here are the 30 best "Impractical Jokers" pranks to date, ranked.

During the episode "Drawing a Blank" (Season 1, Episode 5), the guys find themselves with one of the more difficult challenges of the season. They each have to try and cut a massive line of people buying tickets to a Broadway show. Whoever gets the least far loses the challenge. 

Joe tries to advance through the line by constantly shouting for his friend Larry, who is apparently upstream somewhere. Joe actually gets pretty far up the line before security busts him trying to settle in. Murr's tactic is to act like he's taking pictures of parts of the skyline while he advances, but that only works for  a bit before he gets busted, too. Sal does the worst out of the group, as he tries to cut in line and act oblivious — which fails instantly.

The only one to make it through successfully is Q, who has by far the most simple plan of the group. He simply walks right up to the box office, telling everyone "I don't wait on lines," and purchases his tickets without incident. The guys are shocked that his brazen tactic works, but are forced to accept it. The best part of the prank is Joe's incessant yelling for the fictional Larry, which both amuses and confounds the other people in line. Joe's Larry soundbites have since become huge memes for the show, solidifying "Line Jumpers" as a top prank. 

As his punishment for losing "Toasted" (Season 3, Episode 6), Sal was forced to give one of the most painfully awkward best-man speeches of all time. The only person who did not have a hand in writing the speech was Sal, as the other guys took the liberty of crafting one for him beforehand. Sal had to recite the speech line for line, no matter what horrible things were in it.

Though Sal didn't realize it, the bride and groom were actually in on the prank, though none of the more than 300 wedding guests were. As soon as he finds out what he has to do Sal is visibly nervous, and he starts sweating bullets while waiting during the reception. His timidity is clear from the shakiness of his voice, and the contents of his speech don't make it any easier. After having to admit he had sought out pictures of the bride wearing a bikini — and then sold the pictures to prison inmates — he proceeds to call both the mother-in-laws "the devil."

Sal has to end the speech by giving bad advice from his war veteran father before informing the crowd he had in fact slept with the bride previously. The reactions of the wedding guests are amazing, and one of them almost tries to stop Sal from finishing the speech. It's not too often the show pranks 300 people at a time. 

For losing the episode "The Dream Crusher" (Season 4, Episode 9), Sal's punishment is that he has to judge a children's talent show and be incredibly harsh to the kid performers. While the kids are informed beforehand that Sal is joking, none of the parents in the audience are in on the joke, making their reactions some of the best in the entire series.

Sal starts his judging by shouting about his missing order of chicken wings during the first performance, which brings grimaces and shock to the audience members' faces. He then informs the contestant that his lack of chicken wings distracted him during her performance, and admits to the audience how hard it is for him to sit through a kid's talent show — with "talent show" in air quotes. The guys then make him open a bag of potato chips during the next performance, deliberately ruffling the bag into the mic to make as much noise as possible.

His criticism of the adolescent performer is that they were "good, not great," which again brings shocked expressions from the parents. The last contestant is a martial arts performer. Directly after he finishes, Sal gets onstage and challenges the young man to a fight. The kid tells him he would win. Thankfully, the talent show and Sal's punishment mercifully end.   

Through the many seasons of "Impractical Jokers," the guys have worked at a variety of different stores and restaurants. Fans of the show likely remember their various stints at White Castle, which made several appearances over the years. One of the most memorable White Castle pranks was the very first one they ever did, in the premiere of the series "Pay It Forward." The challenge was for the guys to get a tip while acting as cashiers and doing everything they are told.

First up was Q. As soon as he took the first customer's order the guys told him to hold up the customer's $20 bill and then freeze. Unsure of what's happening, the guy nervously starts explaining where he got the bill from, before the two of them both stare at each other in silence. For almost five full excruciating minutes, Q stands there holding up the bill with no expression on his face.

Finally, Q unfreezes, then finishes the transaction like nothing happened. The customer doesn't seem to take much notice and he ends up leaving a tip. Q is able to pull it off due to his incredible endurance. 

It's not too often that the guys repeat punishments or challenges, but when they do, it usually pays off. That was definitely the case with Sal and his multiple tattoos of Jaden Smith. Most fans probably remember the famous punishment from "The Permanent Punishment" (Season 3, Episode 26). For that episode, Joe got to pick out tattoos for all of the other guys after they all lost the episode's competition. Undoubtedly, the worst was Sal, who had to get a picture of Jaden Smith's head tattooed on his thigh.

Immediately, you can tell how upset Sal is, and he starts yelling at Joe, while Joe is hysterically laughing. Murr reminds the group that "Jaden Smith cannot come between us." Sal storms away giving the guys double birds. But if Sal thought that was a one-time-only event, he was mistaken. 

During "Impractical Jokers: The Movie," the guys arranged for Jaden to help them prank Sal again. Sal has to go up onstage and profess his fandom for Jaden during an appearance of his, during which he tells Jaden he has another thigh available for an updated picture of him. Later that night, they all end up in the tattoo parlor, with Sal getting a new and improved Jaden tattoo. It was one of the best moments in the movie and one of the funniest punishments in the entire show.

The guys kicked off Season 3 of "Impractical Jokers" with a bang in the premiere "Look Out Below." This time, Murr was on the losing side of the episode, and his punishment was a doozy. Capitalizing on Murr's well-documented acrophobia, or fear of heights, the guys make Murr skydive out of an airplane.

At first, Murr doesn't realize what his punishment is; he thinks they're at the skydiving school to prank the students. However, while they are doing the introduction, the guys reveal to Murr the truth: They're all going up in the skydiving plane together, but only Murr will be jumping out. Murr instantly goes into a panic, ripping off his jumpsuit and locking himself in the production van. With some coaxing, the guys are able to lure him out of the van and into the plane, where he begrudgingly does the punishment.

While waiting on the plane to jump, Murr is almost reduced to tears out of being so terrified. Everything ends up okay and Murr lands without a hitch, but you can tell it was a very trying experience for him. For their part, the guys are dying with laughter seeing Murr squirm. This has since become one of the most notable punishments in the show's history, and it's referenced in several future episodes.

Sometimes the guys have to do physical stunts as part of their pranks. One of the best was from "Turning the Tables" (Season 7, Episode 6), when Joe literally started breaking tables with his body in the middle of a restaurant. The gag was that Joe, in his punishment for losing, had to pretend to be a manager at a local restaurant while breaking eight of the restaurant tables people were eating at.

Half the tables were breakaway tables and half were regular tables, and Joe had no way to tell which was which. He just starts jumping on tables that people are eating at. While most of them break, a few of them do not, much to the shock and dismay of the paying customers. After successfully breaking a few of the tables, Joe is covered in food, alcohol, and soda, and it just gets worse and worse.

Eventually, Joe is able to find all of the tables and break them, with the finale involving him jumping off a conspicuously placed ladder (in the middle of the dining room) onto the final table, destroying it and sending food and drinks flying everywhere. It's definitely one of the messiest pranks the guys have done, and also one of the funniest.

It seems like Murr gets stuck with a lot of the worst punishments, and one of the most embarrassing for him was definitely from "Like a Boss" (Season 7, Episode 17). For his punishment, Murr has to attend a weekly meeting for Tumblr employees and repeat whatever the guys tell him to. From the beginning, the guys make him act incredibly obnoxious and disruptive, with him repeatedly saying "like a boss" to the female presenter as she's speaking.

Soon, the guys have Murr taking off his socks and shoes and asking strangers to smell them. The audience is pretty tolerant, but soon he starts to grate on their nerves by being too annoying and unpleasant. The employees actually try to call security on Murr after getting fed up with them.

Guy Fieri ends up joining the show via Facetime, as Joe is able to get him to guest star. Murr has to shout out that "Guy Fieri sucks," once again to the dismay and annoyance of the crowd. He ends up getting himself kicked out of the meeting by the leader, who was actually in on the prank the whole time. It is one of Murr's most excruciatingly awkward punishments and a definite top prank for the show.

During the middle of shooting Season 5 in 2016, Sal and Joe were hanging out on set during a break. It was March 15 and the guys needed to shoot a promo for the upcoming April Fools' Day episode airing in a few weeks. Unbeknownst to Sal, Joe and the crew already had a prank in mind. Joe intercepts Sal's caesar salad lunch before it gets delivered to him and swaps out the restaurant's chicken for packaged dog food resembling chicken.

Sal, oblivious to change, starts eating his salad with the tainted chicken. He actually doesn't have too much of a problem with it — that is, until he realizes it's dog meat and is made mainly out of "organs and bones." Immediately spitting out the food, Sal is immensely confused. Then Joe reveals it was an April Fools' prank, to which Sal incredulously asks him what day it is. 

Joe reveals the promo is going to air in a few weeks. Outraged, Sal exclaims, "You can't April Fools' me on March 15!" Joe is dying with laughter while Sal is upset at just having eaten dog food. It's not an official episode, but it's definitely one of the best inter-cast pranks of all time.

The guys in "Impractical Jokers" kick off Season 2 with a bang with the premiere episode "Elephant in the Room." The first challenge is the "Holy Molar" challenge, which sees the guys pretending to be dentists and interacting with patients. The guys have to do whatever they are told, which ends up becoming pretty ridiculous within the context of a dental visit. 

For example, Q informs his patient he has an embarrassing story about sexually transmitted infections and Atlantic City before using the suction wand on his own face. The patient already seems wary before Q starts talking about how attractive he looks in his dental scrubs. Sal's up next, and he has to practically invert his patient on the dental chair before running out of the room and leaving him hanging upside down for several minutes. Joe starts telling his patient about the various dental tools at his disposal, including shoe horns and dubiously named pliers.

The best performance is from Murr, who spins and twirls around the room on the wheeled chair. He starts banging into the cabinets and tools while in his chair, at one point knocking the phone off the hook. The patient is just as amused as the guys back in the booth and starts cracking up, too. 

Season 1 of "Impractical Jokers" has some of the series' best moments, and the "That Looks Delicious!" prank from Episode 7 "Out of TP" is no exception. For this challenge, the guys find themselves at a buffet restaurant. Unfortunately for them, they aren't allowed to purchase any of the food. Instead, they have to grab food from the plates of unsuspecting diners, and whoever grabs the most wins. Q goes first, but he almost immediately forfeits after no one gives him the time of day.

Murr gets caught instantly trying to grab some corn, and another guy notices him grabbing a rib, though he doesn't say anything. He steals another woman's okra, and his plate ends up weighing a respectable 1 lb, 4 oz at the end. Sal immediately starts grabbing food from patrons left and right, but he only comes up with 1 lb total. Joe is the final contestant, and he starts scatting while grabbing food from a few female patrons.

One of them alerts her husband, who decides to test Joe out and see if he tries it with him. When Joe does, the guy smacks his macaroni spoon away from him. Joe ends up following him to the table and grabs some fried chicken after a brief tong fight, but his plate still weighs under a pound and he loses with Q. Joe's tong fight alone makes this a classic prank.

As punishment for losing the "Junk in the Trunk" (Season 3, Episode 16) challenges, Sal had one of his most high-energy moments on the show. The gag is that the guys are at a local car rental agency and Sal has to hide in the trunk of one of the vehicles. He's supposed to ride along in the trunk until the person needs to open it, at which point they'll see him and be shocked. The prank gets off to a seemingly rocky start when the renters take the car on a much longer trip than expected. Sal rattles around in the trunk while the woman drives around, smacking his head several times.

Eventually, the car stops and a woman gets out and opens the trunk. Seeing Sal, she appears shocked and starts screaming and hitting him with her purse. She is absolutely irate with Sal for surprising her and chases him around the parking lot after he escapes the trunk.

Finally, when it seems like the woman is really upset, Joe reveals the truth: It's actually his friend Melissa, who knew about Sal in the trunk the whole time. Her getting upset was all act and Sal definitely bought it, hook, line, and sinker.  

You know the punishment is going to be good in "Impractical Jokers" when it covers almost half the episode. Murr's Judo bout during a poolside cocktail party in "The Party Crasher" (Season 6, Episode 24) fits the bill. For this punishment, Murr has to crash a cocktail party and start a wrestling match with two-time U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Judo champion Kayla Harrison. Murr already looks incredibly conspicuous wearing a wig made from Q's hair. His constantly flailing at Kayla quickly gets the attention of all of the party guests.

The only thing he is allowed to say is that he used to know her in college, which only confuses the guests more. After she rips off his toupee during an ill-fated takedown attempt, he has to put it back on and continue wearing it, looking completely disheveled. At one point, Kayla throws Murr through a table, and he just gets up holding a cocktail glass like nothing is wrong.

For the finale, Kayla launches Murr over her head into the pool after his final failed attack. The guests clap and cheer for Kayla, who walks back and enjoys the rest of the party. While it was one of the more bizarre punishments, it was definitely hilarious. Seeing Murr get manhandled by an Olympic Gold Medalist was a highlight of the season and one of the best celebrity cameos of the entire series.

It's no secret to fans of the show that Murr had a massive childhood crush on Danica McKellar, an actress from one of his favorite childhood shows "The Wonder Years." For his punishment in the "The Blunder Years" (Season 4, Episode 6) episode, Murr has to interview McKellar in a hotel conference room. While that sounds pretty desirable, Murr has to do so while completely oiled up and wearing a speedo. The guys tell him he's going to enter a bodybuilding contest, which gave them cover to douse him with oil and put him in a speedo, but it was just a ruse to embarrass him in front of McKellar.

During the interview, Murr has to ask her a series of ridiculous questions, including informing her that he used to french kiss a poster of her when he was a kid and that he has dirty pictures of her on his refrigerator. She is told to act as harshly as possible with Murr and she delivers in spades.

After thoroughly embarrassing himself by trying to do squats and flex for her, Murr is mercifully allowed to leave the room and McKellar alone. As soon as he walks out, she bursts out laughing, but Murr is probably scarred for life. 

"The Q-Pay" (Season 6, Episode 17) might be the best-known and longest-lasting prank in "Impractical Jokers" history. Murr's the loser in this episode and his punishment is that he has to wear a wig. Doesn't sound too bad until you realize whose hair he's wearing: Q's. The guys have Q cut off his shoulder-length hair and make it into a wig for Murray. The wig doesn't look half bad at first but doesn't suit Murr at all.

To make matters worse, Murr has to get his passport picture taken with the wig. This is to contrast with Murr's driver's license, which features him with a shaved head and shaved eyebrows from an earlier punishment. Murr claims the hair smells like Q — i.e., like whiskey and marijuana — and he is immediately uncomfortable with it on his head.

Unfortunately for Murr, he can't just take off the wig after a day; he has to keep it on for the remainder of the season. There are nine more episodes in Season 6 after "The Q-Pay," and Murr's hair just gets worse and worse as time goes on. The fact that it keeps going for nine more episodes makes it by far the best "Impractical Jokers" prank in the series. It's almost like 10 punishments in one, as every episode with him wearing is like an extra prank.