This Impractical Jokers' Punishment Was Completely Unplanned
Headed up by a group of real friends — Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray, Sal Vulcano, and formerly Joe Gatto — truTV's "Impractical Jokers" is a show in which familiarity with your cast members is a key component, especially when it's your friends who want nothing more than to push your buttons. Armed with a budget and a crew, your sanity will likely be tested, whether you're expecting it or not.
With each episode ending with a loser suffering some sort of punishment, more often than not, the Jokers are fully aware of when they're going to be punished and are able to get mentally prepared. However, because the show hinges on the Jokers' improvisational skills and the need to bust each other's chops, there have been a few impromptu punishments. And those have got to be the worst.
One particularly memorable and unexpected punishment involving some "unskilled" child actors had Sal fuming. And it was decided by the other Jokers, within moments of the start of a challenge, that Sal was to be punished. In 2016, in an episode of "Impractical Jokers: After Party Web Chat," a fan asked Sal about his feelings, wondering if he was upset or simply relieved upon discovering that it was an impromptu punishment. Apparently, Sal was of two minds. "Both," Sal quickly stated, before elaborating on how the punishment came to be. "I didn't see it coming. I think they decided that in the moment. It wasn't supposed to be a punishment for me, as I'm told it now. I think we even showed that on TV. it was supposed to be a real thing."
Sal's impromptu punishment left him upset at first, then relieved
Overall, Sal Vulcano further elucidated further on how he felt, confirming that he doesn't harbor any hard feelings, and even conceded that it was a good punishment. "I was angry and then, relieved. I guess," he intimated. "I thought it was pretty good." In addition, Sal went on to discuss how changing a challenge to punishment on the fly can instantly alter the feeling on set. "When something like that happens... I think our whole crew and staff... You can feel that kind of energy because we're really on the seat of our pants, spontaneous," he explained. "And I think that kind of thing leaves a memorable mark for us when we're filming."
As noted above, the punishment was born out of a challenge. In Season 5, Episode 17, the Jokers prepared a challenge in which a child would attempt to spray water on an unsuspecting stranger, with a Joker stepping in to save them. First up to the challenge is Sal and he witnesses the child actor's first blunder. Upon realizing that Sal is getting irritated, the others decide to change the challenge to Sal's punishment by having every child actor consistently flub upon entering the scene, in hopes of infuriating Sal. And that they did. At a certain point, Sal becomes livid and storms over to his friends, only for them to spray him with their water guns, gleefully admitting that it was a punishment.
And as we see in the footage, Sal starts off angry and slowly begins to laugh it off and make jokes once it dawned on him that it was just a prank, bro.