The Untold Truth Of Impractical Jokers

In the original pitch for Impractical Jokers, the team wanted to have none other than Star Trek: The Next Generation, X-Men, and Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus Patrick Stewart provide the voiceover narration for the show. As fans are aware, it didn't work out — but it was a pretty inspired idea.

Murr shared the curious note during the "Ask A Joker" web chat following the final episode of the fourth season. "When we first created the show, we wanted the narrator to be Patrick Stewart, and we wanted him to hate us," he revealed. "Like, he'd introduce every challenge like, 'These d—- are at it again! Let's see if they screw up another time!'"

Instead of getting Stewart's dulcet tones yelling the boys down — which, let's face it, probably would've been more distracting than anything — they ended up with the tag-team duo of Drew Patterson and Bill St. James, the underappreciated glue that holds the freewheeling show together.

Stewart did end up making an appearance in the show in a roundabout way, however — or at least his visage did. During the premiere of the fifth season, the guys headed out to New York's Madame Tussauds wax museum, with Sal scoring a shot with Jean-Luc himself. He seems a little distant.

In their tour documentary, the Jokers credit James Murray with being the unstoppable force behind getting Impractical Jokers on the air. Despite being a reality TV star, Murr still maintains his day job as the Senior VP of Development at North South Productions, which explains why he's the only Joker too busy to have his own podcast, even though he could host one in any of the 17 languages he claims to be able to speak.

Astute viewers will note that Q has mentioned that his first girlfriend spent some time in prison, and that she's the half-sister of an A-list celebrity. Out of respect for the delicate family situation (and possibly the looming threat of Scientology), Q's never mentioned her by name on the air. However, dedicated Redditors have used information from the show and Q's podcast to limit the possibilities to a very specific area at a very specific time, and deduced that Q dated King of Queens star Leah Remini's half-sister Elizabeth, who was arrested in 2005 for felonious cocaine trafficking. But you didn't hear it from us.

So much of the tension from watching an episode of Impractical Jokers comes down to peoples' reactions to the pranks. You know the feeling we're talking about. Is this the mark that's going to throw a punch that lands? That sort of thing.

Turns out seeing someone absolutely lose it on the Jokers is actually extremely uncomfortable. According to Joe, speaking in an October 2017 "Ask the Jokers" aftershow, the angriest person the production ever encountered took place at the Citi Field during an episode called "Take Me Out of the Ball Game."

The prank, a punishment for Joe, involved stealing baseballs autographed by Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard from the weakest, funniest victims — little kids. The sight of Joe strolling around casually robbing young baseball fans and their parents is one of those "I can't believe what I'm seeing right now" moments that the series is so good at, but things went completely off the rails when one mark went full mama bear on him.

Asked if anyone in show history had ever been as mad at him as the mother was, Joe (and executive producer Pete McParland) responded with certainty. "No," he said. "Never, ever, in a million years has anyone been that upset at anyone on Impractical Jokers."

According to Joe, the mother was so furious that it derailed the whole production. "Our crew did not know what to do," he said — a surprising admission, considering this was a sixth-season episode.

One of the most memorable punishments in Jokers history involved three of the Jokers getting tattoos determined by Joe Gatto, who was the only winner of that week's challenge. While Q and Murr's tattoos were meaningful to their lives in a sarcastic way, Sal's tattoo was a huge picture of Jaden Smith on his thigh. Viewers will also notice that Sal already had quite a few tattoos at this point, including tribal bands around his calves. His arm tattoo, however, has a pretty deep meaning to him: it's song lyrics dedicated to a friend that he lost in 2011. Kinda makes that Jaden tattoo look especially cruel.

Murr's most notable punishment, and the inspiration for his tattoo, was being forced to skydive despite a serious fear of heights. On air, we see Murr run and threaten to quit the show, but what we don't see is the hour he spent locked in a bathroom, refusing to come out while he sent farewell texts to his friends and family, sure that he would not survive the experience. Both Murr and Sal share a fear of heights, which they'd face again during their later charitable tightrope walk.

AMC's Comic Book Men almost featured another member, but Brian "Q" Quinn was stuck in TruTV's contractual grip and couldn't join his good friends on Kevin Smith's nerdy version of Pawn Stars. Q, a lifelong comics fan, appears regularly on a podcast called Tell 'Em Steve-Dave with Comic Book Men's Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson, where the trio discuss their efforts to remain decent humans in a world of increasingly difficult people. You know, your average middle-aged man complaints.

One of the reasons Impractical Jokers has been able to break 200 episodes and notch a feature film (not to mention air on TruTV for what feels like every day, all day) has to do with how universally relatable the central concept is. 

Just about everyone gets some kind of kick out of watching pranks or practical jokes from a safe distance, but not every person has the same sense of humor. When you start talking different cultures and countries, the gap between tastes in humor gets even bigger — so why not strip things down to the bone and put a local spin on it?

Impractical Jokers is notable for having a diverse catalog of international spinoffs, with localized takes on the Tenderloins' formula reaching from to Brasília to Beirut.

By this point, the Impractical Jokers series has branched off 11 unique versions across five continents, with local versions having been produced specifically for Egypt, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and even the Canadian province of Quebec. 

International crossovers, as you might imagine, are few and far between, though Murr has appeared on the Brazilian and Belgian versions, and met the guys who do the UK version of the show. Who would have thought this foursome of dorks from Staten Island could make such a global, impractical empire?

The whole point and purpose of Impractical Jokers is to perform bewildering acts in public for the sake of getting 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 take footage of people and beam it out across the world, the production has to get signed releases from every mark they want to use onscreen — which can be a pretty tricky proposition when you've just spent five straight minutes royally pissing them off on purpose. 

Sal broke down the process of getting permission from people in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread in 2013. Asked if the production compensates people they offend when they're paying customers at, say, a restaurant, Sal said that they don't — mostly.

"Usually people are pretty cool when they find out it's a show," Sal wrote. "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 little bit of 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.

Any fan of Impractical Jokers will tell you that the real pull of the series, after you watch it long enough, isn't necessarily the prank reactions or the elaborate set pieces the guys come up with. What keeps you coming back are the relationships between the cast members, who've been hanging in other's orbits for so long that it's almost surreal.

Speaking in an appearance on Jim and Sam, the Jokers addressed the question of whether being in each other's companies so often caused friction in the group, and whether or not they got on each other's nerves. According to Joe, they don't really have arguments, except occasionally over business decisions they may have different approaches for. But when it comes to social stuff, they're even keel. "We can literally joke about anything," he said. 

Murr pointed out that they're all from Italian backgrounds, growing up experiencing an intimate way of living other people might not be familiar with. "We were raised in loud households," he said. "We have a shorthand, talking to each other. So other people from the outside look at us, it seems like we're screaming at each other. We're just being passionate."

It's a chemistry that's working in their favor now more than ever. With the show set to continue through 2019 and a massive back catalog to their name, their friendship and rowdy fellowship has built them a legacy that will last — and there's nothing impractical about that.

The premise behind "Impractical Jokers" causes many unsuspecting people to be caught in their most candid moments. The stars of the series have often discussed how difficult it can be to get every stranger in a scene to sign off on having their faces appear on television — which is why you'll see faces blurred out from time to time. However, there have been a few occasions when the show could not use the content because people refused to sign an agreement. Unfortunately, some of these lost moments may be the funniest "Impractical Jokers" scenes that we will never see.

Case in point, Brian Quinn once shared one of his favorite moments from the series with Get Out Magazine. "We did this bit in IKEA, I don't remember what I was doing, [but] this couple, this guy and this girl, were just giving like perfect reactions," Q recalled. "They were kind of buying into it, but not. They were kind of annoyed, and everything worked out great." Yet, when it was revealed that the couple was on a television show, they dropped a bomb. "When we asked them to sign, he was like, 'uh, I would love to, but this isn't my wife, you caught us in an affair, and I would appreciate it if you would not use the footage.'" The situation would have made for a great segment for almost the entire audience, "Not to the wife I guess, but to everybody else it's hysterical," said Q.

While the "Jokers" usually try to hurt each other's egos, sometimes they put their physical bodies on the line for the sake of a good laugh. Most notoriously, was the season five finale, "Nitro Circus Spectacular,", which saw not one but two jokers walk away with injuries. The episode featured the stars attempting obstacle courses inspired by "Nitro Circus" for the sake of collecting money for charity — and entertaining audiences along the way. Unfortunately, when Brian Quinn gave a course a trial run on a quad bike, he broke several ribs and was unable to compete during the live performance. Subsequently, Joe Gatto took a tumble and hit his head, although he was okay after laying still for a short period, the comedian was more concerned that he was going into cardiac arrest because of all the physical activity.

Nevertheless, the active episode was not the only time the "Jokers" were injured. The climactic challenges they face at the end of the episodes can be some of their most dangerous stunts. During "Impractical Jokers: British Invasion," Murr and Joe took multiple shots from professional soccer players, forced to play goalie as a punishment. Another episode featured Murr receiving second-degree burns after being trapped inside an ice cream trolley and carted away. Through the many bumps, cuts, and bruises the "Jokers" have received throughout the years, audiences appreciate them putting their bodies on the line.

Undoubtedly, the boys of "Impractical Jokers" have undergone some terrible punishments. At the end of every episode at least one of the stars is forced into their worst nightmares. Whether poking at each other's fears, embarrassment, or ego, it is a guarantee that someone is going to have a rough time — that is what fans watch for, after all. Still, some punishments go to the extreme such as getting permanent tattoos or jumping out of airplanes.

Fans believe that Brian 'Q' Quinn faced the worst punishment of them all when he pretended to be a children's art teacher who was forced into ruining his student's paintings by brushing a large red "X" over every canvas. As awkward as the infamous scene is, Q doesn't even rank it amongst his most brutal punishments. "I used to say teaching my parents Sex Ed was bad," Q said in an interview with Digital Spy. "Then, they did a bit where they did a play about my life," he remembers, "that was horrible because all my friends were making fun of me, and I was reminded that I was useless."

Q has his own least favorite: "I think it's when they put tarantulas on me." However, the comedian has also shared that being forced to constantly ring the bell on a tram at Universal Studios without ever getting off was "the worst." "That took over an hour to shoot," Q revealed in an interview with Celebrity Gamerz. "That's a long time to be ruining people's vacation, for people to be hating you."

While putting a pause on the entire world, Covid-19 could have significantly halted the entire "Impractical Jokers" operation. The show depends on social interaction, especially when they can get a large crowd together for the most candid reactions possible. Unfortunately, the hidden camera show simply wasn't possible during Covid restrictions, so the boys had to get creative.

Thankfully, the comedy group known as the Tenderloins are no strangers to coming up with innovative ideas to entertain their fans. The comedians have manufactured a few different shows spinning off from their original format, including "Impractical Jokers: After Party," where the stars commentate on past jokes and challenges with host Joey Fatone, or the short-lived skit series "Jokers Wild." However, for Covid-19, the group put together something special for fans: "Impractical Jokers: Dinner Party." The series was recorded via social distancing, with the Jokers sharing dinner and chatting with guests from the comfort of their homes. The series lasted for 16 episodes alongside their appearances on the TruTV gameshow series, "The Misery Index."

While "Impractical Jokers" continues to be one of the best shows on TruTV, the foursome has sadly lost one of its original members. Much to the disappointment of fans, Joe Gatto stepped away from the series and the rest of the Tenderloins projects at the end of 2021. After nine seasons on "Impractical Jokers," and the feature-length "Impractical Jokers: The Movie," Gatto retired from the comedy troupe.

However, many fans were left scratching their heads during the second half of season nine when Gatto was absent from the series. That is because the comedian quietly walked away sharing one post on Instagram about his intentions on December 31, 2021. "Alongside my friends, I've devoted a decade of my life to building this franchise and couldn't be prouder of what has been accomplished," read the statement. "However, due to some issues in my personal life, I have to step away." Gatto went on to explain the changes he was facing, "Bessy [Haggar, Joe's wife since 2013] and I have decided to amicably part ways, so now I need to focus on being the best father and co-parent to our two incredible kids." Thankfully, Gatto takes comfort in knowing that his long-running series is in good hands, "Outside of my family, my relationships with Murr, Q, and Sal have been the most important in my life. I know they will continue to make the world laugh."

Anyone who has been a fan of "Impractical Jokers" through its ten seasons and the feature-length movie has had one question on their mind: who gets punished the most? Audiences know that the Jokers receive their punishments for failing to accomplish their embarrassing missions throughout each episode. As such, some Jokers who will seemingly do or say anything, like Joe Gatto, have gotten off easy when it comes to punishments. However, the rest of the quartet is much closer in their numbers than you would expect.

A few years ago, one dedicated fan decided to tally up all the punishments and find out who received the most punishments up to the finale of season eight. Sharing the findings on Reddit, it revealed that Sal Vulcano was the frontrunner, undergoing 68 punishments, only one of which he failed to finish. Leading Q (51) and Murr (63), Sal has extended his lead in the last two seasons adding 13 more punishments to his name. Meanwhile, Murr has succumbed to 12 more punishments, while Q has taken it easy in comparison, with seven.