The Impractical Jokers Episode That Hurt Not One, But Two Cast Members
TruTV's "Impractical Jokers" has been a staple of cable television ever since it began back in 2011, and it has gone on to become one of the most iconic hidden camera reality series ever created. The premise of the show is simple: each episode, the four "jokers" (James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, Sal Vulcano, and Joe Gatto) publicly embarrass themselves on the instructions of their co-hosts, often while performing some sort of prank on unsuspecting members of the public. When one of the jokers is performing a prank, the other three are usually watching him from afar using surveillance equipment, and giving him specific instructions and commands through an earpiece.
Despite the relative simplicity of its premise, the show has been wildly successful thus far. There's something incredibly hilarious about watching the four friends try their hardest to embarrass one another, especially when a performance goes horribly wrong. Usually, whoever has the worst performance out of the four jokers is forced to undergo a punishment that episode, and watching the jokers scramble to save face whenever they mess up is almost as funny as when the pranks end up working. That said, not every mistake in "Impractical Jokers" is lighthearted or funny. Indeed, there was one huge mistake back in Season 5 that almost left two cast members seriously injured.
Joe and Q were both injured during the Nitro Circus Spectacular
The episode in question is the Season 5 finale "Nitro Circus Spectacular," which saw several of the jokers taking on an X Games-inspired obstacle course to help raise money for a charity of their choice. During a 2016 interview with the "Tell Em Steve-Dave" podcast, Q revealed that he actually broke several ribs while preparing for the obstacle course, after accidentally flipping his quad bike.
As such, Q was unable to participate in the actual obstacle course competition, though his co-star Joe Gatto (who recently departed from the series after Season 9) smashed his head against a door during his attempt at the course and ended up staying on the ground for a few moments (via Talk Nerdy With Us). Despite his initial panic, Joe ended up being okay, and in fact, he later revealed on an episode of "Impractical Jokers: Dinner Party" that he actually stayed down because he thought he was going into cardiac arrest.
In any case, the fact that two cast members suffered scary injuries during this stunt is probably a sign that they should leave that kind of physical comedy to the guys from "Jackass."