Sal Vulcano Had An Unexpected Encounter After Impractical Jokers First Aired
"Impractical Jokers" has been on the air for over a decade at this point, and for the most part, the formula has mainly stayed the same. The four (or three in recent episodes) jokers make each other do hilarious, humiliating acts for their own entertainment. In most cases, the unsuspecting bystanders in the pranks aren't the ones being humiliated; it's all a matter of seeing how far each joker is willing to go for a laugh.
It's a schtick that's clearly worked for them so far. They've parlayed it into immense success, with hundreds of episodes and even a movie to the show's name. A lot of people are interested in this program, and Sal Vulcano, Joe Gatto, James "Murr" Murray, and Brian "Q" Quinn are definitely household names at this point. However, it's easy to be a household name when you've had your own successful TV show for a decade. It's another thing to make an impression after only a couple of episodes, and as Vulcano explained, that's precisely what happened shortly into the show's run.
Sal Vulcano says he was recognized after the show had only been out for a couple of weeks
In an interview with Awards Radar, Vulcano was asked about what it was like to know "Impractical Jokers" was making a difference in the world. It wasn't merely entertaining people for 30 minutes a pop; it was genuinely changing people's lives. And as it turns out, he knew fairly early on in the show's run that they had something special on their hands.
He recounted being in San Francisco around December 2011, a couple of weeks after the show premiered. He was walking around the pier with his parents when something interesting occurred. As he stated, "I heard someone call me from behind. They were like, 'Sal, is that you?' And again, the show's been on the air for two weeks now. So I stopped and turned around, and it was a group of kids. And they were like, 'Oh my God, it is you!'"
From that moment, he knew that the show meant something more to people than just mindless entertainment. It was something they connected with and would likely become the first of many encounters since he became a professional joker.