Lots of laughs with the Impractical Jokers
The Impractical Jokers, from left, Sal Vulcano, James "Murr" Murray, Joe Gatto and Brian "Q" Quinn, with Kidsday reporters Bobby Corry, Nicole Bellia, Peyton Naus and Ben Wojcik in the Pace University Library in Manhattan. Credit: Newsday/Pat Mullooly
We had the incredible opportunity of meeting the Impractical Jokers at Pace University on Jan. 23. If you’ve never heard of the Impractical Jokers show, the opening to each episode pretty much sums up what they do: “The following program contains scenes of graphic stupidity among four lifelong friends who compete to embarrass each other.” Joseph “Joe” Gatto, James “Murr” Murray, Brian “Q” Quinn, and Salvatore “Sal” Vulcano challenge each other to pull funny pranks on people, and they “punish” each other if they lose. The show is hilarious, and we are huge fans!
When we arrived at the Pace University library, the Jokers were filming an intro to a show they had just wrapped up, and we were lucky enough to watch them shoot it live.
Once they were finished, all four Jokers sat with us in the library for our interview. They were astonished by how professional and serious we were. They were so impressed by us, four 11-year-old kids from Wantagh. As they answered our questions, they were warm and funny and really loved that we knew so much about their show.
Bobby was the first one to ask a question. He asked if they have to tell the people they prank that it’s just a show. Joe answered that the people have to sign a release to be on the show, and if they don’t, their faces are blurred out. They mentioned that they want the people to sign because their reactions are the funny part of the show and it adds to the humor .
Peyton asked about Joe’s inspiration for Q (Brian), Murr (James), and Sal’s tattoos. One of the answers was a ferret because he thinks Murr looks like a ferret. (Murr actually asked our group if we thought he looked like a ferret, and we all had a good laugh about it!) He picked a cat for Q because he has a cat named Benjamin. As you can see, they like to tease and embarrass each other.
Peyton also asked about the time when Murr gave a speech at City Hall and had to read from cue cards. If you have watched the episode, he told Peyton that he had to hide behind the podium because he was also hysterically laughing. Some of the people in the audience were giggling, while some didn’t seem to be amused by it. The only people in on the joke were the mayor and, of course, the Jokers.
Nicole asked about their least favorite punishments. Sal answered that he disliked when he was the bog monster in the swamp. Q hated when they put tarantulas on him; it is not a fond memory of his at all! Joe said that he didn’t like when he had to reach in front of people to take all the signed baseballs. Murr said his least favorite punishment was when he had to take cigarettes out of people’s mouths and put them out.
Next, Bobby asked about the episode where Murr was selling peanuts at a racetrack and he was told to keep the change. He asked if Murr gave the change back. Murr jokingly said no, except for one lady who asked for it!
Ben asked about their favorite names from their name game segment. Sal answered “Cranjis McBasketball” which made us all laugh. They are so creative with their names on the show. They never stopped talking back to each other about their answers. Ben also asked what they do when they are not filming and have time off. Joe said he stays with his family so his kids know they’ll always have a dad. Sal and Murr both sit on Sal’s couch. Lastly, Q plays the video game Red Dead Redemption 2.
Nicole also asked the guys what super power they’d like to have. Joe said that he would move things with his mind so when he’s on the couch, the potato chips would come to him. He also said in a joking way that he wanted to parallel park as his power. Sal and Q had a flight-or-fight answer. Murr said that he wanted to stop time. The guys were saying that it depends because you might age while stopping time. Later on, Murr agreed with Joe.
In the end, we were so thrilled that we met them. We will never forget this experience. We loved that they were so natural when talking to us. In person, they act just how they do on the show. They really are just four best friends who treat each other like brothers. They still joke with each other like they did 30 years ago when they were our age.
