By DOMINGA GLEASON
Staff Writer
TruTV’s Impractical Jokers is a hidden camera prank based show that involves four hilarious comedians that have been friends since high school.
For those who aren’t familiar with the show, the four jokers compete in competitions. The loser at the end of each show who must perform some kind of punishment that is chosen by the members.
Brian “Q” Quinn, James “Murr” Murray, Joe Gatto and Sal Vulcano call themselves the Tenderloins and are currently on an eleven city tour. The tour started in September and will continue into December, making a stop at our own Palace Theatre in Albany.
I had the pleasure of talking with James of the show and asking him a few questions about both the tour and the TV show. James has been practicing comedy his whole life, on top of helping start the Tenderloins, he also help start the Georgetown Players, an improve group, at his college. Now not only does he work on the show, he also is the Senior Vice President of Development for his company, North South Productions. Here is what James had to say:
What made you decide to do this tour?
-It was second nature, we love performing and we love doing shows so it only made sense to go on a tour.
What is this tour going to consist of?
-Well it’s a live show; it’s everything you love about the show, but in person. There will be a mixture of stand up, telling stories, and showing lots of deleted clips from the show. The clips have been taped but were cut from the show usually because they were too crude for television, but they are “golden and exclusive.” You wouldn’t want to miss out because you cannot see them anywhere else.
What would you say the most exciting part of this tour is going to be for either you or the fans?
-For the fans they love seeing those exclusive clips, and they also love seeing how we truly are best friends and that we were not casted together. On TV we all looks like we are so close, but when the fans get to see us in real life they see how it is all real, and we all truly do feel that way. For us, the best part is getting to see the crowd’s reaction, it’s a great feeling when the fans have memorized lines from the show and they’re shouting out bits from the show to you.
How did the show get started?
-Well we had formed the Tenderloins and then we had sold the two TV shows before but neither one of them stuck. One was an improv based show and the other was a sketch comedy. Then finally we thought, why not make a show about what we love doing, which is the same thing we’ve been doing for 24 years, playing jokes on each other. So we snuck into businesses and stores and filmed ourselves doing pranks, then we showed the idea to truTv and they loved it.
Not so much as how popular, but how much it affected people. The dedication of the fans is truly amazing, and during the tour when they are screaming lines and chanting, we really did not expect that kind of reaction.
What is your inspiration and how do you keep coming up with new ideas?
-Right now we are upstairs actually writing season 3, and we begin shooting in three weeks. It’s easy because we know everything about each other because it has been so long, like I know what really gets Sal mad and vice versa, so it makes it easy. As for our challenges we just think “what would we never want to do in public” and then we do it.
What is your favorite part of the show?
-My favorite part is that is a dream job, it’s four best friends making each other laugh, and making America laugh.
What are most people’s reactions when you tell them they’re on TV?
-Most people are cool with it and they love it. Because it’s about us embarrassing ourselves and it’s funny.
What was your worst punishment?
-The lie detector test because it was so embarrassing and I did not want to answer those questions. Also, a few weeks ago they made me be a nude model for an art class. I was completely naked and I had to do different poses. Plus the class had no idea it was for TV.
What is your favorite punishment for the other members?
-A few weeks ago we snuck into Sal’s house while he was on vacation and filmed ourselves doing a bunch of crazy stuff in his house. We did a lot of things we knew he hates like playing with a cat on his bed, drinking out of the carton because he is a germaphobe, etc. Then when he was doing a presentation [about not stressing out in life] we kept showing little clips of it and he flipped out.
Do you have any favorite memories?
-My favorite memory is from the dentist skit, when Sal reclined the guy all the way back. There have only been a few moments in my life where I have laughed that hard, my knees actually buckled from underneath me and I could not hold myself up. That one and also the foot doctor challenge.
How much longer do you think you will be doing the show?
-Hopefully as long as we can, we love the show. We’d like to do a “Joker’s After Party” which would come on after the show and it would be kind of like a talk show, and showing of deleted scenes. We also have many other projects but you’ll have to wait and see.
Make sure you stop by the Palace Theater on Saturday, October 19 and see this hilarious show!
