89 Fun Facts About Impractical Jokers

On which network did Impractical Jokers premiere in December 2011?

TruTV launched the show on December 15, 2011, and aired its first ten seasons before new episodes moved to a sister network in the summer of 2024.

What is the name of the comedy troupe behind Impractical Jokers?

The Tenderloins formed in 1999 as a live improv and sketch troupe, and their online videos had drawn millions of views before the hidden-camera series took off in 2011.

In which New York City borough did the Jokers grow up?

Staten Island: the Jokers all grew up there and met at a Catholic boys' high school; the borough later proclaimed an Impractical Jokers Day in their honour.

What was the name of the high school the Jokers attended?

Monsignor Farrell, an all-boys Catholic school in their home borough, is where the four met as freshmen in 1990; they performed comedy together there before graduating in 1994.

Which Joker joined the troupe years after it formed, replacing original member Mike Boccio?

Q (Brian Quinn) stepped in for Mike Boccio when the group shifted from stage shows to filming sketches for the internet.

The troupe won a $100,000 grand prize in an online sketch contest hosted by Carson Daly for which network?

NBC's It's Your Show paid the $100,000 for the sketch Time Thugs; the win led to network pitch meetings and a first pilot that went nowhere.

What was Impractical Jokers' working title before the network pushed for the current name?

Mission: Uncomfortable was the troupe's own title; the network pressed for the new name, which the guys found clunky and hokey at first.

What twist sets Impractical Jokers apart from most hidden-camera prank shows?

The joke is on the hosts: bystanders are only witnesses, while the real target is the Joker who must say whatever his friends feed him through an earpiece.

What is the tally of failed challenges shown at the end of each episode called?

The loser board tallies each Joker's thumbs-downs, earned by failing or refusing a challenge; whoever collects the most must endure the episode's punishment.

What happens if two or more Jokers tie for the most thumbs-downs?

They are all punished: a rare three-way tie in season 3 sent three Jokers to the tattoo parlour together, each leaving with a design the lone winner chose.

Which Joker announced on New Year's Eve 2021 that he was leaving the show?

Joe announced his exit on Instagram, citing issues in his personal life and a split from his wife; the next season carried on with a rotating cast of celebrity guests.

Q worked for which New York City agency before Impractical Jokers became his full-time job?

The Fire Department: Q was still a serving firefighter when the show took off, and he took a leave of absence to keep filming before leaving the department for good.

Murr earned his English degree at which Washington, D.C. university?

Georgetown gave Murr his English degree; he went on to work in television development at the very production company that later made Impractical Jokers.

What is the title of Murr's 2018 sci-fi horror novel about a monster in the New York subway?

Awakened, co-written with Darren Wearmouth, led to two sequels and a marriage: Murr met his future wife, Melyssa Davies, at the book's launch party.

Sal earned a degree in which subject from St. John's University?

Finance: while the troupe spent years chasing a TV deal, Sal's day job was a bar he part-owned.

Who officiated Joe's wedding?

Sal, an ordained minister, performed the ceremony; Joe returned the favour in 2020 by officiating Murr's wedding.

While the troupe chased a TV deal, Joe held down a day job selling what?

Baby gear: Joe spent years in the infant-supply trade, selling nursery furniture and the like while the troupe's TV pilots kept stalling.

For season 9, Sal's punishment forced him to change his billing name to what?

Prince Herb went beyond a name: it went into the show's credits, and Sal also had to get stud earrings to complete the persona.

Which pop star plays herself as the Jokers' nemesis in the 2020 movie?

Paula Abdul plays herself: the guys wreck her 1994 concert as teenagers, then meet her decades later at a Red Lobster, where she knows them only as TV stars.

Why must one Joker miss the Miami party in Impractical Jokers: The Movie?

They are one ticket short: the party invitation comes with three tickets for four men, so hidden-camera challenges on the road trip south decide who stays home.

Which celebrity, whose face is tattooed on Sal's thigh, also appears in Impractical Jokers: The Movie?

Jaden Smith: the portrait was a punishment picked by Joe, and Sal has since ended up with a second one on his other leg.

How does Murr travel home from Miami at the end of Impractical Jokers: The Movie?

On a stunt plane's wing: Murr, who is afraid of heights, flew strapped outside the aircraft while the other three went home by private jet.

Who directed Impractical Jokers: The Movie?

Chris Henchy directed and co-wrote the film with the four Jokers, stitching a loose scripted road trip around real hidden-camera challenges.

Which former NSYNC member hosted the aftershow Impractical Jokers: After Party?

Joey Fatone had already stood in for Q during a challenge on the main show before he got the hosting job, and he turns up in the 2020 movie too.

Which spin-off did the Jokers film over video calls during the 2020 shutdown?

Dinner Party was made while filming pranks in public was off the table, so the guys teased one another and their guests over video calls instead.

Which staffer hosts the pop-up-fact Inside Jokes segments?

Casey Jost, a writer-producer on the show and brother of SNL's Colin Jost, fronts Inside Jokes, which replays episodes with pop-up facts and commentary.

The 2019 game show The Misery Index, starring the Jokers, was based on which card game?

Shit Happens has players put horrible life events in order on a scale of 1 to 100, and the show asks its teams to do exactly the same.

Which cable network passed on the troupe's scripted sitcom pilot, made before Impractical Jokers existed?

Spike TV passed on the sitcom, and other pilots stalled too; only then did the four turn the hidden-camera format around and make themselves the targets.

The British version of Impractical Jokers launched in 2012 on which channel?

BBC Three aired two series from November 2012 with Joel Dommett, Roisin Conaty, Marek Larwood and Paul McCaffrey; Comedy Central later revived the format with a new cast.

Which social-media-famous comedy act fronted Australia's Impractical Jokers when it launched in 2023?

The Inspired Unemployed, Jack Steele and Matt Ford, were tradesmen who started posting Instagram skits; Network 10 and Paramount+ built the local version around them.

Which gag name from Impractical Jokers' fake-receptionist bit became the title of a troupe tour?

Cranjis McBasketball began as a gag name in a challenge where a Joker poses as a receptionist and must read absurd names to a waiting room without laughing.

The 2018 mobile game based on Impractical Jokers carried which subtitle?

Wheel of Doom is named after the wheel the Jokers sometimes spin on the show to pick each other's dares; the phone game splits its wheel into arcade mini-games.

As a punishment for Sal, Murr married which member of Sal's family?

His sister: Sal was made to watch as Murr married Jenna Vulcano, and the marriage was ended soon afterwards.

Which comedy website co-produced Impractical Jokers: The Movie?

Funny or Die produced the 2020 film with the show's network, which released it in cinemas itself; the site's co-founder Will Ferrell turns up in a surprise cameo.

In 2024, Impractical Jokers left its original network for which other cable channel?

TBS became the show's home in July 2024, after its original network gave its weeknights over to a new sports block.

Which first name do the Impractical Jokers shout at random strangers as a running gag?

Larry is a real person who worked on the show's crew, and his name became the gag; it later gave the troupe's Where's Larry? tour its title.

Q is the third host of which podcast?

Tell 'Em Steve-Dave! takes its title from Kevin Smith's films, in which Q's co-hosts Bryan Johnson and Walt Flanagan play the recurring pair Steve-Dave and Fanboy.

The opening disclaimer warns of scenes of 'graphic' what among lifelong friends?

Stupidity: the warning used to promise 'four lifelong friends', and the number was quietly dropped once the group became three.

Sal's phobia of which animal landed him inside a cage full of them as a punishment?

Cats: Sal had to give a talk to a room of cat owners, then carry on with the demonstration from inside a large cage full of the animals.

After Murr's head and eyebrows were shaved on Impractical Jokers, which document did he have to renew?

His driver's license photo was taken that day, bald and browless, on a card that stayed valid for about ten years. The shave came just before the Jokers flew to London to film a special.

Sal and Joe opened for which band on Impractical Jokers, as a fake group named after their Spanish teacher?

Imagine Dragons let the pair open a Night Visions Tour date before a crowd of 15,000 at Jones Beach Theater. Two members of the band joined the other Jokers in telling them what to do and say.

Q expected sixth graders for his sex education lesson on Impractical Jokers, but who was really in the classroom?

His parents heard the entire lesson, which Q had prepared for a room of sixth graders. The punishment closed the season 2 episode Birds and the Bees.

For the live 100th episode of Impractical Jokers, what did all the Jokers have to walk across five stories up?

A tightrope was strung five stories in the air, and Q was the only Joker to make it all the way across. Every attempt earned money for the Jokers' charities.

Dressed as an infant for what he thought was a commercial, Joe of Impractical Jokers had to fight whom?

A sumo wrestler named Byamba, a US champion, was waiting for Joe. They met again three seasons later, when Joe was disguised as a massage chair and could not stop until he had kneaded the champion.

At a baseball game on Impractical Jokers, what did Q have to turn down in front of everyone in the stadium?

A marriage proposal was made to Q in full view of the crowd, and his punishment was to say no. He then had to face the anger of the fans and of the person who had asked.

Which animals did Murr have to swim with on Impractical Jokers, a punishment built on his second-biggest fear?

Sharks were Q's idea of payback, picked after the other Jokers had turned Q's own phobia into a punishment a season earlier. The swim capped an hour-long special filmed in Hawaii.

After a treasure hunt on Impractical Jokers, Joe came home to find his house's entire interior covered in what?

Wrapping paper covered the whole interior, and the other Jokers had also swapped Joe's photos for inappropriate ones. The hunt's last clue told him he should not have left his house.

At a state fair on Impractical Jokers, Sal dug bare-handed through which animal's dung to find his car keys?

An elephant supplied the heap, but the search was pointless: Joe had been holding the keys the entire time. It opened season 2 as a callback to the series premiere, when Sal had to pick up after a dog.

Tricked onto a tow truck on Impractical Jokers, Murr ended up out in the cold dressed as which New York landmark?

The Statue of Liberty pose had to be held in cold weather on a small boat while tourist boats floated by and took pictures. Murr had got into the car believing he was driving to a challenge.

Which talk show star's habit of feeding lines to a shopkeeper gave Impractical Jokers its earpiece format?

David Letterman used to feed lines to Rupert Jee, who owned the store next to his studio, on the Late Show. Sal has said the group wanted a format that used its improv strengths and showed off the friendship.

Dressed as which storybook character did Q of Impractical Jokers walk into a wrestling match against Tommy Dreamer?

Peter Pan was the costume because Q believed he was about to join a musical. It was really a House of Hardcore event, and his opponent was the promotion's founder.

Strapped down on Impractical Jokers, Q had to face his phobia when which creatures were placed on him?

Tarantulas were set crawling on Q, who has arachnophobia, while he was strapped down. He took his revenge the next season by building punishments out of two other Jokers' fears.

Which actress and presenter hosted The Misery Index, the game show that put the Impractical Jokers on rival teams?

Jameela Jamil refereed two teams, each pairing a contestant with two of the Jokers, as they ranked miserable real-life events on a scale of 1 to 100. The show ran for 50 episodes.

In the first punishment to hit every Impractical Joker at once, what did the friends have to give each other?

Gag haircuts closed season 1: Joe got a mullet, Q bright red curls, Sal two bleached horns, and Murr a shaved head with a little tuft left at the front.

A 2009 trip to which country ended with Q of Impractical Jokers arrested at a beer festival and missing a tooth?

Germany's Oktoberfest was the scene: Q was punched in the face, lost the tooth and was arrested for disorderly conduct. The other Jokers bailed him out.

Murr's punishment tattoo on Impractical Jokers recalls his forced skydive by showing which animal in freefall?

A ferret in a skydiving rig was Joe's pick for Murr, a reminder of the jump that had made Murr confront his fear of heights. Joe chose the designs for all three Jokers inked that day.

Which actress, his childhood celebrity crush, did Murr have to interview in swim briefs on Impractical Jokers?

Danica McKellar kept the interview going while Murr stood greased up in nothing but patriotic swim briefs. He had turned up believing he was entering a bodybuilding competition.

Which honorary title have Murr, Sal, Q and Joe of Impractical Jokers each held since the same day in June 2016?

Kentucky Colonel is a commission from the state's governor, the same honor that went to Harland Sanders in 1935, long before he franchised his fried chicken.

All four original Impractical Jokers appear as auditioning actors in which Kevin Smith film?

Clerks III has the Jokers try out for Inconvenience, the movie its characters shoot about their own lives behind the counter. The parts went in the end to friends and real customers.

In Impractical Jokers: The Movie, at which restaurant chain do the Jokers run into the pop star they once wronged?

Red Lobster is where she surprises them by saying she is a huge fan and inviting them to a party, 25 years after they ruined her concert as teenagers disguised as security staff.

Outside which Washington landmark do the Jokers read a eulogy to strangers in Impractical Jokers: The Movie?

The Lincoln Memorial crowd had to give the eulogy its approval for the challenge to count. Later stops on the drive south included a boat ride off Myrtle Beach.

Which Hollywood comedy star has a cameo credited as a Miami restaurant guy in Impractical Jokers: The Movie?

Will Ferrell takes one of the film's smallest parts, in a cast that also has Kane Hodder as the pop star's bodyguard.

On Impractical Jokers, Q had to spend 24 hours handcuffed to which kind of performer?

A mime was cuffed to Q for the whole day, timed for when the Jokers were away on tour rather than filming at home.

Sent to a farm as a punishment on Impractical Jokers, Sal had to help deliver which newborn animal?

A calf was born with Sal's help in an episode pointedly titled The Coward. Later seasons kept using his nerves around animals, shutting him in a room of loose chickens while his father watched.

Which prized possession did Q have to watch an M18 Hellcat destroy in the season 6 finale of Impractical Jokers?

His Jeep Wrangler met its end in an hour-long finale that doubled as a salute to the troops. Murr's half of the double punishment was a ride in a fighter aircraft.

In Impractical Jokers: The Movie, the Jokers interview for a staff job with which NBA team?

The Atlanta Hawks interviews went ahead while the other Jokers fed each candidate silly actions and lines to work in. The stop came on the road trip south toward Florida.

Which comedian was the first of the celebrity guests to have an Impractical Jokers episode named after him, in 2022?

Eric André joined in April 2022 and helped feed Sal lines telling strangers they were on a fake prank show. The same episode ended Sal's forced name change.

For his first punishment on Impractical Jokers, what did Joe have to put in his mouth on a boardwalk?

A stranger's toe was the price of Joe's first loss, in an episode titled Boardwalk of Shame. Sal had taken the punishment in every one of the three episodes before it.

Murr was an executive at which company, the producer of Impractical Jokers, when the Jokers pitched the series?

NorthSouth Productions employed Murr as its vice president of development when the pitch went in, and he kept the day job until February 2018, well into the show's run.

Murr's family paid for his 1998 film Damned! in place of buying the future Impractical Joker what?

A car, a Ford Taurus, was what Murr passed up so his family would fund the film, a retelling of the Bible that he wrote and directed. Years later the other Jokers screened it to an audience as his punishment.

Joe of Impractical Jokers wrote the 2020 book The Dogfather about his many dogs, all named after what?

Foods such as Cannoli, Biscotti, Gnocchi and Tiramisu have supplied the names, and the book mixes dog stories with memories of growing up in an Italian American household.

Which pro wrestling star and his faction beat down Q and Murr of Impractical Jokers on AEW Rampage in 2023?

Chris Jericho led the Jericho Appreciation Society into the attack. He had been a celebrity guest on Impractical Jokers the summer before, helping keep Q sitting in a tub of ice.

Q of Impractical Jokers is a lifelong fan of which horror series, whose scenes he had to recreate as a punishment?

Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell was that episode's guest, and he would not sign his release to appear until Q had perfectly recreated key scenes from the first two films.

Murr of Impractical Jokers co-wrote a middle-grade book series about interns at which secretive real-world site?

Area 51 Interns, written with Carsen Smith, follows a girl named Viv Harlow whose family works at the base. She and her friends have to stop hostile aliens from taking over the world.

Sal of Impractical Jokers gave his first full-length stand-up special, released in 2024, which one-word title?

Terrified came out on May 31, 2024, after Sal had begun touring as a solo stand-up on top of the group's live shows, which he has played since 2012.

Sal of Impractical Jokers teamed up on the podcast Hey Babe! with which fellow comedian and friend?

Chris Distefano shares the billing in the podcast's longer title, Sal and Chris Present: Hey Babe!

At the Jokers' old high school, Murr of Impractical Jokers had to answer humiliating personal questions during what?

A polygraph exam, administered by Daniel Ribacoff, put Murr's answers on show for an audience of students at the school the Jokers had once attended together.

In 2022 Joe, an original Impractical Joker, launched which weekly advice podcast with comedian Steve Byrne?

Two Cool Moms is named for the hosts' own mothers, whom the pair describe as strong, opinionated women who gave great advice. Listeners send in problems for the two comedians to solve.

Riding on top of the Roosevelt Island Tramway, Joe of Impractical Jokers was dressed as which made-up superhero?

Captain Fatbelly rode high above the East River as the other Jokers' revenge for the tattoos Joe had chosen for them. The costume returned when Joe lost the live 100th-episode special.

Murr of Impractical Jokers wore which mythical creature's costume as a boxing ring girl, then again on a five-mile jog?

A centaur was one of the outfits Murr wore as a ring girl at a live televised boxing match. A season later he had to jog in it with deer antlers added while the other Jokers hunted him.

Dressed as goaltenders on Impractical Jokers, Sal and Q had to block slapshots from former players of which NHL team?

New Jersey Devils alumni Grant Marshall and a former teammate fired the slapshots, and the punishment took place at one of the team's own games.

Which talk show star stepped out of a vault as Q's supposed clone in a science-themed Impractical Jokers punishment?

Rosie O'Donnell emerged after Q, posing as lead scientist of the made-up company Quinndustries, announced that it had completed the first cloning operation.

All of the original Impractical Jokers made cameo appearances across two seasons of which time-travel drama series?

12 Monkeys used Q first, in its second-season premiere, and a year later had Sal and Joe play a pair of police officers in the same episode.

In freezing weather, Murr of Impractical Jokers had to run across which New York crossing wearing only shorts?

The Brooklyn Bridge run was Sal's revenge on Murr, and crew members soaked him with cups of cold water along the way. Two coolers of cold water and a shower of confetti met him at the finish.

While Q recorded a decoy podcast on Impractical Jokers, what did the others take from his house and donate to charity?

All his clothes were gone by the time Q finished the hour-long recording and learned what his real punishment was. He had roped in a stranger to record with him, using material the other Jokers supplied.

Which comedian and game show presenter hosted the live Impractical Jokers special that marked the 100th episode?

Howie Mandel fronted the one-hour broadcast before a live audience in New York City, and the prize money the Jokers earned that night went to their charities.

Posing as an expert in Miami on Impractical Jokers, Q had to retrieve a backpack from among which animals?

Alligators guarded the bag, and once Q had got it back the other Jokers revealed that the backpack was not even his. He had expected only to give a presentation to a crowd.

Murr of Impractical Jokers had to be the world's worst cameraman at a Broadway concert by which favorite musician?

Yanni's concert was only half of it: Murr also had to attempt one of the musician's pieces, One Man's Dream, on the piano, and failed horribly.

Dressed as a sailor on Impractical Jokers, Joe surprised a room of army veterans by jumping out of what?

A cake hid Joe, who believed he was about to surprise a bachelorette party. He then had to do and say whatever the other Jokers told him in front of the veterans.