The “Impractical Jokers” Are Working To Make Their Borough Proud

From selling out Madison Square Garden to having a museum exhibit in their name, the stars of Impractical Jokers seem to have done it all. And most of their accomplishments tend to center around New York City.

The four stars of the show, Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray, Joe Gatto, and Sal Vulcano, met in 1990 as freshmen at Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island. They remained close friends and in 1999 formed a comedy troupe called the Tenderloins, an identity they still currently perform as.

After finding some success through their viral YouTube videos, they landed a pilot with TruTV, originally titled “Mission Uncomfortable.” The show, later renamed Impractical Jokers, first premiered in December 2011. The show often films in various parks and supermarkets throughout New York City. They’ve also filmed at other notable locations, such as the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza. However, it is very rare for them to film in Staten Island because they get recognized too easily in their hometown.

Each Joker is competing to make the others as embarrassed as possible. The person who doesn’t complete the humiliating task receives a loss, and the person with the most losses at the end of the episode gets punished. On the surface, their show is about embarrassing each other in public. However, at its core, the show is really about the friendship between the four guys.

“Unlike our other pilots. This is best suited to our skills. It’s just us being best friends,” Murray told silive.com in 2011.

Before landing their show with TruTV, all the guys had regular jobs. For example, Brian Quinn proudly served in the FDNY for seven years. This was used against him in season 5 when he was forced to perform an embarrassing musical in front of everyone he used to work with on the fire department. However, Q later got revenge when he punished the other three guys in one episode. To show them what it meant to be a fireman, Quinn put the guys through a rigorous test at the fire academy.

After performing stand-up together for almost 20 years, the guys finally achieved one of their ultimate goals last year. On November 9th, 2017, the Tenderloins performed to a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden.

“About 10-12 years ago, we played a show in Manhattan to a 50-person theater and only two people bought tickets. So, now playing MSG as a New Yorker, as a Staten Islander, is a dream come true for sure,” Murray told silive.com before their performance.

Another major accomplishment occurred earlier this year. On July 12th, the Staten Island Museum opened an exhibit called “Impractical Jokers: Homecoming.” The museum is on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Gardens. The exhibit is still currently on view and will remain open until March 17, 2019.

Throughout all their success, these four guys have remained humble, and proud to be from Staten Island. This was evident at the opening of the museum exhibit. When speaking to silive.com, with tears in his eyes, Vulcano said, “It kind of feels like we owe it to Staten Islanders to make them proud.”

Lead image: The Tenderloins performing at Madison Square Garden. Photo taken by Joe Papeo.