If you’ve stayed in a hotel or a hospital sometime during the last decade, odds are you’ve watched Impractical Jokers on truTV at some point or another.
Going strong for 11 seasons now, the hidden camera improv comedy show starring James “Murr” Murray, Brian “Q” Quinn, and Sal Vulcano, has evolved over the years but its core premise has stayed true: to shock and surprise the unsuspecting public in the most hilarious ways ever.
Season 11 of Impractical Jokers premieres on Thursday, July 11th at 10:00 p.m. ET on its new network TBS, but let’s first take a look at why this show has been such a mainstay since day one.
The show’s pilot season was an easy sell, with challenges like speed dating, swiping food off other diners’ plates, sharing humiliating texts in a quiet waiting room, and even trying to kiss random strangers. The quartet, which featured Joe Gatto at the time, stuck to the same formula from there on out but only got bigger and better. Let’s not forget to mention the challenge “Cranjis McBasketball,” where the guys have to call out random names to a waiting room full of people, or when they have to be in a waiting room themselves and try to make each other laugh.
In Season 2, punishments for losing the episode started to get worse, with Murr having to undergo a lie detector test in front of the current student body of his alma mater, Q having to explain the birds and the bees to his parents, and Sal having to dig through trash on a garbage barge. Another punishment for Q featured Rosie O’Donnell, with whom the guys insist he bears an uncanny resemblance. They have often recapped these hilarious running jokes and rag on each other during their “Stoop Sessions” or highlight episodes.
Punishments just kept getting worse from there, with Murr having to face his fear of skydiving as well as undergoing several prostate checks while on camera. Q had to face his fear of tarantulas by letting them crawl all over him while being chained up, and Sal had to disrupt a game of casino BINGO by claiming he won after nearly every turn. The most permanent punishment, however, was when Joe made all 3 of them get tattoos of his choosing in Season 3. Murr now sports a tattoo of a ferret “crydiving,” Q a cartoon cat with the phrase “38. Lives Alone. Has 3 Cats,” and Sal an extremely random tattoo of Jaden Smith (he now has two thanks to a later punishment).
The guys made quite the name for themselves over the years and even after Joe Gatto left the show after Season 9, have involved some big-name celebrities in their hijinks, including Joey Fatone, Eric Andre, Brooke Shields, Post Malone, Rob Riggle, Method Man, and many more. Mostly, these celebrity guests helped plan and carry out some of the most embarrassing punishments the guys have faced.
The new season is a return to the original format that works so well, but with a few twists you’ll have to watch to find out. DECIDER had a chance to catch up with Q and Murr to ask about the show and what to expect from Season 11. They gave us specific details about some of the bits you’ll get to see if you tune in and told us everything from their creative process in the writers’ room to their favorite challenges and worst punishments. If that tickles your fancy, read on to get the scoop and learn more about the guys.
Photo: WarnerMedia
DECIDER: After so many seasons, how do you guys keep things fresh and what makes you want to continue doing it?
BRIAN “Q” QUINN: Well, I mean, keeping it fresh is kind of not that hard, I don’t think, because, like, we’re just kind of doing what we’ve always done, which is just messing with each other, you know what I mean? And it’s like we’ve known each other, God, almost 40 years at this point. We’ve welded to each other side for so long that it’s kind of not that hard. Like, we just had a writers room meeting, and Murray was supposed to be in it with us, the whole one. We were finishing out the creative for the season, and then we’re just like, Murr, leave the room. We got, we got something. And then he’s gone for like an hour and a half. It’s like, we just, the fountain, the well doesn’t dry, I feel. What do you think Murr?
JAMES “MURR” MURRAY: I’m worried about what you guys are talking about because I instigated bringing that challenge back up. Yeah. Added one little detail, and then I was kicked off my own writer’s room. Zoom. Yeah. And then, literally an hour went by and I finally texted our head writer, like, can I come back on? He said not yet, we’re on to great stuff, so then I’m going to get punished horribly in some way.
Sounds like it.
MURR: Yeah, I think it’s our job as comedians to keep the show fresh and evolving. And, one thing at the top of every season, we spend time, almost like a month, with our production team and writers coming up with ideas and spins on the show and how to change the format and evolve it in new ways. Big swings we want to take that season because, one thing we always said from day one is if we’re still having fun doing the show, we’ll keep doing it. And we’re still having a blast. So there you go.
Awesome. That’s great. What can viewers expect to see in the new season? Are there any guest stars that you’re, like, particularly pumped about?
Q: We didn’t really, we kind of didn’t do what we did last season with the celebrity guests. We kind of went back to basics like I think that and Murr, I don’t know if you look at it this way, I’ve kind of looked at last season as like, you know, we needed to change. You know, Joe left obviously. And we were like, we wanted like a clear line in the sand, you know what I mean? And that kind of did it. It was different for us. You know, we found that working with celebrities was personally easier, but their schedules are hard. So that, you know what I mean? Like, they’re all wonderful people, but they can only shoot one day out of the month. You know, it was kind of hard. So we were excited to also go back. We have a few guests this season, but they’re more in line with our friends. And oh, are you here this day? Do you want to come and be on and stuff like that? Would you say I described that correctly, Murray?
MURR: Dead on accurate, my friend. Yeah. I think we’re back to the way the show has always been. We’ll use celebrities a la carte, when they fit and feel right in a particular moment, or to surprise one of us. You know, we have a challenge coming up in a few weeks on TV where, it’s a spin on a bit we’ve done before. We’ve got to storm into a pizzeria, and the person behind the counter is there working. We’ve got to throw a glass of water in his or her face. What we don’t know is who’s the person behind the counter. So, when, Q, was it Q? You walked in?
Q: Yeah, it was me. I had no clue.
MURR: Dressed to surprise him, Brooke Shields wearing a hairnet in the pizza outfit. You know, no one recognizes her working behind the counter, slinging pizzas. Q had to douse her with a cup of water and then explain to customers why she deserves it. If they take her side, but she didn’t deserve it. He loses. And of course, he lost.
Q: And like, that’s a perfect example of why we like doing this because Brooke’s perfect for that. Because you got a double thing. You got a triple thing. One, you know you don’t want to throw water in a woman’s face. Two, she’s a friend of ours, you know. So that’s tough. Three, she’s Brooke Shields. You know, the list of things you want to do with Brooke Shields. Throwing water in her face is on it. You know, it’s like a weapon against us. It’s horrible. So, yeah, they just did that to me recently.
MURR: Concurrently against me. They used my wife’s grandmother. So I walk in and there’s Nanny, who’s a 76-year-old woman, wearing a hairnet, slinging pizza, and I almost collapsed, you know, just, again, personal on every level and the amount of things I want to do to Nanny, throwing water on her face is not one of them. Yeah.
Photo: Warner Bros./TBS
Yes. That is definitely awkward. So you guys moved from truTV to TBS. How has that impacted the show, if at all?
MURR: It hasn’t impacted it creatively in any way, other then how cool it is to be on a larger network, you know? It’s pretty wild. They’re great. Obviously, we’ve worked with these folks for many, many years because TBS and truTV are sister stations, you know, and has same owners. And, so it’s like, you know, moving up to a nicer apartment in the building.
And you guys had another show on TBS right?
MURR: We had a game show called the Misery Index for a few seasons. Yeah.
As far as challenges go, are there any particular ones that both of you guys enjoy doing more than others?
Q: Yeah. We actually, I don’t know that we’ve done any of this season of the one, of my favorite is the presentation challenges, where we don’t know what’s coming up next on that. Those are always my favorite to write for and to do. But, I think that we’re kind of trying to maybe not repeat things, you know what I mean? I don’t know, I don’t know, have we done any this season, Murr?
MURR: We, kind of, in a way, coming up in an episode, there’s a punishment with Sal where he’s got to teach senior citizens his new workout routine. Like how he went from 1000 pounds to 700 pounds, this is how, here’s the deal. And he walks in the room, and it’s just a stripper pole in the middle. I’m going through a presentation on his workout routine before he actually got on the pole and told us how to lose weight, so we kind of did it there. But yeah, my favorite bits are when it’s really personal. Like when you’re the dentist, interacting with a real patient, or we went in, we played, people going in for a job interview. It’ll come up in a few weeks on TV, and you’re sitting down with a real person who works in HR at a company that has no idea that there’s hidden cameras, and the company is in on it, and it’s so intimate and direct and there’s an implied relationship and power, you know, there’s an implied way to conduct yourself as a dentist or getting a job interview or what have you. Those bits are always my favorite, you know, because when you, when you upset the apple cart, like, for Q-ster, it’s perfect. He goes in for the job interview, the woman is about to come in interviewing for a real job. And we said Q, just stand for the entire interview.
Q: Yeah.
MURR: And it was so freaking weird.
Q: She was even going like, you can have a seat. And I’m like, no, I prefer to stand. Like, it’s just stupid shit like that.
So, given that the show’s evolved, so much, especially in recent years, how have you guys handled any negative criticism from fans? I’m sure you get it sometimes. Or people that, you know, miss the old show or the old format or whatever they think is the old format. But yeah. How does it affect you personally or how do you handle it when you get it?
Q: Well, I mean, a lot of it. Like when Joe left the show, there was a lot of, no Joe, no show. And it’s like, you know, you just want to be like, dude, like, I didn’t want Joe to leave the show. Like Joe left, what do you want from me? I was supposed to stop doing what I’m doing and working with the people I love, so that, like, people who are just unreasonable about it. It doesn’t affect me at all. I’m like, I don’t. And it’s kind of gone away. I haven’t really heard it, you know, in a while. And I get it. Look, I’m a fan. I’m a fan of a ton of stuff. I’m a fan of of, you know, comic books, horror, blah, blah, blah. I get it, as a fan having like, part of being a fan is bitching, you know what I mean? It’s just part of it, you know what I mean? So I get it, you know what I mean? Like, we could all complain about whatever, Star Wars, we complain about it until the cows come home. Yeah, second, Star Wars puts out a movie that we all love. We’re all going to be like, It’s Star Wars, baby, you know?
MURR: Yeah, I don’t think it I don’t think it really affects us at all. All we do is focus on is making each other laugh, and then we assume that and hope that if it’s making, you know, if it makes Sal and Q laugh, and their the funniest guys I know, I have to imagine that people watching are going to love it, too. I mean, we did a punishment. You’ll see it on TV later, this year. That I think is top five of 14 years of filming this TV show. They were at the Liberty Science Center. Actually, both of them were hysterical. We did two punishments at Liberty Science Center. One was in the planetarium, and our cameras can see in the dark. It’s pitch black. And everybody’s leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. And, Q walking around in the dark trying to find his weed dealer. And he had a flashlight. He had the light in people’s eyes, and it escalated so quickly. I didn’t see it coming, you know.
Q: Like the third guy swung on me.
MURR: And then, we did another one in the Liberty Science Center. They have this thing called the Touch Tunnel, which is pitch black inside. You crawl, adults crawl through in the dark. The only way through. It’s almost like a sensory experience, you know, unbeknownst to them, the guys had me, in makeup for, like, three hours. I was dressed like a mixture of Gollum meets Dobby from, Harry Potter. Yeah. And I was in the Touch Tunnel, I, too, cannot see anything. But our cameras can see everything going on.
What do you think is the worst punishment each of you have had to endure?
MURR: For me, it was skydiving for sure. You know, as people say, I just, you know, I ran off set when I found out I had to do it. I locked myself in the bathroom, I’m sure Q remembers. And, I was in there for, like, 20 minutes and wouldn’t come out. I was terrified and I FaceTimed my mom from the bathroom. Say goodbye and I love her. She rejected the call because she was shopping at Macy’s. But I was legit terrified for my life.
Q: Yeah. I go back and forth. The one with the red ax and the children’s painting was just, I just felt like a bad human being. Like, it just felt bad. But there’s one. And I don’t think it gets aired as much because it was part of an maybe an hour long episode, but the Universal Studios one. The tram ride. And I had to keep pulling the stop.
Oh, yeah.
Q: That was the opposite. That was like, I felt intense hatred from people. It’s a 45 minute ride, we were there almost two hours on it with them and like, they hated me. They hated me. People were looking at me and saying like, I’m going to beat the shit out of you the second we’re off this. Like, I’ve never, even if you know that, like, you’re going to do, it just, I’ve never felt anything like that hatred my way before. Yeah. Psychologically, that one was pretty bad.
Nice, so, I have some specific questions for each of you. So, Murr in season five, you have to take your driver’s license photo. No hair or eyebrows. Have you been in any awkward situations, where you’ve had to kind of present the ID and then explain yourself?
MURR: Forgive me walking while you’re recording, but, are you referring to still to this day, my current license is that it? Yeah, I’ll tell you a funny story. One second. I’ll tell you my story. This is a real story. So I’m going, it’s like 5:30 in the morning, I’m at Newark airport, you know, and I go up to TSA and, a pre-check. I put the license across the desk. The guy’s got his head down. He looks at the license, and I swear to God, you can beep something out. He goes, what the fuck? It sees me and bursts out laughing.
That’s great.
MURR: But it has got me out of tickets. I will say that. Yeah, it’s gotten me out of three driving tickets. Because I get pulled over by cop for speeding or whatever it is, you know, and the cops recognize me, and, they ask to see the license. And as soon as I show it, I’ve gotten out of multiple tickets because of the license.
Q, how’s it going with your brewery? Do you still make Prince Herb Brew?
Q:Your timing is impeccable. Like for, like, an hour yesterday they were ripping on it, the beer company, excellent beer. Did not survive the pandemic. It just kept, it just kept opening and closing, and I just couldn’t carry it anymore. So, I’m still going to do something with it at some point. But right now, it’s kind of in hibernation. But what the guys loved to make fun of is, is. But why don’t you tell them Murr? You had such a blast yesterday. The way he tells it is clear because he doesn’t worry about reality.
MURR: So I will tell the accurate version that you were, yesterday on camera. Okay, so, Q’s R and H beer is excellent. Did well, it tastes delicious.
Q: It did really well until the pandemic.
MURR: Yeah, right. But then the Prince Herb Brew, which was a nonalcoholic beer under his banner R and H started, they put too much yeast in it. Yeah.
Q: We didn’t make it ourselves. We outsourced it because it was nonalcoholic.
MURR: And across America it started violently exploding.
Oh man.
MURR: Sending just hordes of nonalcoholic beer all across houses. You know, lives were lost, you know, who knows how many lives were lost? We’ll never be able to count. They couldn’t find them. Yeah, yeah.
Q: Some people thought that, like, they showed up on the scene and what they thought was a meteor strike or plane crash. And it turned out it was just Prince Herb Brew, exploding in their house. Yeah, there was a lot of that going on.
Do you guys ever think about life after Impractical Jokers and what you would do next?
MURR: Good question. You know, my mother always said you don’t know your golden years until you’re past them. And, I think we’re in our golden years right now. I’ll tell you what. We’ve been in a 14 year golden year. You know, we’re doing well, still somehow have remained friends and have, I can’t imagine a better job. So excited for, excited to keep doing it.
Impractical Jokers Season 11 premieres on TBS on Thursday, July 11 at 10pm ET/PT.
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