Written by Jennifer Amato
Starring Sal Vulcano, Joe Gatto, James “Murr” Murray and Brian “Q” Quinn.
Sal’s eyes are his most complimented featured. Murr gets his eyebrows done bi-weekly. Joe gambles at casinos and mostly wins. Q is the flirt of the group.
In a style ala VH1’s Pop-Up Video, Impractical Jokers: Inside Jokes provides humorous, witty, behind-the-scenes information about one of the best TV series out there.
Replaying past episodes of the practical joke show, the producers add tidbits of information during each of the scenes.
During “Deli Ache” at Katz’s Deli in New York, where the boys worked behind the counter, the audience learns that Katz’s serves about 10,000 pounds of pastrami each week – which is the weight of 1,000 Murrs – and the crew spent $500 on pastrami during the filming.
Murr had to take photos of customers in line and wound up sending 87 pictures of the folks to producers. He also eats more than all of the other Jokers combined, and has a bowl of soup every day.
When Joe yelled to “Benny” in the back, you find out that it’s a nod to Q’s cat Benjamin, something you would not otherwise have known.
In the “Ice Ice Baby” scene in Union Square Park, where the four sell popsicles to strangers, you learn that a mom was completely unfazed when Joe was looking for his lost gun; sirens were a blessing for the audio because of Joe’s missing gun; Murr suffered severe burns on his legs when he crawled into the freezer filled with dry ice; Sal keeps his dead goldfish in his freezer instead of burying it; and Q’s Old Spice deodorant gave an ice pop great flavor after he put it under his armpit.
For the bingo punishment at Foxwoods Casino, you get to see how real these punishments really were. Sal yelled, “Bingo!” 24 times in the 40 minutes he played in the real Foxwoods Casino. Producers were legitimately scared of a riot from the bingo players, who sometimes play for 16 hours straight and hate to be interrupted. Sal called it the most uncomfortable punishment ever, and was actually relieved to be arrested; the crowd continually called for security to remove him. Afterward, the crew found out one of the players had once won $1 million playing bingo.
Some fun facts about the group:
- Q used to work as a Blockbuster video clerk, an amusement park ride operator and a fish hauler at Fulton’s Fish Market while he was in high school.
- Q spent some time in jail in Germany for disorderly conduct.
- Q is the best at giving meaningful compliments.
- Q’s favorite sport to watch is soccer.
- Sal worked as a bartender for more than 10 years.
- Joe likes butter pecan, Q likes vanilla, Murr likes cookie dough and Sal has changing favorite flavors of ice cream.
- Murr is surprisingly flexible.
- Murr has suffered from burns, scraped knees, an ear infection and a black eye from stunts.
- Murr constantly does his “neck twitch” when he is nervous.
The Inside Jokes episodes are an ingenious way to get viewers to pay more attention because your eyes are glued to the TV. For fans, it’s a great way to find out quirky trivia-type facts. For newbies, it piques your interest about these real-life characters. Plus, you get to relive the funniest episodes from past seasons.
It’s a great play off of the live shows, too, as the more interesting facts you learn, the more relatable – and more hilarious – the guys become.
Every part of this show makes you laugh. They are amazing.
Rating: 10 out of 10
