Impractical Jokers - General Discussion

[rmontro]

I watched the latest episode where the Joker were teaching computer tech to seniors, and I swear the guy in Q's class (who called him a nut job) was in the audience when Sal gave his "Scared Straight" punishment talk to a bunch of seniors.

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

That could be! They do tend to go back to locations every once in a while. I expect it's getting a little harder to film  in NYC without being recognized.

There was a recent show, I can't remember what it was, but another semi-famous person was talking about hanging out with the Jokers, and how they would get mobbed by fans.  It's hard to believe they don't have trouble filming because of being recognized.  I really think that a lot of people actually do recognize them but just sort of play along.

[rmontro]

46 minutes ago, 17wheatthins said:

I saw that! Colin Jost from SNL said they got mobbed in New Orleans LOL

That's right, thanks.  Was it on an After Party?  I can't remember where I saw it.

[rmontro]

On 8/26/2017 at 8:16 PM, 17wheatthins said:

Yeah, After Party. Those are pretty good; I like hearing them talk about the episode after it airs. 

I'm not a big fan of the After Parties, they remind me of the newer Casey Jost segments that run now right after the punishment.  Although I like that we get to see some of the deleted gags, like this week's "Impossible Puzzle" for kids, that was funny.  I also liked the Toilet Soldiers (on the regular show).  Especially when Sal was defending the toy, saying the kids wouldn't have to play in the water, and then they ran the commercial which showed the kids dipping the soldiers into the toilet water.

I notice a lot of times the Jokers seem to play the bits more for laughs than necessarily to get the win.  Which takes a bit of nerve, because I know I wouldn't want to do some of those punishments.  Some aren't bad, but some are.

[rmontro]

25 minutes ago, 17wheatthins said:

This most recent episode, with the toys and the "don't send" emails was pretty funny, and I liked Sal's punishment, especially the lady who yelled at him for shushing her XD

That reminded me of my ex-wife, who used to have some sort of thing about being shushed.  She absolutely hated getting shushed, and would get very angry about it.  I thought it was funny that Sal was so embarrassed that he went and hid in the kitchen and wouldn't come out.  Sal is often the biggest baby about being punished, but they don't usually push him too far.

I also liked the scenes where Murray got that guy to go see Aladdin with him.  He had supposedly asked everyone on the crew and no one wanted to go see Aladdin with him.  It's funny because you wouldn't think a famous guy like Murr would have trouble finding someone to go to a show with him.  You'd think there would be single women out there who would jump at the chance to go to a show with him.

[rmontro]

On 9/2/2017 at 11:40 PM, 17wheatthins said:

I loved that kid & that Murr a) treated the whole night because he invited the kid and b) bought the kid's brother a ticket as well 

I wondered how that worked.  It sounded like Murr had a pair of tickets, and bought a third one for the kid's brother.  But were they able to get all three seats together?  That seemed a little strange, or lucky, to me.  Did they downgrade their seats to get three together?  If they couldn't get the seats together, did Murr end up sitting by himself anyway?  Or maybe he was able to use his celebrity to work something out?  It just seemed to bring up more questions than it answered, but I may be the only person who cared lol.

Edited September 4, 2017 by rmontro

[Nessie]

On 9/2/2017 at 11:40 PM, 17wheatthins said:

I think most women are hard wired against "shush" LOL! I know I would get pretty angry if someone did it to me. 

I agree...I will get instantly irritated if I am sushed; I am not a child.  I have a coworker who does it whenever someone says something she does not want to happen, like it will ward it off.  Angers me every time, even when it's not aimed at me - I think it's so rude.

How long does Murr have to wear that thing on his head?  I saw the original episode, but I totally can't remember.  Is he allowed to wash it?  Because it's looking kind of ratty.

Edited September 4, 2017 by Nessie

[Nessie]

On 9/4/2017 at 1:33 AM, 17wheatthins said:

I know he has to wear it for "the rest if the season"   But I'm pretty sure it's only while filming. I don't know if wigs can be washed? My mom wore one in the 60s for formal parties but that was before my time.  

Thanks @17wheatthins!

[wallysmommy]

"Up your ass, and to the left" is going to be my new mental go-to phrase when I'm in a meeting with executives and they ask me a stupid question.

[rmontro]

Funny thing:  I've actually decided that Murr looks better with Q's hair.  At least he did when he first started wearing it, before it started to get too ragged looking.  But it's a good look for him I think, the long hair.

[rmontro]

Watched the show last night, and I noticed something.  It seems like the jokers are getting more daring with their stunts.  Several times I thought "Oh there's no way he's going to do that", but then he would go on and do it.  Murr seemed only mildly inconvenienced by having to go around and "honk" pectorals.  And several times he and Sal were dared to do something to insult a passerby, and they didn't hesitate, even seemed to take a little pleasure in it.  I was thinking in the early episodes they were more reluctant to insult people openly.  

It's only natural though, that with all the seasons they've done, that they would have gotten better and more comfortable doing this with practice.

[rmontro]

Watched the season ending "GI Jokers" special.  Makes me wonder the way they destroyed Q's jeep.  Surely Q is going to be reimbursed for that loss, somehow or other?

They must have replaced the original hula girl in the car with another one, because there's no way I believe that it survived that fire.  Looks like they maybe smudged it up to look like it had some smoke damage.

When they said they were going to destroy a Joker's personal possession, I immediately thought that it was either Q's jeep or Murr's blanket.

[rmontro]

2 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

it was hilarious to see what happened to Murr’s “q-pay”.

Where did they carry that thing off to, anyway?  The Smithsonian?  I'm going to miss Murr's hairpiece.  Funny how Sal said that he got along better with him when he was wearing it.

I felt sorry for Murr going up in the jet.  I get motion sickness fairly easily, so I'm sure I would have been using the bag too.  Murr's done some amazing things considering he's afraid of heights.

[rmontro]

I'm currently watching them do the bit where they are making noise in the library with different items given them by the other Jokers and seeing if anyone shushes them.

That's a good bit, IMO, and they should revisit it.  They've done a lot of their grocery store games several times.

The problem might have been that people were reluctant to shush them, no matter what they did.  Sal banged some cymbals together, and still no one shushed him.  It was funny watching the people around them laughing though.

Edited December 21, 2017 by rmontro

[rmontro]

On 4/3/2017 at 1:28 PM, 17wheatthins said:

I think it's his charisma and his pretty eyes, honestly. He can really flirt well also.

I'm sure it's just my memory but I can't seem to recall Sal ever really flirting on the show.  He is good at talking to people in a relaxed, natural way though.  

[wallysmommy]

I'd like to hear opinions on the Season 7 opener.  I felt like it lost its "4 friends from high school who perform acts of graphic stupidity" to "3 guys who do things to the 4h guy to see how much they can physically hurt him because they really don't like him."  The psychological challenges are funny.  Last night was like it was mailed in.  There was absolutely NO creativity. Recycled challenges, and throwing ice buckets on someone.  I love this show and hate the thought that they might not be putting the same passion into it that they did in earlier seasons.

Edited February 2, 2018 by wallysmommy
Spelling correction -- here is not the same as hear!

[rmontro]

I agree the first episode of season 7 was rather lackluster.  The marathon was the worst part, throwing cold water on someone running in freezing weather isn't funny, it's just mean, whether Murray is a good sport or not.

You can't help but notice that they give Murr what seems like the worst punishments, but I think there is something to the idea that the punishments are tailored to the person.  Look at the punishment where Murr was dressed as Dracula (one of my favorites).  He turned it into a triumph with his James Brown performance - working in high school theater paid off for him.  The point is you can't really give Murr the kind of punishments they give to say, Q, where they put him on stage and try to embarrass him, because it might backfire.

[rmontro]

I thought the second episode from season 7 bounced back nicely.  I thought the grocery store and UFO presentations were funny.

The Q punishment reminded me of the one where Murray was at the horse track selling hot dogs and wouldn't give anybody change.  Combining a similar situation with alcohol sounds dangerous.

[rmontro]

5 minutes ago, 17wheatthins said:

Did you ever see the one when Sal has to “cut off” people at some alcohol convention? Very cringe inducing.  XD

Hard to miss it when TruTV runs about 1,000 Impractical Joker episodes a week  :)  But yeah, I like that one, it's funny.  Always enjoyable to see Sal uncomfortable.

[wallysmommy]

I thought S7 episode 2 was much better than the season opener.  Murr's Dracula punishment is one of my favorites; it never fails to make me laugh.  There's no physical danger, and it's creative.  

[rmontro]

15 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

I was scared he would get seriously hurt by the guy when he went after him. :-( I'm glad the production team and security were so close by  

That was about as close a call as we've seen.  I was impressed by how quick those security guys (or whoever they were) got out there to protect their meal ticket.  Q kept wondering why he was so mad.  I'd say it's more surprising that this sort of thing doesn't happen to them more often.  (For context, this was the incident where Murr was supposed to get the guy to try on the bra for him, because he was the same size as his wife.  Murr kept laughing, but never even got his request out, because the guy started to go after him.  To be fair to the guy, Murr had already reached in front of him several times to get shirts.  Murr actually initiated the physical contact.)

At the end, with the punishment at the huge gala, there were so many people there.  No way that at least some of those people didn't recognize them.

[goodbyeglittergirl]

Hated the clip show for the Olympics this week. No thanks. 

[rmontro]

In this last episode, the Jokers were in the dentist's office again.  Seriously, some of those patients had to be very leery, if not terrified by some of the things these guys were saying - like Q stating that he didn't really work there, plus all the bizarre things they were doing.  They had to feel like they were stuck in there with some sort of madman.

I thought Murr's "stripper punishment" was one of the funnier ones they've done.  All covered with welts and rashes because they shot his torso up with histamines - once again they mess with Murr's health in a punishment.  It was kind of similar to his "Dracula" punishment, because by the end he had turned a lot of the audience to his side.  Murr doesn't have a stripper body, but he does stay in at least decent shape.

[Cajungirl64]

[rmontro]

Q looks like he's got a Robert Plant type rock and roll pose in that picture, about to belt out another lyric into the mic.

[Cajungirl64]

2 hours ago, rmontro said:

Q looks like he's got a Robert Plant type rock and roll pose in that picture, about to belt out another lyric into the mic.

My husband and I had second row seats to their live show last year (that's where I took the pic). I wore my Team Joe shirt and he actually called me out! I can honestly say I have never laughed so hard in my life. I already laugh like a hyena at the tv show, but seeing them live was on another level... 

[rmontro]

Wait, that's not a Robert Plant stance, that's a Joey Ramone stance!  I knew it looked familiar.  Joey grew up in Queens, so that's not too far from Q and the boys.

[GordonGartrelle]

On 3/3/2018 at 3:21 AM, rmontro said:

In this last episode, the Jokers were in the dentist's office again.  Seriously, some of those patients had to be very leery, if not terrified by some of the things these guys were saying - like Q stating that he didn't really work there, plus all the bizarre things they were doing.  They had to feel like they were stuck in there with some sort of madman.

I thought Murr's "stripper punishment" was one of the funnier ones they've done.  All covered with welts and rashes because they shot his torso up with histamines - once again they mess with Murr's health in a punishment.  It was kind of similar to his "Dracula" punishment, because by the end he had turned a lot of the audience to his side.  Murr doesn't have a stripper body, but he does stay in at least decent shape.

I thought Murr's "stripper punishment" was one of the funnier ones they've done

 I am divided on this one, as are 1/2 of my friends.

In talking about this episode, of course many thought it was funny.

But me and most of my friends thought they tried hard to play it up for laughs.  They made Murr look ridiculous.  Would I choose Murr over Tatum Channing, yes.  Would I choose Murr over Mathew or Joe, Oh hell to the no.  Murr has a decent body and I'm sure if he learned the dance moves he would be okay to perform with the cast.

[rmontro]

On 3/15/2019 at 12:41 PM, GordonGartrelle said:

But me and most of my friends thought they tried hard to play it up for laughs.  They made Murr look ridiculous. 

Well, that was kind of the point - to make Murr look ridiculous and get some laughs.

Saw the season opener.  Not much to say about it.  They focused a lot on Joe's change of hairstyle (from spikes to a combover).  

Sal thought no one would spill milk (or whatever) in the supermarket, turned out everybody did.  Everybody that we saw, anyway.

The taxi bit reminded me of several other challenges they try.  I'm surprised people don't freak out thinking they're stuck in a taxi with an unstable psychotic person.

Didn't care about the punishment at all, although I did think Murr's collection of Segways was pretty neat.  I knew they were going to end up breaking both guy's items.

[rmontro]

That was kind of a shame about the one of a kind pinball machine.  Sounds like they had been given it as a group, and Sal was the one to take it home.  So maybe they destroyed it out of some friendly spite.  A lot of these punishments are kind of mean.  I recently watched the one where they made Murr skydive,  The guy was terrified, I don't think it's right to make someone who has a fear of heights skydive, but maybe that's just me.

I looked up those Segways, those were the "cheaper" type Segways.  There was a knee control model and a scooter, and they both run under $500.  The original professional level Segways can cost like $6000 - $8000 dollars.  Makes you wonder how they obtain these personal items, surely they don't break into their houses.  Maybe Murr's parents let them in?  And someone from Sal's family?

[rmontro]

This is obviously a popular show, so I'm not sure why there isn't more traffic here.  Maybe it's because there are so many reruns always on that people can't figure out which are the new shows to comment on.

I don't care for punishments like they had last week, with Murr going around closing everybody's laptops.  I'm sure it was uncomfortable for him, but it seems like bits like this are more of a punishment for the people involved than for the Jokers themselves.  At least the Jokers know it's a joke, a TV show, and that they're getting paid.  And even if they're uncomfortable they usually get a laugh or two out of it.  The people in this case were just annoyed, since they're not in on the joke.

[Cherry Cola]

Joe with the Virtual reality headset was cracking me up.  He truly is the funniest ones.  

[Toaster Strudel]

This is my favorite show right now. Season 2 is even better than Season 1, it's less about getting into people's faces and sexual innuendos, and there's more about people's surprisingly kind, or brazen responses to the gags.

[rmontro]

This may seem like an odd question, but has Sal ever had his shirt off?

I bring this up because they seem to be kind of soft with Sal when it comes to punishments.  Whereas they seem pretty harsh with Murray.  They've had several nude or near-nude punishment with Murr, and they threw him out of a plane even though he was afraid of heights.

It seems to me that if they knew Sal had an aversion to taking his shirt off, they would make him take his shirt off just to mess with him.  But a lot of the time they sort of let him off the hook, they don't make him go through with some of the stuff they ask him to do.  Like when he was giving the zoo presentation and they wanted him to put some animals on his shoulder, he couldn't do it.  And I seem to recall he couldn't do his part in the fireman punishment, so Q had him do something easier.  

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

I think this is the only instance:

Hey, you found one.  I'm impressed, I hadn't been able to think of one.

Q also has an admitted aversion to taking his shirt off, although he took it off without prompting on that episode where he was a restaurant manager and got into the "Hey, my eyes are up here" argument with the customer.  Again, since he's admitted his aversion, I'm surprised they don't make him do it.  They do it with Joe and Murr a lot, but they don't seem to care.

I can't remember if there are other instances of Q taking his shirt off or not.  I keep thinking of the episodes with the pools or the beach.

[rmontro]

Watched the most recent episode, where Q has to stick to one guy during a networking party.  Maybe I misread the situation, but it looked to me like that bald guy that Q was clinging to was there to pick up women just as much as he was to network.

[rmontro]

Amazing that this show is so popular but generates so little conversation.  Oh well.

This last punishment for Murr was one of my favorites.  Where he made the speech and inhaling helium and sulfur to make his voice go high and low.  But I really liked the speech that was written, the story of the Megabyte, it went perfectly with the pitch changes.  "Aah!  Your firewalls are too strong!".  

I also enjoyed watching the reactions of the people in the audience.  Some people didn't seem to be paying attention at all, some were annoyed, and some people were laughing.  Put me in the laughing category, because I thought this was funny.  And I was just beginning to think they were getting stale.  

[jmcd44]

On 5/30/2019 at 10:17 PM, rmontro said:

Q also has an admitted aversion to taking his shirt off, although he took it off without prompting on that episode where he was a restaurant manager and got into the "Hey, my eyes are up here" argument with the customer.  Again, since he's admitted his aversion, I'm surprised they don't make him do it.  They do it with Joe and Murr a lot, but they don't seem to care.

I saw an inside jokers where Q couldn’t take his off because he hadn’t officially retired from the NYFD. 

Another Inside Jokers said Q was ok with letting Murr out of the skydiving but the other two would not. 

And Murr’s twitter said he got engaged today!

[rmontro]

18 hours ago, jmcd44 said:

I saw an inside jokers where Q couldn’t take his off because he hadn’t officially retired from the NYFD. 

Another Inside Jokers said Q was ok with letting Murr out of the skydiving but the other two would not. 

And Murr’s twitter said he got engaged today!

Interesting information.  What does the NYFD have to do with taking your shirt off though?

Good hearted of Q for wanting to let Murray out of the skydiving, he was clearly terrified.  Congrats to Murr for getting engaged, we'll have to see if and how his status changes the dynamic on the show.

[rmontro]

Sal's punishment in the White Castle was kind of odd, because the other Jokers were really doing most of the uncomfortable interactions.  Like Joe would be rude to the customer over the speaker, and then Sal would be at the window to face him.  Normally they would feed the lines to Sal and have him say them.  He can't refuse, because it's a punishment.

Anyone see the Misery Index yet?  I didn't care for it.

[rmontro]

Saw the episode last night, and more specifically the awful After Party following.  Joe said he was now a vegan!  He had only been vegan for 12 days he said, but something about that really disappointed me.  Joe of all people eating healthy.  I feel betrayed!

Maybe it won't last.

Between the show being aired wall to wall on TruTV, the After Party, and the (weak) Misery Index, I can't help but think the Tenderloins are getting overexposed.  And next month their movie is coming out.

[magpye29]

Did anyone watch the dinner party last night?  I didn't think it was that funny, but it was nice to see the guys again. 

Spoiler

Murr's fiancee is so pretty and seems really nice.

 

[rmontro]

I saw it.  I agree it wasn't that humorous.  I don't care much for their after parties either, but at least they're out there trying.  The biggest thing that got my attention is that it looked like Sal was putting sour cream on his spaghetti.

When they first revealed the spaghetti, I thought Joe had fallen off his vegan diet, but nope they were vegan meatballs.

Wow, Murr's fiance is really attractive.  He's really leveraging his celebrity.  Murray looked like a sore thumb all dressed up for dinner, and the soon to be trophy wife, with the others in their street clothes.

[OpalNightstream]

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

I saw it.  I agree it wasn't that humorous.  I don't care much for their after parties either, but at least they're out there trying.  The biggest thing that got my attention is that it looked like Sal was putting sour cream on his spaghetti.

When they first revealed the spaghetti, I thought Joe had fallen off his vegan diet, but nope they were vegan meatballs.

Wow, Murr's fiance is really attractive.  He's really leveraging his celebrity.  Murray looked like a sore thumb all dressed up for dinner, and the soon to be trophy wife, with the others in their street clothes.

Yes I’m happy for Murr and his young fiancée but it’s clearly a new relationship. I can’t imagine joe being that mushy with his wife. I think behind him was a painting of his fiancée as a queen? 

[magpye29]

On 5/22/2020 at 2:06 PM, OpalNightstream said:

I can’t imagine joe being that mushy with his wife.

Oh, I don't know about that.  Any guy who names his (many!) dogs after Italian pastries and calls his wedding ring his "kryptonite" probably has a huge mushy center.

[VioletWitch]

Uh oh 😞Looks like there is problems between Joe and Q

[dvr devotee]

I just stumbled upon IJ: Dinner Party tonight. I has no idea how badly I needed this in my life. I just love these guys.

[rmontro]

Last week's episode was the last of the Dinner Party shows, and was one of the best IMO.  The challenge where they each painted a self portrait was hilarious.  I could not stop laughing at Murr's.  Mariano Rivera was a good guest also.

[rmontro]

They started a new season last night.  I didn't quite understand the scene in the grocery store because no one was wearing masks.  So it must have been old footage, because I don't know where in the country that would have been otherwise.  It had Jameela Jamil in it, so maybe it was from when they first started filming the Misery Index. 

People took the news of their dog being violated amazingly well.

[rmontro]

By the way, I hate the crotch chop thing that Jameela Jamil does.  Not very appealing.  And I say that as someone who watched WWE when they used to do that all the time.