Impractical jokers murr suitcase series#

So it takes away the thing people hate about hidden-camera shows, which is, 'Oh, I feel bad for the people getting pranked.' We're messing with each other. Murray describes the show as an 'upside-down hidden-camera show where the joke is on us, instead of the public.

Impractical jokers murr suitcase series#

At the time that they pitched the idea to TruTV, Murray was VP of Development for NorthSouth Productions, the company that has produced the series since its inception. thing is, we've been doing this for years, but when it's on camera, the embarrassment is amplified.' Quinn and Vulcano have said when they gave their pilot episode to TruTV, it was recorded on their iPhones. Murray explained how the hidden camera format made sense based on the jokesters' skills.

TruTV announced Impractical Jokers, originally slated to be named Mission: Uncomfortable, on April 12, 2011, eight months before the show's debut. In 2008, they filmed a pilot episode for a scripted sitcom for Spike TV, but the show did not go to series. In 2007, the Tenderloins won the $100,000 grand prize in NBC's It's Your Show competition. They transitioned to producing more comedy material on the internet, with Quinn replacing former Tenderloin Mike Boccio in 2006. Gatto, Murray and Vulcano were original members of the live improv and sketch comedy troupe the Tenderloins in 1999. Joe Gatto, James 'Murr' Murray, Brian 'Q' Quinn and Sal Vulcano are four friends and former classmates from Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island, New York. From left to right: Q, Murr, Sal, and Joe. Intertitle from Season 3 to the first half of Season 9. The show's comedic themes range from witty dialogue to slapstick routines, with the reactions of both the jokers and the members of the public serving as punchlines. The intro describes the show as 'scenes of graphic stupidity among four lifelong friends who compete to embarrass each other.' The games are loosely structured, relying heavily upon improvisation. The most common premise is that a joker will immediately lose a challenge if he refuses to follow any instructions given by the other three. The games are contrived scenarios in which one joker is challenged to embarrass himself by engaging with unwitting members of the general public, receiving commands from the other jokers who are orchestrating and surveying the bizarre scenario from behind the scenes with covert surveillance equipment. At the climax, the joker who tallied the most thumbs down is the loser and is thereby subjected to a 'punishment'. A typical episode is a series of competitive games of dares in which each cast member, or 'joker', receives either a thumbs up or thumbs down for his performance.