‘Impractical Jokers’ Star Talks New ‘Games and Twists’ and Celebrity Guests
Impractical Jokers is gearing up to make a big splash when it returns to truTV in June. Viewers already got a preview of what’s to come in April in a special episode featuring Eric André — one of the many guest hosts who will appear on the show following Joe Gatto’s exit. But that’s only a taste of what’s ahead.
James Murray opened up about the future of ‘Impractical Jokers’
James Murray, who hosts the show with friends Brian Quinn and Sal Vulcano, teased the upcoming season to TV Insider.
“We have everyone from Chris Jericho to Method Man to Colin Jost to Brooke Shields and so many more,” Murr said. “We’re so excited.”
In addition to that, viewers will get to see the jokers participate in new challenges.
“There are new games and twists of the format of Impractical Jokers,” Murr continued. But he also noted that there are “plenty of tried-and-true challenges that you’ve come to grow to love over the years,” too.
How the celebrity guests on ‘Impractical Jokers’ work
Murr previously said that each episode features a celebrity as part of a punishment, which he called “great fun” and also “horribly embarrassing.”
In the April episode, André helped the jokers come up with a way to discipline Sal. Knowing how much he hates when Impractical Jokers is called a prank show, they had him host a prank show, where he had to insult the intelligence of contestants who fell for the stunts. It was so brutal that a woman even broke down in tears. So far, the clip has amassed over 800,000 views on YouTube.
The new formula was created after Joe Gatto left the show
Guests hosts will be used to help fill the void left by Gatto. The comedian, a founding member of the comedy team behind the show, departed the series in December after nine seasons. He said on Instagram at the time that he had separated from his wife and needed time to focus on himself.
The jokers have been open about how hard it was to do the show without him. But it hasn’t been all bad, either.
“Adding a celebrity to a punishment actually throws us off balance more, because we don’t know how people are going to react to them and to us simultaneously,” Murr told TV Insider.
“It’s added a great new twist and fun element to the TV show,” he added.
Murr especially can’t wait for viewers to see one involving Q, who “has to compete in a spelling bee against a fifth-grader. But every time he gets a question spelled incorrectly, Colin Jost releases a police attack dog to take him down.” The scene can be seen for a brief moment in the trailer for the upcoming season.
New episodes of Impractical Jokers will begin rolling out June 16.
