My Fav Four: Impractical Jokers Punishments

“Impractical Jokers” is my favorite show of all time.

We all know what it’s about: four lifelong friends who compete to embarrass each other. Even though it began over ten years ago, it became the show of my summer, and I’ve seen the whole thing three full times.

You learn that the punishments are set up strategically: Murr always gets the worst of them for the laughs, Joe has no shame so he’ll do whatever, Sal does whatever gets him scared and Q does what makes him feel or look like a horrible person.

With eleven seasons and counting, here are my favorite four punishments from the show.

James Murray: “Look Out Below” (Season 3, Episode 1)

Even though Murr is my least-favorite Joker (sorry, Murr), this is my favorite punishment of all time.

I’ve seen this episode about 10 times, and it’s only to get to the punishment.

It starts out with the classic Murr-thinks-they’re-doing-something-else-bit, and the Jokers go “well…” and give him his punishment – skydiving. The kicker? Murr is afraid of skydiving.

If you watch the “Inside The Jokes” episode on this, you’ll see it takes Murr over an hour to get on the plane, and in that time he hid in the bathroom and told his parents he loved them in case anything went wrong.

Q was the only one to consider letting Murr skip the punishment, but Joe and Sal were dead set on letting him go through with it.

The ferret-looking dude cries in the airplane, screams on the way down and hugs the ground when he lands.

This moment is so good that Joe tattoos it on him in a later season.

I’ve never cried-laughing harder watching something – it’s truly generational.

Joe Gatto: “Turning The Tables” (Season 7, Episode 6)

I find everything that Joe does is hilarious, so choosing a punishment for him was a little harder than Murr, but this is a perfect one.

For this punishment, the Jokers go to a brewery where Joe acts as the manager. His task is to discover which tables break and which do not, and the only way to find out is to sit or jump on them.

The people not with the crew obviously don’t know what’s going on, so it’s great fun to watch their reactions.

Joe puts all of his weight into the tables, then says “I’m the manager” when he gets up. It’s so great because he has to repeatedly do it to get all of them, so it’s literally watching a man break.

In the grand finale, Joe climbs on top of a ladder Hardy Boyz style, drops the elbow and sails through a table. As soon as he gets up, he slips on something and falls right back down.

There’s no better way to describe it than watching it unfold in front of you.

Sal Vulcano: “Field of Screams” (Season 3, Episode 3)

An underrated pick for Sal, the haunted maze punishments is one of my favorites because I know the backstory.

I’m an avid listener of Sal and Q’s “What Say You” podcast, and they did an episode when this season aired. Sal said that the unfortunate thing about working with your best friends is that they know your weaknesses, and Sal’s is being scared or surprised.

So, when they drop Sal in the middle of a maze, tell him it’s not haunted and make him run through it, you can pretty much guess Sal’s reaction.

On the podcast, Sal explained his first reaction is to fight or punch whatever scared him, which is crazy considering the first thing he sees in the maze is a little girl.

What also makes this punishment so great is the way they angled the camera onto Sal so that we’re looking at him through a fish lens, which makes it all the more hilarious.

Brian Quinn: “The Good, The Bad and the Punished” (Season 5 Episode 6)

Even though he’s my favorite Joker, Q doesn’t have a lot of great punishments. This one, though, is always a great watch.

From a later season, the Jokers have Q play a sheriff in a Western town and tell him to protect the people. He obliges, just to find out all the citizens hate him after he breaks up a card game.

In a span of 30 seconds, he had glass broken over his head and then slid down a bartop.

It doesn’t stop there, as Q gets pushed through a glass door, dunked underwater and, in the grand finale, forced to jump in a big old pile of horse manure.

Besides Joe, Q takes punishments the best with a smile on his face, and it’s always nice to see him commit to the bit in a little skit.

Adrianna Gallucci is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.