Joe Gatto Says Goodbye

Whether you were a die hard fan making sure to tune in every night or just landing on the channel, there is no doubt that the four from the show Impractical Jokers did not fail to make your night. Impractical Jokers is described as: “Scenes of graphic stupidity among four lifelong friends who compete to embarrass each other.” They have challenges among each of the four, and then at the end whoever has the most thumbs down has to do the punishment the other three jokers come up with. The four jokers include Joe Gatto, James Murray (Murr), Brian Quinn (Q), and Sal Vulcano. 

On December 31, 2021, heart wrenching news came out on joker Joe Gatto’s Instagram post. Joe announced that he was no longer being involved with Impractical Jokers. 

The post started out with Joe stating the reason behind his leaving. “Bessy (his wife) and I have decided to amicably part ways, so now I need to focus on being the best father and co-parent to our two incredible children.” It continued on talking about how thankful he was for not only making fans laugh with his best friends but for the people behind the scenes of it all. “And even though the four of us are the ones who you all see, this show is only possible due to the hard work of the talented crew members who work behind the scenes.”

Although there is much sorrow throughout the fans, Martinsville High School students wanted to honor Joe by sharing their favorite memories throughout the seasons. 

Joe has been in 166 episodes of Impractical Jokers, and out of the 166 punishments, he has only done 42 as of July 2021. 

Freshman Oscar Sizemore’s favorite memory of Joe was a challenge among the four jokers. The four were at a restaurant where you had to put as many scoops of potatoes as they could out of their big bowl on the guests’ plates. The trick was, they did not even work at the restaurant, and the guests did not ask for potatoes. Whoever served the fewest scoops lost. Joe took the win in this challenge by singing a song repeatedly saying, “scoopski potatoes” and ended up getting ten scoops out of his bowl. 

Senior Madelyn Stantz’s favorite memory of Joe was when Sal was the loser for a punishment. The punishment was Joe, Q, and Murr set up a presentation for Sal to present to random people. Sal is known as a huge germaphobe, so the other three jokers decided to put a video of Joe laying on Sal’s couch pretending to be sick. Joe was blowing into tissues and sticking them in Sal’s cushions. 

Freshman Abi Brummet’s favorite memory of Joe was when he and Sal were both the losers and had to be in a punishment together. Their punishment was to be an opening act for the band, “Imagine Dragons,” and neither Sal nor Joe knew how to play instruments. Sal was the lead singer and guitarist, while Joe was a backup singer on the drums. They were sent out on stage without knowing what songs they were singing until Q and Murr told them. The two first started out with a song called, “Look Mommy, I’m A Rockstar.” The next song they had to perform was a capella called, “Shut Your Face Grandma.” After they were done with the second song, Joe randomly said, “DRUM SOLO!” and had a special drum solo. Right after that drum solo, he yelled into the microphone again, “DRUM SOLO!” Fans of Impractical Jokers will watch episodes from here on out in memory of Joe, and keep him and his family in their thoughts.