Impractical Jokers has been on the air for nearly a decade, having premiered in December of 2011. The show has grown in popularity to the point where there are now regular cruise specials and a feature film in the works. This is due in no small part to the show’s four stars’ escalating level of discomfort and humiliation from one another.
During the trials, Sal, Murr, Q, and Joe all experience varied levels of social stress, but it is the consequences of losing those challenges that the Jokers suffer actual tribulation. Since Season 1, the punishments for losing have ranged considerably, from addressing their worst fears to delving into their personal lives, after 200 episodes. While no punishment has yet broken the foursome’s friendship, it has certainly been brought into doubt.
“Blind Justice” (2015)
Sal was assigned to speak with kids about life in jail in Season 4 while dressed in a prison outfit and wearing blackout sunglasses. As he moved around the room, Sal gave a decent monologue, describing the story of his purported misdeeds and time behind bars.
While he elicited a few chuckles, such as when he inquired what their parents would think of their misdeeds, the gathering was mostly respectful. When he removed his sunglasses, he discovered what everyone else already knew: the people in the room were all elderly.
“Look Out Below” (2014)
The loser will be lulled into a false sense of security and presented with what they assume to be a new challenge, as with many penalties on the show. This was the case for Murr, who thought the four would be posing as skydiving instructors in the opening episode of Season 3.
The other three swiftly disclosed, much to Murr’s surprise, that Murr would be skydiving as the episode’s loser. Murr was taken up with the other three Jokers, who stayed on the plane while he confronted one of his greatest fears and plummeted through the air for several minutes in this memorable episode.
Q was subjected to a particularly brutal punishment near the end of Season 3. He was supposed to work as a coach for expectant mothers, explaining what to expect during labor. While this notion alone could have been enough to make Q feel humiliated, it was not the end of it.
Soon after he started, a gadget was carried in and fitted to him, simulating the various phases of labor. Q tried to slog through it and finish the class, but was unable to, and could only berate the doctor who operated the apparatus for his apparent sadism.
“Mime And Punishment” (2017)
For years, the boys had jokingly imagined what it would be like to be chained for 24 hours to a mime. Q gets to have that ludicrous honor because he lost the episode! The other guys bind Q to a mime named Pierre for 24 hours, and he has to put up with the mime’s continual aggravation. The penalty was planned so that Q would be shackled to the mime during one of their live performances in Baltimore. Finally, the next morning, Q is set free.
“Scaredy Cat” (2013)
Sal’s aversion to cats was made abundantly plain to viewers in Season 2. He was sentenced to give a talk to cat owners who wanted to improve their relationship with their pets as part of his punishment. That is, until Sal was asked to perform a presentation from within a big cage containing a large number of cats.
Sal, who had been nervous during the ordeal, kept a close eye on the animals as they leaped and sat around him. Sal was not bitten or scratched, but each minute movement was enough to frighten him until he was released.
“Staten Island Holiday Spectacular” (2018)
While Sal’s dread of cats is one of his most well-known characteristics, they are far from the only animals he is afraid of. Sal was locked in a cage again in Season 7, but this time he was confronted with two bears rather than cats.
As they knocked down the cardboard panels covering the cage, the two carnivores unveiled themselves to Sal. Sal had to place the chicken he was given between the bars for them to devour in order to finish the punishment, only for the other Jokers to hurl additional chicken onto the ground around him.
“The Blunder Years” (2015)
Murr has arguably been subjected to some of the show’s most humiliating penalties. When he had to interview Danica McKellar, this was definitely the case. Murr had a long-standing crush on the actress after seeing The Wonder Years as a kid. However, he was told that he was fighting against bodybuilders in a competition, so this opportunity to communicate with her was squandered.
He was left to clumsily read from the even more ridiculous list of questions supplied by the other Jokers, dressed in the appropriate costume (or lack thereof) for such a tournament. Murr and Danica have become friends after the punishment, but these kind of punishments, according to Murr in an interview with Channel Guide Magazine, are more permanent than ones that have left him physically disfigured.
“The Permanent Punishment” (2014)
Another of the show’s most notable punishments occurred in the second episode of Season 3. On the loser board, an unusual three-way tie had happened, with Joe emerging as the single winner. Joe decided to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by getting tattoos on his friends.
As each joker removed their bandages one by one, the outcomes were hidden from the other jokers. Murr’s tattoo was a skydiving ferret (an animal to which he is sometimes compared), Q’s was a cartoon cat with wording poking fun at his age and unmarried state, and Sal’s was a Jaden Smith image. Joe’s only rationale for the latter was that “it’s humorous,” as opposed to the personal aspect of the previous two.
“To Hatch A Predator” (2018)
In the view of the following generation, Q’s punishment in this episode turned him become a true villain. His punishment would be to crush as many eggs as possible, as he had been told. What’s the catch? Children in the audience were taught that the eggs housed rare sea turtles.
Q was informed the truth when he removed the goggles he had been given, and he was then obliged to explain sea turtle conservation to the shocked onlookers. Q was finally told to shatter the last undamaged egg left, much to his chagrin.
“Turning The Tables” (2018)
Joe’s punishment in this episode was to investigate which tables were real and which were phony cardboard tables while posing as a restaurant manager. Joe proceeded table to table, testing each one he found dubious, surrounded by dozens of real and fraudulent clients.
As he began lunging for them, his investigations became increasingly intense, leaving the real customers astonished. Joe was finally motivated to climb a ladder and fall on the last one in order to crumple a table that was “harder than others.”
