When asked if they were class clowns or wallflowers, he said: “We were good kids - we were outgoing kids - all of us. We also went to an all-boys Catholic high school, so there was nothing to do other than try to prank each other, so I think that kind of honed our skills to never really mentally grow up. “Our high school had a really good improv group,” Murray said. He and his buddies - Joseph “Joe” Gatto, Salvatore “Sal” Vulcano and Brian "Q" Quinn - have been making people laugh since their high school days on Staten Island, N.Y. That’s really what ‘Jokers’ is - an improv show.” Origins
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“A lot of it is very much on-the-spot and improvised, because the guys and I are professional improvisers. I riff with the audience and see what happens. In my live show, it will feel like I’m making up everything as I go, and a lot of it I do.
“The great thing about our fan base is that they already love the show, so they’re already on your side. It is tons of fun, and you’ll laugh your (expletive) off.”Īnd even though he’s used to working with his friends, striking out solo, like he’ll be doing at the Paramount, isn’t daunting. I tell lots of stories, answer questions.
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“I’ll show video clips from the TV show and from my own phone. “(The show) is completely interactive, with a big screen behind me,” he said. 9 at the Paramount Theatre, 123 Third Ave. He’ll be doing his solo show at 7:30 p.m. “I’m so excited to come back to Iowa,” Murray said. 6, 2012, then played Jokers in Cedar Falls, the Diamond Jo in Dubuque and Whitey’s Bar and Billiards in Burlington, and sold out every show. The troupe got their touring act together and debuted at Penguins on Nov. “I liked him, we trusted him and now he’s been our tour manager for eight years,” Murray noted. “They basically said, ‘We don’t have a (road) show, why should we go out, why should we trust you?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m from Iowa, first and foremost.’ I told them what I did,” Johnson said. Johnson said he emailed the Jokers’ website in April 2012, and Gatto and Murray called him to see what the touring proposition was all about. “He’s our tour manager, and he’s been our tour manager since Day 1.” “Jeff Johnson is a dear friend of ours,” Murray said. He’ll be bringing tales from the funny and dark sides back to Cedar Rapids, where the Impractical Jokers launched their touring career, thanks to Jeff Johnson of Fairfax, founder of Penguins Comedy Club and USA Entertainment. “The most embarrassing moment in 11 years of television.” Cedar Rapids connection I couldn’t wrap myself around the idea that she was in the room, and there she was. She looked gorgeous, and I had no idea the guys knew her - or where to stand. “Doing squats, all greased up in front of everyone’s childhood crush from the ’80s, Danica McKellar/Winnie Cooper. "In 11 years of ‘Jokers’, that is hands-down the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me,“ Murray said. Instead, he was sent alone into a room, where he came face-to-face with his childhood crush, Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper on “The Wonder Years.” His task was to interview her, while his buddies laughed their heads off in another room, watching on a hidden camera feed. In a 2015 television episode titled “The Blunder Years,” Murray’s punishment for losing a challenge was to don skimpy swimwear, oil up and bronze up, supposedly to participate in an amateur body building competition. That may have been the most dangerous punishment for the sake of his art, but another stunt left him squirming in his seat. What: James “Murr” Murray from “Impractical Jokers”