After premiering in December of 2011, Impractical Jokers has now been on the air for nearly a decade. The show has become extremely popular, with the franchise now including regular cruise specials and an upcoming feature film. This has been due in no small part to the ever-increasing level of discomfort and embarrassment that the show’s four stars endure from one another.
Sal, Murr, Q, and Joe all put themselves through varying levels of social stress during the challenges, but it is during the punishments from losing said challenges that the Jokers face true tribulation. After 200 episodes, the consequences for losing have ranged widely since Season 1, from targeting their greatest fears to poking at their personal lives. While so far no punishment has cracked the friendship between the four, it has certainly been called into question.
“Look Out Below” (2014)
As with many punishments on the show, the loser will be briefly lulled into a false sense of security and present what they believe to be a new challenge. This was the case for Murr, who in the first episode of Season 3 believed the four would be posing as skydiving instructors.
Much to his horror, the other three quickly revealed that Murr was himself going to be actually skydiving as that episode’s loser. In this infamous episode, Murr was taken up along with the other three Jokers, who remained on the plane as he faced one of his greatest fears and plummeted through the air for several minutes.
“The Permanent Punishment” (2014)
The second episode of Season 3 had another of the show’s most memorable punishments. This time a rare three-way tie had occurred on the loser board, with Joe coming out as the sole winner. Joe decided to make this rare opportunity really count and chose to have his friends receive tattoos.
The results were hidden from the other jokers as one by one each removed their bandages. Murr’s tattoo depicted a ferret (an animal he is often compared to) skydiving, Q’s was cartoon cat with text poking at his age and single status, and Sal’s was a portrait of Jaden Smith. Unlike the personal nature of the first two, Joe’s only reason for the latter was that “It’s funny.”
“Blind Justice” (2015)
In Season 4 Sal was sent in a prison uniform and blackout sunglasses to speak with teenagers about life in prison. Sal offered a relatively decent monologue as he walked around the room, telling the story around his apparent crimes and life behind bars.
While he received a few giggles, such as when he asked what their parents would think of their transgressions, the room was respectful for the most part. The main issue came when he took the sunglasses off and realized what everyone else knew; the people in the room were all elderly.
“Make Womb For Daddy” (2014)
Toward the end of Season 3, Q experienced a punishment that was exceptionally visceral. He was to act as a coach for pregnant women and explain to them what labor would entail. While this premise alone could have served as an embarrassing punishment, this was not the extent of what awaited Q.
Shortly after beginning, a device was wheeled in and attached to him that would replicate the different stages of childbirth. Q attempted to gruel through it and continue the class, but was unable to and could only berate the apparent sadism of the doctor operating the device.
“To Hatch A Predator” (2018)
Q’s punishment in this episode made him a true villain in the eyes of the next generation. As he was told, his punishment would be to set a record-smashing as many eggs as possible. The catch? The audience before him were children told that the eggs contained rare sea turtles.
As Q removed the goggles he had been provided, he was told the truth and was then forced to explain sea turtle conservation to the horrified spectators. Finally, much to his chagrin, Q was instructed to smash the only intact egg left.
“Turning The Tables” (2018)
Posing as the manager of a restaurant, Joe’s punishment in this episode was to investigate which tables were real and which were fake cardboard tables. With dozens of real and fake customers around him, Joe went table to table, testing each one that he found to be suspicious.
His investigations grew more and more intense as he began lunging upon them, leaving the real customers stunned. In order to crumple a table that was “harder than others,” Joe was finally prompted to climb a ladder and fall on the last one.
“The Blunder Years” (2015)
Murr has arguably gone through some of the most personally embarrassing punishments on the show. This was absolutely the case when he had to interview Danica McKellar. Having watched The Wonder Years as a child, Murr had a longstanding infatuation with the actress. This opportunity to interact with her was spoiled however, as he had been told that he was competing against bodybuilders in a competition.
Adorned in the attire (or lack thereof) of such a competition, he was left to awkwardly read from the even more embarrassing list of questions written by the other Jokers. Murr and Danica have actually become friends since the punishment, but according to Murr in an interview with Channel Guide Magazine, these sorts of punishments are more permanent to him than those that have left him physically altered.
“Scaredy Cat” (2013)
Sal’s extreme fear of cats was made very clear to viewers in Season 2. For his punishment, he was made to give a lecture to cat owners who wished to have a better connection with their pets. That is until Sal was prompted to give a demonstration from within a large cage full of cats.
Nervous throughout the affair, Sal cautiously watched the animals as they jumped and sat around him. Neither a bite nor scratch came to him, but each minute movement was enough to panic Sal until he was released.
“Staten Island Holiday Spectacular” (2018)
While Sal’s fear of cats is among the most well-known facts about him, felines are by no means the only animals that he fears. This fact was made very clear when Sal was once again placed in a cage in Season 7, although this time he faced not cats, but two bears.
The two carnivores revealed themselves to Sal as they knocked down the cardboard panels covering the cage. In order to finish the punishment Sal had to place the chicken he was provided with between the bars for them to eat, only for the other Jokers to then throw more chicken at the ground around him.
“Mime and Punishment” (2017)
The prospect of being stuck with a mime for 24 hours was evidently a longstanding concept among the Jokers when it was finally executed on Q in Season 6. Throughout that time the Jokers were set to travel by train to a live comedy special.
Tasks including using the bathroom in privacy, performing on stage, and sleeping all had to be done by Q while a mime was handcuffed to him. As the final seconds were counted down and Q was finally freed, the previously silent mime expressed his satisfaction with the experience.
