HBO Max and TruTV Remove Impractical Jokers Episodes in Wake of Joe Gatto’s Departure

By Jade Gomez  |  January 6, 2022 | 3:00pm
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Comedy News Impractical Jokers
HBO Max and TruTV Remove Impractical Jokers Episodes in Wake of Joe Gatto’s Departure

Joe Gatto, best known as one of the members of The Tenderloins, the comedy troupe behind the hit hidden camera television show Impractical Jokers, announced his departure from the show after nine seasons in the late hours of Dec. 31, 2021.

In a statement shared on Gatto’s Instagram account, he said, “Alongside my friends, I’ve devoted a decade of my life to building this franchise and couldn’t be prouder of what has been accomplished. However, due to some issues in my personal life, I have to step away.” Gatto continued, “Bessy 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 kids.”

The remaining members, Sal Vulcano, Brian Quinn and James Murray, shared a joint statement on their social media accounts shortly after:

Hi everyone, so here we are…After all these years together, we never imagined making Impractical Jokers without Joe. While we are saddened to see him go, we want to keep making people laugh, keep our relationships with the Impractical Jokers fans going, and keep working with the members of our team that we consider family. With the support of our fans, we’ll get back to making a new chapter of Impractical Jokers in January.

The hidden camera show is structured so that the members challenge each other to say something or complete challenges via earpiece. The member(s) with the most losses is deemed the loser and must be subjected to humiliating scenarios known as “punishments” as decided by the others.

TruTV has since removed Gatto’s name from their website. Several episodes featuring Gatto in compromising situations have also been removed from both TruTV’s site as well as HBO Max, including “Bull Shiatsu,” which features punishment with Gatto hiding inside a massage chair to give people massages, as well as “The Dream Crusher,” which includes a challenge in which the Jokers must kiss a chosen stranger in a mall food court. The clips have also been removed from TruTV’s YouTube channel.

Paste has reached out to TruTV for comment, and has not heard back as of press time.

 
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