Impractical Jokers Fans Are Furious With The Series Over Latest Casting Move
Since its premiere on truTV at the end of 2011, Impractical Jokers has centered on four lifelong friends who attended high school together in Staten Island.
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Since its premiere on truTV at the end of 2011, Impractical Jokers has centered on four lifelong friends who attended high school together in Staten Island. Their dynamic is crucial to what has kept the series going for so long. Due to the long history between the stars, it would be impossible to replace one of the cast members and capture the same magic that has kept fans tuning in for all this time. However, life changes may have forced just that on the cast. In a recent Instagram post, Joe Gatto announced he’s leaving the show behind.
You can see the announcement from the Impractical Jokers star below.
As explained in the post, Joe Gatto is leaving Impractical Jokers so he can focus on his family. While he loves the franchise he’s helped build, he and his wife are divorcing. He feels he needs to put more effort toward his family during this time, so he’s leaving the show behind. He doesn’t mention if he’ll be recast on the show or how it will move forward without him, but does say that outside of his family, the cast and crew have been the most important people in his life.
Joe Gatto says that he hopes to find new ways to make his fans laugh outside of Impractical Jokers, but doesn’t specify what other projects may be in his future. For now, his focus is co-parenting his children and navigating the obstacles ahead in his personal life. While comments directly on his Instagram post focused on supporting him through this change, people on their own accounts immediately expressed their disappointment and frustrations. The news of Joe Gatto leaving the show came right after the death of Golden Girls star Betty White, compounding the feelings fans had to sort through.
You can see some of the reactions of Impractical Jokers fans below.
Impractical Jokers has a dedicated following. While the show isn’t one that everyone is aware of, it’s gone on for so long because the audience that loves it stays with it. The typical format for the show is a dare competition. One of the Jokers goes out into the public, while the three others issue a number of improvised dares that typically involve them interacting with unaware members of the general public. If the Joker refuses any of the dares, they lose that challenge. Their fellow Jokers also give them thumbs up or thumbs down. By the end of the episode, the Joker with the most thumbs down is the loser and gets a punishment. The idea for the dares is to attempt to embarrass the Joker, something that works best with four lifelong best friends.
Will Joe Gatto ever return to Impractical Jokers? Does this mean the end of the series? For now, fans are left waiting for news on what will happen next with the long-running franchise, and what Joe Gatto’s next moves may be in his ongoing work making his audience laugh.
