The Impractical Jokers Are Being Very Practical

They’re four friends who earn a living by making each other uncomfortable. And that makes them the greatest lesson in teamwork.

- Jason Feifer

THE INDIGNITIES MOUNT. First, Murr is told that he has to compete in a bodybuilding competition. And to be clear, Murr is nobody’s definition of fit. Stripped down to an American flag Speedo, he looks like a fillet of cod—a soft, slender, floppy whiteness untouched by the sun. Next, his three best friends—Joe, Sal, and Q—oil him up and spread on a nice layer of bronzer. Murr seems amused. He’s done worse with these guys: He’s faced off alone against a professional dodgeball team, he’s been stuffed inside a piñata and hung from a crane, and he’s even had his nipple pierced. So twitching in front of guys who could bench-press him? Sure, why not.

Murr is waiting with a bunch of meatheads when his name is called. He is led down a hallway and toward a door. As it opens, you can see him thinking through his next move. He’ll channel Schwarzenegger, make his buddies laugh, and then—

Oh, God. There’s no bodybuilding competition in this room. There’s just a woman—a very beautiful, very familiar woman—sitting in a chair. Murr knows he’s being filmed, just like he knows his three best friends are watching his face drop; he can hear them through the earpiece he’s wearing, and they’re dying of laughter. What has he walked into?