Almost two years ago, devotees of the long-running TruTv hit Impractical Jokers were bummed to see that after 9 successful seasons, fan favorite Joe Gatto was leaving the program.
But fans who have sorely missed Gatto’s fearless wit are in luck, as the New York native is hitting the road with a night of storytelling – and hitting Houston solo for the very first time.
Without his Joker buddies to mess with him, what can audiences expect from this all new Joe Gatto experience? “It’s funny, let’s start there,” the comic says in his patented speedy deadpan. “People are wondering: are they going to laugh? Guaranteed. 3-5 laughs, in your pocket. My show is authentic. If you watched me on TV, you got to see Joe on Impractical Jokers and you get to see more of that person you got to know and fall in love with on TV. I wasn’t playing a character on there. It was just me as myself.
“The format of my show is a lot of stories. I’m a storyteller, so I am up there telling stories of my friendship with the guys, on and off screen. Stories about growing up with a crazy Italian mother. About being a parent to my two amazing kids, and all the silliness that happens with them and how I’m basically messing that up everyday. Stories about living in a house filled with lovely and rambunctious rescue dogs, as I continue on my path of trying to save them all.”
Gatto says writing material is a bit different when plucking anecdotes from real life. “My format really is like storytelling with perspective, so I’ll always add a little bit of what I’m thinking in there. And that has been a big thing for me, so now as I am developing this hour – and I’ve been doing this hour for about 16 months now. So as I start thinking about my next hour, and I’m thinking about what other stories I can tell and even start to tell a few here and there to see if they have legs to them. So I think the picking of what material and what to talk about that is the interesting part.”
Talking about the transformative nature of being part of an ensemble that went mainstream all at once, Gatto seems appreciative all these years later. “I would say mostly it was night and day,” he says, reflecting on the break-through success the group after hitting the airwaves in 2011. “I went from a comic in New York hanging with my friends and I was basically doing it as a hobby. I had a day job when we got picked up with the Impractical Jokers, I was selling baby furniture here in New York. A complete 180. Then it was a 1 in a million chance to get picked up for that pilot, then another 1 in a million chance for it go to series, then a 1 in a trillion chance for it be go on running for more than ten years. It’s insane.”
“The biggest thing for me became being a source of laughter. In the beginning, it was cool, you know? But soon you realize that you have become a part of people’s lives. How you help effect families. I remember growing up watching TV with my Dad, and we used to watch Home Improvement with Tim Allen. Tim Allen was like the first stand up special that I saw. So to see that, to be that to people – it’s not lost on me. That’s a really cool thing for me. It’s unbelievable. And to get to do it with your best friends too, that’s gotta be a 1 in a gazillion shot! That’s impossible, it just does not happen.”
Gatto is also happy to report his current relationship with his former comedy partners, Murr, Sal and Q. “Hate them! Don’t talk anymore. Screw those guys,” he says straight. Then, with a big laugh. “No, we’re bitter rivals that hang out and talk all the time. We’re just not friends from work anymore. That’s the easier way to understand it. We were friends 20 years before we got on TV, and we’ve been friends for almost 35 years at this point and it’s all been great.”
The comic is also pleased to highlight a few of the side projects he has been able to pursue now that his schedule is not as monopolized by filming full time. “Two Cool Moms [is a podcast] I host with my very good friend Steve Bryne, a very funny comedian friend of mine,” Gatto says. “We have known each other for a while and so when my schedule opened up and I was figuring out my new route, I knew I wanted to do something creatively together. We found a format pretty quickly because Steve and I are each other’s confidants. We both like to think we give each other pretty good advice, and we like to think we both had pretty cool mothers who gave good motherly advice, so that’s why our thing is called Two Cool Moms. It’s an homage to our mothers.”
“Steve and I spend the first half of the show, you know we’re comedians, so we’re talking about anything and everything: the road, life, growing up, being a parent and whatnot. And the second half of it, we take fan submitted dilemmas and we solve those the best we can. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not, but it’s always fun.”
Offering advice, both good and bath, comes with a lot of responsibly for a performer with such a wide following like Gatto. “It’s not lost on me,” he says about the notion of being a mentor. “I really enjoy being that. I grew up with a bunch of different mentors in a bunch of different places, which is an interesting way to go. Once you become a father, you instantly get a dose of reality about your own mortality. What are we doing here? It makes you think about what wisdom do you want to impact to these kids who will be carrying on my legacy. I get asked a lot because I’ve had a very fortunate life where I have worked hard and it has been panned out for me, so its really cool to be asked by people who respect you and the work you have put in and I always try to give a little back and be kind about it.”
Parenthood is front-and-center for the 47-year-old father of two. But he says, being a dad is not only rewarding, but it is helping him creatively as well. “I just did a second book, a kids book, based on a story with my son,” he explains, teasing an upcoming project which will be published by Penguin in the coming year. “My son loves what I do, he calls it ‘talking to the people.’ He came home from school the other day, and said he had a joke that I would want to tell to the people. It’s great, it’s a lot of fun.”
Gatto’s Performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sunday, November 12 at 4300 University. For more information, call 832-842-3131 or visit uh.edu/cullen-performance-hall/. $49.75-99.75.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
