- 6 weeks ago
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00:00So you just told me that you're going to throw out the first pitch possibly this weekend for the Tigers.
00:04Is that true?
00:05I think so.
00:06I think that on Saturday I throw out the first pitch in the game.
00:08You know, I've been on the radio here in Detroit for almost 31 years and have never thrown out a
00:13pitch.
00:13What?
00:15Exactly.
00:16Can you not throw?
00:17Is that why?
00:19I think it's on you, buddy, if they have an invite.
00:22Did you see Gene Simmons throwing out the first pitch the other day?
00:26He threw out four of them.
00:27How did he do?
00:28No, I didn't see it.
00:28They weren't great.
00:29So when was the last time you threw a ball?
00:32Because, you know, I know you just turned 50.
00:34You're ancient like myself.
00:36And, you know, I watch my kid play baseball sometimes.
00:38And he's 23 and I'll go, like, you know, shag a foul ball and I'll throw it back.
00:42And I'm like, I have lost it for sure.
00:45Yeah.
00:46I'll tell you what, man.
00:47I don't want to, like, jinx myself.
00:49But I don't mean to brag.
00:50I was captain of my co-ed intramural softball team.
00:53You know what I'm saying?
00:54I know.
00:5530 years ago.
00:56And we, you know.
00:58Did pretty well, huh?
00:58The only reason we played softball, I played baseball, too.
01:01But the only reason we played it was because I went to an all-boys Catholic high school.
01:05And the only way to meet girls was to play in an intramural, like, co-ed league.
01:09So that's it.
01:10We just did it to meet girls and then go jump in my parents' pool.
01:13Oh, okay.
01:14There you go.
01:15Yeah.
01:15I can throw a ball.
01:16I can throw a ball for sure.
01:17Well, my parents never had a pool.
01:19We never had a pool at our house.
01:20Well, we played a lot of baseball when I was a kid growing up.
01:22But, yeah, I have lost the heater.
01:24There's no question about it.
01:26Well, you can't lose something you never had.
01:28I'll throw a decent pitch into home play, but it won't be fast.
01:31Okay.
01:32Have you done that before?
01:34Never.
01:34Really?
01:35I'm so excited.
01:35Yeah.
01:36Wow.
01:37I thought for some reason, you know, that would have been, like, you know,
01:40that would have been something you guys would have done a few times.
01:43No, we've done it on the TV, on and probably where we've had,
01:46in different parts of the game, we've had teams let us do a punishment in the stadium.
01:50So, I mean, one of the most famous ones was during the seventh inning stretch,
01:54we had Q go out with the girl onto the mound.
01:58And in front of, like, there's 10,000 people.
02:00It was a minor league ball game, right?
02:01There's, like, eight, 10,000 people in the stadium there.
02:04And we said, Q, your punishment.
02:06All you can do is say the word no.
02:08And he goes, well, what's the punishment?
02:09He goes, all you can say is no.
02:11So he walks out.
02:12A beautiful woman joins him, and she has a microphone,
02:15and she proposes to him on the mound.
02:18And all I can say in front of 8,000 people is the word no.
02:21And the stadium was booing, throwing stuff on the field.
02:25It was awesome.
02:26Well, you know, since you got into it in Practical Jokers, I just saw,
02:29did you scale the Empire State Building?
02:33I stepped foot off the top of the Empire State Building,
02:37attached by a rope.
02:38I was dressed as a human mop, and I had to use my own body to clean the windows
02:43in the top 30 stories of the skyscraper.
02:47Now, I am deathly afraid of heights in my palms.
02:50Yeah, my palms are getting clammy just thinking about it.
02:53So how did that go?
02:54It was, I can't believe, I still, I don't know how to describe it, man.
02:58Like, it was terrifying.
03:01I was in tears when I, the first step is the worst, right?
03:04And then you have to trust the gear.
03:05I'm either going to fall or I'm not.
03:06You know, either the winch goes or it stays.
03:08And then I got into it, because, you know, this is an expression of life.
03:11If you can't get out of it, get into it, right?
03:13So I got into it.
03:14I just messed with Sal on the inside of the glass.
03:16And then when it came back up, I was out there for like an hour, right?
03:20Dangling from the skyscraper.
03:21And when I came back up into the 103rd floor, a full-blown emotional reaction hits me again.
03:26Tears again, you know?
03:28And then the next day, Wednesday, I wake up, and no pun intended, but the gravity of the situation hit
03:34me.
03:34And I was like, what the hell did we just do?
03:37Like, what did we do?
03:38I've got a wife and puppies now, man.
03:40It's not like years ago where they threw me off an airplane and I had nothing to live for, you
03:44know?
03:44I was not married.
03:45I had nothing.
03:46I had no house.
03:47Now I'm like, shoot, man.
03:48I can't abandon my wife.
03:50And so the gravity of it hit me on the next day.
03:53Dude, that is insane.
03:54Like, after like 15, 30 minutes, do you start to get used to it or?
03:59No.
04:01The worst part was like, I'm out there for like 45 minutes performing, doing my thing.
04:05It was really funny.
04:07And then like, okay, we have enough footage to get it.
04:09Let's bring it back up to the top, the 103rd floor.
04:12And so the crew's high-fiving.
04:14And they all are folding up cameras and everything.
04:16They go inside the building.
04:17And then it's just me and the guy from the rigging company.
04:21And it's just the two of us.
04:23And he's twitching me up to the top.
04:25And it's going this slow.
04:27I'm moving an inch every time.
04:28I was like, dude, I could still die at any moment.
04:31And no one's paying attention.
04:32Just him and me from 30 stories apart.
04:35And I'm just slowly lifting up like this.
04:38I was like, I'm still terrified, man.
04:40It's just me and my thoughts.
04:42Yeah.
04:42Yeah.
04:42Nobody's paying attention.
04:43There's no filming rolling.
04:45Cameras are off.
04:45It's just me and my thoughts.
04:47And Jesus looking over me, I guess.
04:49That is terrifying.
04:50But, you know, I'm a horror movie fan.
04:53And I just saw like Insidious.
04:55I see all the horror movies.
04:56And you got this new movie coming out called Don't Move on September 11th.
04:59Yeah.
05:00You got all the stuff right there.
05:01Yeah.
05:01So outside of Joker's for many years, I write horror novels.
05:04I've got nine of them out in stores.
05:06That's right.
05:06Yes.
05:07The fifth book came out a few years ago, Don't Move.
05:09Got turned into a movie.
05:10And in the movie is the rapper Russ, Lindsay Fonseca, T-Pain, Rob Riggle, Q from Impractical.
05:18Joker's is in the movie.
05:19And it comes out nationwide September 11th weekend.
05:21And there's a bunch of theaters playing it in Detroit, in the whole Detroit area.
05:25So when I'm there this weekend on tour, the mic drop, I'll be like, I'll show the trailer
05:31for the movie on stage and things like that.
05:32It's going to be a lot of fun.
05:33But yeah, you can go to DontMoveMovie.com to get tickets for an indie movie like us.
05:38It's critically important that people pre-buy their tickets.
05:40But there's a bunch of theaters in Detroit playing it.
05:43Well, I'm really excited for it.
05:44And this movie, I don't want to give too much of it away.
05:47I mean, you can see it online, but there's spiders involved.
05:51Yeah.
05:52It's a creature feature.
05:54It's not so much spiders.
05:56It's one big-ass spider.
05:57Gotcha.
05:58It's hunting a church group that wanders into the wrong woods, essentially.
06:01It can sense them by their vibration whenever they break a web or an invisible strand in
06:06the forest.
06:06It's a pulse-pounding kind of thriller.
06:11But it's got a lot of heart and humor in it, too, because Riggle's so funny and there's
06:16a lot of just emotion in it, too.
06:18I describe it as a great date night horror movie.
06:21My wife and I watch horror movies every night.
06:22It's the kind of movie we watch, for sure.
06:25You do.
06:26So what are some of your favorites?
06:27Do you watch the new ones, too?
06:29Yeah, everything.
06:30Everything.
06:30We watch a different one every night.
06:32I'm into a little bit different kind of movies than my wife.
06:35She doesn't like gore, things like that.
06:36But she does like Ready or Not is a great movie, right?
06:41It's comedy and horror.
06:43Cabin in the Woods is a great comedy horror movie, one of my favorites.
06:46But then I also like horror horror movies like Event Horizon, The Descent.
06:50I love, you know?
06:51I like that kind of stuff, too.
06:53Did you see Obsession?
06:55Oh, yeah.
06:55We watched it a few months ago.
06:56I loved it.
06:57I thought it was great.
06:58I think that might be the best movie I've watched this year.
07:01Yeah, it's not a – the trope of Monkeypaw has been done a billion times.
07:06Yeah.
07:07Never in this kind of way with this kind of cast.
07:10I thought they nailed it.
07:11I thought they did a great job with it.
07:13Yeah, Monkeypaw, that's right.
07:14I never thought about that.
07:15Yeah, I just saw Insidious, and there was some horror tropes along the way.
07:18But there were some disgusting scenes that had to do with dental work,
07:22and that just – I couldn't even watch it.
07:23Oh, yeah.
07:24I've seen it in the trailer.
07:25Oh, you know.
07:27God, just brutal.
07:28You know, we've played dentists on Impractical Jokers many times over the years,
07:32and it's just right for comedy.
07:35And it's also – you know, anything that's really good for comedy is also really good for horror.
07:39It's flip-sized the same coin, man.
07:41It really is.
07:42Explain that.
07:42I don't understand what you're saying.
07:45Horror and comedy have the same exact beats.
07:48It's the same rhythm.
07:49You know, if you were cutting a – the joke is that all you've got to do is change comedy
07:55to horror
07:55or back and forth is change the score because the rhythm of the scene is the same, you know.
08:01And I dare you to go in and take Impractical Jokers of us playing dentists
08:05and put a different score, a different soundtrack behind it, and suddenly it's horror.
08:09You know, of Cell tilting the guy almost upside down.
08:12He's holding on for dear life.
08:13It's horror, man, but it was a different soundtrack.
08:16Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
08:18So you're going to be in town this weekend, like you mentioned,
08:20throwing out the opening pitch, rubbing that in on my ego.
08:23So four shows, the Saturday and Sunday at the Mic Drop Comedy Club,
08:27and this is called the Errors Tour.
08:29What's that all about?
08:31It's, you know, it's a set of a comedy show.
08:33The first half I talk about my worst errors of judgment I've made because of my career choice,
08:37some of the most embarrassing things I've done in my life.
08:40It's really fun.
08:41Like I've gotten kicked off the Ring Doorbell Network.
08:43They took away my Ring Doorbells because I went too far pranking the neighborhood,
08:47stuff like that, you know.
08:48But the second half of the show is different every night.
08:50This is why I love my show.
08:52So the second half of the show, I play two games with the audience that are very unique.
08:56One is I borrow three audience members' cell phones,
08:59and I start texting people from their phone on their behalf,
09:03and we deal with the consequences live on stage.
09:05It is outrageous.
09:07And the last thing we do is we play Impractical Jokers live,
09:11meaning I choose them out from the audience, put an earpiece in their ear,
09:15I'll send them out on the streets of Detroit.
09:16We watch on screen and log in the spot they've got to do and say whatever I can come up
09:21with.
09:21It's like watching a TV show happen uncensored in front of your face.
09:24It's outrageous.
09:25And it's like really creatively fun for me because it's different every single show, you know.
09:30It's a lot of fun.
09:31Yeah, four shows this weekend at the mic drop.
09:35You can get your tickets at merlive.com.
09:38Yeah, there you go.
09:39And so there's a camera crew, like, following them around outside in the streets?
09:46By camera crew, if you mean my cousin Joe T from Bensonhurst with an iPhone, yes, that's the camera crew.
09:54And then they show them.
09:55They show it back into the theater, and everyone gets a good laugh.
09:59You mean into the comedy club, and we watch it happen live.
10:02I got you.
10:03So I mentioned earlier that you celebrated 50 years this year.
10:07Did you do anything?
10:08I did a few months ago.
10:09Yeah, yeah.
10:09How was that?
10:10Was that as earth-shaking as the 103rd floor?
10:14I don't know, man.
10:15Like, we joke about it.
10:16Like, I don't feel 50.
10:18We've been making jokers now for 16 years straight, right?
10:21And season 13 is on TV right now at this moment.
10:24And it looks good that we'll get more seasons as well.
10:28So maybe it's just because lifestyles change and diet has changed.
10:32But I remember my dad on his 50th birthday, like, all gray, used to wear a suit to work, commute
10:39two hours, briefcase, you know, station wagon, three kids.
10:43I don't know, man.
10:44I don't feel the same way.
10:46I'm like, I still feel like a kid.
10:50I don't feel like I look like a man.
10:52I feel like I look like a large baby.
10:56You know, you talk about the show continuing on and stuff.
11:00Is it ever hard to hide the skits that you guys do before they appear on TV?
11:07Oh, really interesting question.
11:09So I don't know if you've ever gotten that question.
11:11So, yes, it is hard.
11:14But, like, sometimes we lean into it.
11:15Like, at our state building last week, it's going to air.
11:18It's going to be the mid-season premiere in January.
11:20But the network, it's such a big-scale punishment, the network invited press.
11:26So TMZ was there, entertaining tonight, and influencers were there covering.
11:30Lots of different press were there covering it because we can't hide it, right?
11:33I'm hanging off the top of the Empire State Building.
11:35New Yorkers are going to see.
11:37So we might as well exploit it.
11:39You know what I mean?
11:40So that's one where we leaned into it.
11:43But sometimes things get out there.
11:44Like, we were filming, I think it's this week's episode.
11:48It'll air on Thursday.
11:49It is this week.
11:51This week we did a challenge we wanted to do for a long time where one of us – you
11:54know the old trope in movies where somebody's shouting out the window of, like, a Brooklyn Brownstone throwing stuff out
12:00the window?
12:00Like, we're breaking up.
12:01I'm done with it.
12:02You know?
12:02Like, a movie trope.
12:03So we did it, and one of us is in the window, and we have a woman on the street
12:08that we're breaking up with.
12:09She's a producer on the show, and we have to stop a passerby because we accidentally threw out one of
12:14our own bloggings.
12:15That's embarrassing, right?
12:17So for me, I have a life-size blow-up, like, pillow of myself because I tuck it into bed
12:24when I leave on tour so my wife can cuddle with something that looks like me, you know?
12:28So I brought it, and I threw it out the window, and then you have to get a passerby to
12:32throw it back up to you, and one of the clips of that challenge went viral because a crowd was
12:39forming watching the fans, and one of our producers, who's been on the show 10 years, went up to a
12:44group of fans and said,
12:45I'm sorry, you have to keep moving, keep moving, because she doesn't want to blow up the scene.
12:48We're in the mood performing.
12:49She doesn't want the mark we're dealing with to realize they're on a TV show, and the clip of her
12:54pushing them away went viral.
12:55So it gets out there, man.
12:57So what do you do?
12:59You've got to just go with it and laugh about it.
13:01Well, I mean, I've talked to you guys before.
13:02I think I talked to you on the phone one time, and, I mean, you've heard this question a billion
13:05times, but when the show first started, you know, you guys were pretty much, you know, unknowns, and now people
13:10recognize you, so it must be a lot more difficult nowadays.
13:13It is, but, I mean, I don't really look famous.
13:16I look like a pharmacist, you know?
13:19I look like, you know, your prescription's ready.
13:21Come on into Walgreens, you know?
13:23So, and remember, you only see one of us at a time.
13:26You just see the guys and I all together.
13:28So that works wonders.
13:30And a baseball hat, wonders.
13:32Now, with your comedy shows and stuff, have you done solo comedy shows a lot in your life?
13:38Oh, yeah.
13:39I mean, for years, years, years.
13:40I mean, the guys and I still tour as the Practical Jokers, but we all tour individually.
13:44Well, Sal and I tour individually.
13:46So does Joe.
13:48Q stays home and, you know, plays with the cats and feeds the squirrels, you know?
13:55But, yeah, I've done it for years, years, years, a long time.
13:58No, that's awesome.
13:59Well, listen, Murr, I'll tell you what I'll tell everybody to head down to the shows this weekend,
14:03the Mic Drop Comedy Club, where you can see the trailer for the new movie that you have this shirt
14:07on.
14:07Don't move.
14:07I love that.
14:08And good luck with that.
14:09Good luck with the weekend shows and your opening pitch as well.
14:15We'll see, man.
14:17I've got to warm up the old arm and get the old softball glove out of the garage.
14:22I assume I'm going to play a few innings, too.
14:24I don't know.
14:25I mean, you know.
14:26Hey, well, with the way the Tigers have been going lately, they probably will let you play.
14:33Yeah.
14:34We'll see.
14:35We'll see.