Some might argue that James Murray has the best life — he spends all his time with his best friends, and plays pranks on them for a living. He travels the world with them, playing stages like the O2 Arena, Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden. Currently, they are touring the US, and have just wrapped up the filming of season eight of their cult hit show, Impractical Jokers . Somewhere in the middle of all this, he has found time to co-author Awakened , a supernatural novel, with Darren Wearmouth.
What Murray is looking forward to, however, is his first ever trip to India later this year. “We get more fan mail from India than from America, the UK, Australia and Italy combined. It’s unbelievable,” he exclaims. On the phone, he sounds exactly like he does on the show — hyperactive and always ready to laugh. Yesterday, he was on Comedy Central’s Facebook page for a live session, where hundreds of fans tuned in to ask him questions about his interests, advice on love and how he keeps the friendship with fellow jokers — Joe Gatto, Sal Vulcano and Brian Quinn — ticking.
- “I grew up watching slapstick comedies like The Naked Gun and Airplane. That’s where my influences come from.” Here is what you will find on his playlist.
- YouTube: Everything from Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor stand-up to funny cat videos
- Viral videos: Just last night, someone suggested I do the #InMyFeelings challenge. But I can’t dance. I have no rhythm whatsoever. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try!
- Netflix: I just watched Bill Burr’s Walk Your Way Out . He is a legend.
He will also be picking the line-up for Sunday’s marathon of the show on TV. Any other person would pick what shows them in a good light. Not Murray, though. “It will be 20 episodes, featuring some of my most embarrassing, and favourite, moments,” he says with his signature chuckle. Although the four comics have sizeable online followings, they have not been creating online content as frequently as they used to when they started out. But their approach to the medium is similar to how they put together their show, he says, explaining, “The show is just my best friends and I being ourselves. We don’t play a persona. And so for the web, we now prefer to do live video interactions over sketches, where our fans can see the real us.”
While tour dates and locations have not been announced yet for his solo visit to the sub-continent, Murray says, “I’ll be throwing a big party for our fans, where I can get to meet and interact with them in an informal setting. It will also be a chance for me to introduce my book to them.”
