The Tenderloins
The Tenderloins is an American comedy troupe currently composed of Joseph "Joe" Gatto, James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, and Salvatore "Sal" Vulcano. The group currently stars in the popular television series Impractical Jokers, which premiered on December 15, 2011. The program is currently being aired on Comedy Central in the UK and truTV in the US.
Career
Stage
The Tenderloins formed in 1999 as a live improv comedy and sketch comedy troupe. The comedians met at Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island, where they became interested in drama and improv. They have performed in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, in addition to shows at the San Francisco Sketch Cumedy Festival and the Miami Improv Festival.
For a time, the troupe consisted of five members, with the addition of Gideon Horowitz.
Internet success
Following years of live shows, in 2007, The Tenderloins redirected their talents to filmed comedic sketches. Brian Quinn subsequently replaced Mike Boccio as the troupe's 4th member.
The Tenderloins comedic sketches have accumulated millions of views on YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, and other websites. In 2007, the troupe won the $100,000 grand prize in the NBC It’s Your Show competition for the sketch “Time Thugs”.
Television
Following the troupe's online successes, the four were signed to develop a scripted comedy pilot for Spike TV based on their own lives. The pilot was shot on location in 2008 on Staten Island, as well as other locations around New York City. Spike TV ultimately passed on the series. A second pilot starring The Tenderloins was named as an official selection of the 2009 New York Television Festival.
On April 12, 2011, truTV announced the new series Impractical Jokers, starring and executive-produced by the Tenderloins, which premiered on December 15, 2011. Season 1 consisted of 17 half-hour episodes. The first season was watched by over 32 million viewers.
The show's 28-episode second season premiered on December 13, 2012,[1] and its 31-episode third season premiered on January 2, 2014.[2] On April 21, 2014, truTV announced that the series has been renewed for a 26-episode fourth season.[3] With the fourth season renewal, a 6-episode spinoff series, Jokers Wild! was also announced.[3] They have been renewed for a fifth season and it will air February 2016.
Podcast
The group began hosting a podcast in April 2012. It was available on their official website and iTunes. A new podcast, hosted by Sal and Q, called "What Say You" began and is released fairly regularly. This caused a friendly competition to begin, with Joe and Murr releasing a Tenderloins podcast without the other two members, following the increased popularity of "What Say You", which was named Best New Show at the 2013 Stitcher Awards. [4] It was nominated for the Comedy, Entertainment, and Best Produced Podcast Awards at the 10th Annual Podcast Awards in 2015.[5] Q and Sal have stated on their podcast that it is not a replacement of The Tenderloins podcast, but their own side project. The group had cited difficulty coordinating the schedules of all four members outside of work to complete the troupe's official podcast with any regularity.
References
- ↑ Bibel, Sara (February 20, 2013). "truTV Orders Additional Episodes of Hit Series 'Impractical Jokers' and 'Hardcore Pawn: Chicago'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
- ↑ Bibel, Sara (July 8, 2013). "'Impractical Jokers' Renewed for Season 3 by truTV; New Series 'Jokers After Party' Greenlit". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
- 1 2 Kondolojy, Amanda (April 21, 2014). "'Impractical Jokers' Renewed by TruTV; Joins Six New Series Greenlights". Zap2it. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- ↑ "The 2nd Annual Stitcher Awards". Stitcher Blog. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ↑ "10th Annual Winners and Nominees". Podcast Awards. Retrieved 16 August 2015.