James Murray

from the producer of spiderman brings impractical jokers where 4 friends from the New York City borough of Staten Island. He is a member of The Tenderloins, a comedy troupe also consisting of Sal Vulcano, Joe Gatto, and Brian Quinn. Along with the other members of The Tenderloins, he stars in the television series *Impractical Jokers*, which aired on December 15, 2011 on TruTV.

## Early Life

Murray was born in Staten Island, New York on May 1, 1976. He is of Irish and Italian ancestry. Along with Gatto, Vulcano, and Quinn, he was a member of his high school's (Msgr. Farrell Staten Island) Improvisation Club.

Murray continued his education at Georgetown University, where he received a bachelor's degree in English.

## Career

### Early career

In 1998, Murray produced, wrote, and directed a film titled Damned!*,* starring Matthew Glass as Larry and Jeremy Guskin as Jesus in an alternate retelling of the Bible. Rather than paying for a car, Murray's parents paid for the production of this film at his request.

After being apart for years, Murray, Gatto, Quinn, and Vulcano reunited after graduating from college and began practicing improvisation at Gatto's house, going on to tour as an improv & sketch comedy troupe in 1999, and calling themselves The Tenderloins.

The Tenderloins began producing comedy sketches together, posting them on YouTube, MySpace, and Metacafe, and subsequently accumulating millions of views online. In 2007, the troupe won the $100,000 grand prize in NBC's "It's Your Show" competition for the sketch "Time Thugs".

### *Impractical Jokers* and other television shows

*Impractical Jokers* premiered on December 15, 2011 on TruTV, which was watched by over 32 million viewers in its first season. The show has become the most popular series on TruTV and has boosted Murray into the public eye.

In 2019, Murray, along with the other members of The Tenderloins, starred in *The Misery Index*, which is hosted by Jameela Jamil and is based on Andy Breckman's card game "Shit Happens".

*Impractical Jokers: The Movie* was released on February 21, 2020.

### Other ventures

Murray worked at NorthSouth Productions, where he was the Senior Vice President of Development, leaving in February of 2018.[*citation needed*] In 2018, he released a sci-fi/horror book called *Awakened*, which was co-written by Darren Wearmouth, and revolves around a monster that lives in the subways of New York City. A sequel, called *The Brink*, was released in 2019.

## Personal Life

Murray has a tattoo of a ferret skydiving as a result of a triple punishment. In 2014, Murray married Jenna Vulcano as a result for Sal's punishment in the season 3 finale, "Brother-in-Loss"; they legally annulled the marriage shortly after.

In 2019, Murray became engaged to Melyssa Davies, whom he met at his launch party for his book *Awakened*.

## Punishments for Murr\*

### Season One

* Panty Raid - Murr went to a laundromat, took a strangers underwear, and wore it on his face for 10 seconds.
* A Loser Presents - Murr gave a college class a presentation about social networking that was created by the other jokers.
* Starfart Macchiato - Murr goes to a coffee shop and the other jokers make fake farting noises for him.
* Charity Case - Murr had to present a charity video made by the other guys and an embarrassing young photo of him is added. Murr had to explain all the weird video slides.
* Supercuts - Technically a four-way tie where the Jokers had to give each other funny haircuts. Murr's head was completely shaven, except for a little tuft on the front left behind.

### Season Two

* Art Attack - Murr had to explain 3 pieces of art made by the other jokers.
* Strip High Five - In the show's first-ever double punishment, Murr and Joe have to strip naked unless they get a stranger passing by to give them a high five and if they don't get a high five they have to remove a piece of clothing. Joe won the punishment, and ran off with his clothes afterwards.
* The Truth Hurts - Murr took a polygraph exam which consisted of him asking personal and humiliating questions in front of students at the Joker's old high school.
* Get Out of Dodge - Murr plays a game of dodgeball with his left eye patched and his right hand duct taped to an oven mitt, with his team members having switched over to the other team, making it a seven-against-one game.
* Human Pinata - Murr became a human pinata and getting whacked with sticks by a group of little kids, the other Jokers, and then lastly, Joe's brother-in-law, until candy fell out.
* Not Safe For Work - Murr has to pose nude for a group of painters.
* The Alliance - Murr, Joe, and Sal all have to jump off a cliff unless they can answer questions about Q's life. Joe won the punishment while he and Sal jumped off Q Falls.
* Cyber Buddies - Murr hosts a computer cleanliness seminar while his laptop is controlled by the other guys, who plant embarrassing things for him to find.

### Season Three

* Look Out Below - Murr thought him and the other jokers were gonna do a challenge teaching others how to jump out of planes, but in reality, he has to face his biggest fear, and go skydiving.
* Snow Way Out - Murr and Sal found themselves stuck on a ski lift in midair and had snowballs thrown at them and were shot by paintballs by Joe & Q.
* Jokers Playhouse - Murr has to entertain a group of children with his new children's show, "Murr's Playhouse", as the other Jokers went to his apartment and destroyed it via a silly string fight, playing frisbee with a pizza, a crazy bubble bath, clogging the toilet with Murr's dress shirts, and lastly, smashing his flat-screen TV.
* Puncture Perfect - Murr had to get piercings from the "Wheel of Piercings" until he got 3 questions right about the other jokers. He ended up getting both of his nipples and his belly button pierced. The other three later sold his shirt and made him walk the streets of New York City bare-chested.
* Clash of the Jokers - It was an unofficial punishment where Joe posed as king, Murr was his throne, Q had to fan him, and Sal had to feed him grapes.
* Tooth and Consequences - During Q's turn in the Selfie challenge, Murr's tooth fell out, and due to his smile, he forfeited the challenge, resulting in Murr being the big loser for the episode, so he still had to take the selfies as his punishment.
* In Poor Taste Buds - Murr played as culinary expert, but is unable to taste or say anything due to his mouth being shot up with a ton of Novocaine by Dr. Daniel Sullivan.
* The Permanent Punishment - Murr, Sal, and Q had to get embarrassing tattoos chosen by Joe. Murr's tattoo was a ferret skydiving.
* A Legendary Fail - Murr has to open for Legends in Concert, but the other jokers take control of what comes out of microphone.

### Season Four

* Below the Belt - As Murr gives a presentation about climate change, the other jokers take turns going under the podium and doing embarrassing things to the lower half of Murr's body.
* The Blunder Years - The other guys grease Murr's body and make him wear a speedo, misleading him into thinking he will be entering a bodybuilding competition. Then, Murr walks into the room finding out he has to give an interview to his celebrity crush, Danica McKellar, who played as Winnie Cooper on the TV show, "The wonder Years".
* Damned If You Do - Murr's film, "Damned!", is shown to an audience at a theater, icluding Murr himself. After the movie is over, a New York film critic walks on stage and Murr has to do an interview with the film critic as she makes it obvious that his film was garbage.
* Joke & Dagger - Murr had to participate as a volunteer at a freak show. Murr volunteers in the Wheel of Doom, thinking that he was gonna have knives thrown at him when the balloons were actually rigged to explode on their own.
* Cruisin' For A Brusin' - Murr must give a speech created by the other jokers while posing as the ship's "Master of Ceremonies".
* Kill the Centaur - Murr has to hold up number cards to show the time that has passed during a boxing match while wearing awkward outfits.
* Tied and Feathered - Murr is forced any punishments the other jokers send to him while chained to a park bench.
* Hopeless and Changeless - Murr poses as a snack vendor, but can't give anyone change.
* Doomed - 3 months ago, Murr had to shave all his chest hair except for 2 circles around his nipples. However, what Murr does not know is that his real punishment has nothing to do with his nipples. Murr gets chained up, and has to watch his childhood blanket be burned. The guys bring out another blanket, saying the one that was burned was not really his blanket, but Joe tosses it into the fire as well. However he later revealed on Twitter that the two blankets burned in the episode were fakes, and that he was relieved to find his real blanket was safe in his room.

### Season Five

* HellCopter - Murr and Sal's punishment first started off with footrace based on a bet that Murr would beat Sal in a race even if he had a "fatsuit" on. Eventually, Murr lost and as the result, he had to sit on the side of the helicopter with his feet facing out.
* Dark Side of the Moon - Murr volunteers for a prostate exam by Dr. Frank Contacessa.
* Centaur of Attention - Murr walks five miles to his house while wearing his centaur costume, not knowing that the other jokers were hunting for him.
* Browbeaten - Murr had his eyebrows and most of his hair except a small portion on the back shaven. Soon after, Murr would have to take a brand new driver's license with that haircut, which will expire in 10 years.
* Ash Clown - Murr posed as a businessman who's forced to explain to a group of preschoolers his career as a pet cremator & grandparent divorce lawyer.
* Training Day - Murr, Joe, and Sal all had to go through a fire academy. For Murr, he had to rappel down the side of a building. On his way down, he encounters Sloppy Joe, Fat Crow, and Dr. Frank Contacessa.
* Nitro Circus Spectacular - Murr lost the regular challenges, so for his punishment, be became an obstacle for the professional bike riders to jump over Murr on the Nitro Circus track.

### Season Six

* Lady and the Tramp - Murr has to pose as the Statue of Liberty as a surprise punishment after thinking he and the other jokers were going to film a challenge.
* Vampire Weakened - Murr is dressed up as Dracula thinking he was going to play as Dracula at a play. As a suprise twist, he actually has to sing with a gospel choir at a concert.
* The Butt of the Joker - Murr has to take cigarettes away from random smokers and can't stop until he steals a pack of cigarettes from a smoker.
* Paradise Lost - Murr must enter a shark cage and grab his passport while being dragged around by a boat.
* Three Men And Your Baby - Murr, Sal, and Q are forced to pitch their own TV show called "3 Men and Your Baby". The only problem is, none of them know about parenting.
* The Q-Pay - Murr has to wear a wig made out of Q's hair for the remainder of the season. And along with that, he also had to get a new passport photo, which will also expire in 10 years.
* Remember The Pact - The other guys secretly had a pact against Murr where if they all won, Murr would automatically be the loser. Their pact went successfully well and as a result, Murr surprisingly had to show his father via the TV embarrassing stuff on his cellphone.
* The Party Crasher - Murr attempts to take down 2-time Judo Olympic Gold Medalist Kayla Harrison, but he's only allowed to say to the other guests that she was a friend from college.
* G.I. Jokers - Murr goes on a wild ride in a fighter jet being driven by an actual fighter pilot.

### Season Seven

* The Marathon Man - Murr has to compete in a "Murr-athon", where he has to run across the entire brooklyn bridge while getting splashed with freezing cold water.
* Stripteased - Murr poses as a stripper, except he is injected with histamines by the the same doctorwho gave him a public prostate exam two seasons back.
* Pulling the Rug - Murr poses as a waiter, but he has to find and pull off someone's wig.
* Speech Impediment - Murr is forced to say a speech at Yonkers City Hall, but every time the other jokers say "line", Murr has to grab and read a blue card.
* Like a Boss - Murr poses as a new hire for tumblr but has to interrupt a meeting at the company's headquarter.
* Dropping Knowledge - Murr is forced to compete in a little trivia game show against a kid, Jake, based on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?. Every time Jake wins a question that Murr answers incorrectly, he gets to choose an item from Murr's apartment for himself to keep, and the game is over when Murr beats Jake 3 times.
* Hell on Wheels - Murr is forced to take out some roller derby professionals and for every lap that he doesn’t take someone out, the guys send a humiliating email on his Gmail account that he cannot apologize for. The punishment doesn’t end until he takes out one player.

### Season Eight

* Crash Test Dummies - Murr and Sal are taken to a Monster Jam event in which they are put in speeders and have endure 3 jumps. Whoever handled the jumps the worst would have a valuable item of theirs crushed (for Murr, it was his segway). Murr and Sal ended up having both of their items crushed.
* The Closer - Murr is forced to go inside a coffee shop and close people's laptops.
* The Dumbbell - Sal wrote a bunch of insults that were put into a bag, and Murr must say those insults in front of people with tattoos.
* Fraudway - Murr poses as a cameraman for Yanni and must do and say what he is told by the other jokers.
* Sucks for You - While telling a personal story about how technology ruined his life, Murr must suck in through a microphone connected to either helium or sulfur hexafluoride.
* The Prize Fighter - Murr poses as a carny, who can't give people their prizes after winning a carnival game which was rigged so everyone can win.
* Toll Booth Corrector - Murr poses as a gatekeeper, but he has to do ridiculous tasks before he could let anyone out.
* Hollywood - Murr has to sit inside a kick drum while at a Steel Panther concert.
* It's Electric - Murr has to do the Electric Slide around a bunch of guys that are naked.

\*Impractical Jokers: The Movie - Murr’s scripted punishment was that he was not allowed to attend the Paula Abdul concert in Miami with the other Jokers. His real punishment was that he was strapped to the top of a crop-duster plane and flown from Miami back to New York on top of the plane.