Impractical Jokers aired its sneak-peek without Joe Gatto before season 10’s premiere, featuring Eric André, which received mixed reactions due to calls for Gatto’s return.
Impractical Jokers returned with its special episode on Saturday, 2 April 2022, following the Final Four games. The special episode offered a first look at what the show would look like following the departure of original co-host and co-creator Joe Gatto.
The special featured the first celebrity guest host, Eric André, who was received with polarised reactions.
This was not André’s fault, in hindsight, but that of fans who are still calling for Gatto’s return which seems unlikely in the new season, as the show has already shared the list of season 10’s celebrity guest hosts.
What is Impractical Jokers?
Impractical Jokers is the truTV flagship candid camera and pranks reality format show which first premiered on the channel in 2011.
The series was developed by the hosts of the show and was initially a YouTube channel featuring the four-man comedy troupe, The Tenderloins.
The former premise of the television show was, “Q, Sal, Joe and Murr are real-life best friends who love challenging each other to the most outrageous dares and stunts ever caught on hidden camera.”
However, the upcoming tenth season will mark a change in the formation, as Joe confirmed that he was taking time away from the show due to personal reasons.
Impractical Jokers: Eric Andre’s feature receives mixed reactions
Impractical Jokers returned in April 2022 with a special episode that aired after the Final Four games across three networks including truTV, TNT, and TBS.
The episode marked the first look at the somewhat new show, as the upcoming tenth season is set to exclude Joe Gatto. This is in light of his exit from the show to deal with his divorce and navigating co-parenting with ex-wife, Bessy.
The special episode featured the season’s first celebrity guest host, Jackass‘ Eric André, which was announced in February 2022.
At the time, fans of the show were seemingly relieved that Joe was not being replaced by a permanent host. However, after the special episode aired, fans took to the show’s social media pages to call for Joe’s return, while lambasting André’s feature.
It seemed that the backlash was not necessarily directed at André, but at the fact that fans are coming to realise the impact of Joe’s absence. Unfortunately, though, it sees that Joe is not returning, but still remains supportive of the show.
Joe Gatto shows support for new Impractical Jokers
As time has since passed since his departure announcement, and Joe Gatto returned to creating new content with the launch of his co-hosted podcast Two Cool Moms and touring, speculation about whether there is more to his departure has begun to bloom.
However, when talking to People in an interview, Q, Sal and Murr affirmed their friendship with Joe stating, “We didn’t want to see him go, but we had to give him his space … We miss him and we love him, we still talk to him all the time.”
Furthermore, Joe showed his support of the show and his life-long friends with a comical post on Instagram.
Impractical Jokers shares season 10’s celebrity guest hosts
Eric André is technically the first celebrity guest host on Impractical Jokers after Joe Gatto’s exit, though he is not part of the celebrity guest host roster for season 10. This is since his feature is part of the special episode that aired in season nine.
But when the show released the trailer for the new season, they shared the list of celebrity guest hosts set to feature in season 10, which is as follows :
- Method Man
- Colin Jost
- Chris Jericho
- Brooke Shields
- Jillian Bell
- Adam Pally
- Jon Gabrus
- David Cross
- Rob Riggle
When is Impractical Jokers season 10 coming out?
Prior to the special Impractical Jokers episode which followed the Final Four games, the show released a post to confirm the release date of the 10-episode milestone tenth season.
The post confirmed the release date for the tenth season of the show. As speculated, it has been confirmed that the show will return in the summer on Thursday, 16 June 2022.
Moreover, it was also confirmed that the team has yet to shoot the upcoming season, which would explain why the trailer did not feature excerpts from the new season.
Final thoughts
For 10 years,Impractical Jokers has had the beloved host formation of best friends and comedians, Joe Gatto, James “Murr” Murray, Brian “Q” Quinn, and Sal Vulcano at the anchor of the show. Therefore, when Joe Gatto announced that he was leaving the show indefinitely, it came as a surprise to everyone.
However, with the release of the post-basketball sneak-peek episode featuring a celebrity guest host, the surprise has since, seemingly, turned to social media backlash.
The show received criticism, as fans called for Joe’s return, in turn lambasting Eric André’s feature, which could be the reason he did not promote it.