Joe Gatto guarantees at least a few laughs ahead of his ‘Night of Comedy’ at The Midland
Joe Gatto. // Courtesy of Jonathan Thorpe
Joe Gatto is incredibly well-known in the comedy sector, having spent 10 years as a member of the show Impractical Jokers. His time with his three lifelong friends, Sal Vulcano, James Murray, and Brian Quinn, propelled the four of them to becoming household names in comedic television.
Now that Gatto has ended his tenure with the show, he continues to make the world laugh with his quick-witted Night of Comedy Tour. The Pitch had the privilege of speaking with Gatto before he brings Kansas Citians a night full of gags and giggles at The Midland on Friday, Dec. 8.
The Pitch: What comedians influenced you growing up to become the well-known star that you are today?
Joe Gatto: I grew up loving comedic movies, comedic films. Mel Brooks is a huge influence on me. I don’t know if you see behind me here, but I’ve got a signed piece of artwork from Young Frankenstein. It’s probably my favorite one of his.
I remember laughing with my father watching TV together and bonding over that. We watched Tim Allen’s Home Improvement, and Tim Allen was actually one of the first comedy specials I watched with my dad—his HBO or Showtime Special, whatever it was. I remember that pretty specifically, being like oh, you can be funny on TV and in different ways. It was funny to see both ways, and I think it imprinted on me a little bit.
What should KC expect from your Night of Comedy Show?
Barreled-over laughter. I guarantee three to five laughs with the ticket price, that’s included, so they’re gonna get that. You know, it’s my version of a standup show, so I get up there—I’m a storyteller—so I tell stories about my life, my friendships—of course with the guys on and off camera because they’ve been such a huge part of my life. We’ve been friends for over 35 years to this point. Then you know, stories about my kids, parenting, growing up, the dogs because I have so many crazy dogs, and growing up with a crazy Italian mother who made me the person I am today.
What has been your favorite memory so far on your solo tour?
I got to check a bucket list item off for me. I made a milestone to myself to have performed live comedy in all 50 states.
Joe Gatto Performing Standup. // Courtesy of Mike Williams
What has it been like transitioning from the group dynamic to your solo career?
That was the hardest part. Collaborative comedy was always what I had done. To bounce off people was always something, so to be by myself on stage was always a big difference. To be the one talking for 65 minutes instead of just splitting that up between the four of us when we did our live tour for seven or eight years with the jokers. You waited your turn, or you chimed in here or there, but you could just relax a little bit and coast out.
I think that the biggest transition was the show must go on no matter how you’re feeling, or if you’re kind of feeling off, or not feeling well, it’s all up to you.
Looking back on your lifelong friendship with all three guys, who would you say you had the most chemistry with?
Four-way tie. We’ve all known each other for so long. You connect with people on different things and in different ways, but at the end of the day, they’re all brothers, you know. It’s the closest that we’ve been. We were on the rise together, and we’ve had so many memories together that just cemented us as one, I think. So it’s more of a unit kind of thing.
What is something that many people don’t know about the life of a traveling comedian, especially being a father?
It’s not as crazy as people think. I see all the time, oh he’s working more now, he’s traveling more now. It’s like yeah, but I’m not, and when I’m home, I’m home. I’m not looking at edits of the TV show or doing a million other things. You have to be away for an hour, but I get to drive my kids to school in the morning, pick them up, and do their homework at 3 o’clock. It’s a different type of thing, it allows you to be a father way better, I think, when you’re able to be in charge of how you spend your time.
It is hard when you’re away, but I take the kids with me sometimes, which is fun. Or I take the afternoon flight so I get to drop them off at school in the morning and still see them. You have a little more flexibility.
Joe Gatto With His Puppies. // Courtesy of Joe Gatto
You’ve been doing your podcast Two Cool Moms for nearly two years now. What do you enjoy the most about doing that with Steve Byrne?
I like giving an homage to my mother. We tell a lot of stories about my mom. She was a huge influence in my life. But I think my favorite part is I actually feel like we give people an outlet to help in a fun way, not just with advice, but also comedy. We give people something fun to listen to that they might take something away from, which is kind of the only place that you get that from me.
I’ve learned a lot in my time here in these 47 years and to be able to spill a little bit of that knowledge is kind of fun. So I think that’s probably one of the coolest things and actually to feel like you’ve had an impact on somebody’s life. I’ll get follow-up emails from people who have asked for advice and talk about how we’ve helped them. I think that’s probably the best part. It’s like a totally different muscle. You feel like you can do something different with that vehicle.
Can you talk about your nonprofit, Gatto Pups and Friends? Where does your passion for helping animals stem from?
From the dogs. I met my first rescue dog Biscotti nine years ago. She was our second dog. Pretty quickly, we had to spend about $4,000 on her to keep her alive because she was a puppy mill dog, and educated us pretty quickly on the whole process of how dogs are treated, the shelter system, and how many puppies need a home, and how much of an impact you can have by adopting a set of dogs, and rescuing instead of purchasing. So we started adopting and collecting a bunch of these old, senior dogs.
Next thing you know, we’ve collected these dogs, and I was like, well, we need to see if we can have a bigger impact. How do we do that? So we started our nonprofit Gatto Pups and Friends last year and have really done some good work in the community. We just adopted our 56th dog last weekend, which was phenomenal.
You know, we’ve got a lot of puppies that we try to find homes for, and we opened up a center over here on Long Island where I live. So it’s been really cool to see it graduate from just a passion. Gattopupsandfriends.com is the address, @Gattopupsandfriends is the Instagram handle, and people can see the dogs, donate, or just spread the word.
What’s next for you once your tour ends? Do you have any big plans ahead?
I’m an aspiring filmmaker. I’ve always been. That’s why I got into this business. I’m hoping to write and direct a movie next year. I have it written, and I’m just hoping to get it done. Jokers was a phenomenal detour I took, but now that I could step away and figure out some things in my life, I started to focus on that again.
I’ve got a kid’s book coming out soon based on a story about my son, which will be fun.
Joe Gatto performs at The Midland on Friday, Dec. 8. Details are available here.
