Mission: Uncomfortable (partially lost unaired pilot of Impractical Jokers; 2011)

The pilot's title card.

Status: Partially Lost

Mission: Uncomfortable is the unaired pilot of the hidden camera comedy series Impractical Jokers starring the comedy troupe The Tenderloins which consists of Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray, Sal Vulcano, and (formerly) Joe Gatto.^[1] Before the show was picked up by truTV, the Jokers put together a pilot that was filmed on their iPhones with the original name of the show being Mission: Uncomfortable and had a completely different intro. When the show was picked up, the name was changed to Impractical Jokers.^[2] The full pilot was never released, but challenges and punishments filmed for the pilot were later used in Season 1 of the series.

Content

The pilot had a completely different style compared to the main series. The pilot had an overall spy aesthetic which was dropped from the main show. Instead of the Jokers introducing each challenge, the challenges were instead introduced by fans who would submit their challenge ideas to the Jokers. The pilot also utilized a heart monitor during challenges to show how uncomfortable the Jokers were. A brief recording of the pilot by a fan on Twitter shows that one of challenges involved the Jokers doing embarrassing things in Victoria's Secret.^[3] Many challenges and punishments from Season 1 were also originally filmed for the pilot according to the pilot's intro and Impractical Jokers: Inside Jokes. The intro to the pilot shows that Joe's punishment and the R U Gonna Finish That challenge from the Season 1 episode "Theater del Absurdo" were originally filmed for the pilot. The intro also shows that the Sashaway Away challenge from the Season 1 episode "Out of TP" and the Supercuts punishment from the Season 1 finale were filmed for the pilot. Inside Jokes reveals that the Worst Cashiers Ever challenge from "Pay It Forward" and the Disaster Dates challenge from "Unmotivational Speaker" were also filmed for the pilot.

Availability

As of 2023, the full of pilot has not yet been released. TruTV has shown the pilot's intro twice in the 2014 Father's Day Special and the 2018 After Party episode "Hell on Wheels". Notably, the intro shown in 2018 was more updated and had more footage than the one shown in 2014. Clips from the pilot were also shown at The Tenderloins' live shows. Only TruTV and the Jokers themselves are the only ones known to have a copy.