James Murray
American comedian and writer
22
APPEARANCES
18
PODCASTS
Sep 17, 2026
James MurrayGUEST
And, um, and I thought truly that I was going to be teaching in the academy there to students that were g- you know, they were teaching classes on skydiving, and they had 30 pages of jokes written.
5 MINS LATER
Tommy DiDarioHOST
no they don't clearly yeah uh what punishment made you genuinely consider quitting
James MurrayGUEST
I was, at this point, I think I'm over my fear of heights, I truly think, because skydiving was the first real, well, the first one before skydiving, they made you cliff dive.
James MurrayGUEST
We write 25 pages of jokes per challenge, and then we throw it out the window.
James MurrayGUEST
You don't know who's gonna walk in a, to White Castle, what they're gonna say, how they're gonna react.
James MurrayGUEST
So ostensibly, it's an improv show, right? But we still do the, the work coming up with all the challenges, all the punishment ideas, revising them, writing tons, thousands of jokes over 16 years that we try ...
James MurrayGUEST
plan secretly from each other to tell each other what to do, and then we throw it out of the window and roll with it.
James MurrayGUEST
And then we film the show, and then after we film, on set we go through everything we just did and highlight what we think we did best.
15 MINS LATER
Tommy DiDarioHOST
It's not like you're doing something like, all right, we're milking this and we don't really want to do it and we're just showing up.
James MurrayGUEST
That's something that I think most people don't know about Impractical Jokers.
21 MINS LATER
James MurrayGUEST
You know? Just like, who gives a fuck, right? Just laying on her desk, and she's like, "Uh..." And, and then, and we all laugh, whatever, and he gets off.
James MurrayGUEST
And then she puts on the sales tape, and I've never been in a pitch meeting like this before.
James MurrayGUEST
The executive, her name was, uh, Marissa Ronca, e- who was a very, she's a very good TV developer.
35 MINS LATER
James MurrayGUEST
... with a stunt guy on top holding my book, dressed just like me, same helmet, same fire suit.
14 MINS LATER
James MurrayGUEST
Um, I've only directed one movie in my life is that I was out of college when I thought, and the movie was terrible.
45 MINS LATER
speaker_8ADVERTISER
again.
Matt LawrenceHOST
Do you think that knowledge kind of maybe helped you, that experience working in television with developing Impractical Joke? Do you think that maybe gave you a little bit of a leg up, so to
James MurrayGUEST
speak? Well, you know, for me, it was like I knew that you know, I knew that I could not audition.
James MurrayGUEST
I knew I didn't have the hair, the looks, uh, I didn't have the, I couldn't say I could do whatever.
James MurrayGUEST
Um, like, so I didn't never wanted to like send out headshots and go to auditions and casting calls.
James MurrayGUEST
So it was like, well, how else can we succeed? I always felt like there was something kind of special about the guys and our friendship.
7 MINS LATER
James Murr MurrayGUEST
It's about a church group from Chicago that goes on their annual summer camping trip to the Ozark wilderness.
Arroe CollinsHOST
Could this have easily gone into a graphic novel or did it start off as that kind of a creative process for you before it became the movie? Well, you
Adam MontielHOST
When you landed on that idea, did you immediately know? Oh, this is deliciously cruel.
James MurrayGUEST
Yeah, well, so the idea started from, so Don't Move is a horror movie, in case you don't know, coming out in theaters September 10th, Thursday, September 10th.
James MurrayGUEST
By the way, you can go to don'tmovemovie.com to see the map of America, put your zip code in, see where it's playing near you.
James MurrayGUEST
What if there were a place in America untouched by humanity? There's no civilization within 50 miles in any direction.
James MurrayGUEST
This is one of these kind of pristine wildernesses that you see all across America, truly, right? If you go to West Virginia, you see it.
James Murr MurrayGUEST
It's about a church group from Chicago that goes on their annual summer camping trip to the Ozark wilderness.
Arroe CollinsHOST
Could this have easily gone into a graphic novel or did it start off as that kind of a creative process for you before it became the movie? Well, you know, it's an interesting
KennedyHOST
For you, what's the difference between bourbon and whiskey?
20 MINS LATER
KennedyHOST
So it makes sense that your best friends are people you met when you were 14 years old.
ZachHOST
September 11th, right?
James MurrayGUEST
Uh, in the movie is, uh, uh, the rapper Russ in his debut lead role, Lindsay Fonseca, Rob Riggle, T-Pain, Q from Impractical Jokers is in the movie.
James MurrayGUEST
Uh, when you make a movie, just like Jokers, um, it is a multiple mountains to climb to make a movie.
ZachHOST
Yeah, that's insane.
6 MINS LATER
BrandonHOST
I'd be like, "I'm starting to think this guy just went weird."
James MurrayGUEST
We, we, we, we did a challenge last night that was filmed, right? [laughs] It, it, this, the premise of it, right? Yeah.
James MurrayGUEST
We were w- uh, in a restaurant, uh, la- yesterday here in Jersey, right, called Rumba Cubana.
38 MINS LATER
BrandonHOST
What's the name of the club again?
James MurrayGUEST
The, the, it's a hidden camera, a comedy show where it's my best friends and I.
James MurrayGUEST
We put each other in uncomfortable situations to make, uh, you laugh, and we have to deal with it and squirm or talk our way through it.
James MurrayGUEST
And if you lose, if you don't do something you're told, you get punished at the end.
James MurrayGUEST
I flew here to Pittsburgh today, and, uh, the guys had shaved off my eyebrows 10 years ago, and then they made me get, made me get a driver's license photo with no eyebrows, which is still my license.
Marques OgdenHOST
So Murr, tell us a little more about your journey, your upbringing, and then how you all met, and then the work you do with Impractical Jokers.
James MurrayGUEST
The guys and I from Impractical Jokers met first day of high school 37 years ago.
10 MINS LATER
MelissaGUEST
exactly who he is, as he is, and he doesn't stop, and people love that.
James MurrayGUEST
The, the, my, my live comedy show, my solo show, is like watching Impractical Jokers live.
RizzHOST
A historic house, right? Just to save a train set? Dude, you did your
RizzHOST
Are you always into
James MurrayGUEST
My, my live comedy show, my solo show, is like watching Impractical Jokers live.
speaker_1ADVERTISER
And
James MurrayGUEST
for real that the publisher was going to put it as that chapter on the audiobook, which they did.
James MurrayGUEST
I raced around the track on top of windshield screaming, but at a key moment of the race, the car was going to go around a blind spot.
6 MINS LATER
Steve MorrisonHOST
But just do you love just because you are a writer, just quote unquote, taking pen to paper and setting up the structure and doing all that? Is that how
speaker_16UNKNOWN
That's, yeah.
James MurrayGUEST
So, like, six months ago, uh, maybe, like, end of last year, my wife and I see an article hit the papers in Jersey and in The Wall Street Journal about one of America's longest running, oldest model railroad clubs.
James MurrayGUEST
The club is built into some guy's basement in Jersey, right? But the club is bigger than the basement.
10 MINS LATER
RizzHOST
Of course, yeah.