Joseph Anthony Gatto Jr. (born June 5, 1976) is an American improvisational comedian, actor, and producer from the New York City borough of

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

. He was a member of

the Tenderloins The Tenderloins are an American comedy troupe composed of James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, and Sal Vulcano. The group stars in the television series ''Impractical Jokers'', which premiered on December 15, 2011. The program airs on truTV ...

, a comedy troupe consisting of

Sal Vulcano Salvatore Edward Anthony Vulcano (born November 6, 1976) is an American improvisational and stand-up comedian, actor, and producer from the New York City borough of Staten Island. He is a member of The Tenderloins, a comedy troupe consisting o ...

, James Murray, and Brian Quinn. Along with the other members of the Tenderloins, he starred in the television series ''

Impractical Jokers ''Impractical Jokers'' is an American hidden camera Reality television#Hidden cameras, reality show with improvisational elements. Produced by NorthSouth Productions, ''Impractical Jokers'' premiered on truTV on December 15, 2011 starring the m ...

'', which first aired on December 15, 2011, on

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...

Early life

Gatto was born in

and is of Italian descent. Gatto attended

Monsignor Farrell High School Monsignor Farrell High School is an American Catholic high school for boys, located in the Oakwood section of Staten Island, New York. Opened in 1961, the school is named in honor of Monsignor Joseph Farrell, a Catholic priest, as well as a re ...

. Along with Murray, Vulcano, and Quinn, he was a member of his high school's

Improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

Club. He studied at

LIU Post LIU Post (formally, the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and often referred to as C.W. Post) is a private university in Brookville, New York. It is the largest campus of the private Long Island University system. The campus is name ...

, where he received a degree in accounting. Gatto's father died in 1995 from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. In the past, his father's death had been popularly attributed to

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

, though Gatto later pronounced this claim false.

Career

Early career

After being apart for years, Murray, Gatto, and Vulcano reunited after graduating from college and began practicing improvisation at Gatto's house, going on to tour as an improv and sketch comedy troupe in 1998, calling themselves

. The Tenderloins began producing comedy sketches together, posting them on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, Myspace, and

Metacafe Metacafe was an Israeli Video hosting service, video-sharing website, launched in July 2003. During the mid-2000s, it was one of the largest video-sharing websites, though eventually began to be superseded by YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. In Aug ...

, accumulating millions of views online. In 2007, the troupe won the $100,000 grand prize in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

''It's Your Show'' competition for the sketch "Time Thugs".

''Impractical Jokers'' and other television shows

'' premiered on December 15, 2011 on

. The first season was watched by over 32 million viewers. The show quickly became the most popular series on TruTV and has boosted Gatto into the public eye. In 2019, Gatto, along with the other members of the Tenderloins, starred in '' The Misery Index'', which is hosted by

Jameela Jamil Jameela Alia Jamil (born 25 February 1986) is a British actress and presenter. She began her career on Channel 4, where she hosted a pop culture series in the T4 strand from 2009 until 2012. She then became the radio host of ''The Official Cha ...

and is based on

Andy Breckman Andrew Ross Breckman (born March 3, 1955) is an American television and film writer and a radio personality on WFMU. He is the creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning television series ''Monk'' on the USA Network, and is co-hos ...

's card game "Shit Happens". '' Impractical Jokers: The Movie'' was released on February 21, 2020. On December 31, 2021, Gatto announced he was stepping away from ''Impractical Jokers'' and the Tenderloins to focus more on co-parenting his children, after a split with his wife.

''The Tenderloins Podcast''

The Tenderloins The Tenderloins are an American comedy troupe composed of James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, and Sal Vulcano. The group stars in the television series ''Impractical Jokers'', which premiered on December 15, 2011. The program airs on truTV ...

began hosting a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

in April 2012. It is available on their official website and on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Personal life

Gatto and his former wife, Bessy, have two children, daughter Milana (born 2015) and son Remington (born 2017). Gatto is an advocate for the "Adopt, Don't Shop" movement, encouraging people to adopt pets from shelters rather than purchase them from breeders. They have had multiple dogs. On December 31, 2021, Gatto announced that he was leaving the Impractical Jokers, and would be focusing on his family issues: "However, due to some issues in my personal life, I have to step away. Bessy and I have decided to amicably part ways, so now I need to focus on being the best father and co-parent to our two incredible kids." Gatto actively campaigns against bullying, and his content dealing with the issue includes various YouTube segments. Gatto is a

Kentucky Colonel Kentucky Colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and is the most well-known of a number of honorary colonelcies conferred by United States governors. A Kentucky Colonel Commission (the certificate) is ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gatto, Joe 1976 births Living people 21st-century American comedians American people of Italian descent Comedians from New York City LIU Post alumni Monsignor Farrell High School alumni People from Staten Island The Tenderloins