No joke, Brian Quinn was "shocked" when Joe Gatto decided to suddenly depart "Impractical Jokers."
Joe, one of the four pillars of the hugely popular TruTV show, announced on New Year's Eve that he was leaving the show due to "some issues in [his] personal life," which included splitting from his wife, Bessy Gatto.
While appearing on the "Tell Em Steve-Dave" podcast, Brian, who more famously goes by the name "Q," said, "The only thing I'll say that's new information is I was f—— shocked when I found out too. I didn't necessarily see that coming. He's a friend and I'm not gonna talk about his personal life, which is clearly where he's gone to dwell now. It is what it is."
Since Joe's announcement, Q, James "Murr" Murray and Sal Vulcano have returned to work and are filming season 10 of the comedy show, something that was in limbo for a moment.
"Initially, we didn't even know. We were like, 'Can we even, is this even worth doing without Joe?'" Q said. "But you just look at it and you're like, 'Yeah, [it is], I want to keep doing it. I don't want to not do it. If I left the show, I wouldn't want the guys to stop just because I left.'"
Joe, Brian said, is a "comedic powerhouse" and admitted there are "negatives" to him not being on "Impractical Jokers" anymore.
Amid the departure, the three-headed monster of Q, Murr and Sal had to "accept that it is what it is and give ourselves permission to have fun." They are now having a blast like old times.
"It's almost like a new show now. Isn't that weird? He was so instrumental behind the scenes and that's just gone now so it's like this new vacuum that you can only fill in parts of it here, and there and everywhere," Q said. "The show, it's gonna be a bit weirder, the show going forward. I'm able to get a little bit more of my s— [in]."