Celebrity Jobber with Jeff Zito - James "Murr" Murray

Summary

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Celebrity Jobber Podcast with Jeff Zito

Guest: James "Murr" Murray (Impractical Jokers)

Episode Air Date: December 6, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Celebrity Jobber, Jeff Zito sits down with James Murray, known to fans as “Murr” from the wildly popular hidden-camera comedy show Impractical Jokers. The conversation, both humorous and reflective, dives into Murr’s life before fame: his early jobs, family influences, insane punishment stories from the show, and his parallel career as a novelist. Throughout, Murray's wit and humility bring out themes of perseverance, lucky breaks, creative risk, and the unpredictable paths to personal and professional fulfillment.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Early Life and First Jobs

• First gigs & being a “jobber”

  • Murr’s very first job was at Party City, where he worked alongside fellow Joker Joe Gatto—but he was “famously fired” after accidentally dumping a box of red Solo cups on a customer.
    • “It fell down into the other aisle… came down on a woman’s head. And that was my last… Party City career.” [13:53]
    • When asked if the woman sued:
      • Murr jokes: “I assume she’s dead now.” [14:37]

• Variety of pre-fame jobs

  • Juggled for a summer as a teenager [05:02]
  • Worked as a casting director
  • "Lied his way" into a web development job for NBC, despite knowing nothing about coding:
    • “They said, ‘You know how to do websites?’… I lied through my teeth. I said, ‘Absolutely.’ I ran right to Barnes & Noble… faked the job for three years.” [15:36]
    • Got help from Joe Gatto, who emailed code that Murr would paste into the websites [15:36]

• Family’s expectations

  • Murr’s mom hoped he’d be a podiatrist due to her “terrible feet”:
    • “She just wanted me to be a foot doctor to help rub her thorns.” [05:32]

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2. The Road to Impractical Jokers

• Roots in comedy & collaboration

  • Performed comedy with friends (now the Jokers) since high school and college [11:39]
  • Was drawn to both comedy and horror—eventually leading to writing thrillers and comedy for TV [11:39]

• Background in TV development helped sell the show

  • Developed and pitched TV shows for 10 years pre-Jokers [06:20]
  • Wrote the treatment & pitched Impractical Jokers through 70 meetings thanks to his development experience
    • “We pitched it through 70 meetings… and that was 15 years ago. We’re still going, man.” [06:20]

• Punishments & regrets

  • Still feels the effects from show consequences:
    • “My license still has no eyebrows on it.” [07:33]
    • On being a disguised videographer at a real New Jersey wedding:
      • “At the end of the punishment, I had to back into and take down the whole wedding cake. And I got physically thrown out of the wedding by the guests.” [07:52]

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3. Creative Pursuits Outside TV

• Passion for model railroads

  • Lifelong interest, built layouts with his father as a kid [19:21]
  • Recently saved one of America’s oldest model railroad clubs by purchasing the property it resided in:
    • “The night before they were going to lose the house, my wife and I bought the house to save the train club.” [19:21]
    • Hosted 1500 visitors at the club’s annual open house, compared to typical 150 [19:21]

• Writing novels, dreaming stories

  • Over nine published horror/thriller novels
  • Explains that many of his ideas come through vivid dreams, which he records in voice memos:
    • “Almost every night I’ll wake up… I dream movies and books. I write down the idea.” [29:15]
    • Shares hilariously strange voice memo titles, e.g. “Bon Jovi F-word by the DJ Dream,” “College professor drug dealer SIM card dream that destroys Europe.” [31:15]

• How a written-off dream led to real happiness

  • Wrote his first novel, Awakened, on a dare in 2002, but it sat unread until his TV fame revived interest—then became a bestseller and kicked off his writing career.
  • The release party for the book led to meeting his wife:
    • “If I hadn’t wrote that book on a dare… I never would have met my wife. I never would have had my puppies or my life right now.” [24:33]

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4. Family, Influence, and Character

• Family background

  • Grew up in a regular Staten Island family with no show business connections—his dad wore a suit and tie to work [12:44]
  • Father was “the funniest guy you’ll ever meet” and the heart of family gatherings:
    • “He was the only smart one out of all of us… he was a clown.” [13:08, 13:36]

• Resonant personal moment

  • Reflects emotionally on his father’s and mother’s passing from Alzheimer’s, recalling how Frank Sinatra, train magazines, or funny movies could still bring out his father’s old self even at the end:
    • “To the day he died… a model railroad magazine in his hand or put the movie Naked Gun… smile would instantly creep across his face, right back to his old self.” [21:05]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On job hopping, before fame:

  • “Before that, I had every job on the planet… I think I juggled for a summer.” – Murr [05:02]

• On selling Impractical Jokers:

  • “I think I could sell a hidden camera show. So… I wrote the treatment and we pitched it through 70 meetings… and that was that.” – Murr [06:20]

• On an infamous punishment:

  • “I had to back into and take down the whole wedding cake. And I got physically thrown out of the wedding by the guests.” – Murr [07:52]

• On getting fired from Party City:

  • “I got fired from Party City, famously… a box of red solo cups… came down on a woman’s head.” – Murr [13:53]

• On lying into a tech job:

  • “I lied through my teeth. I said, ‘Absolutely. I’m well-versed in HTML, Javascript, the whole thing.’… I faked the job for three years.” – Murr [15:36]

• On saving the local train club:

  • “My wife and I bought the house to save the train club… Now I’m one of the board members of Pacific Southern Railway.” – Murr [19:21]

• On revisiting his first, failed film:

  • “I should have taken the damn Taurus… the movie was terrible. I realized I should not be a movie director.” – Murr [22:29]

• On how one old, unpublished book changed everything:

  • “I wrote the book… but it sat on my computer for 20 years. Twenty years later… I sent the same book to HarperCollins… and it launched my literary career… and I met my wife because of it.” – Murr [24:38]

• On inspiration from dreams:

  • “I dream movies and books… too many ideas, not enough time in life.” – Murr [29:15]
  • “Hundreds of recordings at like 3 a.m. because I wake up in the middle of the night, dreaming an idea, and hit my record button…” – Murr [30:01]

• On his dad’s comedic influence:

  • “He was the funniest guy you’ll ever meet in your life, and he knew how to make a hell of a margarita. He was the only smart one out of all of us.” – Murr [13:08]

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Highlight Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early jobs and Party City story: [13:42–15:14]
• Lying into NBC web job: [15:28–16:25]
• Pitching and launching Impractical Jokers: [06:20]
• Notorious show punishments: [07:33–08:33]
• On family and humor roots: [12:44–13:39]
• Model railroads & saving the local club: [19:21–20:54]
• Personal, family memories with model trains: [21:05]
• Turning down a car for a failed film: [22:29–23:25]
• The book that changed his life and meeting his wife: [24:33–26:02]
• On dreaming novel ideas and writing process: [29:15–31:28]

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Conclusion

This episode presents James Murray as an inventive, scrappy, and deeply relatable figure. Murr’s road to celebrity status was paved with odd jobs, white lies for survival, and unglamorous firings—but also family warmth, personal perseverance, and creative risk-taking. He champions humor not just as his métier, but as a through-line in life, keeping him (and his audience) connected across generations and setbacks. Above all, Murray’s willingness to share failures, oddball obsessions, and happy accidents proves that both serendipity and stamina fuel the journey from “jobber” to star.

Transcript

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[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

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[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

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[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

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[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

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[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

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Hey, it's Jeff Zito and thank you for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast. We're streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Iheart, wherever you listen to podcasts. So please subscribe, we'd love a five star rating and please leave a review. Check out past guests and episodes [e-mail] you can also follow on Instagram, which is Celebrity Underscore Jobber Underscore podcast and the YouTube channel which is YouTube.com theat sign celebrity jobber before fame. Who were these people? You know, sometimes it was a long grind and a series of events that got these people to where they are. And sometimes it was like a lucky break, you know, a phone call or just a single moment that changed their life forever. I love the impractical jokers. I've actually talked to all of them and I spoke with James Murray, AKA Murr and Brian Quinn. Q did them both together back on episode number 74. If you wanted to go back and check that out, which you could do by going to celebrityjobber.com it's such a great story of these four. Four friends that got together in high school, screwed around and ended up doing a dream job together. Like they were screwing around in high school and they're now screwing around as adults with their hidden camera show, which Is now on its 15th season on TBS. On this episode, we'll get a little deeper into James Murray's life. We'll talk a little bit more about his family and dig a little deeper into some of the other jobs that he had before or impractical jokers. He's doing stand up comedy all over the country. Go to jamesmurrayofficial.com for more info and tour dates. And at my friend Captain Brian's place this weekend, the off the hook Comedy club in Naples, Florida. His name is James Murray. You know him as Murr from Impractical Jokers. And he's my guest this week on Celebrity Jobber, the celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, give a five star rating and leave a review. Check out all our past episodes on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you pod. What if these celebrities weren't famous? What would they have become? What was their first job? We're about to find out.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Hey, Smur, how are you?

[Jeff Zito]

I'm just on your website a little bit too. And I'm so glad I went to this website because I'm buying as we speak. I'm buying the Murray Christmas sweatshirt. That's so great. That is so great. That's funny, right? Great stuff. So we talked before about maybe two years ago and you're back in Florida. You're at my friend Captain Brian's place, the off the Hook Comedy club in Naples. Great place.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Yeah. I'll tell you what, man, it's been a few years since I've been there and it was when I first started my solo tour. I think my first weekend was at off the Hook in Naples and there were great audiences, great, great venue at a absolute. It's a totally different show now than it was three years ago, but. But I'm so excited to come back. I'll tell you why I'm most excited back because it's. It's snowing and sleet rain here in Jersey right now.

[Jeff Zito]

Oh, man, you're on business. This is a business trip for you, Mer. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your old life, you know, because, you know, a lot of people don't realize there was a life before the jokers.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

There's been a lot of life on earth before jokers. But yeah, in my life in particular, ye. Yeah, I was. Before that, I had every job on the planet, but I was my final job before jokers was I. I was a TV developer. I'll TV shows for A living, you know. And then before that, I was unemployed for a long time. Before that, I was, you know, I think I juggled for a summer.

[Jeff Zito]

Now, is it true? I believe the last time we talked, you said to me that your mother always wanted you to be a podiatrist. Were you just kidding or is that true?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Good. Good memory. That's. She had shell feet. She had terrible feet. She just wanted me to be a. A foot doctor to help rub her thorns.

[Jeff Zito]

You weren't kidding. That's actually true. She really wanted you to be a podiatrist. Oh, man.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

She wound up. She wound up eventually being proud of me when I finally made it, as.

[Jeff Zito]

They say, I would imagine now, you know, it's. You seem like the brains of the operation, if you will. Like, I mean, I'm sure everybody plays. Plays a part in the success of Jokers, but tell me a little bit about. You were just mentioning that you, You. You developed TV shows. That's what you did. And how did what you did by developing TV shows help jokers actually land their spot?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Well, I had pitched and sold a lot of TV shows over 10 years. And then when we, the guys, I knew that hidden camera was coming back. And so the guys and I got together was like, I think I could sell a hidden camera show. So we came up with the idea for Jokers, and then I wrote the treatment and we pitched it through 70 meetings, through my job, and went in and that was that. And that was 15 years ago. We're still going, man. New season starts January 15th, by the way. By the way, I'll tell you a funny story. So the new season starts January 15th on TBS. And the first episode is so funny, man. Like, Sal loses, and for a punishment, we made him go through a haunted house while on the phone. While on the phone with special cable, trying to cancel his cable service. It is so funny.

[Jeff Zito]

Oh, man.

I wanted to ask you, is there ever any type of punishment that you had? And I'm telling you, man, I just started getting back into the wonder years. So every time I see Winnie Cooper, I just crack up. Because of when you had to get all oiled up and interviewed her. But I'm thinking to myself, after all these years, you have to have some regrets. You've gotten tattoos. What. Can you tell me some of your biggest regrets from any of the punishments that you had to take from. From jokers?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I mean, when I fly down to Naples tomorrow morning, my license still has no eyebrows on it. So I'm like, I'm like A I'm like, I see something, say something, man. Like every time I go to PSA security, I get triple checked because of my license, you know.

[Jeff Zito]

Oh my God.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Coming up next season. The season finale next season. I lost the episode and they made me be a videographer at a real wedding. A 300 person wedding in Jersey. But I was in full prosthetics, right? I did not look like myself. I had long blonde hair, blue eyes, different cheeks, different nose, different forehead. And at the end of the so no one knew I was there. None of the 300 guests recognized me. Only the bride and groom knew that we were filming there. And at the end of the punishment, I had to back into and take down the whole wedding cake. And I got physically thrown out of the wedding by the guests.

[Jeff Zito]

Like, like Jersey meathead kind of guys throw you out or what?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Oh, yeah, you know, thick accents, a lot of Aquanet, you know, the whole thing.

[Jeff Zito]

The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Szeto.

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[Jeff Zito]

Celebrity Jobber it seems like to me, you know, I want to get back to a lot of your other jobs because you were telling me you juggled for one. I thought that was interesting. But it seems to me that you were always maybe interested in show business from a, from an early, early age because, you know, even though, you know you were behind the scenes, you were still involved in show business. So what, what was it that got you hooked or made you when you were a little kid, inspired you to get into show business?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I mean, I, I remember from childhood always loving, loving to make people laugh. It was always my number one thing. And so like in high school we had a really good comedy group that I was part of with the guys from Impractical Jokers and had a lot of fun and then did it in college as well. I just always, I always wanted to make people laugh or cry in some way. So like I was really into like comedy and horror, which is why I write like thrillers. I write. I've got nine horror books on stories right now. Three are serial killer thrillers, one's a sci fi, one's a creature feature through a kid's sci fi comedy. And the idea of that was I always wanted to make them into movies, which is why we actually have a horror movie coming out in a few months based on one of my books. I wrote a book a few years ago called Don't Move. It's like a creature feature kind of book and movie. And it just got turned into a movie. The movie's done. The movie in the movie is Rob Riggle. T. Pain is in the movie Russ the rapper in his debut lead role in a movie, Tom Kavanaugh. It's a great, great cast. It's very scary. It's also really funny, too.

[Jeff Zito]

So, Murr, you know, anybody in your. In your life funny because it seemed like your. Your mother and father and your whole family, you know, you grew up in Staten island, you know, in a normal family, like, nobody was in show business. They had, like, regular. I think you said your dad, you know, wore a suit and tie to work. It was a professional. So, like, who was funny in your family?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

It's so funny, man. Like, we used to. Growing up, my family throw, like, a Fourth of July party in our backyard in Staten island, and all the. All the guys, all my guy friends would be in the pool playing volleyball, whatever. Meanwhile, all of our girlfriends were up around the bar hanging out with my dad, you know what I mean? Because he was the funniest guy you'll ever meet in your life, and he knew how to make a hell of a margarita. He was the only smart one out of all of us, you know what I mean?

[Jeff Zito]

So is the old man, though. He was the one with the sense of humor.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Oh, yeah, for sure. He was. He was a clown. He was a clown.

[Jeff Zito]

That's awesome, man.

Party City. I believe you told me the last time I talked was your very first job. That was with Joe Gatto. I thought that was a. That was an interesting first gig.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I got fired from Party City, famously. And the reason was, it was a summer job. And when I was Party City, the stores, they have, like, giant high shelves, right? They're like, 12ft high, and they stack on the top shelf. They stack boxes of solo cups and stuff like that, right? And so. But the aisles are connected, so there's no. It doesn't go up to the ceiling. It goes, like, three feet before the ceiling. You put all your extra inventory up top. So I was on one aisle of Party City, loading these giant boxes of red solo cups on the top shelf, right? But I pushed too far, and it fell down into the other aisle because they're connected, and it came down on a woman's head. And that was my last. That was the end of my Party Susie career.

[Jeff Zito]

Oh, no. Did. Did she. Was she litigious? Did she file suit?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I assume she's dead now.

[Jeff Zito]

I'm so sorry.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I did not. I was seven. I was 17. I did not follow up on her.

[Jeff Zito]

Well, you know, these days. You know what? Good thing, though. Good thing, because back then, you know, people weren't as litigious as they are now, you know, they'll sue for anything nowadays, so. Could have been a godsend for you.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

You know, could you imagine? Like you're a family member. Like, oh, how did grandma die? Oh, she got crushed by Red Solo cups. Red Solo Cups in Party City. What a way to go, man.

[Jeff Zito]

But don't worry, we got him in the end.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

We sued.

Grandpa, Grandpa defeated Hitler and they got taken down by Red Solo cups.

[Jeff Zito]

So Party City was your first job when you were a kid. You said to me that you were. You juggled one summer. What, what other kind of jobs did you have before, you know, you got into the Jokers?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Oh my go. I was a casting director. I was, I worked. I lied my way into a job for three years at NBC.

I went on an interview with NBC and I was just out of college. They said, okay, we need somebody to build and maintain the silent Live website and the Conan o' Brien website. You know how to do websites? And I lied through my teeth. I said, absolutely. I'm well versed in HTML, JavaScript, the whole thing. And they said, you're hired. You start next Monday. I had no clue how to do it. I ran right to Barnes Noble, picked up books on coding and still don't know how to do it. I faked the job for three years. I used to email, I used to email Joe Gatto and say, hey, you want the satellite website to do this? Can you write the code? He sent me the code on email. I pasted the website. I faked it for three years.

[Jeff Zito]

Oh, wow. Good for you. That's awesome. And it act. I mean, that was before you could Google stuff. You actually had to go to Barnes and Noble and buy a book.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Absolutely. Amazon didn't exist yet. I'm talking 99, 98, 99.

[Jeff Zito]

You know, that's crazy. Celebrity jobbers.

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[Jeff Zito]

The Celebrity Jobber Podcast with Jeff Zito I'm going through all your bio stuff and one thing keeps popping up and I'm like oh this is interesting. I want you to share with me your love of model railroads. It seemed like you have been interested in this as a kid and still to this day I need to know a little bit about your love for model railroads.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

The story is crazy. I can't wait to tell you. So so I grew up with I I I. I grew up with trains my whole life. I had my best memories of my childhood. My dad and I built our train layout together right Anyways, my house is too small for my trains that are sitting basement for decades now, you know, but nearby, like 10 minutes away from my house here in Jersey, an article hits the Wall Street Journal last December about one of America's longest running, oldest non profit model railroad clubs. To put in perspective how big this club is, my house that I live in is that big house. It's 4,600 square feet. That's very model railroad club. The model railroad club is 12,000 square feet of track. It's unbelievable. It's professional. It's called Pacific Southern Railway. It's been running since 1950, right? Anyways, last year the owner of the house died sadly from cancer and the widow was forced to sell the house. And anybody that buys the house can be like, okay, you got to get your trains out of the basement. You can't have 12,000 square feet of the house get out. Right? And the club was there all week long, playing with the trains, opening up to the public as a nonprofit. So the night before they were going to lose the house, my wife and I bought the house to Save the Train Club. And so now I'm one of the chair board members of Pacific Southern Railway, one of America's longest running model railroad clubs. And so they do their. Every year they do their holiday open house, right, where they open up to the public. Public can come in, see the trains, play with them, what have you. And usually in a typical year, they get 100, 150 people go through. It was last weekend, we had 1500 people came through the house to see the trains and to meet, to meet Melissa and I, my wife and I. Wow, it was wild, man.

[Jeff Zito]

Well, you know, but you had this, you had a love for this as a kid. You and your dad had some kind of model trains, right? So where did this all come from? Was your, was your old man a fan of the trains?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I'll tell you what, to get real for a second, you know, my father passed about two years ago from Alzheimer's. He'd suffered with it for many years and it ended up taking my mom too. And to the day he died. If you put either a Frank Sinatra record on the record player or put a model railroad magazine in his hand or put the movie Naked Gun or Airplane on his smile would instantly creep across his face, right back to his old self, to the day he died. It's that kind of thing. It forms core memories in, in families, you know, it's. It's just one of those things that's physical, tangible. It's real. It's not like social media. It's something existing in the real world you can do and master and learn and figure out. It's just. It's just the best core memories of childhood.

[Jeff Zito]

Right on, man. Very cool. I also read that early on and I wanted you to, to maybe clear this up for me early on. You. You wrote a movie and I didn't know anything about this, which is again, kind of just cementing how you want in show business, you know, your whole life. So you wrote a movie, but it says, I think it was on Wikipedia where it said, rather than paying for a Ford Taurus, Murr's parents agreed to pay for production. So I figured there was a story in there somewhere. Tell me about this Ford Taurus and why your parents decided not to buy you that and to finance your movie.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I tell you what, I should have taken the damn Taurus.

Because the movie, the movie was. I graduated college. My dad says, congratulations, I'm going to buy you a cheapo used car. You could have whatever you want, like a five grand car or whatever. I said, no, no, keep the money. I want to, for a graduate gift, put it into me making a short film. And I did. And the movie was terrible. And I realized that I should not be a movie director. I knew my talents were elsewhere. And I think I punished myself for 20 years because I didn't own a car. I purposely like, was like, I don't deserve a car. And I bought my first car in life at 44 years old.

[Jeff Zito]

No way.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I did. Yes. Think about that. I have not owned a car ever in my life until 44 years old. Almost as punishment for not passing up a Ford Taurus.

[Electronic Payments Coalition Announcer]

Wow.

[Jeff Zito]

So we're talking like Murr, we're talking about like a couple. Just a few years ago, you bought your very first car.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Correct? I never owned a car in my life. I was, I seriously, I was punishing myself for how bad that movie was.

[Jeff Zito]

And it was, it was like a retelling of the Bible, if you will.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Oh, God, I don't even want to revisit. Yes. But I tell you what, I ended up, I ended up succeeding because go figure, it didn't get into a single film festival. Nothing. It was a disaster. Right? Lost all the money. It was a mess. But 25 years later, I got on Improt Jokers and the guys put her on the show. And to date, like 8 million Americans have watched that movie.

[Jeff Zito]

Wow. You do. You do. When we last spoke, I asked you about, you know, maybe a pivotal moment in your career. Like a moment that like changed your life forever. And I think you had like a retrospective type of moment where you said you looked up at the marquee over at Madison Square Garden, you saw your, you saw your name and that kind of hit you right? There is like a big moment in your life. Can you think of something in all the life events that you had leading up to the jokers and success and stand up and touring and all that, Was there one thing along the way that you think about? Man, if that didn't happen, I might still be pitching TV shows or might be juggling some more somewhere.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I'll tell you an interesting one. This has nothing to do with the jokers necessarily, but it does.

So 2002, on a dare, my friend dared me to write a thriller, a novel. And I said, sure, I can write a novel. I have a degree in English from Georgetown. Let's go. I want to always want to write books. So I wrote, I spent a year of my life writing my first book called Awakened. It's like a sci fi horror. It's really, really good. Right? It hit number one on the UK Sunday Times and bestseller list across America, you know. Anyways, so I wrote the book, but back then I wasn't on tv, couldn't get anybody to read it. And it sat, it sat on my computer for 20 years. Right. 20 years later we get on Impractic Jokers. It's a success. I sent the same book into HarperCollins. Not a word changed. They bought the trilogy. It hit number one on all these bestseller lists and it launched my literary career. And the first weekend of the book launch for the very first book Awakened, I threw a giant launch event in New York City. Fans came out, the public came out to see, to see the book launch and they had an after party. And at that after party, I met my wife, who's my wife, Melissa. I'm still married to now and. And if I hadn't wrote that book on a dare 20, at this point, 24 years ago, never knowing the future would be impractical. Jokers and so on so forth and become an author as well, I never would have met my wife. I never would have had that car I bought. I never would have had my puppies or my life right now. And that, that's tells you, you know, talk about a decision you make so long ago that dramatically affects your life.

[Jeff Zito]

Yeah, I was, that I was not expecting to hear was an awesome story. And exactly what I was talking about, that was great celebrity jobber hey, this is Sarah.

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[Jeff Zito]

Break up with bland breakfast and taste AM PM's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with cage free eggs, smoked bacon and melty cheese on a buttery biscuit. AM P M Too much good stuff.

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[Jeff Zito]

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[Jeff Zito]

Call click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. I had no idea you were an author. Fiction. He's got all these different books I've been at. @jamesmurrayofficial.com had no idea that, you know, I was just kind of peeping around. Look, like I said, I wanted to buy the Christmas sweatshirt. And I saw these, all these books. And this has been a passion of yours for a long time. You just get these stories in your head or what? Like, how does that start from once upon a time? You know what I mean?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Yeah. Like, everything is too many ideas, not enough time in life. Right. And that the human condition. But yeah, it's just. You know what? This may sound nuts, but I dream. I dream movies and books. So almost every night, like, and I'll wake up in the morning and I'll write down the whole idea, something pops in my head, and I'll dream the entire thing. I'll dream the hook or dream the characters of the plot. It happens every single night. And it's just too many. It's too much in my head. Head, not enough time to execute.

[Jeff Zito]

You're like the Rolling Stones, bro. They wrote Satisfaction in a dream. Like, Keith Richards wrote Woke up in a Dream and, like, had a tape recorder and hummed Satisfaction. That. That's. I find that incredibly fascinating.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I will do this on stage one day. So, you know, I'm in Naples this weekend, or I got four, five shows at the. Of the comedy club. I. One day I will incorporate this into my live show because I have on my phone right now hundreds of recordings at, like 3am Because I wake up in the middle of the night, I'm dreaming an idea, and I hit my record button on the phone, and I've got hundreds of recordings that are absolutely nuts because I'm half asleep. So I sound like I'm drunk, you know, And I've got that sleepy voice, and it's me, like, with the most crazy ideas imaginable. I have all these hundreds of recordings. They're all hysterical when you listen to them the next day because they kind of make sense, but they don't. And they're all over the place, you know? And the titles of the dreams are absolutely crazy. Like, if I can pull up real quick, I'll read you some of the titles. Let me look at my voice memos. They're nuts, man. They're nuts. Like, I don't remember what they are of Course, the next day, Spider man Thanksgiving. I'm a painter dream Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi. F word by the DJ dream. Best marinade of our lives dream. They're crazy stuff, man. Like FBI panic floor, cute girl, me naked alien dream.

How's professor Chicago drug dealer SIM card dream that destroys Europe Dream. Dream of Georgetown and Verizon files, safe deposit box and cheese Dream. They're crazy. They're crazy.

[Jeff Zito]

I want to. I want to see the movie that you're going to make about the college professor drug dealer dream. I. That sounds like something right up my alley.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

This one's interesting. I'm a Hannibal Lecter dream.

[Jeff Zito]

Man. Let me tell you something. You're. You're. You're very fascinating, man. It seems like you're. You're the brains behind the operation. Anyway, I want to plug the dates again. Off the Hook Comedy club in Naples. Go see Mur. James Murray. Great club too, by the way. It's one of my favorite places. I love Captain Brian. The off the hook Comedy club in Naples. Not to mention for all of Murr's tour dates, you can go to james murrayofficial.com and I tell you what, man, I. I know your time is valuable and I appreciate you giving me so much of it today, but just so you know, it's probably not. Biggest waste of your time today. The Celebrity Jobber podcast number five on Apple podcast music interviews chart today in the United States. You have any musical ability at all whatsoever?

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

I can listen to music like the best of them. Yes.

[Jeff Zito]

Okay, there you go. There's the. There's the tie in anyway. James Murray from the Impractical Jokers. So great talking to you. Thank you so much much for. For all your time and, and all your great stories. That was great.

[James Murray (Murr from Impractical Jokers)]

Thanks for having me. And you can get your tickets for this [e-mail] that'll take you right there.

[Jeff Zito]

M U R R l I v e.com merlive.com Such a regular guy, right? Like amazing storyteller. I love how he gets excited. You know, he's like an excitable kind of guy. Seems like just like a regular guy. Guy who got famous with a funny concept and a funny show and never lost. You know who. He was so interesting to me talking about his dad and I can really appreciate how personal he got with this whole story. You know, his dad passed away a few years from Alzheimer's and I guess he also lost his mother to Alzheimer's as well. But he said when they were. When he was young. When Murr was young, him and his dad were in to model trains. And when his dad was older and he was, you know, suffering from Alzheimer's, he said he would either put a Frank Sinatra record on or give him a model train magazine or put on the movie the Naked Gun. And he said instantly his dad would come back to life. You know, a lot like that movie Awakenings. Do you remember that? What? Robert De Niro kind of reminded me of that, but I thought that was a really, really cool story. He said his dad was the funniest guy in the family. Whenever there was a backyard party in Staten island when he was growing up, he said all of girlfriends would gather around his old man, who was making margaritas at the bar and telling jokes and telling stories. And he said his dad was a clown. Really, really funny guy who I'm sure inspired Murr, who always wanted to make people laugh, he said from the time he was a little kid. And that's what made him get into show business. He pitched TV shows. That's what his job was before impractical jokers took off. Off his very first job. As we talked about prior, in the last episode I did with Murr and Q together, Murr said he worked at Party City with Joe Gatto and then famously got fired for dumping a bunch of red solo cups on a woman who was shopping in the aisle next to him. All the other jobs that he mentioned, being a juggler and lying to NBC, saying that he knew everything about websites, HTML, the whole nine, had no idea. Had to go to a bookstore and figure out how to do coding. And I guess Joe Gatto knew how to do some coding as well and would send him the code in an email and Murr would copy and paste it. So he lied his way into a job, which I thought was hilarious because I did the exact same thing. Maybe about 15 years ago, the guy that ran the radio station's like, hey, do you know how to do this? Do you know how to do that? You want to be the program director? Is like, yeah, sure, I know how to do that. Had no idea, lied, got the job, ended up figuring it out. And Murr ended up figuring out the job, which lasted for three years with NBC. JamesMurrayOfficial.com has all of his books, his tour dates, he's got some merch. Really, really fun guy. Definitely check him out when he's touring around the country. And thank you so much for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast we're streaming on Apple. Podcasts Spotify, iHeart. Wherever you listen to podcasts, please subscribe. We'd love a five star rating and please leave a review. If you want to check out past guests and episodes, you can do so [e-mail] before fame, these people were just regular everyday nine to fivers like you and me. And then boom, it happens. And as they say, the rest is history. Fascinating stuff, right? Coming up next week on the Celebrity Jobber podcast, former teen heartthrob Sean Cassidy. It's going to be a good one. So thanks again for for listening and until next week. I'll see you then. I'm Jeff Zito.

[Electronic Payments Coalition Announcer]

D.C. politicians want to enact harmful credit card mandates that could take away your cash back and rewards points, perks that stretch your budget and make life a little easier. Losing these benefits means less money for your family's everyday essentials like gas and groceries. The perks you rely on could disappear, leaving you with higher costs and fees. Fewer options. Tell Congress to guard your card and oppose the Durbin Marshall credit card mandates.

[Jeff Zito]

Paid for by Electronic Payments Coalition.

[Electronic Payments Coalition Announcer]

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