Celebrity Jobber Podcast with Jeff Zito

Guest: James "Murr" Murray (Impractical Jokers)

Episode Air Date: December 6, 2025

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.