Exclusive Interview: Brian Quinn Talks Impractical Jokers, Wanting To Work With WWE, 'The Misery Index' & More

Were you at the Raw show in September with Sal where he got called out by Stone Cold Steve Austin in Madison Square Garden?

Quinn: I was at that show (with Stone Cold Steve Austin at MSG). It's great because when we went backstage, Sal had just shot [Straight Up Steve Austin], but I had never met Stone Cold before. When he found out Sal was there, he pulled Sal out of the crowd and I was there, but I wasn't going to be the guy that was saying, “Hey! Me too! I want a beer, too!”

If Sal is having a moment like that, I'm having a moment like that. He's my best friend. When we went backstage, we were talking to The Miz and I love that guy. When you talk to him backstage, he busts your chops constantly, I love that guy. He was giving Sal so much crap like, “What happened? You couldn't get a beer for your boy? Did you forget about Q the second Stone Cold [showed up]?” It was really funny, but I didn't feel that way and it was funny to have fun with The Miz over it.

What have you noticed are the biggest similarities between wrestling crowds and crowds you've performed in front of for your live shows and how difficult is it to not get noticed when you're at these shows or when filming your own show in public?

Quinn: That's a good question. We say it all the time: The closest things to our shows are either a wrestling show or a rock concert. It's not like stand-up where people just sit there.

They're interactive, we talk to the audience the whole time, people hold up signs, people run around, we run into the crowd and high-five people. It's way, way closer to a wrestling show than your average concert or comedy show by. We encourage that because it makes it more fun. We can't do the hidden camera show on stage, so we have to try to transplant the spirit of the show because the spirit of the show is just four friends hanging out and whatnot.

We try and give that experience when we do the live show like, “Hey man, we're hanging out for a night, let's have some fun with it.” For us, it makes it a lot more fun because we'll be doing a show and someone will hold up a sign and we'll either read the sign or go off on it. It's just a lot of fun, it's like everything else we do. If it doesn't involve the fans, then it's really not worth doing.

How tough has it become to not be recognized in public at this point, especially while filming Impractical Jokers?

Quinn: I'd say about four years it reached a point where everyday we have to deal with it, but thankfully, it never really got to the point where it would ruin the show. Manhattan alone is, what, five million people alone on that island? That's mainly where we shoot. I'll tell you right now: If every person in Manhattan knew and watched Impractical Jokers, I'd be on a private island. It doesn't work like that. As popular as the show is and as much as people like the show, it really isn't the biggest show in the world.

There's plenty of people who don't know who we are and if fans come over when we're filming, we say, “Hey, we're filming right now, can it wait until after?” It's really not that hard. We have ways of testing people to see if they know the show or not. We can't use them if they know the show because it's not funny because their reactions aren't genuine. We have some trips and tricks that I don't say in interviews because I don't want people to be aware of what they are.

For viewers, what will be the biggest differences between Season 1 and Season 2 of The Misery Index?

Quinn: Wow, that's a good question. So, this is the big difference. Season 2, it becomes more our show. The first season, we were guns for hire. They thought we'd be a good fit, we came in, we decided we wanted to try it. In the first difference, as much fun as we had and we did have a lot of fun, it just start gelling with Jameela, and we had this feeling of we're serving somebody else's purpose here. By the end of the first season, we had our hands on it, we understood what we could bring to this if we got another season.

This season, we really dove in with little bits and little surprises with each other like we do on Impractical Jokers. We're thinking, “How can we mess with Sal specifically on this show?” or “What can I do specifically to Murr on this show?” and those things started coming. I think people who like Impractical Jokers are going to see a little bit more of that DNA on Misery Index and also we're closer with Jameela.

I love her, I love working with her personally and I think that comes through a lot more this season because we didn't just meet a week ago. No matter how well we got along that first week, there's nothing like being pals with each other. We've gone out to dinner, we've hung out, it's just a closer, tighter dynamic.

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