‘Impractical Jokers’ Tops 85% Clearance

TruTV’s Impractical Jokers, the network’s longest-running and highest-rated original series, is making the jump into syndication, the Turner network and Trifecta Entertainment & Media jointly announced today. With the show currently cleared nationally in more than 85% of the country, the series starring four lifelong friends Joe, Murr, Q and Sal is poised to take their hidden-camera hijinks off-channel, airing in comedy blocks as a Monday-Friday strip beginning this September.

CBS and Sinclair station groups will help launch the series in several markets including New York. Additional key station groups onboard for the 2017-18 broadcast season include Tribune, Nexstar-Media General, Titan, Weigel, Gray, Hearst, Cox and Tegna.

Trifecta Entertainment & Media will distribute the series to all broadcast outlets, feeding 10 episodes from its first five seasons each week. Trifecta will also handle all ad sales for the series in syndication.

“Impractical Jokers is one of the most successful original comedy series on cable, so the strong response and quick clearance in the broadcast marketplace is no surprise to us,” said Chris Linn, president of truTV. “As more television viewers are introduced to the guys and their authentic, relatable sense of humor, we’re confident they’ll become fans and continue to build on the franchise’s multiplatform success.”

“We are thrilled to partner with truTV in bringing this hilarious series to broadcast,” said Hank Cohen, CEO of Trifecta. “It’s not often that off-net comedies are offered to stations at the height of their network success, and Impractical Jokers is not only at the top of its game, but is still climbing. We’re very excited to help further build on the series’ ongoing success.”  

TruTV’s longest-running series, Impractical Jokers is currently in its sixth season, and truTV recently announced the greenlight of a seventh season debuting in 2018. The series’ most recent episodes from the current sixth season are averaging more than 1.7 million total viewers and 1.2 million adults 18-49, making it the No. 1 cable series in its timeslot with adults 18-34 and 18-49, according to truTV.

The series is also a massive social hit, it says, with more than 4.4 million fans across social platforms and 859 million social impressions garnered in 2016. Additionally, the guys tour as a successful comedy troupe known as The Tenderloins, performing live shows in front of millions of fans each year. New episodes of Impractical Jokers will return on Thursday, July 13, at 10 p.m. ET/PT with a special hour-long mid-season premiere episode that features the Jokers on location in Hawaii.

Impractical Jokers is produced by NorthSouth Productions with Charlie DeBevoise, Pete McPartland Jr., Joe Gatto, James Murray, Brian Quinn and Sal Vulcano serving as executive producers.