On TV’s “Impractical Jokers,” Sal Vulcano embarrasses, challenges and pranks his longtime friends.
After touring with his castmates, Vulcano is on his own doing stand-up comedy. He brings his show to Tucson’s Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Saturday, Jan. 11, as part of his “Everything’s Fine” jaunt. During this tour, the comic brings more personal material to the stage.
“For the first time onstage, I’m talking about my family, my life, my wife, kid, things like that,” he said.
“That is stuff I’ve never really spoken about. I was always been private with that, but recently I decided that I wanted to talk about it on stage. So, this is a side of me and things about me people have never heard or really seen.”
He said his stand-up show differs from what he does with his “Impractical Jokers” castmates. Sometimes, fans are surprised when they see his solo act.
“I’ve played myself on television for very long time,” he said.
“They know me and my personality, but they don’t know much necessarily about my personal stories. They also don’t know what to expect. Some people don’t know that when they come to the show, it’s pure stand-up comedy… When I tour with guys, our tour is not necessarily stand-up. It’s all of us onstage together, and we’re showing videos, doing interactive things and telling stories from the show and about each other.
“I don’t even speak about ‘Jokers’ when I do stand up. It’s just all about me and my life. People come, and they’re really happy to get to know more and to see inside of me.”
Vulcano said that he has always loved doing standup.
“There’s nothing better than being on stage with a live audience and having that back and forth in the moment,” Vulcano said.
“The travel itself is tough, getting on the plane and leaving home, but being on stage, meeting all these people and laughing with them in all these different cities all across the country makes it worth it.”
Vulcano released his standup special “Terrified” in May 2024, which centers around his childhood and adult fears. It is available for view on YouTube through 800 Pound Gorilla Media.
“That was a collection of things throughout my life that were fear based, stories and my observations throughout my life. That is why I am who I am,” Vulcano said.
He said that choosing material for the special was a process.
“For my first special, I wanted to approach it as a full piece that took you through a journey, instead of just a collection of jokes and just naming it something arbitrary,” Vulcano said.
“I started to recognize that a lot of my material was written from fear-based things and things that happened to me that were traumatic. I looked at that and linked them together.”
Vulcano said that often, people don’t know he is a standup comedian, and the special gives him a point of reference.
“Even though I’ve been doing a stand up a long time, I hadn’t had the time to do a special because of all my other work commitments. So, I finally just carved that time out,” Vulcano said.
Vulcano also cohosts the podcasts “Hey Babe!” with Chris Distefano and “Taste Buds” with Joe Derosa.
“With a podcast, anything goes,” said Vulcano, who started the podcasts during the pandemic.
“It’s not like we’re dealing with a network. It’s not like we’re dealing with getting any notes. It’s whatever we want. Anything goes, and that kind of freedom is what makes it so much fun.”
Vulcano is also getting ready to start doing a solo podcast.
“I’m interviewing very big guests, and we’re doing very small talk,” Vulcano said.
“It’s going to be absurdist questions, segments and topics, just stuff that is really out of the ordinary, hopefully to be having conversations, asking questions and doing things with people that they haven’t done, that people haven’t seen them do in every other interview and every other podcast.”
Along with “Impractical Jokers,” Vulcano has also appeared onscreen in “Clerks III,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” “MacGyver,” “12 Monkeys” and “Bones.”
Vulcano went to Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island with his fellow castmates from “Impractical Jokers.”
They started doing improv comedy in high school.
“It was more like improv games, like ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway,’” Vulcano said.
“More short form, they call it. It was more about fooling around and being quick on your feet. Nothing too crazy, nothing too controversial, but it planted a seed, performing live… It was really the impetus of a lot of this. If I didn’t do improv in high school, I don’t know if I would have done it with them when we got back from high school and in turn been on this journey. It’s just crazy to think that doing high school improv is what got me here.”
After college, the guys reunited for comedy. Vulcano said it was like no time had passed when they started working together again.
“We were all still doing it. It was like old like old times again. We just started meeting a few times a week and rehearsing together. We were having so much fun that we just started putting up shows,” Vulcano said.
They started doing “Impractical Jokers” in 2011. They just began shooting the show’s 12th season.
On the TV show, Vulcano has done crazy antics such as getting a Jaden Smith tattoo on his thigh.
During their live 100th episode, they did a high-wire walk in New York for charity. That was memorable for him.
“I don’t know how or when I’d ever be able to do something like that. It’s wild to think we did something like that,” Vulcano said. “I’m afraid of heights, so walking on a 60-foot tightrope is unreal.”
Vulcano was a fan of comedy from the time he was young, watching programs like “The Carol Burnett Show’ and “The Jeffersons.”
“These characters on television were just larger than life and really funny,” Vulcano said.
“A lot of stuff would go over my head, but I’d see my grandparents and my parents cracking up. That was my first influences.”
When he got a little older, he started watching stand-up comedy from Eddie Murphy.
“It’s funny to think about my young self watching his dirty comedy. That’s not really what my comedy is like. I’m not controversial, and I’m not dirty. Still, funny is funny, and I was influenced by funny,” Vulcano said.
When he was young, he started out doing comedy at his school and for his family.
“For me, it’s wild that this is my job because it’s all I ever really wanted to do,” Vulcano said.
Sal Vulcano: “Everything’s Fine Tour”
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday Jan. 11
WHERE: Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Avenue, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $37.75
INFO: 520-791-4101, salvulcanocomedy.com
