Joseph Gatto (born June 5, 1976) is an American improvisational comedian, actor, and producer from the New York City borough of

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

. He is a former member of

the Tenderloins The Tenderloins, often referred to as the Impractical Jokers, are an American comedy troupe composed of James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, and Sal Vulcano. The group stars in the television series ''Impractical Jokers'', which premiered on ...

, a comedy troupe consisting of

Sal Vulcano Salvatore Edward Anthony Vulcano (born November 6, 1976) is an American improvisational and stand-up comedian, actor, and producer from the New York City borough of Staten Island. He is a member of The Tenderloins, a comedy troupe consisting of ...

, James Murray, and Brian Quinn. Along with the other members of the Tenderloins, he starred in the television series ''

Impractical Jokers ''Impractical Jokers'' is an American hidden camera comedy and reality show with improvisational elements. Produced by NorthSouth Productions, ''Impractical Jokers'' premiered on truTV on December 15, 2011, starring the members of The Tenderlo ...

'', which first aired in 2011, on

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...

Early life

Joseph Gatto was born on June 5, 1976 in

and is of Italian descent. Gatto attended

Monsignor Farrell High School Monsignor Farrell High School is a Catholic high school for boys, located in the Oakwood section of Staten Island, New York, United States. Opened in 1961, the school is named in honor of Monsignor Joseph Farrell, a Catholic priest, as well a ...

. Along with Murray, Vulcano, and Quinn, he was a member of his high school's

Improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

Club. He studied at

LIU Post LIU Post, formally the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University and often referred to as C.W. Post, is a private university in Brookville, New York, on Long Island. It is part of Long Island University (LIU), and the largest school in the ...

, where he received a degree in accounting. Gatto's father died in September 1995 from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

Career

Early career

After being apart for four years, Murray, Gatto, and Vulcano reunited after graduating from college and began practicing improvisation at Gatto's house, going on to tour as an improv and sketch comedy troupe in 1998, calling themselves

. The Tenderloins began producing comedy sketches together, posting them on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

, and

Metacafe Metacafe was an Israeli video-sharing website, launched in July 2003. During the mid-2000s it was one of the largest video-sharing websites, though it eventually began to be superseded by YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. On 28 August 2021, the pl ...

, accumulating millions of views online. In 2007, the troupe won the $100,000 grand prize in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

''It's Your Show'' competition for the sketch "Time Thugs".

''Impractical Jokers'' and other television shows

'' premiered on December 15, 2011, on

. The first season was watched by over 32 million viewers. The series quickly became the most popular program on TruTV and boosted Gatto into the public eye. In October 2019, Gatto, along with the other members of the Tenderloins, starred in '' The Misery Index'', which is hosted by

Jameela Jamil Jameela Alia Jamil (born 25 February 1986) is an English actress, activist and presenter. She began her career on Channel 4, where she hosted a pop culture series in the ''T4 (Channel 4), T4'' strand from 2009 until 2012. She then became the ra ...

and is based on

Andy Breckman Andrew Ross Breckman (born March 3, 1955) is an American screenwriter, comedian, and radio personality. He is the creator and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning television series ''Monk'' on the USA Network and is co-host of WFMU radi ...

's card game "Shit Happens". In 2020, '' Impractical Jokers: The Movie'' was released on February 21. On December 31, 2021, Gatto announced he was stepping away from ''Impractical Jokers'' and the Tenderloins on good terms to focus more on co-parenting his children, after a then-split with his wife. He stated: "However, due to some issues in my personal life, I have to step away. Bessy and I have decided to amicably part ways, so now I need to focus on being the best father and co-parent to our two incredible kids." The couple reconciled in September 2023. In 2023, Gatto made a guest appearance at an ''Impractical Jokers'' performance in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. On August 25, 2024, the ''Impractical Jokers'' wrapped up a two-year long tour in

Hanover, Maryland Hanover is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in the Baltimore/Annapolis area in northwestern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Anne Arundel County and eastern Howard County, Maryland, Howard County in the U.S. state of Maryland, locate ...

Live! Casino & Hotel Live! Casino & Hotel, formerly Maryland Live! Casino, is a casino hotel in Hanover, Maryland, adjacent to Arundel Mills Mall. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by The Cordish Companies. It opened in 2012. The casino has ...

while Gatto made a surprise appearance towards the end of the show.

''The Tenderloins Podcast''

The Tenderloins hosted a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

from April 2012 to 2013. It is available on their official website and on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

''Two Cool Moms''

Since March 1, 2022, Gatto has been co-hosting the weekly ''Two Cool Moms'' podcast, along with comedian

Steve Byrne Steve Byrne (born July 21, 1974) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known from his multiple stand up comedy hour specials; creating, writing, and starring in '' Sullivan & Son''; and as the writer/director of the feature fi ...

. The podcast's name derives from the two describing their mothers as "strong, opinionated mothers who gave great advice". The podcast focuses on the two giving advice to strangers who submit a problem they're facing.

Books

On August 26, 2020, Gatto published a book titled ''The Dogfather: My Love for Dogs, Dessert and Growing Up Italian''. The book mainly focuses on stories about Gatto's dogs, him growing up in an

Italian American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

household, and his love for Italian food. This gave him inspiration to name his fourteen dogs after said food; the dogs he currently has are named

Cannoli Cannoli are Sicilian pastries consisting of a tube-shaped shell of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling containing ricotta cheese. Their size ranges from . In mainland Italy, the food is commonly known as (). In culi ...

Biscotti Biscotti are Italian almond biscuits originating in the city of Prato, Tuscany. They are twice-baked, oblong-shaped, dry, and crunchy. In Italy, they are known as , or and may be dipped in a drink, traditionally Vin Santo. Smaller biscotti ...

Spumoni Spumoni (: spumone) is a molded gelato made with layers of different colors and flavors containing candied fruits and Nut (fruit), nuts, with the main three flavors being pistachio, cherry, and chocolate (or sometimes vanilla). Its origins da ...

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, Cotta,

Struffoli ''Struffoli'' (; , ), also known as Honey Balls, is a Neapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of sweet dough. The dough is used in many Italian sweet treats such as '' chiacchiere''. For ''struffoli'', the dough is formed in to balls about the ...

, Tortoni,

Fettuccine Alfredo Fettuccine Alfredo () is a pasta dish consisting of fettuccine tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese, which melt and emulsify to form a rich cheese sauce coating the pasta. Originating in Rome in the early 20th century, the recipe is now popu ...

Gnocchi Gnocchi are a varied family of pasta-like dumplings in Italian cuisine. They are made of small rolls of dough, such as those composed of a simple combination of wheat flour,Buonassisi, recipe #831-833 potato,Buonassisi, recipe #854-857 egg,Buonas ...

Tiramisu Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made of ladyfinger pastries () dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and mascarpone, and topped with cocoa powder. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of cakes and ...

Burrata Burrata () is an Italian cow's milk (occasionally buffalo milk) cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer casing is solid cheese, while the inside contains and clotted cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is a speciality of ...

Gelato Gelato (; ; ) refers to a specific type of ice cream of Italian origin. In Italian, ''Gelato'' is the common word for all types of ice cream. Artisanal gelato in Italy generally contains 6–9% butterfat, which is lower than other styles of ...

Calzone Calzone is an Italian oven-baked folded pizza. A typical calzone is made from salted bread dough, baked in an oven and stuffed with prosciutto or salami, mozzarella or ricotta, and Parmesan or pecorino, as well as an egg. Different regio ...

, and

Nutella Nutella ( , , ; stylized in all lowercase) is a brand of brown, sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread. Nutella is manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero and was introduced in 1964, although its first iteration dates to 1963. History Pietro ...

. In 2024, he released a picture book for kids titled ''Where's Bearry?''.

Personal life

Gatto and his wife Bessy have two children. Gatto is an advocate for the "Adopt, Don't Shop" movement, encouraging people to adopt pets from shelters rather than purchase them from breeders. They have had fourteen dogs. The couple separated amicably in 2021, but reconciled in 2023. Gatto actively campaigns against bullying, and his content dealing with the issue includes various YouTube segments. Gatto is a

Kentucky Colonel Kentucky Colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the US state of Kentucky. It is the most well-known colonelcy in the United States. A Kentucky Colonel Commission (the certificate) is awarded in the name of the Commonwealth by the go ...

. Gatto is a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to be ...

as well as a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

Sexual harassment allegation

On March 20, 2025, a woman on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

posted a number of allegations against Gatto. Gatto denied the allegations, saying: "I have used poor judgment and, as a result, have violated the trust of the people I love most. But anyone who knows me at all knows full well that I wouldn't assault anyone." Gatto cancelled the remainder of his tour on March 26, and announced he would be entering an in-patient facility.

Filmography

Bibliography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gatto, Joe 1976 births Living people 21st-century American comedians American male comedians American people of Italian descent Comedians from Staten Island LIU Post alumni Monsignor Farrell High School alumni The Tenderloins