Alex Owens | Downtown News

For a guy who stars on a show called “Impractical Jokers,” Brian Quinn has some practical reasons for arranging a performance with his fellow castmates in San Diego during July: Comic-Con.

“We purposely arranged our performance around Comic-Con. It’s my tenth time,” Quinn said recently by phone outside of a New York comic book store. “Our friend had his bachelor party in New Orleans, so we did a show there.”

Quinn and his three “Impractical Jokers” castmates — Joe Gatto, James Murray, and Sal Vulcano — are performing improv comedy at the Civic Theater on July 26 under the name “The Tenderloins.”

“We don’t own the name ‘Impractical Jokers,’ but it’s the same guys,” he said. “It’s a mix of stand up, interactive comedy, sketches and behind-the-scenes videos about the show.”

Ah yes, the show.

Now in its third season on the TruTV network, “Impractical Jokers” has the foursome — all boyhood pals from New York — forcing each other to do hidden camera pranks on unsuspecting people.

For instance, one prank might be set at a fast food restaurant and each guy takes turns working behind the counter. While one is working, the others might shout asinine directions to him through an earpiece such as “Turn everything the customer says into a rhyme” or “Stare at the customer’s $20 bill for 45 seconds without moving.”

The live show and the “Jokers” gleefully skirt lines of bad taste, but Quinn said one highlight for fans is seeing challenges that were too hardcore even for cable TV.

“We wanted to show Sal asking for directions while holding a sex toy in his hand,” he said. “The network wouldn’t let us shoot it, so we act it out on stage.”

The “Jokers” were all born in 1976 and have been goofing around together since high school. The Tenderloins name dates back to 1999. Quinn said making money while making fun of his friends is the best job of all.

“We’re together six days a week,” he said. “I don’t know how it works so well. We have fights, but we genuinely hang out. We’re grateful that we’re doing this. You can’t make comedy if you’re mad.”

Quinn said he is surprised by the TV show’s massive audience.

“We’re on TV stations all over the world,” he said. “I was in Costa Rica and people told me they watched the show there.”

But fame as a joker can be impractical. Some fans think its funny to prank the prankster.

“I was eating dinner once and some guy came up and drank my entire beer,” he said. “That was kind of messed up. He didn’t even replace it.”

As much as Quinn is excited about performing in San Diego the week of Comic-Con, the show is part of his master plan.

“I’m going to be at the Con from Thursday to Monday,” he said. “I might hang out with the guys from the AMC series ‘Comic Book Men,’ but, basically, I’m going to geek out on comics.”

Don’t expect him to dress up though.

“One year I went as Hunter S. Thompson, but I won’t be doing that again,” he said.

One thing he’d like to do is network with comic industry types. When Quinn isn’t doing comedy on stage or filming his show, he works on writing superhero scripts with the hopes of selling them to comic book companies. With no success whatsoever, he’s quick to point out.

“I’ve been trying so hard to break in,” Quinn said. “But there’s been no interest so far. The comic book industry is a lot more closed than you might think.”

If the dream of writing superhero scripts doesn’t take flight at Comic-Con, Quinn has another plan.

“I love the beer in San Diego,” he said. “I’d like to get wasted and throw up over some frat dude dressed as Wolverine.”

The Impractical Jokers will be performing as “The Tenderloins” at the San Diego Civic Theatre, located at 1100 Third Ave., Downtown, on July 26 at 8 p.m. For more information, check out thetenderloins.com. For tickets, visit sandiegotheatres.org.

—Alex Owens is a San Diego based freelance writer.