Courtesy of Sal Vulcano. Photo credit: Jonathan Thorpe.
For almost three decades, triple threat comedian, podcaster & performer Sal Vulcano has been making millions of comedy fans laugh on stages and screens all across the world perfecting his well rounded comedy craft. Whether that’s through his hit hidden camera prank show Impractical Jokers on TBS, his two comedy podcasts Taste Buds & Hey Babe with Joe DeRosa & Chris Distefano respectively, or taking the global stage selling out New York’s Radio City Music Hall & London’s O2 Arena with his Jokers collaborators Brian “Q” Quinn & James “Murr” Murrary - he’s more than cemented himself that he’s a mainstay in the world of comedy.
But now, Vulcano has taken his comedy to the next level by doubling down fully on his stand-up routine for nearly the last decade to show off his refined timing & perfected storytelling in his sensational debut comedy special, Terrified. Needless to say, the work has certainly paid off as the special is now well over a million views just a little more than a month since its premiere on YouTube. And the Staten Island native has revealed that he won’t be slowing down anytime soon on both his stand-up & Impractical Jokers ambitions.
In this breakout comedy special, Vulcano takes fans on a personal journey recalling the fears he’s had over the course of his life & his hysterically unique perspective on some memorable life experiences including a wild encounter at a Rufus Wainwright concert. 800 Pound Gorilla News got to speak with Sal while he was on set shooting the next season of Impractical Jokers about his signature storytelling style, working with Ari Shaffir, the most expensive joke told that’s given the best payout, & how he pushes the creative boundary in his comedy.
You talk in the beginning of your special how much you love Chicago and how you picked the right city to tape it on. Beyond the choice of city, what attracted you to tape at the Vic Theatre?
Yeah, that was one of the biggest decisions I had to make was the venue location. I wanted a theater that played like a club. You know, I didn't want it to be overly cavernous, I wanted it to feel like people were right over you on the stage. There's only a handful of those that I really can think of and really love to play and The Vic is one of them. It's a performance space, a rock venue, and you feel the energy and the laughs kind of bounce off the walls. It's really special in that way.
One thing I wanted to make sure of was when I tape the special, I was hoping that the crowd and the energy was indicative of some of my favorite shows on the tour and I wanted the best representation of it. And in hindsight, I'm so happy that I did it there because Chicago is just among the best audiences I've ever had.
The crowd indeed was very electric. Continuing to talk about taping at the Vic, it indeed was a great choice because you're also in great company with comics like Mark Normand & Hannibal Buress, who previously taped specials there and Seth Meyers actually just taped his next special there. Did you know you were in company with those comics & do you also think about who’s played at “X” venue when deciding on the venue choice?
No, I didn't know at first. I found out about Mark [Normand] just because he's my friend. And I was talking to him when I told him my shows. He's like, “I just did mine there” [referring to Soup to Nuts]. So yeah, no, I didn't know, but all the better. I mean, Hannibal and Seth, I’m fans of theirs. I'm assuming they choose it for the same reasons. I know Hannibal is from Chicago. But yeah, it's cool to be on that list with them.
Absolutely! I wanted to ask about your experience working with Ari Shaffir, your executive producer and creative consultant on “Terrified.” What was it like having him as a creative partner on this special? And for our readers that might not know what it means when a comic is an executive producer on a special, what was his role in helping you put it together?
Ari Shaffir (if people are not familiar with him) is a long long standing, very excellent comic & one of my very best friends - and he made the special better. I approached him with it and he was into doing it. Ari has a handful of specials himself and a lot of experience. He's truly the one of the most giving comedians to other comedians that I can even think of. He’s always helping comedians and younger comedians. He's just a really good guy, always making sure he gets people paid for any little project. Just knowing him, a lot of people don't see that part of him, but I trust him so much with his judgments as a comic and a creative entity. He's done this before & he's been there.
An executive producer could play a lot of roles. But Ari in particular, though, is kind of like a utility all around & a creative consultant. He helped me with the nuts and bolts of everything from figuring out how to seat the audience, working on bits, editing and trimming some bits with me to just every little thing, or we sat together and went over notes. He was even the guy that day (because I had a cold that day) making me ginger tea.
Oh my gosh!
He was one of the warm up comics, he helped with the audience and wore many, many hats. To have him with me in that capacity on my very first special was definitely like a nice security blanket.
Well shout out to Ari, he's the man for helping you especially with that ginger tea. That’s way more clutch than you would think especially on day of show taping. What an awesome creative partner! Continuing on about Terrified, it's beyond evident how brilliant and talented of a storyteller you are connecting your bits together so seamlessly, making it truly a fantastic watching experience. You've mentioned recently in an interview with Cracked how sitcoms have played a part in your upbringing growing up (particularly The Jeffersons). And to add to that similar narrative, are there any films that you may think about when performing your stand-up? Or that inspire your storytelling style?
As far as a narrative goes, or situational like storytelling as sitcoms on everything, I just love that format. I just love something that is just for my own style, you know, it's bigger than just a moment or a joke, it has a build and stakes, and it's personal. It has a vulnerability and some heart in there. And the truth is always funny. Whenever I can call something from my own life, I just think it'd be worthy of telling. For me, that's the strongest form of comedy for me to convey.
So growing up and watching stuff like The Jeffersons I had mentioned in the past, they’re like little plays and the payoff is so, so much better. You get to know the character, and you get a little bit of an investment in what they're saying. And so that's kind of what I take to what I'm doing. I want people to come away with a bunch of things: I want ‘em to laugh their ass off, but I want ‘em to come away feeling like they got to know me better, who I am & relate.
Growing up, Eddie Murphy was huge for me (Trading Places & Coming to America). I watched the VHS’s until they broke the tape. Eddie Murphy had a way in Coming to America, for example, of playing so many different characters and he’s so riveting to watch. He's someone on screen that when he talks, it's pretty captivating. He has an energy and commands the screen. When I'm on stage, I really try to connect with the audience; it’s important in the theater as it is when they watch it because it translates. So I do try to be a presence on stage that is very, very locked in and connected with the audience like a lot of walking around, playing to the back of the room, the sides, giving a lot of eye contact, etc. Because if I'm telling a story anyway, I want to make sure to make that as personal as possible.
That's certainly an exceptional answer to give, Eddie Murphy is an icon and definitely set a high precedent for transitioning from stand-up to film and being a king at storytelling. I want to expand on your note about stage presence. From what I've seen in clips of your Impractical Jokers stage show, it really shines in how you're connecting with the audience. Of course, during the special, a lot of stand-ups don't necessarily have the improv & sketch background like you do when doing their first special. Can you talk about how performing with the Tenderloins and Impractical Jokers prepped you performance wise for Terrified?
Absolutely. I've been doing comedy and improv and sketch forms for 25 years, writing for sketch, improv and jokes. March 4th, 2000 was our first official show when the guys and I started performing.
Wow.
And so I was very comfortable onstage, very comfortable writing jokes, very comfortable being in the moment, not being afraid of silence or things like that. I did a little stand-up out of college and a little bit here and there, but it was about 8-10 years ago now that I really started doing it full time. And the guys and I started our tour in 2011, so I had a lot of stage time as well. All that adds up to when I really dug in, I think I was ahead of the curve because of all those things and I had that experience. And I was also in my mid 30’s when I really started, in earnest, having a little more sense of self. And I think one of the biggest things as a comedian is getting your material and your jokes to match authentically to your voice and your personality. So, in that respect, I had a lot of practice on stage, a lot of practice riffing, a lot of practice writing, and a lot of life experience. So when I was beginning, I think I was way ahead of the curve, as opposed to a young kid just starting from scratch. It was easier for me to cultivate that and to be true to my voice already.
And I noticed that when watching the special that you definitely had that particular edge to make such a strong debut with your improv and sketch backgrounds. I thought that was really cool to see shine through you as your journey into stand-up has been cool to see. And while we’re talking about it, I also wanted to ask you about your newest show you just announced that's going out later this fall, “Everything’s Fine.” I love the artwork that you used to promote this tour paying homage to the “this is fine dog in the burning house” meme.
(chuckles) Yes!
It's a meme I've used a lot and one I still use. How is the process putting together this new material you're about to perform compared to “Terrified”?
For sure! Well, as you know, I'm starting from scratch here. It's a fun time because a lot of the material in the last special, some of it’s just about eight years old, some of it was only four months old. I've been working on that very meticulously, right up until the day of. Like so meticulously, so I was so over that material. It's a tricky thing because you want to be as prepared as possible, but you still want the material to feel fresh. So it's a delicate balance going into the special, how much prep you should do and how much you should also lean back a little so it's not just overdone and overcooked in your own mind. Now, I'm starting completely from scratch. It's exciting in that respect, because it's so good to get on stage and be navigating new jokes. But also, this is the time where a lot of things fall flat. So you take both of those things, that's what's par for the course right now. So, it's been a while since I've been in this phase. I might add jokes here and there. I have probably a few hours of material prior to this, my favorite part of that one, it's in the special. But it's always just adding, it's never like, “alright, now I’m crafting something completely from scratch again.” And I also like to have the hour have a beginning, middle and end and be thematically connected. So it stands as a full piece, as opposed to like ala carte jokes, so approaching it from that perspective as well is very interesting. Because it's not just, “if I think it's something funny, it goes in.” It has to fit the kind of narrative and the kind of angle of the theme that I'm going for. And so in that respect, it is a little more challenging to approach the material, but it's the way I like it.
Love that! One of the most standout & discussed bits from “Terrified" I've seen online (my personal favorite) which might not come as a surprise is “The Rhythm.” It's so well timed & executed. And it's clearly seen how much work went into landing that exactly right. Was that the hardest section to put together in the special?
So that was one of the bits I've been doing the longest. And it used to be my closer actually, years and years ago. And the goal of course is to keep getting a new closer so that eventually (hopefully) the whole hour is just a closer, you know what I mean? But I'm so happy that it was that well received. I think it's the thing that's resonating most with people, if I'm seeing too, it's gone the most viral online. And I wasn't sure because it hits really hard with people who know the song and lived through the song. And the other folks I'm kind of educating on it, so it might not be as distinctly relatable, and thus finite. I tried to craft it in a way that it didn't really matter if you were familiar with the song or not. There's a whole bunch of more to that bit. But the whole thing is about editing down. So I even cut a lot of chunks out of jokes, just to make it more lean and make the pacing better and everything.
So it happens, right? That's the first step. It's like, “wow, this is a crazy thing to happen to me,” which is great, because that's unique to me. So especially when you're trying to write something that has your own take on something, nothing is more unique to you than a personal experience, right? So that's another reason I like storytelling, because there's really no duplicating the experiences I had. But then once you get it, it is about exactly what you said, just fine tuning and editing, getting the timing down and understanding when to reveal something or when to say something. That whole shaping of it is the part that is fun and challenging. And really, it happens over years. A joke could never be done if you don't want it to be done, a joke could keep changing forever. At the time of the special, I thought that I had that in a place that was pretty well representative of everything I wanted to do with it. But it's funny because in the months after the special before it aired, there's like five months that I could still do that material. And of course, the jokes keep evolving. And so in a lot of the jokes in the special, I've added tags or sections that I thought made it better, just because I kept going with them, you know? And it's like, “I wish that would have been with a special” but yeah, I'm glad you liked that one.
You sound young, were you familiar with the song before I said it?
Yeah, I'd actually seen the stage production when I was younger. I'm 28, so I'm relatively familiar with it. I think regardless of how old you are, you didn't have to know a ton of background on Gloria Estefan's Rhythm Is Gonna Get You to get the joke. And that's just the beauty of your storytelling is it just executed so great. Even melodically, you nailed it on the head and the performance was great. But yeah, I was familiar with the song but that didn't hinder it from landing for other viewers. It definitely resonated with them even if you didn't know the song beforehand.
Yeah, I tried to get her to come to the taping and perform it at the end of the special but I was unable to reach her through a few avenues. But I now know that she has seen it and has really liked it.
Oh, that's amazing!
She has seen it, her whole family has seen it (her husband and children) so that's pretty awesome. It was an expensive joke to do, because I had to pay for the rights to sing that. Going into it I knew I had to pay for actual music rights like in the special, but I didn't realize how much it would cost to have to say that joke. And I actually am thrilled that you liked it that much because it was the most expensive joke that I've ever told.
Well hey, it paid off, it got you to that million views within a month. So I yeah, that's wonderful to hear. This is a little bit of a random note, but I was remembering your bit about thunder. I don't know if you had recalled watching Ted when putting together this hour, but I remembered the scene in that movie when Ted and John have that Thunder Buddies song. I just couldn't help but think about that moment when you were talking about as a child being afraid of thunder. So I just thought that was a cool connection worth mentioning.
I didn't. But now that you say it, I do remember that thunder buddies or whatever it was. Yeah, I did. I didn't remember that. But yeah, that's my mom telling me that it was God bowling just to get me to not be scared. But in hindsight, I don't know why she just didn't tell me that about the weather. Like, there was no need for her to cover up what it was. And so you know, when you go into school with that information, I got my ass handed to me basically telling everyone it was Jesus & his friends bowling.
That’s hilarious! I’d love to talk a bit about how special this week is because Season 11 of Impractical Jokers comes out. And I just heard that you're currently on set shooting the new season right now. So, congratulations on that, especially making it through 11 seasons as that’s no small feat with Season 12 on the way. What have the brainstorming sessions been like between you, the guys & the writing team now compared to when y'all started the show as you guys are looking to push the creative boundary?
Yeah, absolutely. Every year of the show & passing season, we have to challenge ourselves for our sake and our audience's sake to evolve the show, push the boundaries and figure out fresh, new ways to keep it fun and exciting for us and the viewer. Before every season, we get together with our team, we just kind of lock ourselves in a room and we think about it just like a joke, like, what is a fresh take? What’s an original angle here? What's something that we can do that we haven't done before? And we've done so much. It's a wonderful process when it pays off because you feel like you've covered every base, and then when you crack something new, there's always something. When you push yourself enough, and it feels like you're not gonna get something and all of a sudden, you think of a whole new thing. It's really rewarding and exciting. We approach it with that same mindset every year. And every year, it gets a little more difficult. Because every year, we gotta go further and further and further. But, we wouldn't be here doing it if we felt like we weren't getting stale or not having fun. And so we challenge ourselves to make sure that doesn't happen. And after all this time, we have a legacy to uphold with this show. And we take it very seriously, so we still put blood sweat and tears and heart into it. It's fun for us and it's a really great job to have.
Watch Sal Vulcano: Terrified!
Sal Vulcano’s new comedy special, Terrified, is available now on YouTube. It's also available for purchase as an AD free experience on 800 Pound Gorilla!
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