This past Friday, Bucknell’s CAP Center hosted Center Stage, featuring Comedian Joe Gatto in Sojka Pavilion.
Gatto is most known for his role in the hit TV show “Impractical Jokers,” a show where four lifelong friends compete to publicly embarrass each other. Gatto left the show in 2022 after 10 years and nine seasons, detailing in a social media post that changes in his personal life influenced this decision.
Gatto was introduced by his friend and the show’s opener, Mark Jigarjian, who is most well known by his stage name Jiggy. Jiggy did a great job warming up the audience, cracking jokes about his previous college performances and sharing how his nickname came to be, before ultimately rousing the audience for Gatto.
Gatto started his performance more active than most expected. He jogged around the audience initially, handing out signed Domino’s gift cards to audience members, while individually poking fun at some of the audience. Notably, he congratulated Women’s Soccer on their third consecutive Patriot League title, gifting them a bag of M&Ms to share all to themselves.
After he finished handing out all of the treats he had for the audience, he got back up on the stage and began his main performance. He continued to stay interactive with the audience, including a brief exchange with a baby who was in attendance. He joked about his past experiences with the “Jokers” (his friends on the show) and shared with the audience his love of awkwardness and making situations awkward.
He suggested ways to do so, using his own stories to educate the audience. One story that received a great reception was a story where Gatto got a text from someone he didn’t know and proceeded to convince the sender that they were texting their boss. Gatto was able to convince them to bring donuts for the office, dress down in jeans and come to the office with their dog. Gatto proved the authenticity of the messages by showing the audience his phone.
After he concluded his performance, he stayed to take pictures with the many student fans who rushed forward to grab a selfie with him.
