James ‘Murr’ Murray brings a taste of ‘Impractical Jokers’ to Wild Adventures Theme Park. (Submitted photo)

VALDOSTA – After more than a dozen years on TV in “Impractical Jokers,” one might think James “Murr” Murray and crew could no longer fool anyone in the general public.

“A baseball cap and glasses make me almost unrecognizable,” Murray said in a recent phone interview with The Valdosta Daily Times. “Plus, none of us looks like a celebrity. I look like a pharmacist.”

“Impractical Jokers” is a hidden-camera show. Each cast member, with a hidden mic in an ear phone, pretends to be a waiter, deli counter employee, park-goer, etc. While watching a monitor of the hidden camera, the fellow “Jokers” are hidden and feed instructions to the “Joker” in the field of things to do and say to unsuspecting members of the public. Each “Joker” takes a turn. Any “Joker” who fails or refuses the assignment earns a demerit. The “Joker” with the most demerits at the end of the episode must perform a humiliating task designed by the other “Jokers.”

Still after years of televised hi-jinks and a movie, it seems like being recognized would become a problem with each season.

Murray admits, you would think, but it’s not so.

“No one counts on me being part of their day,” said Murray, who is known simply as “Murr” to friends and fans. “You walk into a coffee shop, you’re thinking about your coffee, getting to work, whatever is going on with your day. You aren’t thinking about being on TV. Being on a TV show is not on your agenda. You see me and maybe it registers I look familiar but you’re not thinking about being on TV. You’re thinking about getting your coffee.”

Come July 19, no one will have to second-guess if it’s Murr or not. He is the star attraction on the stage of the Wild Adventures Theme Park LIVE! Amphitheater.

While many park-goers will go to Wild Adventures to see him, Murr said he’s looking forward to spending the day riding rides before doing his show that evening.

As for the live stage show, Murray said he spends about half the time telling stories from “Impractical Jokers” and the other half leading a live version of the show. He selects people from the audience, then sends them and a hidden camera out into the park where Murray instructs their interactions with unsuspecting park-goers.

He said he does not worry about picking a dud to send into the park.

“After 15 years of doing this,” he said, with a laugh, “believe me, I know who to pick.”

He’s been “doing this” for longer than 15 years. Murray and his “Impractical Jokers” co-stars Brian “Q” Quinn, Sal Vulcano and Joe Gatto, who left the series in 2021, have been friends since attending Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island, N.Y. They formed the comedy troupe called The Tenderloins in 1999.

“We went to an all-boys Catholic high school and we had nothing better to do than pull pranks on each other,” Murray said.

Murray said anyone entering a relationship with any of the “Losers” knows what they are getting from the start and they know they may be used in the televised pranks.

“They use our loved ones against us,” Murray said. It can be parents, a spouse, a sibling … Famously, when Sal Vulcano lost the final episode of season three, Murr legally married Sal’s sister, Jenna; they had the marriage annulled a short time later.

Murray said he’s never refused a punishment for losing an episode though he almost did once.

“I was close to tears when my punishment was skydiving,” he said. “I’m terrified of heights. I ran off set for a half hour. I locked myself in the bathroom.”

He called his mother, thinking he might die. She was shopping. She told her terrified son, “I can’t talk now. I’m at Macy’s.”

Even when the trick is pretending to be a waiter and placing food by hand into a person’s mouth, Murray said unsuspecting people rarely become angered by being on the receiving end of the “Impractical Jokers” pranks.

“It doesn’t really happen much,” Murray said. “Our job isn’t to embarrass the people we meet. Our job is to embarrass each other.”

James “Murr” Murray is scheduled to perform 8 p.m. Saturday, July 19, Wild Adventures Theme Park. More information: Visit wildadventures.com.