Do the Victims on 'Impractical Jokers' Get Paid to be on TruTV's Biggest Show?

For more than a decade truTV has been delivering laughs and pranks and laughs and more laughs by exposing said pranks from three (formerly four) longtime friends. But those friends need a few strangers to get those laughs.

More than 200 episodes over 10 seasons of Impractical Jokers have aired since December 2011 on truTV and TBS. Longtime friends and performers James Murray, Brian Quinn, Sal Vulcano, and Joe Gatto (at least from Seasons 1 through 9) prank each other via hidden cameras. For the pranks to work they need people from the real world to not know what the hell is going on.

So, do those people get paid?

No. Mostly not. Unless you're in the cast of Impractical Jokers, you're not getting any funny money. But sometimes you gotta dish out a little dough to keep something great.

According to a Reddit AMA with Impractical Joker Sal Vulcano, the majority of the participants are unpaid "real" (non-actors) people. It's one of the reasons the show works.

Sal was asked the question, “How does the show deal with the customers at certain places (Costco, White Castle, etc) that you guys end up offending because you were told to say things like calling that one guy "mustache"? Do they get some money or compensation?"

“No they don't,” Sal responded. “Usually people are pretty cool when they find out it's a show. The few who get mad we try to convince otherwise, or they get blurred, or cut from the show. On rare occasions, if the person was gold, we try and throw them a few bucks to coerce them.”

While Impractical Jokers is definitely in the same vein as Prank Encounters, Punk’d or Candid Camera, the truTV show doesn’t really make any of its unknowing participants the victims of any pranks.

While it’s easy to forget that a hidden camera prank show isn’t malicious, just remember the actual description of the show — “Three comedians and lifelong friends compete to embarrass each other amongst the general public with a series of hilarious and outrageous dares.”

According to Celebrity Net Worth, all of the Impractical Jokers, both past and present, are reported to be worth $7 million each today. Not too bad for hanging out and making a fool of yourself and good buddies.

Since Joe Gatto left the show after Season 9, the three remaining original Jokers have been joined by big names like Paul Rudd, Post Malone, Kesha, John Mayer, and more.

With some names that have quite a few more bucks than the original cast, maybe the ‘victims’ of these pranks may be asking for more compensation in the future.

Impractical Jokers airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST on TruTV.