Why did Joe leave Impractical Jokers? His goodbye post said very little — his wife's said the rest
On New Year's Eve 2021, Joe Gatto posted a long, unusually serious note to Instagram and ended a decade of being one quarter of Impractical Jokers. He gave a reason. He did not give much of one. His wife posted the same day, and her caption is the one that actually explained it.
What Joe's post said
Gatto wrote that he'd devoted a decade to building the franchise and was proud of it, then delivered the operative sentence:
"Due to some issues in my personal life, I have to step away," Gatto wrote on social media, December 31, 2021.
He added that he and Bessy had decided to part ways, and that he needed to focus on being the best father and co-parent to their two kids — Milana, born 2015, and Remington, born 2017. He also singled out his relationships with Murr, Q and Sal as the most important in his life outside his family. "Some issues" was as specific as the framing got.
What Bessy's post said
Bessy Gatto posted a photo of the pair the same day with a caption that stated the thing plainly: with love and respect, they had decided to separate, they would still be a family to their kids, and they were asking for privacy. She noted they'd keep working together on dog rescue. The post was later deleted from her page.
They had married in 2013. The separation, not creative differences or a contract dispute, was the reason the show lost a founding member ahead of season 10.
What the other three said
Murray, Quinn and Vulcano put out a joint statement the same evening saying they had never imagined making Impractical Jokers without Joe, and confirming they'd be back filming in January. The Tenderloins formed in 1999; the show premiered on truTV in December 2011 and had already produced nine seasons, four spin-offs, and 2020's Impractical Jokers: The Movie.
What happened next
- 2022 — Joe tours as a solo stand-up. Bessy films his kids joining him onstage at a New York show in February.
- June 2022 — The two buy a house in Glen Head, New York, listed on the deed as husband and wife.
- 2023 — Joe posts about their reconciliation, writing about a marriage of highs and lows and calling Bessy his person.
- March 2024 — A TikTok user accuses him of sexual assault. Gatto denies assaulting anyone, says he used "poor judgment," and announces time away from the public eye.
Season 11 premiered July 11, 2024, still a trio. As of 2026 the show remains Murr, Q and Sal, and Gatto has not returned to it.