In 2020, Joe Gatto struck out on his own. It was surprising turn, as the Impractical Joker left a beloved and lucrative TV series that found him performing alongside a trio of lifelong friends. The move, Gatto says, was about prioritizing what matter -- namely, his wife and children. Of course, a resume like his means starting over doesn't require a clean slate. Gatto has since launched a successful standup career with multiple tours culminating in his first special, September's "Messing With People."

Joe Gatto 0:00

I was going, it was so funny, because I was living on Wall Street and, you know, everything was, you know, having itself. But then I didn't realize that they were filming the third Batman, so they didn't tell us. And I come down, and I lived on the part of the street where the big battle with Bane happens, and I'm walking down my elevator, and you know, you have the glass doors, and I come out the elevator, I'm walking down the hallway, and I just see hundreds of people running and cops running the other way. And I was like, what, what? And I like, backed up against the wall. And then I saw a production assistant in the lobby, and she was like, Oh, hold on, we're just and then I put it together. And I was like, Oh, thank God, this is a movie.

Brian Heater 0:51

Well, yeah, there's a little bit of, you know, I think collective PTSD, I was actually, I'm from California originally, and my first time visiting the city at all. I was flying in, I think, do you remember the big blackout of around, like 2003

Joe Gatto 1:06

Yeah, I was living in Flushing when that happened, yeah. So I

Brian Heater 1:09

was visiting a friend who lived out here. And you know, this is, I'm gonna make us sound like the old men that we are, but this was in the days before every airplane had Wi Fi, right? So you just flying to LA from LA to New York, six hours of nothing, and then we're approaching LaGuardia, and the entire airport is just pitch black. And so naturally, the woman behind me starts screaming, there's been a terrorist attack. Because that's, I mean, yeah, and like, you know, you know, that would have been seven, eight years later, but even even now, it's like, for a good reason, if something like that happens, that's immediately where your brain goes to

Joe Gatto 1:51

anything big scale like that. Yeah, it's crazy. So, you know. But I was, I was, you know, we're all Staten Islanders. I think eventually either end up on Long Island or New Jersey, like they make a left or a right, you know. So I have one sister that lives in Jersey, and my other sister lives out on Long Island as well. So I ended up out here when I had the family, I was like, my wife, Bessie, saw somebody going down the subway steps with a stroller, and she was like, This is not for me. She's like, I gotta get to the burbs. Could we find a house? I

Brian Heater 2:19

either have to get more upper body strength, yeah,

Joe Gatto 2:23

or just, so it's so, like, stressful, like going down steps, carrying apparatus and your child. It's like, just, it couldn't be worse.

Brian Heater 2:32

I mean, New Yorkers are pretty nice, and people will generally help you, but you don't want to have to rely on a complete stranger to help you carry your baby down a flight of stairs. And you

Joe Gatto 2:39

know, it's just like a thing where, like, you're gonna get to midday, you'll get to one of the biggest staircases, and there just won't be anybody around you, like, Oh, I'm not gonna do it

Brian Heater 2:47

for all the nicest of New Yorkers. You know, I think I could still say we have a habit of just, you know, putting our head down and, yeah, moving up.

Joe Gatto 2:55

We got things to do, baby. We got things to do. That's

Brian Heater 3:00

been one of the really interesting things for me over the past month, getting used to being in, you know, like, what is effectively, it's a rural area in a small town. It's just like I went to a restaurant and was talking to waitress and found out she's my neighbor. Is realizing that there is, it's great, like, there's a sense of community. But also, I immediately missed the kind of anonymity that you have in the city. Yeah,

Joe Gatto 3:25

yeah. You could just disappear if you wanted to, but now it's like, they're like, Oh, I saw you. I saw you food shopping. I wouldn't have picked those grapes. Judging you. I

Brian Heater 3:35

don't know, like, before I moved up here, I don't know if you're on Facebook at all before I moved up here, I joined all the Facebook groups. Just get, like a feeling, like a vibe. There's a lot of Karen's and whatever the male cooping of Karen's are, and there's a lot of like self policing happening, yeah, which is good and bad, right? For sure,

Joe Gatto 3:52

for sure. Like, if you in mind, I like that part of the community thing. So like, when we started our dog rescue out on Long Island, for real, it was like, so we had our dog rescue running out of our house, and I was like, You know what? We should get a in the community a little bit. It'd be nice to have, like, just an adoption center where people could come see the dogs and whatnot. So I went into like, the real estate, like, around here, and be like, whatever. And I just picked up this little like, across from one of the best delis where I go for lunch all the time, adjacent to the flower shop. They had a little space I started renting, and so now I have like, a storefront in the community, which is so funny, because, like, people will either just come by and see me in the store and then be like, because they don't put it together, or it's like, they know I'm there, and it's like, Oh, I could come, they come and see me, you know. So it's, it's really interesting piece of that, but I enjoy it. I really like, you know, because I think kids change it all too, right? Like, you're friends with the parents, the school, you get involved and all that. I think that really, my kids are nine and seven right now, so it's really, like, you know, fourth grade, second grade really into the whole, you know, they're making their friends. You wonder who their friends are and stuff like that.

Brian Heater 4:54

I don't have children myself, but I assume that there's a lot of forced friendship that has to happen between you and other parents. Yeah,

Joe Gatto 5:00

yeah. And then the wife picks, you know, the friends, the friend group, and then you gotta hope you click with the husband. It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot going on.

Brian Heater 5:08

You seem like an affable guy, though. I mean, you strike me as somebody who's probably gender generally, pretty easy to get along with. Would you say, yeah, yeah. I

Joe Gatto 5:16

would say that. I would say that I'm Yeah, I think I it's just time. You know, I'm not really around is, you know, for those things, but then, like, during the week now, so now you know that my life is taking a change, and I'm basically torn the weeks of my home during the week. So I'll do like, school pickup, so I'll just be sitting there with all, like the moms and dads hanging out, waiting for a kid to come out and stuff. And it's so funny, you still get it where people walk by me and we're like, are you? Are you supposed to be here? That's

Brian Heater 5:43

what I was gonna ask. Like, people coming into storefront is a surprise because you're like, Joe in the neighborhood, or you're like, famous TV guy. I

Joe Gatto 5:50

think it's a mixture of both. I think it's like they don't expect to see me standing there, or, you know, and it happens anywhere, like we'll be in the supermarket shopping and stuff just around town. For the most part, it's faded. I mean, I've been in this neighborhood. This neighborhood for like, five years now, I guess, almost, yeah, five years, almost. And so, you know, everything tapers. You know, there used to be people who drive by my house, slow down, look down the driveway to see if I was, like, out front, you know, like, that would be a little weird and stuff, but, you know, but everything tapers. And it's good just to be part of it and know people, but that's the hard part too. Like somebody like Joe, and I'm like, do I know this person from do they know me? Do I know them? Like, that's

Brian Heater 6:27

the hard part. And you pretend like you do for a little bit until,

Joe Gatto 6:30

I mean, my big line is there he is,

Unknown Speaker 6:35

because I could go either way. I could go

Joe Gatto 6:37

either way, and I'll just wait till what the next sentence is. It's like, Oh, I love you. Make me laugh so hard. I'm like, okay, they're a fan.

Brian Heater 6:44

I have a similar reaction. I'm a journalist. So when I go to conventions and I do the I'm not sly at this at all. But my my eyes go down to the name tag, you know, to just to do the double check

Joe Gatto 6:56

and my reading, I have to wear readers now, so it's wrong, like, pick it up and be like, what? Like, if it's a lanyard, I'm like, stiz, poke it out,

Brian Heater 7:04

yeah, yeah, yeah, or Yeah, or kind of remind me how to pronounce your name again. And they're like, Joe Smith.

Joe Gatto 7:11

It's like, it's like, Frank Thomas.

Brian Heater 7:15

I played baseball for the White Sox.

Joe Gatto 7:19

Like, I have a friend who's who pronounces it? I just want to make sure I was saying it correctly. He's

Brian Heater 7:24

Austrian. Yeah, there's a funny there's a funny story in the stand up. And I point this out because I feel like this is probably it probably speaks to a lot of experiences that you've had over the years since the show started, where I think your dog gets away from you, and you end up at this very attractive family's home. But the first thing that he asks you is, well, you know, he thinks he's being set up, yeah? And that must be like, that's another level of weirdness on your celebrity encounter that people think they're being fucked with. Yeah?

Joe Gatto 7:57

For sure, I remember I famously tell the story about how I was in Target once, and I was looking for paper towels. And I asked this little old lady, she's got a red vest on, she's stocking shelves. And I say, Excuse me, miss, uh, where could you tell me what a paper towels? Okay, you know, targets are huge. I mean, could you tell me where the paper towels are? And she she just starts slowly, backing away from me as if I had a weapon. I was like, you're not getting me, Joe. And she started, no, no. And she was waving her finger. And then she, like, literally, started, like, lightly jogging away from me, and I was on the other end caps, and I'm just yelling at her down. It looked like a cartoon. I'm yelling at her down the aisles. I'm like, I just need paper towels. Like, she's like, No, no. So yeah, it's interesting when I need help. We used to joke, but, you know, because we used to joke about how, like, you know, I was used to be really much bigger and unhealthier. But, you know, Sal is always like, oh, you know, hope you don't ever have a heart attack out in public people like, you're not getting me buddy.

Brian Heater 8:51

I mean, it's a joke. But like, right, that could 100% happen, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Have you ever, have you pretended to have a life threatening situation on the show? Has that happened? No, I didn't pretend.

Joe Gatto 9:09

I had a I had a really bad sugar crash once, and I had to bring the medic in, but it was, it was during one of the other guys turns, and I made him keep going, because I was like, this will be like, it'll be fine. I was like, I knew I was okay. I know I wasn't like, I just got really dizzy, whatever. And they were doing the blood pressure stuff. Pressure stuff in the back and had ice pack on the back of my neck, and I'm still had the microphone to tell them what to do. It was really, it was really fun, but yeah, I never had a light. The show gave me kidney stones, though, actually, because I, I don't exercise much at all, and especially back when this happened, but the they surprised me that I had to do 100 push ups during an interview, and I just had to get out there, and I couldn't stop it. I could barely do, you know, 10 or whatever. And they said, You can't stop whatever. And I was playing a cameraman, so I would have to, like, put down the camera or whatever. So I end up doing and I was so sore, whatever. And then two days later, I got a kidney stone, and I. Went in, and the doctor said to me, he goes, he goes, Oh, he said, I said, How do I get kids goes, he goes, Well, did you exert yourself and not hydrate? And I was like, yeah, yeah. That's, it sounds like the show got me. The show got me kidney stones. You were

Brian Heater 10:13

able to do 100 push ups, though, yeah,

Joe Gatto 10:14

barely, yeah. It took, it took me over an hour. It edited down to like, that's actually, like, impressive, though, yeah, I mean, towards the end, it kind of like we were doing comedically to where I would just, like, jump my body up, you know, they weren't, like, proper. So there's probably, like, 65 over the hour to 70 that were real. And then I probably about, you know, 30 comedic ones.

Brian Heater 10:35

You said you're in better shape now than than you had been previously. You talk, you talk a little bit about, you know, going to doctor and everything, what? What have you What have you been doing to, you know, I guess, get healthier.

Joe Gatto 10:46

Well, I saw, for me, it's mainly my eating its habits, right? It's eating half the plate instead of the full thing, you know, that was always the thing. It's like elephant, you know, I would keep eating when I was full. And also timing, like, I try not to eat past 7pm as best I can now, which is a little bit harder on the road, but, you know, I try to stop eating it, like past seven and just just that in itself, I could see the change like instantly, you know. And maybe I'll just skip like, desserts for like a week. I go in and out of being vegan because it makes me just feel healthier. So I'll go full vegan for like a month or so at a time. I did it once for like seven months. I just did it for the past two months, I just dove back in. I'll go pescetarian. I don't eat meat, but, um, I'll come back and forth between that, because that helps me, like, reset my system. I feel like better so, but I was, like, At my heaviest, I was like, almost 230 pounds, which is huge for me. And now I always waver around. I'm 510 so it's not good. You could always tell and then on you see yourself in high definition. High definition on television, it's the worst. So I look back at some seasons, I'm like, Oh man, why didn't anybody tell me?

Brian Heater 11:50

Why did you continue shooting me in profile?

Joe Gatto 11:54

I wanted bird's eye

Brian Heater 11:57

to Vaseline up the lens. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder. I wonder. So I have Jewish mom, so I got a little bit of this, but I wonder how much of eating your whole plate is sort of like ingrained in growing out. I

Joe Gatto 12:12

think, I think for sure, for sure, it's like definitely brought into to us to clear your plate. You know, I also eat really fast because my parents so I had the two biggest backyards on Staten Island. So all our friends used to play me and my next door neighbor, Jason Joseph's backyard. And my dad was super cool. He was just like, all right, Joe, come in to eat, and then he wouldn't send all the kids home. He's like, You guys could just keep playing. So I'd be sitting there. I would go in my kitchen, which was right on the house, right? I'd hear the and the windows would be open because it's summer, and I'd hear all these kids play and laugh, and I would just come in, scuff down my stuff as fast as I could, and then, like, I'd be excused with that, like, No, sit with the family and a minute and, you know, you just want to get outside. I want to finish my brussels sprouts. I want to get outside and finish this game of manhunt, you know. So that that also is a thing in me. So I eat fast, and a lot.

Brian Heater 12:58

I come from a family of Fast eaters. So I had that because they used to make fun of me when I would always be the last to finish. So I became a fast eater. And it's there's something that happens, you know, and just as you get older, or you start to, you know, I'm not, I promise someone, I go into full therapy mode. But in therapy, they call it core beliefs, where you start to, sort of, like, challenge these things that you've taken for granted your entire life, like, even finishing a plate of food. You're like, Oh, you don't. Oh, people get takeout. Like, this is a thing that I can actually do, yeah,

Joe Gatto 13:29

yeah, you stop. Wonderful, yeah, kind of thing. It's a, it's definitely interesting. You know, finish your plate. I think is definitely a generational thing, right? You know, you know, you know, the all the mothers being like this, you know, there's, there's kids in Africa that can't eat because, you know, and you you're not going to finish your rice, like, it's like, stuff like that. You could get that all the time, you know, it'd be like, just moms, I think were very big on because it was expensive too to feed your family, you know. And money was always tight, you know, growing up. So it was like, to throw food away felt like such a waste, you know.

Brian Heater 13:57

Yeah, I think there's a lot of sort of generational too, from the standpoint of, like, you know, my, like, my, my grandfather used to, I guess it was China when they were younger, they used to say they're starving kids of China. But I think anybody with, like, any proximity to the depression, right? You've got this sort of, like, generational thing that's instilled in you, 100%

Joe Gatto 14:17

100% it's like you're throwing away money, right? Yeah? Like, when you need it, you're literally throwing away money, yeah,

Brian Heater 14:23

when did, when did you go vegetarian?

Joe Gatto 14:30

Vegetarian. I met a cow named Caesar at this place, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, which is not, not too far from, not far from me, yeah, yeah. Fantastic place. So they do this thing every year called thanks living, where you go up and feed the turkeys, which is funny. So you go and feed the turkeys, and it's like a little ceremony thing, and then you hang out. It's like a, you know, it's there one of the big fundraisers. It's really nice. But they give you a tour of the place. And I walked in to, you know, during the tour, we walked into the barn, and here walked over this 800 pound. Gorgeous, huge cow named Caesar, who was like, eight feet tall, and he walked up to me. I was like, whoa. And he just walked up and, like, put his head down, and I just started petting him like a dog, and he nuzzled in. And was like, I was like, Oh, I was like, and I wasn't, my wife was already vegetarian at this point, so I was and I do the cooking. She doesn't. So it was like, I wasn't, like, cooking steaks all the time. I wasn't really, we were eating a lot of just like fish and not, you know, meat anyway. And I was like, Alright, I don't really have to eat meat anymore. And you know, from that moment on, that was the last time I had meat. And I don't really miss much of it. I grew up on pursuit and mozzael sandwiches, though. So that gets a little tough sometimes when those are hanging around and about buffalo wing, I miss a good buffalo chicken wing. But besides that, it wasn't that hard a transition.

Brian Heater 15:42

Again, I live in the city for a long time, so I didn't have dogs, but I I have a rabbit that I rescued, and I've had, I've had a few rabbits over the years, and that that for me, I'm like, you know, what? If I can form an emotional bond with this creature, it's just not fair and like and, you know, you met a cow. And my understanding is that, is that pigs are, like, pretty close to dogs. Yeah,

Joe Gatto 16:05

they had them there too. It was crazy there. And they get so much bigger when they're not in captivity. You don't realize when they're not getting slaughtered. Like, you think how big a pig is, it's quintuple the size of what do you think? Like, it's, it's nuts. They're just huge and just and just awesome. Like, their personality is really, really fun too. But yeah, I gotta, I gotta Rescue Rabbit too. So part of my rescue we, yeah, we Brookie is our Rescue Rabbit. We got here at cattle pups and friends we have, that's one of the end friends. We have a rabbit re rescued. They don't get food names, Brookie, cookie and Brownie. Oh, mixer. But she was also found in Lynbrook, Long Island. So it just worked on two levels.

Brian Heater 16:43

What are your impressions of having a Rescue Rabbit?

Joe Gatto 16:47

It's really interesting, because we did we My daughter loves her, and she is super friendly because so I guess I think what I think she was owned and escaped. This seems to be the situation they found her on the highway. So I think she

Brian Heater 17:01

either escaped or the thing, the thing that I discovered living the city, is that people will, they'll see a park, and they'll be like, oh, I'll just, like, when they want to get rid of it, they'll just stick it in a park or something.

Joe Gatto 17:11

But, yeah, they're interesting. It's very much puppy, like, very lot of energy likes to be held in pet and played with my daughter, like, we buy the big carrots and she'll hold it and just talk to it, and as it eats, the carrot is really cute. So it's nice to have one. I don't know if I could have a lot, though they're, you know, by can't do like I do with the dogs. We have too many So, and when the dogs go out and, like, run by some, you know, we have occasion outdoor play area for her to run around in. So they'll run by. And if she's out, they'll be like, they'll all just like, stop at the gate and they'll go and they'll go, and she'll just go up nose to nose with them, and they'll just like, sniff her and see what's up. It's really,

Brian Heater 17:45

really funny. Dogs are just generally a lot more social. So you can have a lot of dogs. You can't

Joe Gatto 17:49

really, yeah, it's a pack mentality in my house. I mean, I have 11 dogs that are mine, so for the ghetto pups that are that are ours, there's 11 and, you know, you open the door, let them out. They all run to where they go. Time to eat. They all go. To where they have to go. Time to go to bed, they all get in their little spots. You know, it's, uh, it really is, like a interesting thing to see.

Brian Heater 18:06

What does that mean? They're ours, like you have yours that you adopted, and they're separate from the agency.

Joe Gatto 18:12

They're not up, yeah, they're not up. They're not up for Josh, yeah. So cattle pups, there's 11 that are ours. Gattle pups and and friends are the ones that are everything that's available for adoption. So we put that little disclaimer on it, so you know. So right now, you know, the the end, friends can range anywhere from four to 15 dogs, depending on where we're at, like, right now, we're pretty heavy. We're like, 14 dogs, I think, that are available for adoption, either that stay with us here at the sanctuary, or are in fosters. So it's, it gets interesting when they're all out at the same time, because I have a dog run in my backyard that's fenced in between. And the end, friends have one part and ours have the other. So sometimes we have a bunch of dogs out there together and all playing and stuff. It's cool to see.

Brian Heater 18:51

Does either you or your wife have like, a moratorium on we can't? I mean, you're already in the double digits, like, at a certain point where, like, have you at capacity?

Joe Gatto 19:00

Yeah, 11, yeah. Well, we actually had 10 and we just, we just, I just took one from, I made an upstairs dog, because that's the promotion My daughter has given them, an upstairs dog. So, yeah, chestnut was we had rescued this pack. We met this woman in a Panera parking lot. She had escaped a situation at home, driven up from Florida, and took her dog so she had, this was the father of five younger dogs. They were about they were puppies. They were almost a year. So we were able to get all the pups taken care of. The father found a home, went somewhere, didn't work out, so they brought him back, because he had, he needed an eye surgery. So then we gave him the eye surgery. When he came back to the house again, he just fell asleep by my feet. And I was like, God. He was like, comfortable, and he had been through a lot. I was like, Ah, he got along with everybody. He's smaller, little chihuahua mix. He's nice enough. Everybody likes him. So I was like, alright, well, just what's, what's 11 a 10 and a half, you know? So we

Brian Heater 19:56

keep saying that, and, you know, all of a sudden you've got an R. Okay, yeah,

Joe Gatto 20:01

but before that, we hadn't, we hadn't taken another one in a long time. We hadn't taken one in a couple years. So it doesn't happen that often.

Brian Heater 20:07

That's the thing I, you know, I had an x and we there's a big sbca kill shelter and 100/10 like, up in Harlem. And, you know, she was thinking about buying a dog, and I said, that's great. Just, you know, be, I need you to be, like, aware of the fact that you're not going to leave this place without having adopted one. Because, like, I like, I know you, you know what I mean. And it's not like a lot of people can kind of just go shopping and, you know, and that's the thing is, like, at a certain point you do have to, sort of, you almost have to, like, set limits for yourself, but realizing, like, at a certain point, like, it's probably not healthy to go past a certain number of dogs, for sure, right? For sure. Yeah, you want to be

Joe Gatto 20:49

fair to them too. Like, they all, that's the big thing. Like, as long as they get along, right? Because you want them all to be comfortable in their house and they have their little clicks. There's Napoleon and cupcake. Love to play together. You know, struffle is the big girl who sits by herself, and then she'll come out for when it's time for a treat. And, you know, she just like lumbers around. We have some of the older ones that are the OGS that we've had forever, that are just tight because they've been together for the past seven or eight years, you know? So it's, it's definitely an interesting kind of thing to see. When my wife and I separated for a couple years, I took two of the dogs with me that were kind of my dogs, that very much mine, and they were with me. And it was interesting to see, at first they missed, like, in the apartment, they were kind of like, where is everybody? And then eventually they were like, when I came home, like, to have dinner here. And then when I would take them with me, and then I would leave with them, they'd be like, by the door, like, are we ready to go? I've had enough of this craziness. Let's go. So interesting to see.

Brian Heater 21:46

They adapt pretty quickly, for sure, for sure. Yeah, that. I mean, again, talking, talking of compounding things on top of other things, like going through a separation is difficult enough, but to have that happen, and almost like a, you know, obviously, you know, your well known person, it kind of happened in a profile, a high profile way. And then it, my understanding is it coincided with you leaving the group too. I mean, that must have been an incredibly difficult time for everybody involved, but especially you, because these are, you know, work and your friends, like, those are the things that you fall back on, and all of a sudden, yeah, really

Joe Gatto 22:25

have neither of them. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, I equated it to, like, it was just, like, everything piles on top of you, and then, you know, how do you get, how do you get out of something you run through? You can't, you can't just stand up when you're buried, right? You have to start moving piece by piece. And that's I started doing. I was like, Okay, what? What what do we need to fix here? What can we do to make things happen and go but first and foremost, I had to pay the bills, right? It was like, okay, the bills keep coming. So, like, what are we doing? Yeah, to provide for my family. You know,

Brian Heater 22:52

television show, even basic KL TV shows are quite lucrative as well.

Joe Gatto 22:57

When you're, you're, you know, ninth season of them for sure. You know, in the beginning there now, but by the time you get there, it's pretty good, you know. So, you know, it was that was like, first, first thing I had to figure out was, like, Okay, what's the day job now? Like, what do we do? And then, okay, now that we have that done, how do we fix the pieces that aren't working in our life? And, you know? And it's really easy to think about all the time when it's, you know, it's the first time living alone. I'm 46 years old, sitting alone in apartment of you know, that doesn't even have art on anything hanging on the walls, you know, that I just barely had to move into. So it's like there's nothing like a wake up call like that. So it's depressing, yeah, for sure, for sure. You know, hard, definitely hardest part of my, hardest part of my journey so far in life was, uh, definitely, you know, there, but you know, you get through. You get resilient. You lean on who you lean on. People show up for you. And, you know, you take it day by day, and eventually you get to a spot where you're okay, so, and that way.

Brian Heater 23:49

And that was also during the pandemic, right after you, yeah? Well, to 2021,

Joe Gatto 23:56

yeah, yeah. I feel like it's all, it's all during, yeah? That

Brian Heater 23:59

was definitely during which, again, like, I, you know, I had what in had had my own issues. And it's just like, I think everybody who went through that, obviously, again, like, collective trauma for just about everyone. And, yeah, it you definitely don't know where to look to, because it's like everybody it like that world seems to be falling apart. Yeah, it's

Joe Gatto 24:21

tough. Like, you know, your go to people, or have their stuff they're going through. So it's, it's, it's interesting. But, I mean, you know, I just always come back to the place where, like, as long as you're trying, not, you know, as long as you find one person to lean on. I mean, that could always, that could always be enough people, always, you know, find your tribe. I was like, you know, but some tribes are just one person. Sometimes, you know, it's like, really good. Find your person to help you you get through. And I'm very lucky to be extremely tight with my sisters and had them in my life in a way. And, you know, working out. But you know, also, there's the truth that nobody knows what you're going through, so you gotta really, all you can do is rely on yourself. You know. You know when you talk, you go to therapy and you talk. Talk, you figure out what's going on. It's like, you know, there's, Oh, yeah. Like, and when it comes down to it, you know, you got to do it. So I

Brian Heater 25:06

assume that to a large extent, the guys in the group have been that for you, but that there's, there are probably certain things that you can't discuss with them because that that's part of kind of the breakup that you're going through at the

Joe Gatto 25:17

time. Yeah, yeah. So, like, you know, they can't really relate to having the whole you don't have a career anymore, right? It's like, you know, you don't or that part of your career, right? You don't have that your main vehicle. So what's your you know, what's going to be a new thing that you do? And also getting out there, and also just being a creative person, right? I'm very creative. I'm always thinking of ways to entertain. I love doing it. I love being that for people. I love being the person that gets people through stuff. So as you're going through stuff, I'm out there doing, stand up, you know, sitting in the back of my you know, in my green room, before I'm about to go out in this theater stage, and just in my head, being like, you know, just saying good night to my kids on FaceTime, and being like, Oh, I just and then it's like, ladies and then it's like, ladies and gentlemen, Joe Gatto and like, you gotta go out there and do your thing, you know? So it's, it's super it's hard because you want to also, like, I want to be that for people. That's why I'm in entertainment. That's why I do what I do. And I heard the stories from everybody throughout my career about how I've done that for people, getting everybody through loss, cancer, their dogs dying, whatever it is, you know, just all these things and just being there with people. They were in the hospital. Everybody finds us in hospitals and prisons, because it's true TV

Brian Heater 26:25

say about you, yeah, I

Joe Gatto 26:27

don't know. Man, I don't know. So I find people when they're at a low point. You know, people find find me, and I've been there for them. So it's, I mean, it just fed the whole reason why I did it. I very quickly my career became because of that. Like, very quickly it was like, Oh, this is it had a purpose besides, you know, making making money out of doing what I love, which is to have fun with my friends and make people and make people laugh. It was like, oh, there's a purpose behind it, where you're, you know, therapeutic a little bit. It's more like, you know, you're bonding families, like I would see here that all the time, you know, you're the only reason my, my my teenage son hangs out with me. We get to watch your show together. And like I remember watching Tim Allen and home improvement with my father, and being the, you know, that, and loving that show, and being out in a grocery store and quoting his lines and, you know, things like that, and bonding with my dad over that. So, you know, all that pressure mixed into your world falling apart. It's a lot to handle, and you got to process it and take it day by day.

Brian Heater 27:20

There's a moment in this upcoming special where, like, you get real earnest there, you know, and then, actually, it was funny, because I was sort of, you know, I was, I was listening to this morning, and I was kind of like doing housework at the same time, and I'm like, Is it, is this the end it sounded because you kind of give your like, you kind of give your pep top, but it's like, it's actually during it, and it, it's interesting because it, it's really difficult to mix being funny with being completely earnest. And it seems to me like you made this very deliberate choice to really to stick that moment in there,

Joe Gatto 28:02

yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, I joke about, I say, you know, life sucks, suck harder because, yeah, you know, it's just something that just got me through, you know, a joke that we did. There was actually a joke, like a thing that happened during, you know, I to balance motivation to get people through and then also make people smile with it. And we did this show, dinner party during covid. And there was this theme that came up where I started making motivational posters that didn't really necessarily make sense to anybody but me, and it just became a thing. And I'd always make a poster, and I'd put it behind me, you know, and I'd be printing out these posters and whatever. And it became a joke, a running joke in the show. But they were kind of come from a place of, oh, this just makes sense to me. When I say it in my head. It in my head, it doesn't necessarily make sense to me, where it sounds like a joke, but you could kind of pull something away from it. So when I make that joke of the show about, like, life sucks, suck harder, it really is just like, you know, it's not easy for anybody. You just got to get through it. And, you know, I felt like I wanted that in the special. I want that to be part of the message for this special, because, you know, it really is like a graduation of getting to know me from messing with people. That's the title on purpose, you know. And I share. I start with sharing of how I've always done that in ways I do it, but then taking you, can you

Brian Heater 29:08

end with it too? I mean, it's not, it's not a theme that ends during the

Joe Gatto 29:12

no, during the well, it's me, you know, it's my life. I did this before this cameras. I do I'll do it. But when there's after, you know, I've just, it's just part of my personality. It's always how I made my friends laugh, is I've always put myself in a weird position and let everybody watch the outcome, like, that's That's

Brian Heater 29:26

it. That's a really interesting way of putting it to because that, I think that separates it from other like hidden cameras or other prank shows, where, to a certain extent, it seems like the purpose is putting the making yourself the joke, versus making some stranger the joke.

Joe Gatto 29:46

Yeah, for sure. I mean, we would stop production multiple times and be like, This isn't working. People getting mad. Like, you know, I like, I'd be like, cut, you know, like, Sal, come back here and we like, this isn't what are we gonna do different here? What's the movie got to make? Or even when you're out there, you know, you feel. You're like, guys will be like, Oh, Dre I'm like, that's this isn't it's not going the way we want it. So let's stop and go. And I remember so many times throughout the show, like, you'll see, and then the gold comes, like, we'll stop and be like, we'll play this game. Was playing this game. It's not working. And then we're like, what if we just do this? Or blah, blah, blah. And then go, you know, it's not even necessarily the overall theme of of something, you know, so and you just got to do the stuff in the right way, where, like, stuff like that could seem like so mean, or like weird or hard, like make to make people angry. But if you do it in the right way, where it's weird and you're making yourself the butt of the joke, like, I remember when we did a punishment where we made myrrh take cigarettes out of people's mouths while they were smoking on the smoking break. And it was like, Okay, what's your motivation for doing this? You can't be you can't just be a jerk. You have to be, like, enforcing the law of you got to carry yourself like, then it makes it feel like you'll

Brian Heater 30:54

get punched if you're a jerk too. That, you know? And then

Joe Gatto 30:58

that's not what we're looking for, you know? That's nobody wants to watch that. I don't. I don't like those kind of pranks. You see all that kind of stuff all the time, like these kids on YouTube and whatnot, where they do they were like, we do what you do. I like, No, you don't. You don't at all. Like, you're just, you're making people, you're making people the butt of the joke. And then we'll also get, hey, why don't you ever show the people's reactions? Because they don't realize they're on our hidden camera show. And that means we did our right thing. They don't realize they're getting pranked. They don't realize when we're done, they should just be like, Oh, that guy was weird. And then we've done our job. If they feel got or if they feel like that, that it's like, it's not Candid Camera, it's our version of it, and we're the butt of the joke. So you are seeing the reactions. Pragmatically,

Brian Heater 31:33

they're probably not going to sign that release. If we got

Joe Gatto 31:37

a couple of blurs, we got a couple of blurs, but for the most part, those blurs were because, you know, people going through their day to day, and they don't want to deal with this bull, you know, or we miss them, you know, it's New York City. They get away in the park. We couldn't find them, you know. So, like, that kind of stuff happens. But I think there's only been, honestly, a handful of times, you know, like I said, of over 300 episodes I've done over a decade, you know, of my life, and I can only remember, like, a handful of times where somebody walked away upset. And that's, you know, this, you know, 1000s of people we've interacted it's kind of

Brian Heater 32:04

the purest form of the idea of not punching down, yeah, for sure.

Joe Gatto 32:08

For sure. Yeah, yeah. I've always been to a place where I want to make my comedy making people not feel divided, and not leaving with a bad days in their mouth, you know, like, it's kind of like, that's where, you know, they shouldn't even be thinking about laughing. They shouldn't be thinking if my type of comedy is, if they're thinking about if it's okay to laugh, it's not a joke for me. You know, I'm not necessarily being like, we don't want people that's this. I never it's, you know, and other people do it very well. I laugh at a lot of comics that do that. It's just not how I do it. It's just not my thing. Yeah, so

Brian Heater 32:40

I was like, going through and reading up a little bit about, you know, some interviews that you did. And I still, I won't name the publication, but I still, I think it might have been a student publication, and it was talking about one of your stand up sets. And it was like, he, you know, I'm surprised that he opened with a joke about Joe Biden, but it was just a joke about Joe Biden being sleepier, you know. I mean, it's like a thing that we've all now, everyone can accept now, right, all sides of the political spectrum. But that

Joe Gatto 33:08

wasn't, that wasn't me, though. That wasn't me. That was my opener. That was my, oh, is your

Brian Heater 33:12

opener? Okay? Sorry, so yeah, I

Joe Gatto 33:13

know what you're talking Yeah, that makes, I don't make. Either I don't make. You just wouldn't even ref, you wouldn't even reference, like,

Brian Heater 33:19

a political No, I don't know

Joe Gatto 33:20

anything about politics. Either. It doesn't interest me, you know. So, like, I don't want to get and then why even open that can of worms? You know? I think I don't even, I think I even had like, a joke that was like, not even the punchline wasn't Trump or anything, and it was just like, it could kind of be interpreted that way. And I didn't think the joke was that good anyway, so I'm gonna take it out. Boy, why keep it, you know? So, like, I don't, I don't think, yeah, it's just not what. It's not something material. Like, right? You're always funny is when you're talking about stuff, you know? And I'm very much a storyteller, like, all my thing. I mean, you've seen the special and, you know, it's story based. And my new hour, you know, the new, let's get into it. Tour, is story based. It's stories about how I became the guy I am, you know, telling stories about from my childhood, growing up, how my parents and then, you know, all my journey through it, literally, through college, and then on the show, how things that have happened there, and then now, being a parent, it's all stories, because that's the kind of comic I am. You know, the

Brian Heater 34:14

tour that you're on now. I mean, is it obviously you write what you know, and all of that you know. You've been off the show for a couple years now, and you were full time parenting. So has that taken more of a front seat in terms of the subject matter for you? Yeah, sure. I mean,

Joe Gatto 34:29

my kids are hysterical, like you have, you have so much fun, and it's kind of relatable to people, even if they're not a parent, parent, because I'm taking it through the lens of also being a child, you know, we've all been children, you know. So it's kind of like, what might some of us still

Brian Heater 34:42

are at 100%

Joe Gatto 34:43

I mean, here I am. Some of us make a good living by it, you know. So I think that's part of it. But yeah, for sure, like, I've also had time to reflect and think about that kind of stuff, like, and I think about, I haven't really spoken about my dad, much of my any of my stuff, and my dad is a huge part of my life. I love. When I was 19, and he had the most impact in my life of any person. And, you know, I only had him for 19 years, and it's, I was like, oh, you know, I should think about his impact and talk about that. And it unearthed a lot of funny things. Like, I remember the one of the stories I talk about I hadn't even said out loud, and now it's one of my favorite parts of the new show. And it's just like, Oh, wow. Like, you know, just when you sit in the quiet and think about what you want to talk about, and that's part of it.

Brian Heater 35:24

You went to school to be an accountant. Correct your math guy. You mentioned you're a math guy. I'm

Joe Gatto 35:30

a mathlete, baby. Yeah, that's

Brian Heater 35:31

your you know. Again, you know, you unfortunately lost your father at a young age. But what? What did your mother, what did your family members think of this career trajectory? Super

Joe Gatto 35:44

supportive. I'm super supportive family. So my mom was around for season one of Joker. She passed away early in season two. She didn't see you there, but she was around for season one, and she was just like a peacock man on Staten Island, telling everybody my son's on television. You know one of those who really, really great, but she's

Brian Heater 36:00

a stage mom, yeah, like a stage

Joe Gatto 36:02

mom, but she was, like, she would come to my improv shows in the city. There was 50 people in the audience, and my mom would be there. We used to rehearse in her basement. I used to live in her basement, and Sal Marin Q used to come over, and we used to rehearse improv in her basement. And, you know, and she would just find a reason to be downstairs doing laundry or whatever, and I could hear her listening, and, you know, she was just always my number one fan, an advocate. And I remember when I told her, in 2003 I moved to LA to chase the dream to become a writer and director. And she was like, I said, Hey, Mom, I'm going to go to LA. And she's like, when I'm like, in two weeks, like, I'd already set everything up. I had a friend who was living out there, and she wasn't using her place for the next two months. So I could go stay there for free, and then find a place, put my I didn't know anybody get get it together and figure it all out. And she was like, All right, she goes and she goes, and when you coming back? And I said, Well, I don't know, and she goes, Well, just do me a favor. She's like, you know, be honest with yourself, and if you feel like it's not working, and being away from it's got to be more important than being away from your family. Because I was very tight with my nephews, and had nephews at the time. I think my niece was born too, you know. And it was very much like, okay, so it's got to be more important, or you got to be enjoying it more than knowing how much I enjoy my family. You need to be enjoying what you're doing more, you know, give it its time, but there's going to be a point when you have to have an honest look at yourself and be like, it's time to come home. So when did you come home? My grandmother had passed away, and my mom and grandma had became widows together within three days. So they had become the greatest guy, and they best they best friended it up like a kind of a golden girl situation. It was very funny. And she was living across the street, very tight with her, and I was very tight my grandma. And when I came home for the wake, I said to my mom, I said, You know what, maybe I'll come home for a little bit. And she started sobbing, and hugged me and said, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I was like, Okay, I guess I am. And then I came back home, and that's when I reunited with the guys. I had a lot we got some stuff going on pretty quickly. And I was like, Oh, I said, You know what, maybe it's not where you are to you with, so let me see what we could do here. And we got our success, and it started right there. It's

Brian Heater 38:00

not where you are to you with. But also, and I'm not casting aspersions, but you weren't in, like, bumfuck Kansas. Yeah, it's New York City. You know what? I mean, it's for sure. This is, you know, stuff happens there, yeah, for sure.

Joe Gatto 38:15

You're sure. You know, it's, uh, it's also, like, I think, you know, we started and got a lot of exposure on the internet where people didn't have exposure to comedy of our type or whatnot. So I think we, we caught fire a little bit that way too, which helped, you know, we started when MySpace and YouTube homepages, the algorithm was a person they were deciding what goes on there. And for some reason, we clicked with the homepage editor of YouTube that really enjoyed our stuff, and we ended up on the homepages of MySpace, YouTube a lot, and it just started catching fire that way. And we started to get some notoriety and entering some online contests. And, you know, the snowball effect happened. But you know when, when you get your stuff in front of people, and people react to it in a good way, like it makes everything easier, but

Brian Heater 38:59

it's something that I've been thinking about my own life. You know, as as you probably have surmised from this conversation, like, I can be jokey. I find humor to be a good way to relate to people that I don't know. Obviously, our jobs are different in that there's a certain amount of like, you know, it's not necessarily my job to be funny, but I had a moment of years ago, and I was talking to a colleague, and I said, Do you think that I would be further along in my career if I was less jokey? You know, if that, if my immediate reaction wasn't always to make things funny and and I'm kind of curious, like in your own life, a little little probably less professionally, but certainly, you know, I know you went through some struggles with your relationship that you just talked about, has it been how much of sort of the learning process and the maturing process is really figuring out when to be funny and when to be serious about things?

Joe Gatto 39:55

I think there's a time for both. But I think the if you're looking at something. Yeah, through the lens of humor, it you're doing a little bit of protection of your own mental health and psyche, which I think is as important as worrying about somebody else. And as with everything, it's a little bit of balance. Like for me, my, my, I know the type of things that you're referring to, like, where people would just not take something serious and laugh it off. That wasn't the issue I was going through. My issue that I was going through was where was my focus and distracting myself, like and working, you know, not being present when I should have been and and that kind of thing. But I have never been that type of guy that was, like, afraid to get serious, like people. The thing that I get, which is hard for me, is when I get serious. And we touched on this earlier. When I'm getting serious, people think I'm joking, and I have to be like, I'm serious, that kind of thing, you know? But I've always found that there's a time to be serious, and when there's a time to be serious, it normally is that somebody needs that from you, and you need to be aware enough that it's time to be serious. And I think that's, that's important, and I joke about everything. I mean, I remember, you know, one of my good friends, you know, you know, you wait, one of my good friends, parents died. And I was, you know, to only took me, like, a day to be like, What are you jealous? Yeah, I couldn't have the only dead parent, like, that kind of thing. Like, it was, like, that kind of and it was like, you know, I'll joke about anything and everything. I don't think that matters. But

Brian Heater 41:22

again, that was sort of redirecting it to yourself to a certain extent. Yes, yeah, true,

Joe Gatto 41:26

yeah, true. But I think, I think that's, that's it like you, just because people expect it from you too, right? What are you to your people? Is very important. If you somebody's coming to you, talk to you about something serious. Do they want you to solve it, or do they want you to help you get through it by laughing about it with you, right? So I find myself being that person. For a lot of people, people going through some heavy stuff don't even necessarily need my input. They need my my hype man skills to get them through it and bear it by being like, okay, you know what? This is terrible. You should just, you know, you should move like, that kind of thing. So yeah, but I do. I don't have that issue that you're you're referencing, but the people that do, I would just always say, if somebody's coming to you and wants you to be serious about something, if they're important to you, be serious.