There’s no denying the Impractical Jokers have become the new kings of comedy

The Impractical Jokers have emerged as the kings of comedy, and they’re making people laugh the best way. Meet The Tenderloins and their Misery Index.

The Impractical Jokers have conquered comedy. The fearless foursome, officially known as The Tenderloins, are in the middle of an international tour. Their TruTV series is currently airing season 8, a movie has already been shot, and their new game show, The Misery Index, has its sneak peek on TBS tonight. They’ve pretty much got it all.

So what is it about these four guys from Staten Island that have made them captured the attention, and the hearts, of fans around the world? And how did they become a pop culture phenomenon? It’s really not that complicated, as we’ll explore in this week’s Deeper Cut.

First things first: the Jokers are funny. No one succeeds in comedy if they can’t make an audience laugh (a lot), and they have the ability to make people laugh until they cry. Their show has so many moments that have already become classics — like calling out ridiculous names as receptionists, or having to teach your parents about sex, or getting handcuffed to a mime for 24 hours.

There are more than 200 installments of Impractical Jokers, and the show is still hilarious. That’s some 6,000 minutes of comedy or the equivalent of 100 stand-up specials. Most comedians couldn’t come up with that much material, let alone that much good material.

But a lot of people can be funny on television, especially if there’s a script or prepared material they’ve already worked on. What these guys — Joe Gatto, James “Murr” Murray, Brian “Q” Quinn and Sal Vulcano — do is on a whole other level. Their series is a hidden-camera comedy show, meaning that they’re playing off the reactions of random people and often have little more than a line or basic premise to work with. Most of what they do is improvised.

The greatest testament to their comedic genius is that several of the top Jokers moments are completely out of the blue. They’re conceived on the spot with somebody quick-witted enough to see an opportunity and turn it into entertainment gold.

See: Murr asking an innocent coffee shop customer if his friend “Troy Chen” is Chinese and Joe having the presence of mind to send in definitely not Chinese crew member Terry to play Troy. Or Sal calling his mother a five-letter word in an impulsive attempt to win a “worst son” debate. Or the multiple times Q has been asked to freeze for much longer than any human being should ever stay in one position.

These are all things that have been made up off the top of at least one Joker’s head. It’s not just that they’re funny, but they’re also incredibly smart — at their best when they’re spontaneous and working without a net. They play with their environment instead of trying to make the situation or the crowd fit around their punchline. Even in The Misery Index, they’re finding ways to make light of someone else’s crazy story, not making it about them.

And that’s what makes the Impractical Jokers truly special: everyone is in on the joke. They create a sense of community where everyone is laughing with them and not just at them. How do they do it? You have to go back a couple decades.

Joe, Murr, Q and Sal have been best friends for more than a quarter-century. They first met at Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten Island in 1990, and that longstanding friendship serves as the foundation of everything they do. This isn’t just a group of funny people working together like Saturday Night Live; these are four people who genuinely mesh together, and their humor comes out of that chemistry.

There’s a different standard of humor that comes with friendship. There’s inside information; you know things about each other, like Sal’s many phobias (cats, germs, cornfields) or Murr’s celebrity crushes (Danica McKellar and Tristin Mays). You can joke about things in ways you wouldn’t with anyone else, such as constantly telling Q that he looks homeless or bringing in Sal’s dad just so he can disapprove of his son. And it always comes from a place of love.

The way the Impractical Jokers conduct themselves sets the tone for their comedy and is really what makes it special. The joke is always on them; they’re never cruel or mean-spirited, and the goal is always to make fun of each other, not the other person in the bit. And the higher they’ve climbed, the more they’ve brought everyone else along for the ride.

Later episodes of Jokers have showcased members of the crew. Everyone from showrunner Pete McPartland to art director Christine Morris has gotten to be in front of the camera, including the “Joker for a Day” special where the crew were the stars. Audiences have gotten to know and love them as much as the stars; they’re just as funny and equally charming. We’ve also met Q’s mom and dad, Murr’s dad, Sal’s sister and dad, and Joe’s wife and even his adorable dogs.

The absolute funniest episode of Impractical Jokers: After Party came from a legitimate beef Q had about a crew member tossing a chicken bone back into the bucket instead of throwing it out. It was a comedy masterpiece with faux interrogations and by the end of the half-hour, fans knew who the “Chicken Bone Bandit” was. Because they’ve included their real lives as part of their shows, we can relate to them so much more genuinely.

Through that aftershow, their tour, and other events like their yearly cruise, The Tenderloins have also made their fans part of that community. They’re some of the most humble folks you’ll ever meet, always stopping to take photos or expressing their gratitude for the success that they have.

They earned their way up after a lot of hard work — though, their “big break” came in 2007 when they won an NBC sketch comedy competition; it took another five years for them to get a TV show on the air, and it’s never lost on them.

They are ordinary folks who turned into comedy superstars. Q used to be a New York City firefighter and still wears a T-shirt from his firehouse in several episodes. Sal once owned a bar after years as a bartender. Joe is married with two kids, and Murr has a career as a novelist.

The fans have watched them grow up, in a sense, and we’ve gotten to see them evolve and share those experiences with them. We know them, and we can relate to them: just wanting to laugh with our friends, except their friends now include several million viewers.

There’s something truly beautiful in that. In a time where so much about the world is divisive and comedy is often more about insults or crude humor, the Impractical Jokers are about bringing people together and doing it in a way that everyone can enjoy. Their humor comes from the heart, so it’s no wonder we’ve all fallen in love with them.

Watch a sneak peek of The Misery Index tonight at 8 p.m. EST on TBS. The series premieres Oct. 22 at 10 p.m. New episodes of Impractical Jokers air Thursdays at 10 p.m. on TruTV.

Find the latest Deeper Cut every Wednesday in the Entertainment category at FanSided.