Joe Gatto Doesn’t Watch Impractical Jokers Since Leaving the Show — But Says He 'Never' Did (Exclusive)

Joe Gatto announced he was leaving Impractical Jokers nearly three years ago to focus on family, and he's never looked back — nor has he ever watched the show that made him famous, to begin with. "Do I watch the show? No," the comedian revealed to PEOPLE when asked during the second night of the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 21. "I try to be consistent and never watched. That's actually true," Gatto continued.

He added, "I never watched it on TV. I always watched the edits of the show because I worked on the edits. When I wasn't editing it anymore, I didn't have to watch it as much."

Still, Gatto said he speaks to his former costars — Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray and Sal Vulcano — all the time, and even recently hung out with Quinn in Las Vegas. "I'm still best friends with those guys," he explained. "Our friendship started way before the show, and we'll continue way after the show. We're just not friends from work anymore."

Over 10 years on the comedy show, Gatto was forced to do everything from stealing groceries from shopping carts to pitching awful (and fake) TV shows.

But, the worst thing he had to do, he told PEOPLE, was choose between taking an axe to a picture of his daughter, Milana, or his wife, Bessy . "It was such a hard decision, probably literally the hardest decision I had to ever make on that show," he said.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! And while he doesn't miss those aspects of the show, he does miss being with his friends. "[The] worst part about not being on the show is you don't get to laugh with your friends every day and get paid for it," he said.

Added Gatto: "[The] best part of it is that I have a little bit more freedom to hang out with the family, which is great."

Impractical Jokers is available to stream online.