Tanka Jahari

Submission 439

Part of a series on Impractical Jokers. [View Related Entries]

About

Tanka Jahari, also known as Tonka Jahari, is a female alter-ego of Impractical Jokers cast member Sal Vulcano in the episode "Out of Left Field" from season seven of the show. In the prank, Sal as Tanka Jahari orders a pizza for herself and then denies having purchased it to avoid embarrassment. Tanka, on the verge of tears, says to the delivery man, "I am Tanka Jahari but I would never order a whole pizza for myself." Tanka accepts the pizza but drops it on the floor, however, she still eats it. Sal laughs then and loses the challenge after Joe Gatto says, "It's fine, Tanka." Tanka Jahari's appearance includes red lipstick, clown shoes and a black shirt that reads, "I have your pants." Tanka Jahari memes spread en masse on TikTok in October 2024 following viral reposts of the clip. Users made Tanka Jahari fancam edits and used the prank's audio for memetic content.

Origin

On October 25th, 2018, season 7, episode 21 of Impractical Jokers titled, "Out of Left Field," aired on truTV.^[1]^[2] In one challenge, cast member Sal Vulcano plays a female alter-ego named Tanka Jahari who orders herself a pizza but pretends it wasn't her who called. She says, "I am Tanka Jahari but I would never order a whole pizza for myself." Sal winds up being eliminated for laughing after Joe Gatto says, "It's fine, Tanka."

The clip was shared on YouTube^[3] by truTV on October 21st, 2018, titled, "Pizza for Tanka Jahari." Over six years, the video received roughly 701,600 views and 11,000 likes (shown below).

I am Tanka Jahari but I would never order a whole pizza for myself.
It's fine, Tanka.

Spread

The Tanka Jahari clip earned viral reposts on sites like TikTok^[3]^[4] predominantly in 2023 and 2024.

In 2024, the Tanka Jahari clip and character became the subject of memes on TikTok, sparked by a viral repost shared by the Impractical Jokers clip TikTok^[5] account @tiktok.jokers0 on June 30th. The TikTok sound^[6] of the aforementioned video later received viral usage.

One of the earliest examples of a viral Tanka Jahari meme from the timeframe was shared by TikToker^[7] @senorita_awesomeee on October 10th, 2024, who used the Impractical Jokers clip in a parody "true crime" format with text reading, "A case that doesn't sit right with me." Over one week, the video received roughly 2.5 million plays and 433,100 likes (shown below).

On October 15th, TikToker^[8] @dostoevsky.lvr raved about Vulcano's performance as Tanka Jahari in a viral video, writing, "It's the subtle backstory. The pain in Tanka's voice. The lipstick. The anxiety as the pizza falls to the floor…" In two days, the TikTok gained over 539,600 plays and 100,800 likes (shown below).

On October 16th, 2024, TikToker^[9] @.skibbidislicers used the Tanka Jahari sound to joke about being forced to take out all of her table's trash at the end of school lunch. In a day, the TikTok received roughly 1.8 million plays and 498,200 likes (shown below).

Also on October 16th, TikToker^[10] @carolinecrawfordartist posted a video of her painting Tanka Jahari, receiving over 434,700 plays and 113,700 likes in a day. Her painting showed Tanka Jahari sitting down in front of a brick wall akin to the original video (shown below).

By October 17th, 2024, the trend's primary TikTok sound^[6] had amassed over 5,100 posts.