Usually when an American TV network likes a UK TV show and wants to make some money out of it, they buy it out and make a sub standard version. Red Dwarf are Men Behaving Badly are two examples of this off the top of my head (The Office being the exception). This is one of those times when it's the other way around. The US version of Impractical Jokers is fresh, original, improvisational, and hilarious. This is lacking in all those areas.
In the US, the Tenderloins are a comedy quartet who have a genuine rapport and electric magnetism in their relationships, most likely as they grew up together and have been part of a comedy group for a long time now. They're able to work off each other and know their subjects well, and it shows. The UK team of Impractical Jokers doesn't have the same electricity.
Some parts of the UK version seem to consist of the 3 jokers behind the scenes feeding lines to the person out in front, which they then repeat. It completely takes away that spontaneous element when you know exactly what the person is about to say. The thing that works about the US version is they start off with an idea and have to think on their feet, they have the confidence to let each person take that idea and run with it, and more often than not each of the 4 of them move in completely different directions. Sometimes it doesn't come off or isn't as funny as it could've been, sometimes it's laugh-out-loud hilarious. The UK version could take some tips from this.
I don't know why, but many of the setups just aren't funny. It seems like they're trying too hard to be funny and aren't letting it flow naturally. Some of the lines are downright childish. One task, for example, including convincing people to become interested in titles of shows which were based on things like faeces, urine, vomit, and rear end noises. At times the jokers end up just looking awkward and embarrassed. It needs a lot of work.
