The shared experience of absurdity Charlie Todd
I started Improv Everywhere about ten
years ago when I moved to New York City
with an interest in acting and comedy
because I was new to the city I didn’t
have access to a stage so I decided to
create my own in public places so the
first project we’re gonna take a look at
is the very first No Pants subway ride
now this took place in January of 2002
and this woman is the star of the video
she doesn’t know she’s being filmed
she’s being filmed with a hidden camera
this is on the 6:00 train in New York
City and this is the first stop along
the line these are two Danish guys who
come in and sit down next to the hidden
camera and that’s me right there in a
brown coat it’s about 30 degrees outside
I’m wearing a hat I’m wearing a scarf
and the girl’s going to notice me right
here
and as you’ll see now I’m not wearing
pants
so
at this point
at this point she’s noticed me but in
New York there’s weirdos and Annie given
train-car one person’s not that unusual
she goes back to reading your book which
is unfortunately titled rape not sure
so she’s noticed the unusual thing but
she’s gone back to her normal life now
in the meantime I have six friends who
are waiting at the next six consecutive
stops in their underwear as well they’re
gonna be entering this car one by one
will act as though we don’t know each
other and we’ll act as if it’s just an
unfortunate mistake we’ve made for
getting our pants on this cold January
day
so at this point she decides to put the
rape book away she decides to be a
little bit more aware of her
surroundings now in the meantime the two
Danish guys to the left of the camera
they’re cracking up they think this is
the funniest thing they’ve ever seen
before watch her make eye contact with
them I love that moment in this video
because before she had before became a
shared experience it was something that
was gonna be a little bit scary or
something that was at least confusing to
her and then once it became a shared
experience it was funny and something
that she could laugh at so the train is
now pulling into the third stop along
the sixth line
so the video won’t show everything this
goes on for another four stops a total
of seven guys enter anonymously in their
underwear at the 8th stop a girl came in
with a giant duffel bag and now she had
pants for sale for a dollar like you
might sell batteries or candy on the
train we all very matter-of-factly
bought a pair of pants put them on and
said thank you that’s exactly what I
needed today exited without revealing
what had happened and went in all
different directions so that’s a still
from the video there and I love that
girl’s reaction so much and watching
that videotape later that day inspired
me to keep doing what I do and really
the the one of the points of Improv
Everywhere is to cause a scene in a
public place that is a positive
experience for other people it’s a prank
but it’s a prank that gives somebody a
great story to tell and her reaction
inspired me to do a second annual No
Pants subway ride and we continue to do
it every year this past January we did
the tenth annual No Pants subway ride
where a diverse group of 3,500 people
rode the train in their underwear in New
York almost every single train line in
the city and also in 50 other cities
around the world people participated
as I started taking improv class at The
Upright Citizens Brigade theater and
meeting other creative people and other
performers and comedians I started
amassing a mailing list of people who
wanted to do these types of project so I
could do more large-scale projects well
one day I was walking through Union
Square and I saw this building which had
just been built in 2005 and there was a
girl in one of the windows and she was
dancing and it was very peculiar because
it was dark out but she was backlit with
florescent lighting she was very much
onstage and I couldn’t figure out why
she was doing it after about 15 seconds
her friend appeared she had been hiding
behind a display and they laughed and
hugged each other and ran away so it
seemed like maybe she had been dared to
do this so I got inspired by that
looking at the entire facade there were
70 total windows and I knew what I had
to do so this project is called look up
more we had 70 actors dressed in black
this was completely unauthorized we
didn’t let the stores know we were
coming and I stood in the park getting
signals the first signal was for
everybody to hold up these four-foot
tall letters that spelled out look up
more the name of the project the second
signal was for everybody to do jumping
jacks together you’ll see that start
right here
and then we had dancing we had everyone
dance and then we had dance solos were
only one person would dance and
everybody would point at him
so then I gave a new hand signal which
signaled the next soloist down below and
forever 21 and he danced there were
several other activities we had people
jumping up and down people dropping to
the ground and I was standing just
anonymously in a sweatshirt putting my
hand on and off of a trash can to signal
the advancement and because he was in
Union Square Park right by a subway
station there were hundreds of people by
the end who stopped and looked up and
watched what we were doing there’s a
better photo of it so that particular
event was inspired by a moment that I
happened to stumble upon the next
project I want to show was given to me
an email from a stranger a high school
kid in Texas wrote me in 2006 and said
you should get as many people as
possible to put on blue polo shirts and
khaki pants and go into a Best Buy and
stand around
I wrote this high school kid back
immediately and he said yes you were
correct I think I’ll try to do that this
weekend thank you so here’s the video so
again this is 2005 this is the best buy
in New York City we had about 80 people
show up to participate entering one by
one we had there’s an 8 year old girl a
10 year old girl there was also a 65
year old man who participated so a very
diverse group of people and I told
people don’t work don’t actually do work
but also don’t shop just stand around
and don’t face products now you can see
the regular employees by the ones that
have the yellow tags on their shirt
everybody else is one of our actors the
lower-level employees thought it was
very funny and in fact a lot several of
them went to go get their camera from
the break room and took photos with us a
lot of them made jokes about trying to
get us to go to the back to get heavy
television sets for customers the
managers and the security guards on the
other hand did not find it particularly
funny you can see them in this footage
they’re wearing either a yellow shirt or
a black shirt and we were there for
probably about 10 minutes before the
manager decided to dial 911
so they started running around telling
everybody that the cops were coming
watch out the cops are coming and you
can see the cops in this footage right
here that’s a cop wearing black right
there being filmed with a hidden camera
ultimately the police had to inform best
by management that it was not in fact
illegal to wear a blue polo shirt
check
we had been there for twenty minutes we
were happy to exit the store one thing
that managers were trying to do was to
track down our cameras and they caught a
couple of my guys who had hidden cameras
and duffle bags but the one camera guy
they never caught was the guy that went
in just with the blank tape and went
over to the Best Buy camera department
and just put his tape in one of their
cameras pretended to shot
so I like that concept of using their
own technology against them I think our
best projects are ones that are
site-specific and happen at a particular
place for a reason and one morning I was
riding the subway I had to make a
transfer the 53rd Street stop whether
it’s these two giant escalators and it’s
a very depressing place to be in the
morning so crowded so I decided to try
to stage something that could make it as
happy as possible for one morning so
this was in the winter of 2009 8:30 in
the morning it’s morning rush hour it’s
very cold outside people are coming in
from Queens transferring from the e
train to the 6:00 train and they’re
going up these giant escalators on their
way to their jobs
so there’s a photograph illustrates it a
little bit better he gave two thousand
high-fives that day and he washed his
hands before and afterward did not get
sick and that was done also without
permission although no one seemed to
care so I’d say over the years one of
the most common criticisms I see of
Improv Everywhere left anonymously and
YouTube comments is these people have
too much time on their hands and you
know not everybody’s gonna like
everything you do and I certainly have
developed a thick skin thanks to
Internet comments but that one’s always
bothered me because we don’t have too
much time on our hands they’re
participants in Improv Everywhere events
have just as much leisure time as any
other New Yorkers they just occasionally
choose to spend it in an unusual way you
know every Saturday and Sunday hundreds
of thousands of people each fall gather
in football stadiums to watch games and
I’ve never seen anybody comment looking
at a football game saying all those
people in stance they have too much time
on their hands and of course they don’t
it’s a perfectly wonderful way to spend
the weekend afternoon watching a
football game in a stadium but I think
it’s also a perfectly valid way to spend
an afternoon freezing in place with 200
people in the Grand Central Terminal or
dressing up like a Ghostbuster and
running through the New York Public
Library
or listening to the same mp3 as 3,000
other people and dancing silently in a
park or bursting into song in a grocery
store as part of a spontaneous musical
or diving into the ocean and Coney
Island wearing formal attire you know as
kids were taught to play and we’re never
given a reason why we should play it’s
just acceptable that play is a good
thing and I think it’s sort of the point
of Improv Everywhere
is it’s that there is no point that
there doesn’t have to be a point we
don’t need a reason as long as it’s fun
and it seems like it’s gonna be a funny
idea and it seems like the people who
witness it will also have a fun time
then that’s enough for us and I think as
adults we need to learn that there’s no
right for a wrong way to play thank you
very much
you