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Created and Directed by Charlie Todd / Music by Tyler Walker
For our latest mission, we converted a New York City subway car into a late night talk show set. Host Pat Cassels (CollegeHumor) interviewed random commuters from his desk as bandleader Evan Gregory (The Gregory Brothers) kept the car rocking.
Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our mission report and photos below.
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For our latest mission we posed as city workers providing a ridiculous solution to the “texting and walking” epidemic in New York. Our team of 60 participants divided into two groups: Half were “Seeing Eye People” wearing orange vests, and half were individuals texting and walking, connected to the Seeing Eye People via leashes. The Seeing Eye People claimed to be part of a Department of Transportation pilot program.
Later in the day, we staged a second version of the project where our Seeing Eye People went up to real people texting and walking on the street and offered the service. Here are the results:
This project was a collaboration with our friends at BuzzFeed.
We got tons of great reactions throughout the day. Most people laughed, though more than a few completely bought it. It really is ridiculous how many of us walk and text in New York! You can’t walk more than a block without spotting someone doing it.
Mission Accomplished
CREDITS
Created by: BuzzFeed & Improv Everywhere
Directed by: Charlie Todd
Produced and Edited by: Deverge
Music by: Tyler Walker
Producers: Matt Adams, Alan Aisenberg, Chris Baker, Jeff Greenspan, Mike Lacher, Andrew Soltys, Charlie Todd
Shot by: Matt Adams, Alan Aisenberg, Denis Cardineau, Ilya Smelansky, Chloe Smolkin, Andrew Soltys
Photography: Joseph Lin (photo credit for all photos on this page)
Production Assistant: Michael Tannenbaum
Principle Cast: Mikala Bierma, Dan Black, Dustin Drury, Don Fanelli, Keith Haskel, Cody Lindquist, Ari Voukydis
Watch our previous absurd street safety mission, The Tourist Lane:
If this is your first time here:
-Our over 100 other missions can be seen here: Missions
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Created and Produced by Charlie Todd / Video edited by Cameron Sun / music by Tyler Walker
Over 2,000 people move backwards through Times Square, making it look like time is going in reverse to unsuspecting tourists and New Yorkers. Participants met in Bryant Park to receive instructions and synchronize their watches before heading over to Times Square and blending in with the crowd. At exactly 3:15 PM, participants began moving backwards for exactly five minutes.
This project is in the tradition of previous Improv Everywhere missions Frozen Grand Central, The Mute Button, and Slo-mo Home Depot.
UPDATE: There is a very important update to this project that you should read after you’ve seen the video.
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Producer: Charlie Todd / Editor Deverge / Music: Tyler Walker
We found a four-foot tall ledge in Midtown Manhattan and decided to put a suicide jumper on it. A police officer, fireman, and the man’s wife and co-worker all arrive on the scene to talk him down. This is a newly remastered video from a project we did in 2005, more info below.
Actors: Will Hines, Ben Rodgers, Eliza Skinner, Nate Shelkey, Alan Corey
Shot by: Chris Kula, Kevin Cragg
Photography: Chad Nicholson
This 2005 mission is the fourth in a series of remastered videos we are producing from our archives to commemorate our 10th anniversary. We are going through our original tapes and updating old classics with higher quality video and audio, as well as adding additional never-before-seen footage. Due to file size restrictions in the early days of YouTube, many of these videos have only been seen in extremely low 240p quality. The remastered Suicide Jumper video dramatically improves the video quality and removes the previously used copyrighted music, allowing the video to be seen in some countries for the first time. The original mission report is still online for your reading pleasure.
Look for more remastered videos in the future, including some that have never been posted to YouTube, and stay tuned for our regular schedule of brand new missions throughout the year.
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Created and Produced by Charlie Todd / Video produced by Deverge / music by Tyler Walker
On the evening of Grand Central Terminal’s 100th birthday, 135 Improv Everywhere participants staged a surprise performance in the grand windows on the terminal’s west side. Equipped with a variety of LED flashlights and camera flashes, performers appeared suddenly and unannounced along three floors of windows, creating a shower of light for the commuters and tourists below.
This project took place at the invitation of MTA Arts for Transit as part of the centennial celebration of Grand Central Terminal.
Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our mission report and photos below.
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Created and Produced by Charlie Todd / Video produced by Deverge / music by Tyler Walker
On Sunday, January 13th, 2013 tens of thousands of people took off their pants on subways in 60 cities in 25 countries around the world. In New York, our 12th Annual No Pants Subway Ride had over 4,000 participants, spread out over six meeting points and ten subway lines. Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our mission report and photos.
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Created and Produced by Charlie Todd / Video produced by Deverge / music by Tyler Walker
For our latest mission, we had 100 people camp out in front of a 99 cent store in Manhattan on Black Friday. Participants arrived early in the morning with tents, chairs, and sleeping bags, making it look like they had camped out overnight. When the store opened, the crowd rushed inside and made purchases, buying 99 cent items with glee. Actress Cody Lindquist posed as a local NBC news reporter and conducted interviews with confused and delighted store employees and passersby.
Watch the video first, and then check out the photos and report below.
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Produced by Charlie Todd and Matt Adams / Edited by Matt Mayer / music by Tyler Walker
For our latest mission, a group of 24 actors between the ages of 48 and 78 staged an unauthorized boardroom meeting in the office chair department of a Staples. The chairs in this particular office supply store were already arranged in a boardroom configuration, making it easy for us to hold a surprise meeting. Actor Will Hines gave a presentation to the board, using a whiteboard and an easel he had bought from the store just minutes prior. Minutes into the meeting, the board was asked to leave by a confused store manager.
Watch the video first, and then check out the photos and report below.
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Produced by Charlie Todd / edited by Cameron Sun / Music by Tyler Walker
[Watch the video first and then read the spoilers below]
If you haven’t figured it out by now, the Reverse Times Square mission was our annual April Fool’s hoax. We did not actually get 2,000 people to go backwards in Times Square. While a cool idea in theory, we’re pretty sure it would be dangerous to ask thousands of people to walk backwards through an area filled with cars… not to mention how rude it would be to other pedestrians on the sidewalks we’d bump into.
The video was shot and edited by Cameron Sun, who also shot our Quadruplets hoax last year. Almost the entire video is reversed footage, often composited together with normal footage. One shot, for example, contains cars going forward in the foreground, while random New Yorkers are going backwards in reversed footage in the background.
About twenty Improv Everywhere agents helped us shoot the video, providing some of the reaction shots and some of the more unrealistic moments. We staged shots with just a few of the Improv Everywhere performers were walking backwards while reacting, and the reversed the footage to make it seem like everyone else was going backwards as they walked forwards. We intended the absurd moments at the end to let everyone in on the joke, but dozens of folks seemed to fall for it anyway (surely they started commenting or tweeting before reaching the end!)
As a group that puts on pranks year-round, it doesn’t make sense for us to release a normal video on April Fool’s Day. We use the day as an opportunity to play a prank on our YouTube Subscribers.
A huge thanks to Cameron Sun for shooting and editing this project. Check out his YouTube channel to see his special effects driven comedy videos.
Check out our previous April Fool’s videos:
- Quadruplets
- Jar Jar Subway Car
- No Underwear Subway Ride
- Best Funeral Ever
The feature-length documentary film about Improv Everywhere, We Cause Scenes, is having its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas! Director Matt Adams has done an amazing job telling our story. I saw the film for the first time last week, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you. If you are in Austin for SXSW please come out and see the film! The film is screening four times, complete schedule here.
Also, we are staging an Mp3 Experiment project in Austin the weekend of the premiere! RSVP on Facebook for the Mp3 Experiment Austin.
Stay tuned for more announcements about future film screenings in other cities.
