For our latest mission we had several hundred agents spend a day at Coney Island / Brighton Beach wearing black tie attire. We covered a mile-long stretch of beach with a diverse group of people of all ages (from babies to sixty-somethings) laying out, playing games, and swimming in the ocean, all in formal wear. Agents were instructed to find cheap tuxedos and ball gowns at thrift stores for the occasion.
For our latest mission, we staged a reenactment of the first Princess Leia / Darth Vader scene from Star Wars on a New York City subway car. The white walls and sliding doors on the train reminded us of the rebel ship from the movie, and we thought it would be fun to see how people would react to a surprise appearance by the iconic characters. We spread out the actors along the train line, staging it so they would enter the right car at the right time. Enjoy the video first and then go behind-the-scenes with the photos and report below.
For our latest mission, we brought the movie Ghostbusters to life in the reading room of The New York Public Library at 42 Street. The 1984 movie begins with a scene in the very same room, so we figured it was time for the Ghostbusters to make an encore appearance. Enjoy the video first and then go behind-the-scenes with the photos and report below.
Thanks to the awesome group of people who participated in today’s mission at Coney Island. If you were there, please leave an Agent Report in the comments. I know there are hundreds of funny stories waiting to be told. Also leave links to any photos you might have taken. Photos from our official photographers are posted below, and we hope to have our video up in a couple of weeks on our YouTube channel. (Subscribe to it!) When the video is posted, we’ll post our official mission report here. [UPDATE - video embedded above]
For those of you who were not there– we had several hundred agents spend a day at the beach at Coney Island / Brighton Beach wearing black tie attire. We covered a mile-long stretch of beach with a diverse group of people of all ages (from babies to sixty-somethings) laying out, playing games, and swimming in the ocean, all in formal wear. Agents were instructed to find cheap tuxedos and ball gowns at thrift stores for the occasion.
The mostly Russian crowd of beachgoers appeared to have a blast watching the spectacle unfold, laughing, taking photos, and asking questions. (Brighton Beach has a huge Russian population.) My personal highlight involved a group of ten middle-aged Russian people chanting “Swim! Swim! Swim!” to me, not letting up until I belly flopped in the water in my tux. One of them then waded out in the water to take a photo of me, not for himself, but so he could email it to me.
Thanks again to everyone who participated! The official report and video will come out in a couple of weeks. Join/follow/subscribe our mailing list, Twitter, Facebook page, or YouTube channel to be updated.
For our latest mission, we created separate walking lanes for tourists and New Yorkers on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk. Department of Transportation “employees” were on hand to enforce the new rules and ask pedestrians for their feedback on the initiative. Enjoy the video first and then go behind-the-scenes with the photos and report below.
Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City.
