If you participated in one of the 9 regional No Pants Subway Rides today across the world, leave us an agent report in the comments letting us know how it went. We will use this page to compile the photos and video of all the events as stuff gets sent to us. More to come! For now, let us know how things went in your town. If you haven’t already, be sure to join the Improv Everywhere facebook group and sign up for our mailing list, as that’s how you’ll find out about future national events.
Also, check out The Today Show’s coverage of No Pants, including a national map with all the cities participating:
Just got home from No Pants 2k8 Salt Lake City. It was amazing! We had about 75 people turn out. The media was everywhere, and so were the police, but everything went smoothly. The people that participated were awesome! I hope they stay in contact. Anyway, a complete mission report will be posted soon. Just wanted to touch bases and let everyone know that the event was a success! -Agent Ashley
I had my bicycle with me. Bikes are not allowed on the Green Line, but the accompanying Transit Police Officer allowed me to get on anyway. When I was transferring trains at Kenmore, one of the MBTA employees stopped me and wouldn’t let me get on the train-because of my bike. She didn’t mention or seem to notice that I wasn’t wearing pants. She just kicked me off for my bike. Hrmmm….
I did “No Pants” Chicago and it was sweet! VERY cold standing out on those platforms, but there were about 75- 100 of us, no cops, and as far as I know, no hassle from the CTA. There were a few reporters at our turnaround point, and a few at the end- everyone had a great time! Thanks so much to the organizers, and I can’t wait to do it again next year!
Just got in from the “No Pants” Washington DC trip, and it was a blast- the most fun I have had in a while. Can’t wait to do it again next year!
JoAnn
the “rainbow ribbon vest” lady
I did no pants Chicago, and would have to disagree with Emily’s “no cops” statement. We had three cars with about 15 people on each I believe, and on one of the cars there was an undercover cop sitting behind one of the people. Apparently he called something in, because a few stops from our turnaround point, two cops got onto my car with dogs. It was a little nervewracking, but we got off a few stops later and it turned out to not be a big deal.
There was someone from Metra Mix (I think that’s the name) interviewing people beforehand on camera, and then the interviewer also participated while the cameraman filmed out of his (gigantic) dufflebag. We also had someone from the Tribune come along, though he didn’t participate. At our turnaround point there was also someone from WGN.
Other than a minor mixup on which train we were getting on, everythign went smoothly. I was the group leader for team two, and we had a lot of people who hadn’t ever done anything like this before, but everyone executed perfectly. There were two people on our original car who were watching everyone depants, and when another two would, they’d excitedly whisper to each other “There’s another one!” I was one of the last ones to change trains, so I didn’t get many initial reactions, though when I got on I heard a few people saying “There’s still more!” and things like that. There were a few people who got on at stops after I switched trains who looked very confused about the 15 people who were sitting around without pants. Everyone kept a straight face for the most part and it seemed like everyone enjoyed it. There were even a few people who were on the turnaround train (when all 15 of us got back on at the same time) who said things like “I heard about this on the news!” and things like that too.
It was an amazing experience, and I think we’ll be setting up a facebook group to run more IE activities in Chicago, if it works out. This was an awesome time, and a great story to tell my friends!
It was fun… Met up at Dupont Circle at the fountain, and then proceeded in 2 different groups onto the red line. It was almost impossible to keep a straight face on the metro as half the people looked ridiculous with no pants on. I would gladly do it again next year.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t as low-key as we wanted, cause someone leaked it to the media, and there were, i think 4 different news stations (FOX, ABC, NBC) a few radio stations, and a bunch of independent papers.
I’d just like to make a minor point that in No Pants Chicago, we actually had about 30-40 people. We had no specific cop or CTA problems and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. A few people broke character, but most kept a good straight face. We definetely surprised a lot of people. The guy from Metromix seemed to really enjoy himself and would like to be our interviewer for other IE Chicago events, which we plan to hold.
We have many pictures and many stories and great amounts of fun. I’m absolutely delighted that I participated.
Boston 2k8
Thom, I think you were the dude on the train I exited with at Kenmore.
Our group did a great job of being pantsless, and had a lot of fun. There was one family, who sounded like they were Norwegian or some other Scandinavian group, with kids, who were obviously thoroughly confused. And somehow we got held up at Copley for several minutes.
When I did get to Kenmore, I somehow lost my group (even though I was the team leader for my group…what happened?!), so went back inbound by myself, still pantsless.
I do have to admit that it was almost more fun to ride pantsless by myself, as no one knew what the f*** was going on. When hundreds of people get on the subway in their underwear at once, it becomes quickly obvious it’s a “prank.” But when I returned to our original departure point, and was the only person with no pants, it got a lot of curious and amused stares.
It was fun telling random people that I accidentally left my pants at home. Video shall come soon.
I never thought I’d say this, but props to the MBTA for being so accommodating. The T police were very kind and friendly, and even seemed to be mildly amused at some points.
Greetings from Boston! Today’s pantless ride in Boston was really fun. I think I was the youngest participant there. There was one clueless person that thought it was some sort of conspiracy. Of course, I held in my laughter. It became really awkward on the ride back to Alewife Station on the Red Line when I got separated from my group, and I was the only pantless rider on the train. The T police and personnel were great. Some of them were even amused. The best part of the day was when we crowded around this musician at Park Street Station and started dancing. Overall, today was a very fun day. See you guys and girls next year!
Boston:
I went solo on this mission, and met some great people when I arrived. Once we were split into groups (I was in group 2), we embarked on our magical journey. Despite the publicity, lots of people had no idea what was going on. Lots of laughter, dirty looks and questions ensued.
I wasn’t questioned by anyone until the ride back. We had all gathered at Park Street to return back up the red line when some older guy (40s to 50s) started haggling the group as a whole. He said something along the lines of, “I thought you were supposed to be naked! You guys are lame!” The tone of his voice said he wasn’t just trying to be funny, he was purposefully being mean. I was standing next to him and asked him what the big deal was.
He told me that “everyone should be naked and streaking through the station, not standing around in their underwear. People wear shorts in the winter all the time, its not a big deal. Most of the people are in boxers, if they were in briefs it would have been slightly better.”
“Whats wrong with just wearing boxers? I’m sure people don’t want to be arrested.”
“Well they’re supposed to pretend like they don’t even know they’re not wearing pants, but they’re not.”
He still hadn’t noticed I wasn’t wearing pants when I replied, “Well, this is the first I’ve heard of this no pants thing, its all news to me. Personally, I think they all should put their pants back on, but hey, they can do what they want, I guess.”
After this exchange, I one again told the guy that it was weird how so many people weren’t wearing pants, and then proceeded to say bye to him as the train pulled in.
Nothing else super exciting happened to me, besides some poor girl who had become motion sick from all the train riding.
Anyways, lots of people asked me about my book, or acknowledged me for reading and making it look like a normal train ride, sans pants. In the pictures, you can identify me as the guy with the Letter to a Christian Nation book and a Velvet Revolver hat.
Good times, can’t wait ’til next year! Not wearing pants in public is so liberating!
NBC in DC has a slideshow of photos. I like that they call it a “facebook stunt.” Hilarious.
http://www.nbc4.com/news/15036881/detail.html
No Pants 28k was a big success. MANY more people than I think anyone expected showed up (50+) and despite a police escort and advance media notice, everything went smoothly. There was even an improptu pantsless procession across town.
Pics are forthcoming.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14401&id=612758166
See you next year!
No Pants Toronto was a success! We had about 75 people and about six cops showed up – but it turns out they were only there to make sure we crossed the street safely (we met in a parking lot opposite the subway station). They held traffic for us while we all crossed the street. :) There were no comments or anything that I heard from normal riders on the subway, although there were plenty of stares! There was only one reporter that I was aware of, and a few people (with pants) taking pictures. We tried to get the reporter to go pantsless, but he wasn’t up for it. ;)
After the subway ride was over, we left the subway en masse (still pantsless) and walked to a nearby pub (where they were certainly not expecting a sudden crowd of 75 people without pants – I’ve never seen so many simultaneous double-takes in my life).
All in all, it was a lot of fun, went off without a hitch (as far as I’m aware), and I’m certainly up for doing it next year!
Here are some DC photos:
http://www.tops3cr3t.com/ts/locations/nopants/
Agent Barbosa
As a newbie on Facebook..I had suspected the scheduled confirmed to arrive of 250 people. Instead a lovely group of 75 to 80 de-panters showed up. I will be posting more info later on – but briefly – the Toronto Police were very supportive and jay walked 75 eager de-panters, so we could head straight into the Dundas West Subway rather than walk from the lights – awesome. We had young and old alike in their undies listening to music, staring off into space and some readng books – one title was “A Brief History of Pants” – very funny. Some stayed in character, some simply just told the truth.
Myself and agent Acevedo dared to seperate from the main group and head onto a train that had zero exposure to pantless riders untill 2 innocent looking girls stepped on – very awkward experience. I will share more later.
I will be posting my pics and I also have video footage. For the ‘First Toronto No Pant Subway Ride’ it was an overall success!
I already know how I will make next year even better!
No Pants on Max in Portland went amazingly well. Despite some confusion of the post-pantless meet up spot, it went awesome. I guess my briefing was too brief because there was some confusion about how to act. But it was sooo AWESOME! One of my friends said that the MAX driver opened the door and asked one of them what was going on. They tried playing it off but then she said “No, what’s going on? We have a police escort and my train is full of pantsless people.” Then there was the guy at Rocco’s Pizza who couldn’t figure out why 20 pantsless people walked in. Half of the group got off at Pioneer Place due to confusion about where the end of fareless square was, it’s really about 5 more blocks west at Galleria/10th. But whatever. It couldn’t have been more awesome. A couple people even wore long, thermal underwear which was definitely my favorite. I was only questioned about it once, which then turned into the guy asking me out dancing. That was funny. When I told him I just forgot, he pointed out that the entire train was pantsless “I told him it was just one of those days, ya know.” My best estimation, I would guess about 50 to 60 people. And everyone I met were such awesome people! Thanks so much to everyone that showed up! See you next year!
I was at the Boston no pants 2k8. It went pretty smoothly, but I think it would’ve been more fun with less pantsless people in each car, so that it’s believable for a minute that it’s some weird coincidence. It seems like no one broke character since, after I explained to a couple that all of my pants were in the wash, they remarked how absolutely no one was willing to tell them what was going on. We had a nice two-minute pantsless dance around a musician on the platform, which was very fun to watch. On the way back I had to explain to another student how all of my pants were in the wash, and after being surrounded by the pantsless he decided to “give in to peer pressure” and drop his pants with us. Thanks team leaders :) I hope there are more IE events in Boston soon (but with less media coverage)!
No Pants in Chicago went very well! I was in the third group and we all got on the last car. After a few minutes, we started depantsing. A man asked me if “some sports thing was going on” and I told him I had no idea. Two middle-aged women giggled back and forth, especially when one of the girls started to apply lotion to her legs. Some people asked me why I wasn’t wearing any pants and I told them that I was in such a hurry and simply forgot to put on pants. They laughed and knew something was going on, since a whole carful of people couldn’t have been so absentminded. I stood across from this man by the door and he determinedly chose not to look at my pantless legs and acted as if everything was normal. Thanks for a great afternoon, everyone!
Boston:
Thank you thank you thank you Improv Everywhere! The mission in Boston was great. I met some interesting people as I read Einstein’s Dreams in my black Calvin Klein briefs.
I was initially in Group 1, but there seemed to be more TV cameras than pants-less riders in that car, so I switched to the quite excellent Group 3 (where the signal to get off the train was someone shouting ‘Go Yankees’).
A Boston Herald reporter requested my name several times during the mission, but I continued to ask him why a story about me forgeting my pants would be newsworthy. I told other askers that my pants had been chafing me…
Can’t wait for the next mission in Boston!