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]

Photos:

- Agent Scott’s set (165 photos)
- Agent Sokoler’s set (146 photos)
- Agent Fountain’s set (89 photos)

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.

(View it larger on YouTube)

Enjoy this outtakes video from our Star Wars Subway Car mission.

(Watch No Underwear Subway Ride Uncensored in HD on YouTube)
edited by Matt Adams / song by Tyler Walker

For April Fool’s Day this year, we uploaded a new video that made it look like we had staged a No Underwear Subway Ride (in the tradition of our annual No Pants Subway Ride event.) The video was a hoax. Although we claimed that 1,000 people had exposed their genitals on the train, we actually just filmed 20 actors wearing skin-colored underwear, and then pixelated the footage to make them look naked. The “uncensored” version of the video embedded above will show you what we actually looked like.

Playboy falls for the hoax

We were pretty surprised at how many people actually fell for it. We saw several major news blogs around the world reporting it as fact. I think most folks who fell for it assumed that it was an April Fool’s joke on the people riding the train, not on them. We post prank videos year-round, so for April Fool’s Day we like to change things up and try to fool our online audience. Last year we acted like we had staged a prank at a funeral.

Filming the beginning of the video in an empty park with Agent Adams

The real mission briefing

Agents arrived at the meeting point wearing two pairs of underwear. One regular and one skin-colored pair underneath. A few of the agents gave us staged reactions for the video, posing as regular train riders. Of course, we were still walking around the train in our underpants, so we got plenty of reactions from actual strangers as well.

Agent Haskel did an excellent job pixelating the video, and Agent Gross did some great color-correcting for the agents whose underwear didn’t quite match their skin tone. Agents Nicholson and Sokoler expertly pixelated their photos for the mission report.

For reference, here is the original hoax video:

(Watch No Underwear Subway Ride in HD on YouTube)
edited by Matt Adams with Keith Haskel and George Gross / song by Tyler Walker

If you haven’t figured it out by now, The No Underwear Subway Ride mission was staged for April Fool’s Day. The participants all wore skin-colored underwear that made it look like they were naked when pixelated in the video. On Monday we’ll post an “uncensored” version of the video that will show what we actually looked like. [Update: watch it here.] Our apologizes to those who were fooled into thinking we had lost our minds and done something this disgusting. If you haven’t read the comments yet, do yourself a favor and read a few. They are probably funnier than the hoax itself. WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?

And here’s the original video in case you missed it:

(Watch No Underwear Subway Ride in HD on YouTube)
edited by Matt Adams with Keith Haskel and George Gross / song by Tyler Walker

John “Wimpy” Ward, one of Improv Everywhere’s most senior agents, passed away today. John was an incredibly kind, warm, and hilarious man, and we are all lucky to have known and worked with him. I first ran across John when he started taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2003. I approached him one night and asked if he would be interested in playing a prank at a Barnes & Noble where he gave an unauthorized reading as long dead playwright Anton Chekhov. Although he had never met me and had never heard of Improv Everywhere, he instantly said, “Sure. That sounds like fun.” John was the kind of guy who said yes to life and jumped head first into new things.

Over the past six years, he has participated in nearly every Improv Everywhere mission. He danced in a window for Look Up More, stood still for Frozen Grand Central, pretended to be a Best Buy employee, and played Santa Claus in the very first Mp3 Experiment, to name just a few. In 2006, he figured out a way to sneak Improv Everywhere onto daytime television by using his position as a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? as an opportunity to play a prank.

John was adored by many Improv Everywhere fans, who were quick to celebrate his appearances in our videos in YouTube comments. He was a vital member of our group and the New York comedy community at large, and he will be missed greatly. Below are some videos and photos of some of John’s more memorable moments with IE.

John passing out candy canes on 8th Avenue for the first Mp3 Experiment

John enjoying a drink while playing Ted’s grandfather at Ted’s Birthday in 2007

John hugs and kisses a total stranger at JFK for the Welcome Back mission in 2008

John holds a sign in the subway for High Five Escalator

John Ward t-shirt

Finally, here’s a hilarious sketch John starred in that was written by IE Agent Ari Scott and staged at the UCB Theatre.

Rest In Peace, John Ward. We miss you.

Improv Everywhere is about to pass 100 million total views on YouTube! We joined the site in April of 2006, about five months after YouTube started. While it feels like we’ve *always* been on YouTube, Improv Everywhere existed for four and half years before we had a YouTube channel (and for about four years since.) Without YouTube, we’d still be documenting our missions with just text and tiny photos. YouTube has enabled Improv Everywhere to reach an international audience without needing a green-light from anyone but ourselves. So, hooray for YouTube!

We’re also on the cusp of reaching 300,000 subscribers on YouTube. To celebrate, we’d like to give away something special to the 300,000th subscriber. The first person who posts a link in the comments below to a screen shoot of Improv Everywhere’s channel after we’ve passed the 300k mark will win the last remaining Improv Everywhere Best Buy Blue Polo shirt. Yup, the shirt that is so illegal to sell we got a cease and desist letter about it! Only 24 of them were ever made. 12 were sold and 11 were given out as gifts to senior agents. One adult size small remains!

Be the first to post a screen shot of our YouTube channel displaying over 300k subscribers and the shirt is yours.

And if you’re not a subscriber to our channel, speed this contest up and subscribe now!

UPDATE: We passed 300k and have a winner. See comments below. Thanks to everyone who tried to win! And thanks to everyone who subscribes to Improv Everywhere on YouTube!!!

Photo by Katie Sokoler

The 9th Annual No Pants Subway Ride went off without a hitch today in New York. It’s tough to count, but we’re guessing we had around 3,000 participants. Riders met at meeting points spread out all over the city and converged on Union Square. The high was 28 degrees. There were also No Pants rides in 43 other cities around the world in 16 countries!

Photos:

-Agent Sokoler’s Set (Downtown)
-Agent Rosmarin’s set (Downtown)
-Agent Zapata’s Set (Downtown)
-Agent Hambly’s Set (Central Park)
-Agent Chigirev’s Set (Central Park)
-Agent Fountain’s Set (Prospect Park)
-Agent Scott’s Set (Astoria)
-Agent Sermoneta’s Set (Flushing)
-Metromix’s Set (Bushwick)

The official video should be ready in a week. For now, enjoy videos from year’s past!

No Pants 2009

No Pants 2008

No Pants 2002 (the first year!)

Complete history of The No Pants! Subway Ride with videos of past years

Thanks to everyone who came out to participate! If this was your first event, make sure you are on the NY Agents mailing list so you’ll find out about upcoming missions. Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay up to date on everything Improv Everywhere. You can also join our Facebook Page and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

No Pants 2010 Subway Ride Generals
(L-R) Back: Agents Good, Todd, Shafer, Lindquist, Fiedler
Front: Agents Scordelis, Lathan, Ace$Thugg, Reeves
photo by Brian Fountain

No Pants 2010 Buenos Aires

If you participated in one of the 44 regional No Pants Subway Rides today in 16 countries across the world, leave us an agent report in the comments below letting us know how it went. Post links to any photos and videos from your town’s event as well. Let us know how many people participated and what the temperature was.

If you’re discussing No Pants on twitter, remember to include @improvevery

Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for our mailing list and subscribe to our RSS feed so you’ll stay updated on future global events like this. You can also join our Facebook Page and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Thanks for participating!

Check out the complete history of The No Pants! Subway Ride with videos of past years

Video from the first No Pants in 2002

The Ninth Annual No Pants Subway Ride is tomorrow in New York City and 42 cities worldwide! There are 15 countries involved this year, including Japan, Argentina, and Sweden. We are expecting a breezy 29 degree day here in New York.

New York City details for No Pants 2010

Details for other cities

Check back here Sunday night and all day Monday for initial reports and photos. We hope to have a video up in a week or so.

Complete history of The No Pants! Subway Ride

Last year’s No Pants Subway Ride

UPDATE: Just added Flushing Meadows Park as a 6th location!

All are invited to participate in the 9th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. The event will take place at 3:00 PM on Sunday, January 10. Everything you need to know is in this post. Please read it carefully!

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it

**THIS IS A PARTICIPATORY EVENT. DO NOT SHOW UP UNLESS YOU PLAN TO TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF.**

DETAILS

When: Sunday, January 10 at 3:00 PM, Sharp! (Over by around 5:30)
Where: Six meeting points spread out all over New York City. Details below.
Bring: A backpack and a metro card.
Wear: Normal winter clothes (hat, gloves, etc)
Facebook: You can RSVP to the Facebook Event

Complete logistics below:

HOW IT WORKS

There are six meeting points this year. Take your pick.

Astoria: Meet at Hoyt Playground – Google Map
Downtown Brooklyn: Meet at Prospect Park – Google Map
Downtown Manhattan: Meet at Foley Square – Google Map
Queens: Meet at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Park – Google Map
Uptown Manhattan: Meet at the Great Hill in Central Park – Google Map
Williamsburg / Bushwick: Meet at Bushwick Park (AKA Maria Hernandez Park) – Google Map

Everyone should meet at their chosen meeting point at 3 PM. Please be on time. Feel free to be early.

At the meeting points, participants will be organized into groups and assigned a specific train car. Once everyone is divided up we will all head to nearby subway station[s]. Do not talk to others once you enter the subway system. No one knows each other.

Sit in the car as you normally would. Read a magazine or whatever you would normally do. Your team leader will have already divided you into smaller groups, assigning your group a specific stop where you will depants.

As soon as the doors shut at the stop before yours, stand up and take your pants off and put them in your backpack. If you’d like to use a briefcase, purse, grocery bag, or whatever instead of a backpack that’s fine too. If anyone asks you why you’ve removed your pants, tell them that they were “getting uncomfortable” (or something along those lines.)

Exit the train at your assigned stop and stand on the platform, pantless. You will wait on the platform for the next train to arrive. Stay in the exact same place on the platform so you enter the next train in the same car as you exited the last train.

When you enter, act as you normally would. You do not know any of the other pantless riders. If questioned, tell folks that you “forgot to wear pants” and yes you are “a little cold.” Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their pants. Be nice and friendly and normal.

All train routes will converge on Union Square. Your exact route will be explained at the meeting point, and may involve a transfer.

You can wear fun underwear if you like, but nothing that screams out, “I wore this because I’m doing a silly stunt.” Wear two pairs of underwear if it makes you feel more comfortable. Don’t wear a thong or anything else that might offend people. Our aim is to make people laugh, not piss them off.

If you haven’t already, please take a moment to read about previous No Pants! Subway Rides.

Please leave your cameras at home and resist the temptation to snap photos with your iPhone, etc. while the event is happening. Take as many as you like before and after the event, but during the ride we really want people to enjoy the experience of participating rather than documenting. It detracts from the mission if everyone is taking photos of each other rather than keeping a straight face. Don’t worry, we have photographers assigned to every meeting point who will take great photos.

This is always a blast, and we look forward to seeing you there. You may bring along friends if you like, but make sure they get a chance to read all of these instructions.

See you on the 10th!

(Information for participating in other cities is here.)

Be aware that by participating, you recognize that Improv Everywhere is not liable in the event you are injured, arrested, or worse. By choosing to participate you are still responsible for your actions.