The Today Show aired a segment on Improv Everywhere today(Wednesday, November 4) during the 8:00 AM hour. It was a behind-the-scenes look at a brand new IE mission.

This new mission will appear on our site and YouTube channel later this week as soon as we finish putting the documentation together.

The mission is our third musical, in the style of the recent Grocery Store Musical and the classic Food Court Musical.

If you’ve arrived at this page because you saw the segment, welcome! Check out our other musicals linked above as well as our 8 years of ridiculous missions, archived to the right. And if you like what you see, consider buying our book!

We have some upcoming events in Spain and Munich. Tell your Spanish and German friends!

Spain

We’re staging the first Spanish language Mp3 Experiments in Barcelona, Madrid, Murcia, and Vigo. The experiments will take place simultaneously on Thursday, October 29 at 6:00 PM. Details are on this Facebook group. There are also Facebook events for the individual cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Murcia, and Vigo.

On Saturday, October 31, I will be giving a presentation at Artfutura at 8:00 PM at Edificio IMAGINA (Avenida Diagonal 127.) More details here.

Munich

I’ll be speaking at the PATHOS Transport Theater on Monday, November 2. Details are here. The talk and debate that will follow is with the Urbanauts’ project, and is part of the SPIELART Theater Festival.

On Tuesday, November 3 there will be a mission in Munich that is a collaboration with Improv Everywhere and the series of public SMS “swarms” taking place there. Details on how to sign up to participate are here.

Thanks to the over 2,000 people who participated in today’s mission in Brooklyn. If you were there, please leave an Agent Report in the comments. I know there are thousands of funny stories waiting to be told. Also leave links to any photos you might have taken. We will be posting photos from our official photographers later today, and we hope to have our video up in a week or so.

Agent Nicholson’s Photos
Agent Sokoler’s Photos

For those of you who were not there– we passed out over 2,000 “invisible dog” leashes and had everyone go for a nice Sunday walk in Brooklyn. If you were anywhere within a one mile radius of the Bergen St. stop in Cobble Hill today, you would have seen all types of folks very seriously walking their very silly dogs.

The invisible dog toy was invented in the 1970s in the Brooklyn factory that served as our meeting point today. No Longer Empty and The Invisible Dog art space were nice enough to loan us the vintage dogs for an afternoon of fun.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

We are staging an Mp3 Experiment at the All Points West Festival on Saturday, August 1 in Liberty State Park (a 10-minute ferry ride from Lower Manhattan.) You must be attending the festival (which is a ticketed event) to participate. Come for Improv Everywhere, stay for Tool!

If your festival, school, company, etc, is interested in hiring us to stage an Mp3 Experiment at your event, please get in touch.

We are visiting Cologne and Rotterdam over the next ten days and will be organizing at least one mission in each city. If you live near either city and want to participate, here is the information:

Cologne

Please send an email to christine.nippe@koelnischerkunstverein.de. You will receive a message where and when the action will happen. It’s going to happen on Saturday, July 11. The performance is part of the education programme Open Source/// at Kölnischer Kunstverein.

Rotterdam

Missions will take place between July 13 and 16. To join the missions, apply by becoming member of http://improv010everywhere.hyves.nl/ You will then automatically receive more detailed information about time, date and locations. Or, send an email to improv.rotterdam@gmail.com with ‘request information’ in your header (and you will receive detailed info). We have been invited by The Arts Office Rotterdam, made possible with the support of Your World 2009 (Rotterdam , Youth Capital of Europe 2009).

And if you don’t live anywhere near these cities, but want to invite us to your festival, university, etc., let us know!

I was on The Today Show to promote our new book Causing a Scene.

]]> http://improveverywhere.com/2009/06/10/today-show-appearance/feed/ 32 http://improveverywhere.com/2009/05/23/mp3-experiment-six-thanks/ http://improveverywhere.com/2009/05/23/mp3-experiment-six-thanks/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 22:43:18 +0000 Charlie Todd http://improveverywhere.com/?p=1046

A huge thanks to everyone who came out to The Mp3 Experiment Six today on Roosevelt Island! Our apologies to everyone who didn’t get an inflatable weapon. We bought 1,400 of them, but damn they went fast! I think it’s pretty safe to say there were around 2.3 jabillion people there.

We are starting to get the photos up from our official photographers. We’ll keep adding links to them to this post.

Katie Sokoler’s Photos

Mark Hambly’s Photos

Brian Fountain’s Photos

Ilya Chigirev’s Photos

Roosevelt L!VE’s Photos

It will be a few weeks before we have any video to show, but stay tuned. All of today’s music was created by Tyler Walker. You can visit his site to download the songs.

Thanks to everyone who bought a copy of the new book afterwards! If you didn’t get a chance to stop by the book table, why not order it online? :)

photo by Katie Sokoler

The Mp3 Experiment Six is taking place tomorrow on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Full details and download.

A few reminders:

- Allow extra travel time tomorrow for weekend subway service changes. You don’t want to be late!

- Wear a white shirt underneath the normal colored shirt.

- Synchronize your watch to the instruction page before you leave.

- The forecast is looking good, but be prepared in case a thunderstorm pops up.

- We’ll have a book-signing after the event by the F-train for anyone that wants to buy our new book. (No pressure!)

And make sure you’ve read the full instructions.

Praise Steve!

The Improv Everywhere book comes out today! Causing a Scene, Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places with Improv Everywhere is available in bookstores all over North America. The book comes out in Australia on May 28. You can also order it online at Amazon.

Causing a Scene is the behind-the-scenes story of Improv Everywhere, with an in-depth look at some of our most successful pranks over the past eight years. It’s written by Improv Everywhere founder Charlie Todd and Improv Everywhere senior agent Alex Scordelis, and contains many awesome photos by Chad Nicholson. You can read the first two chapters online.

You will able to buy a copy and get it signed on Roosevelt Island following The Mp3 Experiment Six this Saturday.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past eight years!

Here are the full details for our next mission, The Mp3 Experiment Six. Please take the time to read all of the instructions on this page. This is event is taking place in New York City.

Please note: This is a participatory event. We encourage participants to leave their cameras at home and have fun participating. We request the same from members of the media. Let’s all enjoy the moment and resist the urge to document! Don’t worry, we will have our usual crew taking photos and video for all to see.

Date: Saturday, May 23 (rain or shine)
Location: Roosevelt Island (detailed info below)
Time: The event will begin at exactly 4:00 PM. Arrive early and remember to budget time for weekend subway service delays (detailed subway information below.) The event will be over at 4:47.
Wear: A Red, Blue, Yellow, or Green t-shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. Also recommended: closed-toed shoes and clothes you don’t mind running around in and maybe getting a bit dirty.

Full instructions below:

Instructions:
1. Download the Mp3: The Mp3 Experiment Six Download Link [right click and "save as" to download]

Note: The filename for the track is “mp3experimentsix.mp3″ and the album, artist, and track name will be “Mp3 Experiment Six.” The track is 47:16 and around 64.9MB.

2. Load the track onto your mp3 player (iPod, etc.)

3. Do not listen to the track.

4. On Saturday, wear a t-shirt that is one of the following colors: Red, Blue, Yellow, or Green. Also wear a white t-shirt underneath your colored shirt (new for ‘09!)

5. Bring a watch with a second hand (or use your cell phone if it displays seconds.) Before you leave, sync it up to this atomic clock:

(If your browser doesn’t show the clock above, you can use this link to get the correct time; note that the hour is off, but the minute and seconds are correct.)

7. As 4:00 approaches, take a seat anywhere in the blue-shaded area on the island on the map below. You can sit on the ground, a bench, wherever. Spread out and don’t sit too close to others who look like they might be a part of it.

View Mp3 Experiment Six in a larger map

8. At exactly 4:00:00 PM, press play.

Directions to Roosevelt Island: Roosevelt Island is easily accessible by subway. Take a Queens-bound F train from anywhere in Manhattan or Brooklyn and get off at the Roosevelt Island stop. The station is marked on the map above, at the southwest corner of the starting point area. Unfortunately for Queens residents, Manhattan-bound F trains are not stopping at Roosevelt Island on Saturday. You’ll have to take the E/V/F to West 4th, and then transfer to an uptown F train (see the MTA service advisory.) Roosevelt Island is also accessible by the tram from Manhattan. The tram only runs every 15 minutes and holds a limited number of passengers, so it is probably not the best option unless you plan to arrive very early. Full details on the tram as well as driving directions for those coming by car.

We encourage participants to arrive early. There is a Starbucks, Duane Reade, and a couple of cafes right next to the F station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Say what now?

If you’ve never heard of The Mp3 Experiment, read about it here: The Mp3 Experiments

How will we know when to start?

You will have synchronized your watch or cell phone clock to the atomic clock above. Press play right at 4:00:00 PM.

I can’t find the track on my iPod. Where is it?

The artist and album are both listed as “Mp3 Experiment Six”.

Should I listen to the track beforehand?

No.

Can I listen to the track beforehand?

You really shouldn’t. Sure, there’s nothing we can do to stop you, but to really get the full experience of the event, you shouldn’t listen to it. It will spoil most of the fun. We know it’s hard to resist. Be strong.

What if I get to the event late?

Plan to be early! If you are running late, press play at 4:00 anyway and try to catch up with the group when you arrive.

What if I don’t press play at exactly the right time?

That’s OK. We’re counting on everyone’s tracks being slightly off. Different mp3 players have different response speeds. It will be fun to see participants who are clearly ahead or behind. If you are significantly off, feel free to glance at a neighbor’s iPod and try to sync back up to the correct time.

What if I accidentally hit a button on my player during the experiment that stops the track?

We recommend turning on the “hold” button on your player after pressing play to prevent this from happening. Also, iPhone users should put their phones on “airplane” mode.

What if my player crashes or the batteries die during the experiment?

In the unfortunate event that this happens to you, we recommend you pretend like nothing is wrong and just go with the flow. There’s really no way to fix it, so why not have as much fun as you can anyway?

Can I take photos or video?

Please refrain from taking photos during the experiment. We will have plenty of photographers covering the event, and you’ll have more fun if you’re not taking photos. We take care of the documentation; you take care of the fun!

I’m coming with some friends. Should we all wear the same color t-shirt?

No. It won’t matter. However, if you plan to share one iPod with a friend “one headphone each” style (not recommended) you’ll be better off if you’re wearing the same color.

Can my shirt have writing on it?

Solid colored t-shirts are best, but it doesn’t really matter if there is writing or designs so long as it’s clear what color it is.

Do I have to RSVP?

Nope, but we did create a Facebook Event if you want to RSVP there. Bring as many friends as you like– this event is open to the public.

What if it rains?

Unfortunately we do not have a rain date. It will happen rain or shine at 4:00.

How old do you have to be?

The Mp3 Experiment is appropriate for people of all ages. If you are under 18, you should have your parent’s permission to participate.

Can I bring my dog?

There are green spaces near the starting point that do not allow dogs, but otherwise it should be fine. You’re responsible for your dog’s safety. Keep in mind there will be a massive amount of people.

Can I bring my bike?

Sure. There are bike racks by the F train.

How do we leave the island?

You can take the tram back to Manhattan, or the F train towards Queens to Roosevelt Avenue, where you can transfer to a number of Manhattan-bound trains. Unfortunately you can not catch a Manhattan-bound train at the Roosevelt Island station on Saturday due to service changes.

Don’t you guys have a new book?

We do! A local bookseller will be setting up a mobile bookstore after the event if you want to buy a copy. Charlie and Alex will be on hand to sign copies.

I have another question that hasn’t been answered!

You can ask it by leaving a comment on this entry.