Photo by Ari Scott

The 11th Annual No Pants Subway Ride took place today in New York in mild 44 degree weather. Nearly 4,000 riders met at meeting points spread out all over the city and converged on Union Square. The event also happened in 59 other cities in 27 countries around the world. Thanks so much to all who participated!

Links to photos from our official photographers are below along with the official video.

Be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you’ll stay updated on future events like this. You can also like us on Facebook, follow us on twitter and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

- David Bledsoe’s photos [Central Park / 1 Train]
- Gabriel Chai’s photos [Bushwick / L Train]
- Ilya Chigirev’s photos [Flushing / 7 Train]
- Santiago Felipe’s photos [Buswick / L Train]
- Brian Fountain’s photos [Brooklyn / R Train]
- Chuck Lau’s photos [Central Park / C Train]
- Lenny Rosmarin’s photos [Downtown - 6 train]
- Arin Sang-urai’s photos [Downtown - N Train]
- Cecilia Senocak’s photos [Astoria / N Train]
- Ari Scott’s photos [Astoria / N Train]
- Agent Khari Shiver’s photos [Brooklyn / R Train]
- Katie Sokoler’s photos [Downtown / 1 Train]

The story of the first No Pants Subway Ride in 2002 in New York City:

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

Get the official 2012 No Pants Subway Ride t-shirt:

No Pants Subway Ride 2012 Generals:
(top L-R) Cody Lindquist, Matt Shafeek, Zach Linder, Dave Eng, Jaime Linn
(bottom L-R) Alex Scordelis, Jesse Good, Charlie Todd, Jamey Shafer, Lauren Reeves
Photo by Brian Fountain

If you participated in one of the 59 regional No Pants Subway Rides today in 27 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. Reports from the New York ride are here.

Be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you’ll stay updated on future global events like this. You can also like us on Facebook, follow us on twitter and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

New York City’s 2012 No Pants Subway Ride:

The story of the first No Pants Subway Ride in 2002 in New York City:

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

Get the official 2012 No Pants Subway Ride t-shirt:

UPDATE – The New York Ride was a success– read about it and leave your reports here: No Pants Subway Ride 2012 New York Reports.

All are invited to participate in the 11th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. The event will take place at 3:00 PM on Sunday, January 8. Everything you need to know is in this post. Please read it carefully! (Click here for information for participating in other cities.)

REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION:

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

DETAILS

When: Sunday, January 8 at 3:00 PM, Sharp! (Over around 5 PM)
Where: Six meeting points spread out all over New York City. Details below.
Bring: A backpack/bag and a metro card.
Wear: Normal winter clothes (hat, gloves, etc)
Facebook: You can RSVP to the Facebook Event
Afterparty: No Pants Country Club from 4:30pm-11pm! – Facebook Event.

Complete logistics:

HOW IT WORKS

There are six meeting points this year. Take your pick. The Manhattan meeting points tend to be very crowded, so if you live in Brooklyn or Queens, definitely go to one of those! You’ll probably have more fun!

Astoria: Meet at Hoyt Playground – Google Map
Brooklyn: Meet by the Old Stone House – 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 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.

This year, for the first time, we are having an official afterparty.

Winkel & Balktick and Improv Everywhere Present…
NO PANTS COUNTRY CLUB

The Official No Pants Subway Ride 2012 Afterparty

Sunday January 8 2012, 4:30pm-11pm
At The Greenwich Village Country Club, 110 University Place btwn 12th & 13th, top floor
$10 cover, $5 drink specials, full food menu
Pantsless dress code, pants check available, 21+ w/ ID
RSVP on Facebook

Featuring great DJs, no-pants-themed ridiculousness, and pantless minigolf!

If you are a twitter user, tag your posts with #NPSR and @improvevery so everyone can follow along.

New for this year there is an official t-shirt. Order yours today for a pre-sale deal.

See you on the 8th!

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.

2011 No Pants Subway Ride photo by Katie Sokoler

As in years past, there are No Pants Subway Rides happening in dozens of cities around the world on January 8, the same day as our annual event in New York. Below find a list of participating cities with links to Facebook events. If you do not see your city and want to organize a ride, you can register your city by filling out this form.

Cities participating in the global No Pants Subway Ride:

- Adelaide
- Amsterdam
- Ann Arbor
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Barcelona
- Bangalore
- Berlin
- Boston
- Brisbane
- Buenos Aires
- Calgary
- Chicago
- Cleveland
- Copenhagen
- Dallas
- Hamburg
- Helsinki
- Houston
- Istanbul
- Jerusalem
- Las Vegas
- Lisbon
- Ljubljana
- London
- Los Angeles
- Madrid
- Manchester
- Melbourne
- Mexico City
- Miami
- Milan
- Minneapolis
- Munich
- New York
- Oslo
- Paris
- Phoenix
- Portland
- Porto
- Prague
- Prescott
- Salt Lake City
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Santiago
- Seattle
- Sofia [Bulgaria]
- St. Louis
- Stockholm
- Sydney
- Tel Aviv
- Torino
- Toronto
- Valencia
- Vancouver
- Vienna
- Warsaw
- Washington, DC
- Zürich

If you participate in a regional ride and use twitter, tag your posts with #NPSR and @improvevery so everyone can follow along with other cities throughout the day.

New for this year there is an official t-shirt. Order yours today for a pre-sale deal.

We couldn’t be more excited to share the first teaser video for the Improv Everywhere documentary our collaborator Matt Adams has been working on. Matt has interviewed over 50 veteran Improv Everywhere performers, including some of our famous friends like Ben Folds, Aubrey Plaza, and Nick Kroll.

Thanks to everyone who helped Matt raise money to complete the film on Kickstarter. Stay tuned for updates on the film’s progress.

Here’s another video made using footage from the project:

Improv Everywhere Volume 4 features all of the missions from the last three years. See all of our new videos in DVD quality, along with commentary tracks, and special features. Hours of footage! See the full tracklisting here.

The DVD is $20 and shipping is free anywhere in the US (extra shipping for international orders.)

We are currently working on getting volumes 1, 2 and 3 back in print. News on that soon. Don’t forget we have a t-shirt and a book for sale on our merch page.

Order your copy of Improv Everywherer Volume 4:

UPDATE:
- Details for the New York Event
- Details for other cities

The 11th Annual No Pants Subway Ride will take place on Sunday, January 8 in New York City. More info with the meeting point and start time will be posted to this site in early January. For now, save the date. You can RSVP on Facebook.

Once again we are encouraging folks in other cities around the world to stage their own No Pants Subway Rides on the same day. Regional organizers must fill out this registration form to have their event included. In a few weeks we will publish a list of all participating cities along with links to Facebook events. Groups have staged the event on trolleys, light rails, and buses in the past, so don’t let a lack of subway system stop you! 48 cities participated last year. Check the list on this page to see if one happened in your city last year as preference will go to the prior year’s organizers.

If you are unfamiliar with this tradition, you can read the history here: The No Pants Subway Ride.

This year there is an official t-shirt. Order yours today for a pre-sale deal.

No Pants Subway Ride 2011 Photo by Katie Sokoler

We have a brand new Improv Everywhere t-shirt for sale! Our friends at BustedTees made this sweet new shirt with our new logo. The perfect gift for the comedy fan in your family!

Order at BustedTees.

TED has posted a talk I did at TEDxBloomington this spring to their front page today. If you’re interested in booking me to speak at your school or event, check out this page.

Thanks to the awesome group of people who participated in the 2nd Annual Black Tie Beach mission today at Rockaway Beach. 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 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.

Photos:

- Agent Brian Fountain’s Set
- Agent Ari Scott’s Set
- Agent Katie Sokoler’s Set

Join/follow/subscribe our mailing list, Twitter, Facebook page, or YouTube channel to be updated.

In the meantime, check out last year’s video: