No Pants 2010 NYC Reports


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

Comments

  1. First time I ever did this event. I’m such a Improveverywhere follower, I was so excited to do this! As soon as those train doors close it was my moment of truth, here goes, make it or break it. Pants off! At first it was so hard to keep my cool and not laugh amongst all the reactions but luckily after a while I pulled it off (I thank the cold) Overall it was a great experience. I will do it every year from now on. Hoping to participate in more Improv missions.

    • Train 6 on the N line from Astoria, Representin’! I love love you peeps! Can’t believe how much fun we had and how much we bonded after the event. All the skanky pervert looks were so worth all the new friends I made today. And to think I wasn’t going to go to the event because I would’ve been all by myself…hah! Here’s to Improv Everywhere, here’s to chillin’ in my underwear in 20 degree weather and here’s to not ever wanting to wear pants again! Looking forward to No Pants 2011!

    • Why do this? It’s just another step in the wrong direction, promoting a society where doing things for ‘fun’ is at a higher priority than dealing with the crooks and the system that creates inequality throughout the world including our great coutry.

      • What were you doing on Sunday from 3 to 5 PM, Kaz? I hope you were doing something to work against the system that creates inequality throughout the world. If not, shut up! Thanks!

        • Here Here! That was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. It was nice to just let loose and enjoy life and not worry about all the other garbage going on in the world :-)

        • Actually I spend one weekend every month helping the homeless, I am also working on a book that helps people unite through the love of humanity which includes responsibility towards one another in ways that are long term. Understanding our inner demons that create excuses for us behaving inappropriately or naturally as most people call it. We are not animals, we are supposed to be intelligent beings, but with the world attracted to the animalistic behaviours the task of people like me becomes so much harder. I’m not stopping or advocating banning behaviour such as was undertaken by the pantless party (you are free to exercise your rights), I’m for those that think it is just typical of people who have the lets chill, lets party, lets act all cool mentality and not realize there are bigger issues to unite for and eradicate and be serious about. You want to pretend you contributed something for the betterment of mankind, go ahead, stay delusional and take away the freedom of those of us trying to make a real difference in this sad pitiful world.

          • wow you are one heck of a buzzkill. know whats going to get people to want to help you more? talking down to them like you just did. you’re putting yourself on a pedestal above everyone else acting like you are going to have to save the world singlehandedly. sheesh. i agree with CC, you must be the life of the party. there’s one in every group… scrooge. thanks improveverywhere for providing a little free, upbeat excitement to our lives

          • I served breakfast to the homeless in Harlem AND went pants-free later. Turns out you can have it all!

            Also, if anyone find a picture of someone with boxers that say “Eugene’s Butt” on them, that was me. I’d love to see those pictures.

          • Just wondering how much you’ll be charging for your book. And how much you plan to profit from that. And how much your publisher plans to profit from a book.

            I’m sure you’ll be helping humanity by releasing it as a free ebook. Right?

          • Wow, what a way to attempt a kill at the fun. Why can’t you just see this as one of the simple and fun ways for a whole bunch of people to gather together and do something enlightening for the world in unity? There’s nothing wrong with bringing fun out into the world. And how can you honestly help other people without realizing that it’s sometimes okay for people to forget about the bigger issues, just to enjoy something as simple as taking off their pants?

          • My daughter just spent a year with the Peace Corps in a third world county drinking bleach water and taking Malaria medicine. She participated in this and had a blast. Next year I am flying up to do it with her. Make love not was ( my generation ) now translates to Smile and the world smiles with you, frown and you frown alone. There were a lot of smiles that day, just look at the pics.

          • I don’t understand why you can’t do both. I work in human rights FULL TIME, and have realized one of the best ways to keep your chin up in this “sad, pitiful world,” as you say, is to participate in fun-loving activities like this. Be careful with your generalizations, it only closes off the discussion, inciting disagreement and anger. If you want your voice heard, be more accepting.
            Certainly there are bigger, more important issues out there, but by no means does the participation of someone in an event like this imply that that participant does not acknowledge, respect, or even work to improve these issues.
            At that, since you’re so busy pointing fingers, let me take the liberty granted by you and point a finger back: I’m rather surprised at how self-righteous you are, for someone who only “contributes… for the betterment of society” once a month. No one, in no way, is depriving you of any of your freedoms by participating in this event. Take some of your own advice and love humanity for what it is, animalistic or not. How can you expect anyone to believe the concept of your book, if you yourself cannot practice it?

      • Dude it’s spelled COUNTRY not coutry!

        A society, if it’s going to survive, needs a respite from the ills of itself and what these good people are doing is providing that respite.

  3. This event was incredible. It gets boring taking the train everyday doing the same thing over and over, and having people push and shove on the train. Finally I got to have some fun.

  4. This event was a very momentous occasion, I stood in the cold two hours before the planned meeting time in Central park with two friends, we were later greeted by others almost two hours later. I actually didn’t feel that cold without pants on, the reactions were wonderful, and everyone looked great. Finishing off at union square with break dancing competition, pantsless pyramid and a pantsless conga line. I will definitely be participating in future Improv Everywhere events! :]

  5. No Pants! was going to be my first mission after catching pneumonia before the invisible dog prank. I woke up this morning with Bronchitis and a Migraine. I always get sick before these missions. I laid in bed with no pants all day.

  6. This was my third No Pants Subway Ride. I was the leader of the 6 car on the 1 train (although the first train we took was actually a 2 train). I didn’t look around while I was taking off my pants, but my sister said that everyone was shocked and horrified. She looked on in falsified horror too, then took off her own pants after two stops.

    Since I had five layers on, I was actually pretty warm, and I was fairly stoic despite the bickering of two non-English speakers in front of me. Unfortunately, the conductor on the train was full of giggles and couldn’t contain herself, laughing hysterically on the speakers.

    The transfer in Times Square station was probably the best part, as there was a row of people with cameras standing above the stairs to the NQRW trains. When I waited for the R train, a man saw my “Dating for Dummies” book and accused me of not being a dummy, but retarded. He proceeded to laugh and repeat this joke several times while I turned away.

    When we got to Union Square, I got my third Pro-Pants pamphlet to complete my collection, then went to Starbucks. As I entered, a little boy pointed and in an exasperated scream, said, “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!”. Starbucks had an enormous pantless line, so I decided to go to Best Buy. As I mounted the escalator, the security guard stopped me and told me that I couldn’t enter. I see that he was still sore from the Best Buy prank. I went around the corner to re-pant, then my No Pants day ended.

  7. Awesome! I was the captain of car 9 of the L train and my crew were great, even when we were all screamed at and harassed by a crazy homeless guy. Sidebar was really fun too…was sad to have to put pants back on again.

      • Oh man that guy was crazy. And you should have come to Crocodile Lounge where we partied pants-less all night!

        First time for me and it was great!

    • This was a great experience and a great team! Can’t wait til next year.

      Also, has anyone from Team Bushwick seen the photos? There isn’t a link for us above????

    • That guy definitely had a bit of an attitude, but fun nonetheless- wish you guys could have seen the tourists’ faces who were sitting across from me, when the last two of us took our pants off in the car! They thought it was all over….they were WRONG! ha! …and are our pictures coming soon?

  10. this was my first time doing this insane event, it was nothing i thought it would be, everyone had a blast and the spectators did know what was going on and some even joined. the union square round up was hilarious, news reporters had a juicy story on their hands. ended up w
    ith a no pants conga line. had a blast and will do this next year

  11. This was my first event and it was incredible. The best parts were transferring from the 1 (car 5) to the N because people were taking pictures and the reactions were louder, people actually started shouting at us. The party at Union Square was fun too, like the conga line and the news reporters and the people trying to get us to wear pants.

    I cannot wait to do this again next year.

  13. I saw about forty people on the # 1 train earlier this evening with NO PANTS on and girls in their PANTIES ….. everyone got off at 42nd Street. I had no idea what was going on until much later tonight. Improv Everywhere!

  14. While riding a very crowded and pantsless 6 train some guy started yelling about the scene. “What’s wrong with y’all?! You going swimming?! It’s cold out there..” and on and on. Nobody looked up but it was hard to keep a straight face! A couple of us just said, “SOme people are so strange” and shook our heads.

    Looking forward to more!!!

  15. I’m sad that I wasn’t around to participate in the first years of this because I’m sure the reactions were amazing! Nonetheless, my first No Pants Subway ride was one of the best things I’ve ever done; I came by myself but met several wonderful people, instigated a muttered “What the hell is going on?” conversation in a corner of the 6 train when I de-pants, and danced in Union Sq in my underwear. BEST DAY EVER.

  16. This was my first time we made an Mom and Daughter event. I was so excited the entire time. Had a man sitting next me. When i first came in the train he ask if i was with the group. was a team or a school, I said no im not with them im on my way home. Then when the 2nd stop comes a girl right in front of us takes her pants off. He taps me and says “Look Look Oh My God, what is she doing?” I responded ” Wow well this New York anything can happen” He laughed and said “I’m so mad i’m getting off next stop cause i would to see how far she was gonna go. I laughed in silence it was hard for me to keep a straight face. Some people were askin if this is a cult. The whole entire day was fabulous. I had alot of fun at union square with the break dancing. Cant wait till next Year

  17. Here in Cleveland, we had 11 members [9 humanoids, one resinoid (BJD), and one plushie/stuffed animal] of Cleveland Havoc show up. Cindi even had a broken foot and still showed!

    The rapid wasn’t cold at all, even though it was 25 degrees! I even brought my Asian Ball-Jointed Doll and he was wearing a pair of vinyl biker shorts!

    When we went to de-pants on the Rapid Transit, people got on their phones and called the transit police! My friend Genny was harassed by a kid that looked like he was a meth-head, but it was otherwise kind of fun!

    The Transit cops asked us to leave the rapid, which we did and by then, nearly everyone was re-pantsed, but I was wearing a pair of biker shorts and knee-highs, which they could do nothing about.

    They checked the IDs of some of the adults, fussed at us,told us that “you could be charged with disorderly conduct,” and left!

    We took the rapid going back to Tower City under the Terminal Tower and are now sitting about drinking hot chocolate!

    http://improveverywhere.ning.com/photo/album/listForOwner?screenName=1qcq9n77az9dh

    It was SO worth it! I can’t wait until next year! ^_~

    Ryuichi

  18. So this was my third year in a row photographing No Pants (I think third year… I didn’t own a DSLR 4 years ago so that makes sense). I was part of the Astoria team. Go Astoria!

    Here’s an iPhone pic of the crowd: http://bestc.am/R30Xg

    The rest of my photos are in the process of being uploaded.

    I have one of these conversations every year. Here’s this year’s version:

    I took a picture of a pantsless person on the train.

    Lady: What’s going on?

    Me: Beats me, but I’m glad I have my camera!

    Lady: You’re not part of this?

    Me: No. But this is why I carry around a camera.

    Lady: You’re taking pictures not because they’re in shorts but because it’s unusual, right?

    Me: Right. It’s unusual.

    Lady: So how does your camera know it’s not June?

    Me: What?

    Lady: You know. How does your CAMERA know it’s not JUNE?

    Me: How does my… what?

    Lady: How do people looking at the pictures know it was taken in the winter and not in the summer?

    Me: Um, because they’re all wearing winter jackets and hats?

    Lady: Oh. Well, I saw other people with cameras and a video camera and I just hope they didn’t get any of me because it’s not right to photograph people if they don’t want to be in it.

    Me: Yeah. Well, maybe this will be on the news or something.

    Then I left.

  21. Saw some of you on the A train this afternoon. One older gentleman was wearing some dingy tighty-whities. Advise them to wear clean underwear at least

  22. We were at Union square, two ladies come to us and asked:

    -Am I supposed to ask you about pants??

    And I said: -I’m sorry, I am not into pants..

    She answered: -Ok, I got it.. the pantless people are not allowed to talk! ????? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA

    This was amazing!!!
    Great day!
    Thanks!!

  23. p.s. I want to add that, although I admire all the No Pants participants in general, I REALLY admire those that did it in cities other than NYC, where fewer people take part. It takes balls to be one of only 11 people (Cleveland) without pants in public!

  24. My sister and I had the best time. We went through the subway ride with a strait face and got to 14th st ready to party. We heard some people with fiddles and thought lets start a docy doe. It was great everyone kept grabbing more strangers as the dance circle got bigger and bigger. The cops finally made us start saying that we were blocking the path. My sister and I started walking away when all of a sudden I spotted my english teacher with her boyfriend fully clothed. “MRS F***!!!” i said. She turned to me and went “Samara what the fuck is going on!!!” then got a full look at me and who I was hanging out with and ran away. For the rest of the afternoon every five min i would think of her face and start laughing. But the party went on and the dancing never stopped.

  25. I had a blast!! I told my friends to come but they chickened out…. So I made new friends & had a breezy day!

  26. After we all disbanded, I put on my pants went to take the Metro-North. I was in line to get some food, when all of the kitchen staff started cracking up. Turns out a girl standing near by was in her underpants. It was even funnier that she wasn’t with the mass of pantless people. Rock on for your bravery!

  27. Had an amazing time! Came with a few friends, made a lot more. Not sure why I’ve waited so long to do this.

  28. Had a wonderful time, first No-Pants ride, but not my first IE event. One of the happiest days I have had in a long time. Thank you, IE.
    A fun moment, on the ride home, I still did not put on my pants, and I was with a group of three other pantless people. A woman asked why we were not wearing pants, and she got the following three responses:
    1. “I don’t know, a lot of people don’t seem to be wearing pants today”
    2. “I just left mine at home.”
    3. “It’s against my religion to wear pants.

    It was not as cold as I thought it would be. Enjoyed the Dance-off at Union Square.

  30. This is the best no pants subway ride I had over the last three years. I liked the E-train route (shorter ride). Awesome experience!

  31. I was the captain of team 3 on the 1 train from central park. All 34 of our agents performed admirably (although that is an assumption, seeing as to how several got lost)…

    I was the first one to exit and re-enter the train with a new lifestyle. While I was waiting for the new train to arrive with the other group leaders, i heard a woman say behind me, “There’s like 4 people standing around with no pants!” Someone else responded, “Well maybe you should just ask them about it.” “I couldn’t do that. It’s just not right…”
    I laughed on the inside. Well done everyone!

  32. I was assigned to the 1 train, and due to the large number of people (at least 200 on the 1 alone), and a bit of misunderstanding, the group accidentally split up between two different trains. In the end it probably worked out okay, as that ensured there wasn’t an excessive number of pantless folks in each car.

    On the journey to Times Square, the cars were still more than half full of agents, but it was absolutely hilarious to see everyone else’s reactions to what was going on. I was standing at the far end of my car, near a woman who was reading and didn’t notice the first three groups of agents de-pantsing. When I started to take mine off, she stared in horror, then proceeded to do a double-take down the car as she noticed a half dozen other pantless people. By the time I disembarked the train she had cracked a smile, but I can only imagine what was going through her head.

    Upon arriving at Times Square, I followed a huge group of agents to the NQRW trains, passing through hundreds of people photographing us and a bunch police officers all standing in a group awestruck. I walked to the far end of the platform, where only a few agents were waiting for a southbound train, and took a spot near the MTA office, which was packed with employees snapping pictures and noticeably arguing about what was happening. Finally one guy approached me laughing, and queried about what we were all doing. I responded with “I forgot my pants today… ran out of the house in such a hurry. I’m such an idiot.” He started laughing and I asked him if he had an extra pair I could borrow. When he asked why there were so many others in their underwear, I said I had no idea, but it seemed like a forgetful kind of day.

    The strangest part of my experience came on the ride to Union Square. We were supposed to take a southbound N train together, but I accidentally boarded the R instead. Apparently the other agents who started to get on with me noticed their mistake and hopped off. So I was the only pantless person on the train the entire time, and none of the passengers had any idea what was going on. Everyone stared, many giggled, but no one asked me what was up. At least four different people took video of me using their phones (oh, the age of always available video), and I’m sure many more took pictures. I winked at two when I got off at Union Square, but I guess I’m looking forward to seeing myself solo-pantless on Youtube in the near future…

    All in all, a perfect day… everyone seemed to have a great time, and the mission was a resounding success!

    • I was the first person off from the last car of the 1. The car was empty when we go on and people took off their pants and stayed on. The 2 train confused half of my group. I encountered many asian tourists on that R train.

      • Great job, Rob! I was in that train with you!! Great fun – way to lead the way!

        On the N train from Times Square to Union Square, there were two non-agents who looked around, saw everyone else wasn’t wearing pants, and took their pants off, too! Hilarious!

  33. This was an amazing day. First IE event and totally loved how great everyone was. The Union Sq meeting was off the charts energetic. The people who invaded the stores to wave to us in the square, The HEartland Brewery people who totally excepted us. The bonding we had with everyone. Plus the few people who knew what was going on and giving us thumbs up for doing it.

    For all the people on the A line

    http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=500021800&k=56E32662UT6G6BD1TA56URTSS6BAY55CPPAU&oid=265800300961

  34. This was my third year doing No Pants! I was one of the captains of the 7 train, car 5. It was the first mission for most of the agents on the 7 train, but I think they all had a blast. Having No Pants on the 7 was great, as I live in Queens, and it was so much easier for me to get to.

    I can’t wait for next year!

    Thank you so much Agent Todd for signing my book, and remembering me!

  35. This was my first time participating in the no pants subway ride. I was in the 6th car on the F train. I knew I could keep a straight face while I took off my pants, but I didn’t realize how funny it would be to see others taking off theirs. I had to bite the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing. I was positioned near the window on the F train, and was so great seeing people’s reactions as a train filled with pantsless people pulled up. Some were laughing, some were confused, some looked horrified like they didn’t want to enter the train. It was really interesting to see the variety of people participating. Young, old, fat, skinny, and the guy with one leg in the wheelchair, AWESOME! Then outside, there was the Pants Off Dance Off which managed to include a random freestyle rapper who just saw a mob of people without pants and decided not only to join in, but to go one step further and remove everything but his underwear. Had a blast and I seriously can’t wait for next year.
    Random quote I heard:
    “Pants are so last year.”

  37. I was in the group that took the E train. A good number of us when switching trains actually got on the A and had to double back. This did involve a small group of us crossing 8th ave pantless. One agent decided she need a hot dog while on the street :)

    Great time. I’ve never felt as free as I did when I took off my pants. If only work could be like that.

  38. I was a captain on car 8 of L train for Team Bushwick! My car rocked – everyone was a first timer and excited to get involved. So glad I was able to lead them into all the pantsless fun! Our car was pretty quiet, but still got some pretty good looks and smiles from the “pantsed people”.

    Best part was celebrating our pantslessness in Union Square and answering random people’s questions about why were were doing it which ranged from responses like “I’m Vegan” to “I’m Jewish” to “I’m in the polar bear club”

    Me and my friends started to march to Sidebar where we took over the bar and when Cardinals fans were shouting “DEFENSE” we responded with “No Pants!”

    3rd Year doing it and it gets better every year!! Can’t wait for the 10th annual next year!!

    • TEAM BUSHWICK ROOOOCKED!!!!! I WAS IN CAR #7 ON THE L TRAIN!!!! I WAS WITH THE GIRL WITH THE BIGGGG BOOTYYYY!!! IT WAS OUR FIRST TIME AND NOT OUR LAST!!!!

  39. First timer. There was major confusion on the 1 train and people took their pants off at the beginning and got off later. The second train was full of old ladies and little kids. Union Square was just beautiful, thousands of pantsless people singing and dancing. I got kicked out of Babies R’ Us, Sephora, and Barnes and Noble cause I thought it would be funny. The security had no sense of humor.

  40. I wasn’t a participant, put I somehow I managed to hope aboard the 1 train. I forgot about No Pants Day 2010! What a great surprise! :)

  42. This was my virgin ride on the No-Pants express, and it was worth every minute. I was on the F train in the “7” group, and we had a blast representing Pantsless Brooklyn! My most memorable moments were:

    1. Group Leader: “You kinda can’t mess up. If you’re not wearing pants, you’re doing the right thing.”

    2. Mom (with baby carriage): “What are you all doing?”
    Me: “What do you mean?”
    Mom: “I mean with the pants.I’m not from New York. So I don’t know about all this.”
    Me: “Yeah, the fabric of my pants was annoying me. I’m more of a
    cotton girl.”
    Mom: “Yeah, me too.”

    3. NYPD Officer (to me): “Great choice in underwear! I was waiting to see superman!”
    Me: “Superman?!?! Where?”

    • my very favorite part of the F train group 7 experience was the father who, between Carroll and Bergen St, got himself all worked up about why we were half-dressed and why we didn’t know why anyone else was half-dressed, then huffed off the train at Bergen muttering about a conspiracy. also liked the kid who refused to get off the train with his friends at Jay St until he found out what was going on. :)

      and serious credit to the 30 people in the Prospect Park group who waited for the slowest F train *ever* on the two above-ground platforms. it was cold enough waiting those 15 minutes below ground! don’t panic!

      • LOL. When I was freezing my ass off in Jay Street in the comparatively warm underground station, all I could think about was our poor group 1’s leader Corey, who had to get off the F train at a above ground station. That was a long, but amusing 15 minutes.

  43. someone asked me what in god’s name i was doing without pants on and I told them I was auditioning to be the next naked cowboy/girl/person and that I wanted to show up extra prepared.

    hehe great time

  45. i went to the prospect park location and when we all filed into the subway station a train came before everyone was at their spot and some nopantsers got on. the leads yelled, “get off the train! get off the train!” and they ran back out of the train. people on the train stared out, confused.

    this was my first time. i was on the f train, last car. the first guy that depantsed was wearing tightie whities and i burst out laughing. as he got off on an open air platform i got a random text from a friend in philly that read: “there are about 25 people on the subway without their pants!”

    when my turn came i depantsed and got off at york st. as a train pulled in on the opposite tracks i heard someone double take, “omg! that’s so funny!”

    the best part though was inside the union sq station where groups of nopansters were encircling people chanting, “take it off!” until they took off their pants.

    saw a girl in a thong walking through union sq station with a guy following behind with his camera phone aimed at her ass.

    saw a skid mark on a subway seat.

    my friend laughed so hard he lost his balance and fell onto the tracks at york. pantsless.

    had a great time!!!

    • ugh! Skidmark on a subway seat! And I was at the prospect park location too. I was so confused as to why the leaders were yelling at us to get off the train…

    • I remember that moment when our leaders told us to get off the F train after we all filed in and took our spots. All of a sudden about a good 10 or so of us suddenly bolted from that train as if it was on fire.

      That would have been confusing enough for the other passengers already but it got even funnier when one of the leaders stuck his head into the car and yelled “Everybody taking off their pants. Off!!”

      I laughed internally because it sounded so much like he was telling the passengers to take their pants off.

      I later found out that some of our group was still getting into the subway station so we weren’t ready to board yet.

  46. Worked til 3:45 so couldn’t get to the meeting point on time, didn’t think I could just go rogue and join in anyways so my bottom half was not prepared to be pantless (not modest, it just wouldn’t be fair to others). So instead I rode the trains up and down Manhattan for an hour and a half trying not to laugh and taking pictures for the nonbelievers stuck at work.

    It was so much fun and I observed the Union Square party for awhile. Cannot wait til next year, where I (as well as my roomie) will be participating. We already have plans to make it look more strange to the unknowing.

    Favorite part of the day: Sitting across from a pantsless guy in a surprisingly uncrowded train (appx 20% pantsless). I say “HEY!” to the guy and he and everyone else in the train looked at me expecting me to ask why he wasn’t wearing pants. “I like your shoes, where’d you get them?” I asked. We had a brief conversation about the shoes, I got off the train, the end.

  48. My fourth No Pants was great as per usual. I was the Captain of the “7” car on the “1” line. Great group of about 38 people, the vast majority of whom were NoPantsVirgins. I was excited to be their leader, and hope that I was helpful. In my excitement, I forgot to tell them to make sure to go outside at Union Square, not just go back home; hope most of them did so.

    Wow, the trains were crowded. Usually the trains are fairly empty and it’s mostly us on them, not this year! I had a great time as usual, and on the trip from 42nd st to Union Square, followed the lead of some of my group members and got off there too to wait on the platform for the next train, just to prolong the fun a bit.

    Union Square was fantastic as usual. I started the chant for the band playing to drop their pants, which was quickly picked up and they de-pantsed. Unfortunately, they didn’t play any more songs which I was disappointed by. There were some cool dances including an Irish jig to music by a band that was fun until the cops broke it up.

    Union Square outside up top was great as usual. I participated in some dances, saw the duck-duck-goose game, got some coffee, saw some crazy stunts by people, and proselytized the true way of NoPants with some of those pants-supporting-heathens.

    A fun and unexpected end to the day was when I got back up to Beacon in Dutchess County at 8pm, as I was getting off the Metro North train a woman who was in my group recognized me as her car leader, and I had a good time reminiscing with her; it was her first time!

    • that band in union square was OUTSTANDING; the impromptu ‘electric slide’ was a total riot. what a great afternoon!!

  49. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue-xF2pCrMI

    You guys know you made the news?

    I’m an Atlanta participant, by the way.
    But I’m kind of sad about this. I’m glad the numbers have reached this high and the day was so fun, but I feel as though now the fun will be ruined next year. I don’t know, I just feel there will be less reactions now thats its made it onto the news and more people have heard about it. :/

      • Ah, i didn’t know this. I feel better now. Just worried for a second someone or something would try to ruin the fun.

  50. agreed with Nicole. I think it will be fun next year but even today..there were more people with no pants on than there were people with pants so there were barely any reactions on the train (although Union Square had an amazing amount of reactions) but on the car ride going up which is usually the best part..there were barely any “outsiders” on the train..at least on the E (still had a blast though)

  51. Prospect Park, F Train, Car 4.

    After a brief false start the mission initiated without a hitch. We were in the last set of agents to depants in our car, which made for a lot of fun. We got to see everyone’s expressions and share in the disbelief as 31 people did something strange over a period of five subway stops, and then we got to enjoy their faces as they saw us prepare for our stop. It was a prolonged wait for the next F train, but it was terrific. There was some good traffic on and off the platform as a couple G trains came through – always about twice as many as the pantsless, which was probably the best ratio for an optimal fun factor. When our train did arrive, we were greeted with an almost packed car. Our clandestine photographer could hardly see any bare legs for the crush of people. But it was a good final run into Union Square where the party was already in full swing.

    We stopped for a quick bit at the McDonalds, only to be told that they wouldn’t serve us. The babbies. Think about all the babbies. I quickly pants, got our burgers, and then just as quickly redepants. By the time we’d finished the party was pretty much over in the square, so we hopped on the train and started our roundabout trip back to Prospect Park.

    Thanks for a great time, IE. We look forward to our next mission.

    • I brought two of my own babbies, too (although teenage babbies). I asked about shorts in the Summer, and got a little insistent when the Assistant Manager mentioned that it was against the rules. [What rules? The sign says “no shirt, no shoes, no service”. Ain’t ‘nuthin ’bout pants!] I didn’t push too hard after that. We were getting a bit of an audience, pants and depants both, and I didn’t want to get her too frustrated… That wasn’t the goal, after all. All in all she was pretty professional about it. ;-)

  52. I did talk to a guy waiting for the train in Grand Central who told me he’s had a rough year/unemployed/depressed etc and how seeing everyone with no pants on brightened his day and thanked us for doing it. pretty awesome

    • This is what makes No Pants awesome. There was only 30ish of us in Atlanta and at first I was kind of disappointed about the turn out since facebook said well over 300 plus 400 maybes. But, the reactions were all priceless and I imagine plenty of days were made.

  53. Pro Pants – I am so happy to start my journey into a new life with pants. Before this, I had been pants-less for many years and through long searching and reckless acts of self enlightenment I have come to see that Pants are the way to a better life! I have posted my “Welcome to pants” flyer on my wall as a constant reminder of what good times and happiness lie ahead of me in the future, with pants of course. Thank you again for your warm hearted education and support in all the lives of my fellow ( and former ) pant-less friends! My Love to you and all those around the world who have recently become aquatinted with pants.

    My name is Thomas, and I am a pantless-holic.

    • Brother Thomas, we’re so happy to hear your success story! Truly this is why we brave the bitter cold year after year to hand out pamphlets and issue Free Pants Tests. Congratulations on your new found hope, and good luck as you begin your life anew!

      Yours in pants,
      Brother Jason

  54. WOOHOO loved it! this was my first time, some european girls were feeling up on my leg! it was nice lmao definately going to do this again

  55. This was my second time! I was the guy playing pants-less chess in union square. Anyone get any pics of me by any chance?

  56. I was the leader of the 6th car on the 1 train, but when the 2 train came instead, I think a whole bunch of other teams jumped on. I discovered that it’s sometimes pretty hard to count which car you’re supposed to be on in the heat of battle, but it all worked out. When I got on at the second stop, pantsless, I looked up and down the platform and saw just one person at each door stop pantsless. That’s when I knew that this year’s ride was going to go off perfectly.

    When the next train came, as planned, I was the only pantsless person in the car. At the next stop, two more pantsless people got on, and it increased exponentially from there. And at each stop, the train’s conductor was cracking up more and more, until finally she said, “Only in New York, people! Stand clear of the closing doors!”

    My second-favorite stop on this train is 42nd Street-Times Square because you have to make the transfer to the NRQW to get back to Union Square, and you have to walk down steps and a long corridor or two, and thus encounter plenty of people, New Yorkers and tourists alike, who make all sorts of comments about what they’re seeing. Usually they think that they are witnessing a mass of NYCers who have all somehow fallen under the spell of a mass delusion, which compels them to de-pants.

    Back on the train onward to Union Square, and I was pleased to see that my crew all remained in character, and we ran into the fiddlers and the dancers…some were doing “Riverdance”-like stuff, some were clogging, and some were square dancing. All were having a blast!

    This was my second NYC No Pants Subway Ride but it definitely will not be the last!

    Mission accomplished.

  58. This was my first time attending No Pants Subway Ride. I met some awesome people and bumped into a friend who I had no idea was attending. I hope to attend more events in the future.

    Here’s my experience:
    I was riding on the #1 Line. First these 2 or so guys removed their pants and got off the train.

    Eventually these other girls in our cart got off at the next stop.

    Then it was our turn and while we were removing our pants this old lady shoved herself off the train.

    These tourists started snapping pictures of our process. They couldn’t figure out what was going on.

    Then we got off at our assigned stop. We casually did our thing and the reaction by people entering the station was priceless. This one guy asked why my pants were off. He said some other person told him it was because he felt hot. I told him, “that’s one freaky coincidence then, I was pretty hot myself” . He chuckled. As he walked by, he says “Well, thank you girls for being hot”.

    So the next one train arrives and it kinda gets packed. The people sitting down couldn’t figure out what’s going on. This old lady couldn’t figure out why so many people were wearing “shorts (boxers)” and stuff – I told her I’m not sure and went back to reading the random advertisements like I usually do on a daily basis.

    Times Square had to be the best part. So many people in their underwear. The police and MTA employees seemed confused. As soon as I got to the area for the N train to Union Square – I brought a pack of Swedish Fish – the guy at the stand didn’t seemed bothered. As soon as I got on the N the faces on the people who couldn’t figure out why everyone was pantsless was memorable. Most people kept to themselves. Some of us were nodding at each other.

    I’m definitely looking forward to the next one. :)

  59. BROOKLYN CAR 5!!!

    Awesome event. Brooklyn’s audience were very cheerful and happy to have us aboard. F train was great because we got off and 3-4 G trains passed us by, passengers kept trying to keep a straight face but only lasted a few seconds. Kids were having a blast, we had at least 4 other kids in our car alone part of the event (awesome kids with awesome hats!).

    We made New York laugh. We have done our jobs.

  60. Other than the dozens of random strangers wanting to take pictures with me, I was asked: “Are you guys here for some school thing?”
    To which I replied: “Well, I’m just here for the weekend.”
    “Oh ok. That makes sense.”
    lol

  61. First time taking my pants off but will definitely be doing it again. When I got to Central Park I was a little nervous because I was doing it alone but the experience was amazing. I was able to keep a straight face most of the time. Kept my eyes on the book I was reading most of the time and when I felt myself smiling I started to sing along to my iPod.

    The real experience for me though was meeting everyone at the hill in Central Park and in Union Square at the end. I was thinking I was just going to take off my pants, ride the subway and go home. In the end I met people that I hope to meet many times in the future. You guys will keep me smiling for a while. Brightened my life that has been running on a pattern for a long time. Thanks all you pants-less people. You’re all lovely.

  62. We were on the N-bound N/R train from Foley Sq to 59/Lex. In the middle of some of the confusion as to what car to enter, groups 1/2/3 disappeared (to go to another platform) and 4 of us were left at the 1st train rep’ing for train number 1 on the N.

    An Asian mom was with her adolescent daughter sitting right next to me while I was standing and one person began depant-ing in the middle of the car. Both mom and daughter took one glance and looked at each other with fear, as if they guy who took off his pants was gonna sing a song and ask for spare change in his pants. Next thing you know the rest of us depants and they jumped and moved away from the pantless holding on to each others arms.

    Fastforward to standing on the platform and re-entering the R train. The conductor held the train on 28th and walks into car 1:

    Conductor: “What are you guys doing” “Is this is a parade or something?”

    Me: “Oh I don’t know. I felt sick and vomited on my pants earlier. Sorry”

    Conductor: “And what about those guys”.

    Me: “Oh gees (surprised), I guess they must have eaten at the same place”.

    He chuckled and walked out and started the train again.

    Even then, we got lost a couple more times when getting off accidentally on 59th and 5th and having to ask a group of Latinos how to get to the 6 train.

    “Ehh, buddy, it’sa cold out there. You guys should maybe wear some pants”.

    It was my first time and definitely something that makes me appreciate the city even more. It was also great seeing pantless people above Forever 21 overlooking Union Sq mosh pit.

    Looking forward to checking this out next year. On the way to Crocodile Lounge, a bum asked us:

    “Hey, what are you guys fight for?”.

    Pants.

    • lol i was prt of group 3 and we left cuz everyone was on the wrong platform
      but uts funny how we all still met up!!
      this was soo much fun!!

  64. 6th car on the 1 train! First time doing No Pants, definitely will do it again. Awesome points to whoever started the Inferno chant in Union Square, too bad it didn’t last longer.

    Funniest moment: Lady screaming in 42nd St Station: NONE OF THEM GOT NO PANTS ON!

    After the festivities, I went with my family to my grandparents’ house in Queens, and on the way back, the radio was already reporting on it. It made me feel special.

    Unfortunately, my wallet didn’t survive the experience; good thing I didn’t have anything valuable in there. (If anyone found a red leather wallet with a school ID from Columbia High School in the front window, please let me know in a comment?)

  65. had a blast. a sincere blast. had 5 friends who ditched at last moment. made ten new friends. temp was mid-forties.

    • But then it would detract from the original message: to make life more surreal. If people still don’t know what’s going on at the end, then they’ll remember it forever.

  67. OMG! Probably some of the best fun I have had since moving here. A/C train, car 4 pants off after stop 3. I spent an entire day without pants, and was loath to put them back on at the end of the day! What an absolute blast. :) I was a little scared at first because a distinguished looking older man was standing next to me, but when I said it was hot, and started with the pants coming off, he did the same, to my complete relief, and beside a little giggle, I was able to keep a straight face, though a lady did ask us about 5 times why we were all without pants!

  68. Supposed to have been the 1 train (but got onto the 2 train), car #3.

    It was awesome. First of all, I think the agents in charge did a great job with instructions and everything “went off”—both literally and figuratively—“without a hitch.”

    As I sat on the train reading a magazine, I saw at the corner of my eye that people were one by one beginning to depants. I purposely avoided making eye contact as much as I could in order to keep a straight face. I could feel eyes staring and hear people all around commenting with shock and awe at the unfolding scene as the pantless increased exponentially in number. I finally wound up taking off my pants at the fifth stop.

    One lady took out a camera and started laughing hysterically, saying “What’s going on here? I can’t believe this. All of y’all are crazy!” After which she proceeded to pull out a camera, trying to get a picture before the train doors closed as a bunch of agents were getting off to wait for the next coming train.

    Many people, mostly tourists I guess, started taking pictures at many of the subway stations with their camera phones. The funniest comments came from kids (and there was a fair share of kids) who were asking their parents “Mommy, why are they in their underwear?” to which the parents replied “I don’t know, maybe we should ask them?” (also noted in one of the above comments.)

    I had gone with two of my cousins and my friend. We were approached by people asking what was going on (mostly after arriving at Union Square). People asked which high school is this for? What kind of club is it? Is it a cult? Many even asked “How do I join?” and “Is there a website for this.”

    We stayed in character the whole time so it was heartbreaking not to give them any real information, but even thought they were disappointed, they still walked away with grins and smiles.

    Some of the excuses that we used were:
    (1) My pants ripped and I am on my way to a store now to buy new pants.
    (2) We all dorm together and moving to a new location, but the moving guys sped away with all our stuff, including our pants.
    (3) Just felt like taking off my pants. Not sure why all these other people are doing it.

    An elderly Russian woman started commandingly yelling at my cousin in a ‘what do you think you’re doing?!’ sort of manner on the way to Union Square: “BOZHEH MOY! Pochemy ti tak adet? Anuka adivai svoyi shtani sechazhze!” roughly translated as “OH MY GOD! Why are dressed like that? Put your pants on this instant!” to which he answered back in Russian that he did not have pants in his possession and that he was traveling to buy a pair.

    I was riding with my friend as well as with two of my cousins—we split up into two groups early on. We were trying to find each other once we got to Union Square, wound up going back and forth between the two Starbucks locations at opposite diagonals of Union Square ABOUT 5 TIMES before we finally re-emerged as a group.

    We kept our pants off for the remainder of the day traveling all the way back to Brooklyn pantsless. It was definitely awesome. Looking forward to next year. (Sorry for the long post, trying to get in as much of a good story as I could fit.)

    • Forgot to mention one of the other good excuses that we used after Union Square was that “we’re from Alaska–this is like our weather during the Summer.”

    • Awesome! Someone on my train (2 train, 3rd car) took out their camera phone and started recording just as my fellow breatheren and I were depantsing.

      The reaction of the girl near the end of the video, as well as the remaining people on the train (as we disembarked on 18th Street) was priceless.

    • That front page is classic with the dude reading “Naked Lunch” ;-)
      A great day in NYC but it was tough for me to adhere to the rule about picture taking as a participant. None the less I was very discreet when on the trains and kept my camera packed away. Posted some picks to Picasa when I got home. A fun day with some co-worker friends who are now looking forward to next year. Thanks for organizing this “happening” ;-)

      • Ha, that guy in the ad is Rob Michael Hugel, an improviser at UCB! Another UCB’er, Leslie Meisel, is in another one of those ads.

        Okay, carry on! Just wanted to throw that tidbit in.

  71. An absolute riot!
    I love taking pictures of these events but the best part is definitely participating.
    Some reactions i got:
    “ohh my god! there’s another one!”
    “well you don’t see that too often anymore” (as though this was common place in 1952 or something)
    I also has 2 girls (I’d guess about 16 years old) on the platform with me giggling and then hiding behind the big I beams from my view. then peering out and giggling again. this went on for about 6 minutes.

    Check out my Flickr set to be linked very soon, and also my facebook album
    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2607527&id=8827319&l=8ae6e2b1a4

  72. No pants, no problem in San Francisco. A bit over 50 degrees, I’d say. Got on BART a bit south, in Daly City, & saw a half-dozen pantless ones. It wasn’t long before there were hundreds sans pants on the 8-car train. By some quirk of fate, the doors wouldn’t open on my car so there was plenty of space while the other cars were jam packed.

    We got off at Embarcadero station – the last stop in town & proceeded walking west along Market Street. I thought the plan was to get on MUNI at some point, but after walking a few blocks we were told to go into the upscale Westfield Centre mall, sure to be crowded with shoppers. However, the police turned us back, peacefully, and we headed to Union Square.

    Next idea was to go, en masse, into Levi’s (get it?). Again, a no-go with the police. At that point, around 3:15, we dispersed to our bars of choice & I headed over to the Gold Dust Lounge. Had a few manhattans & got to know the folks who organized this ingenious event. Had a great time with them! One of them said he was thanked by the police for keeping the gathering organized. I only heard of one issue – a complaint about a guy wearing a jockstrap.

    Not sure of the total head count, but I heard somewhere between 1500-2000. Headed home around 5:30, & never did get my pants on…just felt normal after a while.

    Click the link for photos.

    • Glad to hear the SFPD did not enforce their original policy of “We will arrest anyone who participates.”

      Well done SF!

  74. My friends and I started our first No Pants ride at the Bushwick location (#1 Car, represent)

    The entire thing was fantastic, once I got over the fear of accidentally pulling my underwear down with my pants (an unrealized fear, thank goodness.)

    The people in our car were so unresponsive it was incredible. It just goes to show you can’t shock New Yorkers. However, one “gentleman” remarked that there was “lots of good beaver out” that day, then rescinded that and amended it to, “lots of good beaver, and some not so good beaver,” and THEN CONTINUED TO TALK and said, “strippers are fine and all, but you don’t want to see just any girl naked. there should be a weight limit of 110 pounds for this.” He almost got shivved right then and there, but we all behaved ourselves.

    I saw my future husband on the ride. We didn’t talk, but I know his name is Bill. Hi, literary Bill with the beard and the hair and the underwear. You’re dreamy and I know your phone number ends in 4. I will guess the rest if I have to.

    Who’s a creepy stalker? Oh, that would be me.

    The after party at Bar None was ridiculous. A room full of pantsless people and beer pong? Yes, please!

    Best. Sunday. Ever.

  75. This was Epic!

    & it was also my birthday! sure was an unforgetable one!!

    N train Car 3!! 3!! 3!! lol

    never met such an Amazing Group of New Yorkers! & mad tons of New friends! Cant wait for nxt yr! <3

  76. I was in the 1st car on the 6 line from downtown. When I moved to New York a few months ago I was so excited to sign-up and do one of these events. Thanks so much Improv Everywhere crew for having such a fun event!

  77. First time doing this…and I’ve been waiting 2 years since I moved to NYC!

    Best moment was when a guy when we were transferring me asked me where my pants where, I said, “I got mugged earlier and they took them.” His look was priceless. He was horrified for me. Excellent.

  78. I love you Charlie.

    Anyway at crocodile lounge missed connection.

    me:wearing brown mohawk hat with black scarf and no pants.

    you:black hair with a light jacket on with no pants.

    We had a sexy dance party with each other once when we came in and again when we were at our tables.

    lets go fight crime…pantsless

  79. It was a great time. Even better than last year. But the German camera crew ruined it for me on car 3 on the 6 and N train. They pretty much ruined the surprise and bumped into people

  80. Brooklyn, Car 9.

    Waiting on the elevated outdoor station at Smith & 9th street made me appreciate the warmth and comfort of a subway car like never before, I was shivering by the time the next F came. I commend the people waiting on the outdoor platforms with me. The looks of people on the passing G trains was priceless. Great time, see you all next year.

  81. This was my first No Pants and, like every other first timer, I can’t wait ’til next year! It was hilarious to go into Barnes and Noble and act as if I didn’t notice all the pantless people (I’d re-pantsed by this time). A woman standing next to me on line for the bathroom commented to me and I told her I’d just put mine back on. When she asked me what was going on, I just said that it was cold but really humid and my pants were chafing. Every woman knows that chafing is the worst, lol.

    E train, Car 5! Good times.

  82. I was on the E train, car 3. There were eight in my group and we got off at 14th street – it was damn cold! We all did a great job of playing it straight. If anyone asked about the general pantless state of affairs, I would hear responses like ‘I don’t know.’ , ‘I forgot them’, ‘I don’t know those people.’ The best part started when we got on the second E train. Oddly enough, very few people were brave enough to ask about us – some folks grinned or giggled at us.

    The pantless women were definitely braver than most of the pantless men. Most of the guys were wearing boxer shorts and assorted full coverage underpants. I was wearing black briefs and stood in the center of the car and held onto the overhead bar so that my jacket rode up. Next year, I recommend this to all of the guys – exhibitionism is a powerful drug!

    It got even better at the transfer point. I loved riding the absurdly long escalator surrounded by people who were in my humble opinion very much overdressed. One elderly woman in a long coat asked me what was going on – of course I said I didn’t know – ha!

    Union Square! Where to begin? I believe we had a number of spontaneous conversions. It was great to see such a wide age range represented. There were people who brought their children, the 20 somethings, 30 somethings (including yours truly), 40 somethings – I saw women who must have been in their 60s. It was exhilarating and infectious. Even the cops were getting in the mood and having their photos taken with the girls.
    My hats off to the ‘pants save’ preacher – that was rich! What was she saying at one point? ‘What goes with panties? Pants!’ Though I fear her valiant attempts to save the pantless sinners (complete with paper cutout trousers) fell on deaf ears – better luck next year!

    Then the street! It was amazing that my legs didn’t go numb. There was a street performer who got in the spirit of things and stripped down to his boxers (no shirt even) and a circle formed and guys and girls were dancing. We were chanting ‘NYC! No Pants!’ back and forth. I heard the guy standing next to me say ‘I come in from New Jersey for one day and this is what I see!’
    We had one spontaneous conversion on the street – kind of an Andrew Zimmern look-alike – bald, stocky, down to his boxers in Union Square, dancing!

    At this point I had been pant-free for over two hours and seriously started to entertain the idea of staying that way – my outlook was the best its been pretty much ever. I guess my legs had other ideas (they were aching badly). I went back to Penn station and scanned the crowd to see if anyone was there. My heart melted when I saw one person – I raised my fist in solidarity and shouted ‘No pants!’ She smiled. I talked to her and she said she wasn’t putting her pants on until her stop – so folks were leaving NYC pant-free on commuter trains.

    There were a whole series of coincidences that led me to this experience (and continued throughout). I will write about them in a follow up message. Right now, I have the most wonderful hangover I’ve ever had (I didn’t drink anything).

    James

  83. report from columbia sc. the hawk, the old clipper and i staged our own no pants on the devine st bus line. on 3 consective stops one of us were waiting to get on sans pants. the look on the 4 homeless people faces riding the bus when i(the last to get on) got on was priceless. i have never had so much fun in my life. we are already looking forward to next year. any other columbians won’t to join us?

  84. I remember when i was de-panting on the subway a couple of ladies started laughing and i overheard them say “i thought i was going crazy or something. only in New York!” LOL then one guy stopped to ask me what the name of the group or club is because he heard it somewhere, i told him i was so in a rush to get out this morning i forgot to put on my pants :P and i dont know any of these other pant-less people. Then when i was tranfering from the A train to the Q, i purposely stopped at one of those Have you heard the Good News? Christian group tables just to see what their reaction was. so i pretended to be interested in their pamphlets until the lady realized i was wearing no pants, gave me a funny look and asked me what this was all about. i told her it got too warm in the subway. She replied with a “Jesus Loves you anyway”

    all in all it was a good time and im definitely coming out next year

  90. I brought my 8 year old to Foley Sq. What an excellent time we had! Black, white, gay, straight, Asian, old, young, families, etc…that’s the part of this I love – we can all put our differences and cares aside for two hours and just have some good harmless fun. (Excluding of course the keyboard haters who get mad that people are having fun instead of feeding the homeless and curing cancer…to them, I say, sorry you couldn’t put your wretched misery aside for two hours and come out for a laugh…I guess there is “a place in the world for the angry, young man.” But for this native New-Yorker (of the non-“Hipster” variety – as all participants seem to be labelled by detractors) it was a day to cherish.
    Anyway, we were in the #7 car of the 6 train. Our group was good and our leader had spirit – however, our precision was f’d from jump street. But it was all good. We headed from the right subway entrance to the wrong one, then U-turned to the right one. By the time we made it to the platform, I had no idea what car we were on, two of the girls on my team said we had to walk up to the next car at the next stop. Me and my boy just got off, waited for the next train which only had one pantsless rider, and de-pantsed. He sat there with his DS and I rocked some Metallica on my i-pod. The transfer at 59th St. was a wonderful cluster-F of pantsless proportion. What a great vibe! Everybody was friendly and it was excellent all around. I applaud Charlie and his crew for putting this together and letting take on it’s own life. Invisible Dogs was our first, this our second and far from last. I’d post the one pic I have, but my wife is already totally pissed at me for bringing him, so best not fuel the fire. But we had a great bonding moment and he had a lot of fun – other kids at school will have nothing on his weekend in review. Keep up the great work, IE – thanks for bringing us these great NY moments.

  91. Is there any chance this will be extended to pantless flights? Cause here in florida we dont have subways :(..we do have a the university underware dash which has been a big hit so far..

    • I’ve heard about previous No Pants! Subwayless Rides occuring in subwayless cities. Participants had to be a little creative. Some used buses or hung out somwhere with no pants on.

  93. I was in the massive Times Square station when I saw some IE agents trekking down to the N/R/Q platform area. I was wearing pants, and going back to Brooklyn from Jersey; I wasn’t aware of the date of the no-pants event, but have seen past participation and have been amused.

    This time, though — why are so many participants such smug little cockslaps? I saw four separate encounters where people (each happened to be a 40+ woman) asked different agents what was up — they were curious, smiling and nice in asking. Each agent was derisive and hugely fucking rude — eye rolling, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” with a tone — and physically pushing hard to get to the train, despite whoever else was also trying to travel without being borne on the wings of attention whoredom. What does it accomplish to be nasty and superior to people that haven’t seen IE events but aren’t being nasty, conspiracy-minded or otherwise offensive in trying to catch the snap?

    Those who acted that way: get the fuck over yourselves. Thanks much.

    • We certainly don’t condone smug cockslappery. We encourage participants to be polite and to remember this should be fun for everyone.

      Part of the prank is to pretend that you don’t know anything about what’s going on. But most people are probably not used to telling boldfaced lies in front of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Maybe some folks cope with that by injecting condescension into their tone. I doubt they were trying to be insulting or rude.

      As for shoving to get to the subway, well, I don’t know. That’s unfortunate.

      I’m sorry your experience with No Pants wasn’t more positive. I hope you’ll still consider joining us next year.

      • You really need to move on, this is just getting more sad by the year.

        Hope you had fun ‘freaking out the squares’, what is this 1950?

        There has been over 60 years of comedic and performance art developments since when your hokey crap was relevant.

  94. The no pants ride yesterday was everything I hoped it would be and more! I had alot of fun and met alot of awesome people! I’m hooked and will definately be participating in more missions. Thanks Improv Everywhere!!!

  95. haha what a great time I had taking off my pants in front of random people who didn’t understand what was happening. =] GOOD TIMES! i’m in for next year.

  96. Heard about this event about a month ago (or less not sure bad memory), and i was debating if i should participate. When i woke up yesterday morning my friend left me 2 voicemails saying you need to come it only happens once a year. When she said that it completely reeled me in and this was my first time doing this. I watched the video i started bursting out laughing because i loved seeing peoples reactions to the bizzare and funny surroundings of pantsless people. On the car ride to Bushwick park, since we live in staten island, both of us felt an adrenaline rush because we liked the idea of doing crazy things it excites us. Anywho everyone that introduced themselves were very polite and i loved the heartwarming environment because it made me feel even more comfortable. When we finally got to the L train and the first person took off his pants – probably the funniest, outgoing person i have met- i saw this one man and woman look at him weirdly and i had to cover my smirk with my scarf. Then, my friend and i took our pants off that same man stared at us until we got off the stop. When we switched to the L train going to manhattan i saw one of the transit workers who stood right outside staring at the other girls and me while waiting for the door to close. I am sure this was probably the best day for guys especially since there was evidence showing that they got a little bit excited haha. the best part about this day was when me and 4 other people were walking to starbucks and people driving the cars and buses stopped and stared. Also, we were the first people to go into starbucks pantsless and once again attention was on us. We managed to keep our cool even when some people questioned us. After getting coffee we headed back to where everyone was and enjoyed the pantsless party. Overall, the best and will be a memorable day thank you for creating no pants day.

  97. I’m a huge fan of Improv Everywhere and have participated in the past, but I have to say this event has gone too far. It’s clearly become more about seeking attention. If I had a child I would not be pleased by some of things people were wearing on a Sunday afternoon on the subway. Please end this event.

    • My husband and I participated WITH our infant son in tow and saw nothing that wouldn’t be exposed at a beach. We had a terrific time! Don’t you worry about those of us with children – we’re fine!

      • I agree with Sarah. It was my first year this time around so I wasn’t sure if my son could come…Now I know and next year my 4 then he’ll be 5 will be joining the pantless fun!! Nothing inappropriate happened and if you can wear a bikini or a speedo and bring ur kids to the beach then there is nothing worng with being pantless on the train!!!

  100. This is the first time I ever did this and it was crazy fun! The best part was the no pants dance-off at Union Square. I was so cold, I couldn’t feel my feet; I had to go into Starbucks for like 20 minutes to warm them up.

    I loved the reactions of the non-participants. A bunch came up to us and asked us what was happened, we only cracked when the whole thing was done. On our way home, two people came up to us after asking how much fun it was (We still had our pants off) and they asked if the next year they should go. We said YES of course!

    Well, it was a great No Pants 2010. Next year I’m coming back with my whole crew.

  101. Who are you people? At least your upper west side sublet is over in a few months, San Diego calls you back home.

    • I’m surprised to learn that the dozens of high school kids from the Bronx who participated yesterday live in sublets in the Upper West Side. I’m jealous!

      Do people not look at the photos and videos to see the diversity of the people who participate? I guess it’s easier just to be cynical without investigating!

  103. This was my second year doing this, and definitely not my last!
    I love when tourist try to secretly take pictures of you, then you catch them and they get embarrassed.
    Next year is going to be even better!

  104. my first IE mission and I had so much fun.

    Central Park>Jan-June Birthdays Half>Group # 0
    (see Agent Chigirev’s Set)
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/43096210@N02/sets/72157623061571679/

    Me and my girlfriend, Agent Lish, met up with several hundred other agents at the Central Park meeting point, and headed for the 103rd st station after being split into groups/cars/specific stops for depants-ing.

    The guy for our first stop was rockin’ black boxers with hearts on em. classy! lol

    over the next few stops the non agents started catching on, some shocked, others just laughing. I was assigned the 4th stop so for the first 3 i acted surprised myself, it only added to the effect when I then depants after the 3rd stop.

    There were 2 girls that were standing right next to where we were seated and they let out a big WTF as me and my gf depantsed and then left the train.

    The wait on the platform was cold, and somewhat uneventful, but all the agents stayed in character regardless of peoples reactions and/or lackthereof.

    getting on to the next train allowed me to finally use some ‘excuses’ id been thinking of.

    re joining the pantsless riders of the 3 previous stops, i was approached by a non agent at the back of the car, and he asked me,

    “Whats up with all the shorts??”

    I replied, gesturing somewhat annoyed to my gf, “Well, *someone* spilled coffee on my pants in central park, so now were looking for a dry cleaners… and since I cant wear pants, I’m making her not wear any either.”

    They also noticed my choice of literature for the subway ride,
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/43096210@N02/4264565793/in/set-72157623061571679/
    and some thought it was because of the book itself, that all thse people had gone w/o pants.

    The transfer at 42nd to the NQRW was a nice highlight for me, Im so used to denying and pamphlets i totally MISSED the PRO-PANTS pamphlets being passed out lmao…

    I did notice the many ppl with their camera phones documenting the event.

    The meet up at Union Square was a blast. the first thing i noticed was the DSW store and I immediately said,

    “Hey thats where they did the ‘Look Up More’ mission!”

    Now congregating with the masses, more inquiries came about by non agents:

    “Whats this all about?”

    “Free Dry cleaning! They’re cleaning pants for FREE!”

    I witnessed the pantsless pyramid, the conga line, the NO PANTS chant, and also the one pantsless guy climbing the big statue.

    Walked back to the NQRW, re-pants’ed and thus rejoined society, got back to penn station and headed home. I ended up being 2+ hours late for work, but it was definitely worth it.

    Did I mention I was from NJ? thanks IE for the mission I hope to come back for the 10th annual!

    • Love the choice of reading material. I also laughed out load when I read your excuse for you and your girlfriend not having any pants on.

  106. I was part of the Brooklyn group on the F train car 1. My stop was Jay Street. There must have been some kind of delay with the next train that we we supposed to hop on because it was at least 15 minutes or more in between the two trains. Wasn’t that bad at first but after a while it started to feel cold because we were staying in one place for so long. The comments around us made it worth it though.

    A few people seem to know what was going on. “They do this every year a woman said to her bewildered friend.”

    Mostly it was a lot of laughing, stares, or in the case of 2 guys I saw, going back and forth through out the whole subway platform looking at all of the crazy people in their underwear.

    The meeting spot at the end was great fun. You really get a sense of how big the event was when everybody was gathered together at one place.

    The reactions of the non participants were just as priceless here as in the subway. Sometimes even more so.
    Example, guy on the phone: “Hey, I’m at Union Square and you won’t believe this but there are hundreds of people here for some reason going around in their underwear. Some of them seem to be dancing or playing some kind of game. Come quick.”

    For some reason, it wasn’t cold at all outside pants less. Ok maybe my lips and legs were numb but not my legs. It might be that having so much much takes your mind away from the cold. Once I put my pants back on three hours later though I was suddenly freezing. Go figure.

    It was a great time and it was very nice meeting everybody at the event. Second event with IE and planning to be in many more in the future. See you all there.

    Here are my photos from the event for anyone that’s interested.

    http://picasaweb.google.com/wingprime/NoPants2010NYC#

  107. Opps I meant Ok maybe my lips and fingers were numb but not my legs.

    Maybe I should reread next time before I press send :P

  108. I traveled from Philly to come to this and it was totally worth it. When it was my turn to take my pants off 2 police officers walked into the subway car and stood next to me which made me nervous but they acted like nothing was happening while I took my pants off :D Looking forward to next year.

    also: Whole Foods wouldn’t let me in without pants, so I put my pants on, and then while I was in Whole Foods I saw other people walking around without pants. Guess I’m just unlucky =/

  109. co-captain car 6,7 train here. just like to apologize for leaving my group behind at grand central due to the slow escalator and to agent lathan for calling him todd instead of rob at union sq.

    agent todd, do you keep your nopants outfit in a closet ala batman and the batsuit or is it part of the regular rotation?

  112. I can’t find any pictures of myself and I want one for a Facebook profile picture! If anybody took a picture of a teenager with tighty whiteys and a teal bubble vest over a black bubble jacket, could you send me the link in a reply? Thank you.

  113. I wasn’t a participant yesterday unfortunately, but got to witness the event. I was in the city that day for my birthday (I’m from CT) & was actually anticipating this event for a few days after reading about it in Time Out NY. I was thinking about it a lot in the morning, hoping that I would see a few people. As the day wore on, I kind of forgot about it. My cousin & I were in SoHo going to take the subway, not sure which line, as I know close to nothing about the subway! To my surprise we saw lots of people pants-less. My cousin & I were giddy with delight! We took a few pictures & watched them take pictures of themselves, very funny! Once the first train came in, we decided not to take it, since it didn’t look like any agents were going on (& we were quite unsure of how to get back to midtown). The next train came in, & we excitedly got on with the agents. There weren’t many riders on, & whoever was on it didn’t really have any funny reactions that we noticed. The agents assigned to that car were very good at keeping a straight face, as they were reading, chatting, etc. We were feeling bad for them, as it was freezing yesterday! More power to you! Once we got off, we saw tons & tons of people all pants-less walking towards the same direction with lots of people taking pictures. As my cousin & I were going in a different direction than the rest of the agents, I said, I wonder where they’re all going? An elderly woman in her 60s, said in a funny way, It’s just a joke! I hope to participate next year & to make it an annual birthday tradition. I recognize some agents from the Facebook event pictures, hello to Agent Reeves, Kuma & friend, & cute guy reading a book! My cousin & I were two teenage Asians on one of the subway lines you all were on yesterday, I wish I knew which one it was! :)

  114. To all those who complain about this event “losing its effect,” I say we take a look at IE’s mission statement:

    “We create scenes of chaos and joy.”

    I saw an innumerable amount of confused faces, and an equally large number of smiling ones. I say that’s a mission well done.

  115. Prospect Park, F train, Car 10 reporting.

    We had some stragglers while walking to the subway stop, so the last group of de-pantsers turned out to be double the previous group (i think like 8 or so?). As other agents reported, Some sort of delay made the Following F train take its sweet time getting in! But it allowed for a lot of passerbys to get a good look. A hearty Good Job to my fellow agents, who all stayed in character. There were a few sideways glances for timing’s sake, but no laughing, no staring, nothing that even acknowledge the common dress code.

    I overheard an off-duty MTA employee talking to a female agents, trying to ask about it, but seem cool at the same time, saying he thought we were going to run track & field or something.

    Unfortunately, I think the transfer from the F to the L to get to Union Square met with a lot of confusion and foot traffic. I only saw two other agents make their way to the connecting subway; we split up (nonverbally, of course) into different cars for more exposure. So I ended up at Union Square feeling lost/alone.

    The central part of the station and above-ground was jam=packed with agents, though, which was amazing; it was really cool. I joined into an impromptu kickline, didn’t even feel cold until I put my pants on a block away.

    Good time, y’all. See you next year.

  116. It was my first time, awesome experience! Thought of chickening out but went through with it, glad i did! Cant wait for the next missions!

  117. Come-on Photographers from the Brooklyn L train (car 7)!! I know there are more of you out there cause I got photographed by one that ended up published as the profile photo in Norway’s biggest newspaper: http://www.vg.no (“Tusenvis tok toget i undertøyet”)… there is also a video, someone posted, but most of that stuff is from cities other than NYC (still funny though).

    Lots of Pants-less love… and next year Ill be taking the photos!

  118. I know for sure a photographer from the Foley Square meet up spot took a picture of me leaning on the pole by the subway door while I was listening to my iPod, but I guess it’s still going through the uploading process, or I hope it is. I’ll wait.

  119. I wish I would’ve done this previously. I was on the N train on the 7th car. The highlight for me was when this tall black dude got on on Times Square and said “Oh man this is weird” His reaction and many others were priceless. People getting jovial and festive was also a highlight. Met nice people and looking forward to other kinds of missions.

    • Another highlight that I omitted was the train ride back to Queens with two fellow agents that I had met and was drinking up with at Heartland Brewery. After several brews my laughter was impossible to contain after the precious look of two 70something year old ladies were staring at us in such disbelief…we hopped over to the next car and a group of about 4 thug types shouted in laughter “What the fuc#!!! Yo wassup with that??? we were all laughing!!!!

  120. Anyone got pictures from the F train, 6 car? I didn’t take any until Union Square and I’m looking for photographic proof that I was there.

  121. You are my HEROES! After decades of whining about gender biased prudes ans authoritarian attempts to regulate our speech, expression, artwork and every aspect of our corporeal and spiritual being to make us serve Big Brother, finally you have felt me feel more free in my crusade to un-closet the underwear. I only just found out about the event on the Jan. 10th NBC Evening News, and immediately started checking in to it. I have two blogs and have done a short post on each with links to this one. Rock on! My blogs are at http://www.sissypantybuns.com/wordpress/ and at http://www.full-brief-panties.blogspot.com/ I’m looking forward to learning and observing more and perhaps joining in in a subsequent year :-)

    • “gender biased prudes ans authoritarian attempts to regulate our speech, expression, artwork and every aspect of our corporeal and spiritual being to make us serve Big Brother, finally you have felt me feel more free in my crusade to un-closet the underwear”

      What?

      This is about freakin people out! Not being all militant!

      ARENT WE CRAZY! LOOK AT US! WE DONT WARE PANTS!

  124. iv’e done this for few years now and brang a friend for there first time. when we first assembled in union square we noticed the people looking out the windows of the dsw building we snuck up behinde the people at the windows getting next to them acting like we had no idea what was going down there either, one associate working there try’d to sell us pants

    although this year me and my friend just couldn’t put our pants back on by the end of the night we were walking around penn station the only two pants less at the time everyone’s reactions were priceless we even gone the length to take the LIRR’s babylon line home pantsless, at one point when we walked by a women she looked behide where we just passed i think checking to see if the rest of the passangers had pants. we even went into a bodega and hung out with our freinds pants less once back on the island

    our excuse for both not wearing pants was we were in such a rush to meet each other at the train we had forgotten and it was a weired ditzy occurance

  127. The IE mission statement is so deceptively simple – “to cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places.” Clearly a lot of preparation went into this prank/mission and I tip my hat to all of you IE folks. What I observed as a participant (first time) is that it was done without harm and there was not one incident of exploding underwear on any of the trains or platforms. Nicely done and mission accomplished!

    all shots on my Flickr set have been added to your pool:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/patminnyc/sets/72157623193590926/

  129. Thank you for introducing me to a new low. This is weak, junior and fascinatingly contrived. I know your first year in new york was fun, but time to move on now.

    OMG YOUR NOT WEARING PANTS!! please.

    fucking corny. go back to ohio.

      • I love it when those who don’t have the cojones to take off their pants find the means to voice their frustrations in this way.

        I enjoyed it, especially the men–and women–who I made smile! Can’t wait for 2011!

  130. I always love the bullhorn announcements at the beginning of these things: “Ok guys, we’re going to do something really individualistic and unique, just make sure to listen to what I have to say.”

  131. It’s tough, I know, but I recommend not feeding the trolls, Charlie. At least you and three thousand of your closest friends understand the point, value, whatnot of Sunday’s fun. Pity and ignore the trolls. It’s their loss.

  132. Charlie, a chick from the “Tyra Show” contacted me on Facebook and asked if I wanted to be interviewed about my experience of dropping my pants on the subway. Personally, Im not sure what they are looking for, frankly I kinda feel that the answer is in the question. However, I recommended that she contact you, as you are the “mastermind” behind the affair. I believe her name is Michelle(?) but you can find her under “Tyra Show” on FB, if you so choose.

  135. My Flickr set from the No Pants Subway Ride:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/specialkrb/sets/72157623185534082/

    Such a fun day! What’s better than NYers rallying together to make people smile. And I smiled even wider when some of my event shots were used by news sources:

    New York Magazine:
    http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/01/people_rode_the_subway_without.html

    Fox News:
    http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/news/dpgoh-pants-less-subway-riders-getting-reaction-fc-20100112_5538079

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