By AMANDA GIGLIO
ASSISTANT CULTURE EDITOR
Anyone who has ever ridden the subway in New York City has seen his or her fair share of strange and interesting things. But, Improv Everywhere’s No Pants Subway Ride has got to be the most unusual affair to date.
On Jan. 12, hundreds of New Yorkers participated in the 13th annual No Pants Subway Ride. The concept of this event is to have random passengers board subways, at separate stops, in the middle of winter, without their pants. Each person still wears his or her winter coat, scarf, hat and gloves and behaves as if he or she does not know the other participants. In 2014, thousands of people took off their pants in 60 cities in over 25 countries around the world, including places such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Istanbul.
The No Pants Subway Ride mission started as a small prank with about seven guys who all separately boarded the train, sans pants, and rode for seven consecutive stops. They never acknowledged each other and claimed to be strangers. Since then, the No Pants Subway Ride has grown into an international celebration. The date of the event is announced in December each year, and a video is assembled after the event, showcasing the variety of underwear on display for the metropolitan residents.
While it has been going on for over a decade, the No Pants Subway Ride has not always been so successful. After the first time, the next few years did not go as smoothly and the police eventually halted the endeavor, with eight people taken into custody. All the charges were dropped and the outburst gave the event more fame; news agencies reported on the incident, and David Letterman even made a few jokes and staged a No Pants Cab Ride as a parody.
Reactions to this event vary. When the first No Pants Ride took place, witnesses were originally startled, thinking that something bad was going to happen, and they were later relieved to find out that the whole thing was a joke. Since then, people are more confused than anything else, but with the rising popularity, reactions seem to be positive.
Founded in 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere is a New York City-based prank collective that prides itself on causing scenes of chaos and joy in public spaces. The organization’s main reason for their quirky missions is to spread “organized fun” and entertainment to everyday life. The No Pants Subway Ride is not the only mission that Improv Everywhere stages. The group has about 100 different missions, all with the same expectation of fun times for unsuspecting civilians. Recently, Improv Everywhere started a new series called the Spinning Beach Ball of Death. This is when presenters at the TED conference, an annual conference in California that promotes “Ideas Worth Spreading,” have their talks interrupted by the Mac spinning wait cursor or other fake computer crashes. Other missions include Instant Date, Movies in Real Life and Talk Show Subway Car.
Improv Everywhere has more than just public pranks too. Recently, the organization created a free app to make it easier to browse the past years’ missions. Another feature of the app is the MP3 Experiment project. The participatory public event takes place in New York each year as well as on college campuses and at international festivals. Along with the app, Improv Everywhere has T-shirts, books and a new volume of DVDs. To find out more about this organization or to look into the next No Pants Subway Ride, check out its website: http://improveverywhere.com.
