PDA

View Full Version : Improv Everywhere

Bad Buddha
10-20-2008, 02:56 PM
I just posted this morning about my daughter's participation in Zombiecon in NYC. She and her friends have been getting involved with a group called Improv Everywhere (http://improveverywhere.com/). It's just people that follow the instructions from a website and show up at places and do odd things. It's never harmful or destructive and usually humorous and entertaining for people that aren't in on the joke.

She recently went to Governor's Island and participated in The Mp3 Experiment 5 (http://improveverywhere.com/2008/10/20/the-mp3-experiment-5/). When she first told us about it we thought that there were a hundred or so people involved. They just finished editing the video and posted the site and it says that over 1000 people participated! Everybody downloaded the same MP3 file from the website, showed up at Governor's Island in a colored shirt with an umbrella and a balloon and at the same time they started playing the MP3 and followed the directions. Hilarity ensued!

One event that should be popular here is No Pants Day (http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/16/no-pants-2k8/)!

Probably my favorite is The Best Game Ever (http://improveverywhere.com/2008/04/07/best-game-ever/). They had a mass of people show up for a Little League baseball game. They got NBC to bring in a Jumbotron screen and they got sportscaster Jim Gray to call the game. They had people handing out programs and even a vendors handing out peanuts. The Goodyear blimp flew overhead and displayed the names of the two teams playing. After the game was over, all the people that showed up went around asking the players for autographs. Pretty cool situation for the kids and their parents! :D

The Food Court Musical (http://improveverywhere.com/2008/03/09/food-court-musical/) and Frozen Grand Central (http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/) are also pretty entertaining.
Nameless
10-20-2008, 03:03 PM
That Frozen Grand Central was really cool. I would be so creeped out if I saw that happen.
shunoshi
10-20-2008, 03:13 PM
That Frozen Grand Central was really cool. I would be so creeped out if I saw that happen.

My thoughts exactly. Very creepy. :D
LongStepMantis
10-20-2008, 03:36 PM
"That was the singinest damn janitor I ever seen."

Good stuff. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Bad Buddha
10-20-2008, 03:50 PM
"That was the singinest damn janitor I ever seen."

Good stuff. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

I liked the way that the security guard turned out to be part of the musical.

One event that did get them into a little bit of trouble with the police was a fake U2 rooftop concert (http://improveverywhere.com/2005/05/21/even-better-than-the-real-thing/) near Madison Square Garden prior to the actual U2 Vertigo Tour concert. They got off with a noise disturbance citation, but several of them were in cuffs for a while. The conversation that apparently allowed the cops to relax a bit:

Cop: So you were supposed to be Bono?
Slocum: Yes.
Cop: (looking up and down at 1st generation Korean-American Agent Jinn): And who were you supposed to be?
Jinn: The Edge.
AniAko
10-21-2008, 07:06 AM
That Frozen Grand Central was really cool. I would be so creeped out if I saw that happen.

That was so awesome, second only to the little league ball game upgrade. I've been following them for a while, they really do some great stuff.

Another favorite is the mirror on the subway. They had like 200 sets of twins or something fill a subway car and sit across from one another dressed and posing identically creating the effect. It wasn't performed as well as the GCS freeze, but still cool
Xerxes
10-21-2008, 09:07 AM
http://improveverywhere.com/images/nopants8_00.jpg
Yes please.

So Improv Everywhere are flash mobs?
AniAko
10-21-2008, 11:44 AM
http://improveverywhere.com/images/nopants8_00.jpg
Yes please.

So Improv Everywhere are flash mobs?

No, they're more like a massive acting troup, treating the world as its stage.
That Darn Kat
10-21-2008, 11:49 AM
I love Improv Everywhere. I stumbled upon them one night and stayed up all night reading every single entry! It's almost as good a time waster for me as www.overheardinnewyork.com.

And I'd have to say No Pants is probably my favorite, though I haven't read about the Best Game Ever yet. It sounds pretty awesome.
Xerxes
10-21-2008, 11:50 AM
No, they're more like a massive acting troup, treating the world as its stage.

No, wiki calls them a flash mob. That's a function of flash mobs. To perform in mass. Reminds me of the Japense guys that saw three take on the roles of Trinity, Morpheus, and Neo, and everyone else as Agent Smiths. I think the goal was a race to a phone booth.

http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~kamia/img/030615_19.jpg
NoName
10-21-2008, 11:53 AM
I remember reading about this group when they did the Best Buy thing. That was hilarious. Yea, they do some cool stuff, to bad I don't live in the area.
That Darn Kat
10-21-2008, 12:02 PM
Ah, I just read Best Game Ever, it was great. ^_^ It's a shame it wasn't quite as big a crowd as they usually have, but that probably has to do with them being in California rather than their usual NYC.
Shrinn
10-21-2008, 12:13 PM
That's incredibly interesting. Thanks Buddha!
Young Al Capone
10-21-2008, 12:32 PM
Pretty good stuff. I especially liked the best game ever and no pants day.
Smoof
10-21-2008, 04:37 PM
Most areas have a group that you can join, but they're kind of shitty as they're nowhere near as active as the NYC group. I actually joined the Denver group about a year ago, but nothing materialized.
Xerxes
10-21-2008, 04:45 PM
I'm motivated to look for a flash mob in Houston. I like shenanigans. Don't think anyone wants to see me without pants on though.
Pureboy
10-21-2008, 05:17 PM
There was a great NPR story about them . I think it was on RadioLab's show about deception (try wnyc.org if you want to find the podcast, I'm too lazy to try).
The first prank was when they found a new, obscure band that had never performed in NYC, and filled the gig, pretending to be their biggest fans. The other was when they picked a random person and threw a birthday party for him, giving him gifts.

My favorites are the Best Buy one, and the Union Square "Look up More" one.
Lint of Death
10-21-2008, 05:32 PM
www.overheardinnewyork.com

Thanks for showing me to that website. I'd been looking for a place to vent the funniest thing I'd ever inadvertently eavesdropped on:

A man wearing a suit walks through a small crowd at the street corner. Cell phone to his ear, he jubilantly queries, "How did you know I was going to shave my balls tonight?"