WEBVTT

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I started Improv Everywhere
about 10 years ago

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when I moved to New York City
with an interest in acting and comedy.

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Because I was new to the city,
I didn't have access to a stage,

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so I decided to create
my own in public places.

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So the first project
we're going to take a look at

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is the very first No Pants Subway Ride.

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Now, this took place in January of 2002.

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And this woman is the star of the video.

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She doesn't know she's being filmed.

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She's being filmed with a hidden camera.

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This is on the 6 train in New York City.

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And this is the first stop along the line.

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These are two Danish guys

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who come in and sit down
next to the hidden camera.

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And that's me right there in a brown coat.

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It's about 30 degrees outside.

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I'm wearing a hat. I'm wearing a scarf.

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And the girl's going
to notice me right here.

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(Laughter)

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And as you'll see now,
I'm not wearing pants.

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(Laughter)

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At this point --

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at this point she's noticed me,

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but in New York there's weirdos
on any given train car.

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One person's not that unusual.

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She goes back to reading her book,
which is unfortunately titled "Rape."

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(Laughter)

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So she's noticed the unusual thing,
but she's gone back to her normal life.

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Now, in the meantime, I have six friends

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who are waiting at the next
six consecutive stops

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in their underwear as well.

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They're going to be entering
this car one by one.

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We'll act as though
we don't know each other.

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And we'll act as if it's just
an unfortunate mistake we've made,

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forgetting our pants
on this cold January day.

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(Laughter)

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(Laughter continues)

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So at this point,

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she decides to put the rape book away.

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(Laughter)

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And she decides to be a little bit
more aware of her surroundings.

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In the meantime, the two Danish guys
to the left of the camera,

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they're cracking up.

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They think this is the funniest thing
they've ever seen before.

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And watch her make eye contact
with them right about now.

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(Laughter)

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And I love that moment in this video,

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because before it became
a shared experience,

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it was something
that was maybe a little bit scary,

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or something that was
at least confusing to her.

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And then once it became
a shared experience,

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it was funny and something
that she could laugh at.

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So the train is now pulling
into the third stop along the 6 line.

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(Laughter)

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So the video won't show everything.

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This goes on for another four stops.

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A total of seven guys
enter anonymously in their underwear.

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At the eighth stop,
a girl came in with a giant duffel bag

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and announced she had
pants for sale for a dollar --

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like you might sell batteries
or candy on the train.

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We all very matter-of-factly
bought a pair of pants, put them on

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and said, "Thank you.
That's exactly what I needed today,"

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and then exited without
revealing what had happened

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and went in all different directions.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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So that's a still from the video there.

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And I love that girl's reaction so much.

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And watching that videotape later that day

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inspired me to keep doing what I do.

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And really one of the points
of Improv Everywhere

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is to cause a scene in a public place

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that is a positive experience
for other people.

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It's a prank, but it's a prank
that gives somebody a great story to tell.

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And her reaction inspired me

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to do a second annual
No Pants Subway Ride.

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And we've continued to do it every year.

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This January, we did
the 10th annual No Pants Subway Ride

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where a diverse group of 3,500 people

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rode the train in their
underwear in New York --

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almost every single
train line in the city.

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And also in 50 other cities
around the world,

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people participated.

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(Laughter)

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As I started taking improv class
at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater

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and meeting other creative people
and other performers and comedians.

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I started amassing
a mailing list of people

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who wanted to do these types of projects.

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So I could do more large-scale projects.

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Well, one day I was walking
through Union Square,

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and I saw this building,
which had just been built in 2005.

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There was a girl in one of the windows
and she was dancing.

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It was very peculiar,
because it was dark out,

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but she was backlit
with florescent lighting.

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She was very much onstage

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and I couldn't figure out
why she was doing it.

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After about 15 seconds,
her friend appeared --

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she had been hiding behind a display.

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They laughed, hugged
each other and ran away.

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Maybe she had been dared to do this.

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So I got inspired by that.

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Looking at the entire facade --
there were 70 total windows --

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and I knew what I had to do.

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(Laughter)

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So this project is called Look Up More.

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We had 70 actors dress in black.

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This was completely unauthorized.

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We didn't let the stores know
we were coming.

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And I stood in the park giving signals.

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The first signal was for everybody
to hold up these four-foot tall letters

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that spelled out "Look Up More,"

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the name of the project.

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The second signal was for everybody
to do jumping jacks together.

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You'll see that start right here.

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(Laughter)

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And then we had dancing.
We had everyone dance.

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And then we had dance solos

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where only one person would dance
and everybody would point to them.

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(Laughter)

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So then I gave a new hand signal,

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which signaled the next soloist
down below in Forever 21,

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and he danced.

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There were several other activities.

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We had people jumping up and down,
people dropping to the ground.

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And I was standing
just anonymously in a sweatshirt,

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putting my hand on and off of a trashcan
to signal the advancement.

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And because it was in Union Square Park,
right by a subway station,

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there were hundreds of people by the end
who stopped and looked up

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and watched what we were doing.

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There's a better photo of it.

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So that particular event
was inspired by a moment

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that I happened to stumble upon.

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The next project I want to show

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was given to me
in an email from a stranger.

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A high school kid in Texas
wrote me in 2006

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and said, "You should get
as many people as possible

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to put on blue polo shirts and khaki pants

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and go into a Best Buy and stand around."

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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So I wrote this high school kid
back immediately

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and I said, "Yes, you are correct.

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I think I'll try to do that
this weekend. Thank you."

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So here's the video.

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So again, this is 2005.

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This is the Best Buy in New York City.

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We had about 80 people
show up to participate,

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entering one by one.

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There was an eight-year-old girl,
a 10-year-old girl.

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There was also a 65-year-old man
who participated.

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So a very diverse group of people.

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(Laughter)

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And I told people,
"Don't work. Don't actually do work.

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But also, don't shop.

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Just stand around
and don't face products."

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Now you can see the regular employees

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by the ones that have
the yellow tags on their shirt.

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Everybody else is one of our actors.

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(Laughter)

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The lower-level employees
thought it was very funny.

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Several of them went
to go get their camera from the break room

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and took photos with us.

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A lot of them made jokes
about trying to get us to go to the back

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to get heavy television sets
for customers.

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The managers and the security guards,
on the other hand,

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did not find it particularly funny.

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You can see them in this footage.

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They're wearing either
a yellow shirt or a black shirt.

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And we were there probably 10 minutes

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before the managers decided to dial 911.

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(Laughter)

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So they started running around

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telling everybody the cops were coming,
"Watch out, the cops are coming."

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And you can see the cops
in this footage right here.

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That's a cop wearing black right there,
being filmed with a hidden camera.

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Ultimately, the police
had to inform Best Buy management

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that it was not, in fact, illegal
to wear a blue polo shirt and khaki pants.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)

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So we had been there for 20 minutes;
we were happy to exit the store.

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One thing the managers were trying to do
was to track down our cameras.

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And they caught a couple of my guys
who had hidden cameras in duffel bags.

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But the one camera guy they never caught

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was the guy that went in
just with a blank tape

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and went over to the Best Buy
camera department

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and just put his tape
in one of their cameras

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and pretended to shop.

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So I like that concept of using
their own technology against them.

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(Laughter)

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I think our best projects
are ones that are site-specific

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and happen at a particular
place for a reason.

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And one morning, I was riding the subway.

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I had to make a transfer
at the 53rd St. stop

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where there are
these two giant escalators.

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And it's a very depressing place
to be in the morning, it's very crowded.

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So I decided to try and stage something

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that could make it as happy
as possible for one morning.

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So this was in the winter of 2009 --
8:30 in the morning.

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It's morning rush hour.

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It's very cold outside.

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People are coming in from Queens,

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transferring from the E train
to the 6 train.

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And they're going up
these giant escalators

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on their way to their jobs.

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(Laughter)

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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So there's a photograph
that illustrates it a little bit better.

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He gave 2,000 high fives that day,

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and he washed his hands
before and afterward

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and did not get sick.

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And that was done also without permission,

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although no one seemed to care.

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So I'd say over the years,

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one of the most common criticisms
I see of Improv Everywhere

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left anonymously on YouTube comments

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is: "These people
have too much time on their hands."

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And you know, not everybody's
going to like everything you do

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and I've certainly developed a thick skin
thanks to Internet comments,

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but that one's always bothered me,

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because we don't have
too much time on our hands.

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The participants
at Improv Everywhere events

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have just as much leisure time
as any other New Yorkers,

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they just occasionally choose
to spend it in an unusual way.

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You know, every Saturday and Sunday,

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hundreds of thousands of people each fall

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gather in football stadiums
to watch games.

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And I've never seen anybody comment,
looking at a football game,

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"All those people in the stands,
they have too much time on their hands."

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And of course they don't.

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It's a perfectly wonderful way
to spent a weekend afternoon,

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watching a football game in a stadium.

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But I think it's also
a perfectly valid way

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to spend an afternoon
freezing in place with 200 people

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in the Grand Central terminal

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or dressing up like a ghostbuster

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and running through
the New York Public Library.

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(Laughter)

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Or listening to the same MP3
as 3,000 other people

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and dancing silently in a park,

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or bursting into song in a grocery store

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as part of a spontaneous musical,

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or diving into the ocean in Coney Island
wearing formal attire.

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(Laughter)

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You know, as kids, we're taught to play.

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And we're never given a reason
why we should play.

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It's just acceptable
that play is a good thing.

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And I think that's sort of
the point of Improv Everywhere.

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It's that there is no point
and that there doesn't have to be a point.

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We don't need a reason.
As long as it's fun

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and it seems like
it's going to be a funny idea

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and it seems like the people
who witness it

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will also have a fun time,

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then that's enough for us.

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And I think, as adults, we need to learn

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that there's no right
or wrong way to play.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)