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Helps to let people stop and notice the world around them with a smile.
旨在让人们停下脚步，面带微笑地关注一下自己周围的世界。
Since 2001, Improv Everywhere has been taking over the streets of New York with comedy. Their new book Causing a Scene, Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places with Improv Everywhere, written by founder Charlie Todd and senior agent Alex Scordelis, gives a 2)behind-the-scenes look at the group’s missions over the past ten years. It also includes photographs of the many missions by Chad Nicholson.
If you don’t already know who Improv Everywhere is, you might have seen videos of Frozen Grand Central, where over 80 people froze 3)simultaneously for five minutes in 4)Grand Central Station’s Main 5)Concourse. This has gained so much recognition that it has been replicated all over the world and even on an episode of 6)Law & Order: Special Victims Unit featuring 7)Mo Rocca.
Improv Everywhere is a New York City based group of comedians that performs pranks (or “missions”) to make people laugh.
“We’re out to prove that a prank doesn’t have to involve humiliation or embarrassment; it can simply be about making someone laugh, smile or stop to notice the world around them,” Todd said on their web site, improveverywhere.com.
It all started in August 2001 when Todd decided to pull a prank pretending to be musician 8)Ben Folds at the West Village bar. He had two of his friends 9)pose as 10)groupies and before he knew it, he was getting free drinks and his two friends were thrown out for stealing “Ben Folds’ wallet.”
“I had always been a prankster, but this experience enlightened me as to how far a prank could be taken. As an actor new to the city, I discovered I could create my own theatre rather than waiting around for someone to give me stage time. I got tired of telling the story to friends, so I typed it up and put it on the web. Improv Everywhere was born,” Todd stated on the web site. Since then, they have performed over 85 missions.
They have included “11)Best Buy”, which involved 80 people wearing blue polo shirts and 12)khaki pants and walking into Best Buy, confusing both workers and customers. Other missions included a subway art gallery, 13)synchronized swimming in the fountain in Washington Square Park, a spontaneous musical in a 14)food court and over 2,000 people walking invisible dogs.
Some of their missions became annual events. For the “mp3 Experiment”, Agent Tyler Walker and Todd put a 45-minute-long mp3 online for agents to download. They are instructed not to listen to it until the time of the mission. The mp3 is 15)narrated by Steve, The 16)Omnipotent Voice From Above, who gives the participants ridiculous instructions to follow. Each person is listening to them on their headphones so 17)bystanders don’t hear, but see the result. The number of volunteers grew from under 200 to over 2,000.
Every January, Improv Everywhere does a “No Pants! Subway Ride”, where agents literally go onto the subway without pants on. This started with seven male participants in 2002 and has grown to 1,200 participants in New York and over 1,000 more in 21 other cities around the world. Although it is not illegal to wear your underwear in public, they have encountered 18)issues with the police along the way. In 2007, a cop 19)handcuffed eight agents and took them into 20)custody.
Improv Everywhere caught attention in the media. They do not have official branches, but have set up “The Urban Prankster Network” as a place for people interested in having Improv Everywhere-style missions in their own cities to start a network group. Now there are groups all over the country and even the globe on the network.
Most of the core people of Improv Everywhere met at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), an improv school and theater in NYC. Todd is a comedian and teaches and performs at UCB and Scodelis is a writer for UCB. Over the years, many people have volunteered to participate in the large missions. In fact no experience is required, anyone can volunteer to be an “21)undercover agent” by signing up for their mailing list. For ten years now, Improv Everywhere has been bringing people together to make us laugh.
“We have no clue how people are going to react to us, and that is where the 22)improvisation comes in. Sometimes people misread our URL as ‘Improve Everywhere.’ We think that’s probably a better name for what we try to do,” Todd said.
自2001年后，Improv Everywhere（简称“IE”，字面意思是“随处即兴表演”）以喜剧事件征服了纽约街头的人们。由IE创始人查理·托德和资深成员亚历克斯·司古特拉斯合著的新书《制造轰动，与IE在平凡生活中非凡玩闹》揭开了在过去十年间这个恶作剧团体执行任务的幕后故事，随书还附上乍德·尼科尔森拍下的许多照片，见证着每个恶作剧行动的精彩瞬间。
即使你未曾听闻过IE为何人，你大概也曾看过“定格的中央车站”的视频——80多人在中央车站主厅同时定格，五分钟内保持静止不动。这次的行动得到极大的赞赏，世界各地效仿不断，甚至在电视剧《法律与秩序：特殊受害者》的其中一集里，莫·洛克尔也效仿了这个恶作剧行为。
IE位于纽约，是一个由一群喜剧演员组成的恶作剧团体，旨在为人们带来欢笑。
“我们的目的是为了证明恶作剧并不是非得包含羞辱或尴尬；它也可以纯粹是为了让人们捧腹大笑，或是会心微笑，又或是让人们停下脚步来关注一下周围的世界。”托德在他们的网站improveverywhere.com上发表了这么一段话。
这一切的源头可以追溯到2001年的八月，当时托德在西村酒吧玩起了恶作剧，假扮成音乐家本·弗尔兹。他让两个朋友假装成乐迷（接近他），而在他反应过来之前，已经有很多人（以为他正是本·弗尔兹）要请他喝酒，而他的两个朋友则因为“偷窃‘本·弗尔兹’的钱包”而被赶出酒吧。
“从小到大我都是一个喜欢胡闹的人，但这次经历启发了我，让我知道恶作剧还可以这样搞。作为一名刚来到这个城市的新演员，我发现我大可以创造自己的舞台，而不用苦苦等待谁来给我表演的机会。我已经厌倦了跟朋友们讲同一个故事，所以我将它写下来，放到网上去。IE应运而生，”托德在网站上如是说。从那以后，他们共组织上演了超过85次恶作剧行动。
这些任务包括“百思买行动”。那次行动中，80个参与者身穿蓝色马球衫和卡其色裤子，走进“百思买”里，让里面的店员和顾客都看得傻了眼。其他恶作剧任务还包括地铁艺术展（编者注：2009年在纽约曼哈顿第23号街地铁站，IE在车站的每一根柱子或其他空余的地方贴上海报、画作，将车站变成了一个艺术画廊）、华盛顿广场公园喷水池里的花样游泳表演（编者注：2004年，纽约华盛顿广场公园，16个IE人声称他们的花样游泳队要获得28分才能参加雅典奥运会，然后就开始在喷水池里表演起来，另外3名IE人则扮演奥运会裁判，给周围观众带来了欢乐）、美食广场的即兴音乐剧（编者注：2008年，16个IE人在洛杉矶某个商场的美食广场里突然起立表演音乐剧，引起路人围观），还有两千多人遛“隐形狗”（编者注：2009年，2000多个IE人拿着1970年发明的“隐形狗”玩具，在纽约布鲁克林街头表演牵狗链遛“隐形狗”）等。
他们执行的某些“任务”演变成了一年一度的活动。在“MP3实验计划”中，IE组员泰勒·沃克和托德将一段45分钟长的MP3放上网，供行动者下载。他们得到指示要求不得在任务开始前听里面的内容。这段MP3声音由史蒂夫——“来自天堂的声音”——录制，他给参与者作出了许多荒诞不羁的行动指示。每个人都是通过耳机来收听自己的任务的，所以旁人听不见，却能看到结果。自愿参加这项任务的人从不足200人升至超过2000人。
每年一月，IE都会策划一场“不穿裤子搭地铁”的活动，顾名思义，就是行动者不穿裤子去乘坐地铁。这项任务在2002年刚开始时仅有7名男性参与者，如今纽约已有1200名参与者，而在世界的其他21个城市里还有1000多人参与这项任务。尽管只穿内裤出入公共场所不算是什么违法行为，但他们也没少收到警察的警告。2007年，有名警察就逮捕了8名行动者并将他们拘留。
IE也引起了媒体的关注。他们没有官方分支机构，但建立了“城市恶作剧者社区”，让那些对IE式恶作剧任务感兴趣的人们可以在自己的城市里建立群组。如今，IE的地区群组已遍布美国，甚至全球。
IE组织的几个核心人物一般会在“正直市民组剧院”（简称UCB）聚首，那是一所位于纽约的即兴表演学校和剧院。托德正是UCB的喜剧演员及喜剧表演课老师，经常参加演出；司古特拉斯则是UCB的编剧。这些年来，已经有许多人自愿参与到大型的恶作剧任务中来。实际上，参与任务无需任何经验，任何人都可以通过邮件注册登记成为“卧底行动者”。十年来，IE将人们聚到一起，给我们带来了欢笑。
“我们也不知道人们会有什么反应，但这正是即兴精神之所在。有些人把我们的网址写成‘Improve Everywhere’（字面意思是‘改善各处’），我想这个名字可能更能体现我们的初衷，”托德说道。
旨在让人们停下脚步，面带微笑地关注一下自己周围的世界。
Since 2001, Improv Everywhere has been taking over the streets of New York with comedy. Their new book Causing a Scene, Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places with Improv Everywhere, written by founder Charlie Todd and senior agent Alex Scordelis, gives a 2)behind-the-scenes look at the group’s missions over the past ten years. It also includes photographs of the many missions by Chad Nicholson.
If you don’t already know who Improv Everywhere is, you might have seen videos of Frozen Grand Central, where over 80 people froze 3)simultaneously for five minutes in 4)Grand Central Station’s Main 5)Concourse. This has gained so much recognition that it has been replicated all over the world and even on an episode of 6)Law & Order: Special Victims Unit featuring 7)Mo Rocca.
Improv Everywhere is a New York City based group of comedians that performs pranks (or “missions”) to make people laugh.
“We’re out to prove that a prank doesn’t have to involve humiliation or embarrassment; it can simply be about making someone laugh, smile or stop to notice the world around them,” Todd said on their web site, improveverywhere.com.
It all started in August 2001 when Todd decided to pull a prank pretending to be musician 8)Ben Folds at the West Village bar. He had two of his friends 9)pose as 10)groupies and before he knew it, he was getting free drinks and his two friends were thrown out for stealing “Ben Folds’ wallet.”
“I had always been a prankster, but this experience enlightened me as to how far a prank could be taken. As an actor new to the city, I discovered I could create my own theatre rather than waiting around for someone to give me stage time. I got tired of telling the story to friends, so I typed it up and put it on the web. Improv Everywhere was born,” Todd stated on the web site. Since then, they have performed over 85 missions.
They have included “11)Best Buy”, which involved 80 people wearing blue polo shirts and 12)khaki pants and walking into Best Buy, confusing both workers and customers. Other missions included a subway art gallery, 13)synchronized swimming in the fountain in Washington Square Park, a spontaneous musical in a 14)food court and over 2,000 people walking invisible dogs.
Some of their missions became annual events. For the “mp3 Experiment”, Agent Tyler Walker and Todd put a 45-minute-long mp3 online for agents to download. They are instructed not to listen to it until the time of the mission. The mp3 is 15)narrated by Steve, The 16)Omnipotent Voice From Above, who gives the participants ridiculous instructions to follow. Each person is listening to them on their headphones so 17)bystanders don’t hear, but see the result. The number of volunteers grew from under 200 to over 2,000.
Every January, Improv Everywhere does a “No Pants! Subway Ride”, where agents literally go onto the subway without pants on. This started with seven male participants in 2002 and has grown to 1,200 participants in New York and over 1,000 more in 21 other cities around the world. Although it is not illegal to wear your underwear in public, they have encountered 18)issues with the police along the way. In 2007, a cop 19)handcuffed eight agents and took them into 20)custody.
Improv Everywhere caught attention in the media. They do not have official branches, but have set up “The Urban Prankster Network” as a place for people interested in having Improv Everywhere-style missions in their own cities to start a network group. Now there are groups all over the country and even the globe on the network.
Most of the core people of Improv Everywhere met at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), an improv school and theater in NYC. Todd is a comedian and teaches and performs at UCB and Scodelis is a writer for UCB. Over the years, many people have volunteered to participate in the large missions. In fact no experience is required, anyone can volunteer to be an “21)undercover agent” by signing up for their mailing list. For ten years now, Improv Everywhere has been bringing people together to make us laugh.
“We have no clue how people are going to react to us, and that is where the 22)improvisation comes in. Sometimes people misread our URL as ‘Improve Everywhere.’ We think that’s probably a better name for what we try to do,” Todd said.
自2001年后，Improv Everywhere（简称“IE”，字面意思是“随处即兴表演”）以喜剧事件征服了纽约街头的人们。由IE创始人查理·托德和资深成员亚历克斯·司古特拉斯合著的新书《制造轰动，与IE在平凡生活中非凡玩闹》揭开了在过去十年间这个恶作剧团体执行任务的幕后故事，随书还附上乍德·尼科尔森拍下的许多照片，见证着每个恶作剧行动的精彩瞬间。
即使你未曾听闻过IE为何人，你大概也曾看过“定格的中央车站”的视频——80多人在中央车站主厅同时定格，五分钟内保持静止不动。这次的行动得到极大的赞赏，世界各地效仿不断，甚至在电视剧《法律与秩序：特殊受害者》的其中一集里，莫·洛克尔也效仿了这个恶作剧行为。
IE位于纽约，是一个由一群喜剧演员组成的恶作剧团体，旨在为人们带来欢笑。
“我们的目的是为了证明恶作剧并不是非得包含羞辱或尴尬；它也可以纯粹是为了让人们捧腹大笑，或是会心微笑，又或是让人们停下脚步来关注一下周围的世界。”托德在他们的网站improveverywhere.com上发表了这么一段话。
这一切的源头可以追溯到2001年的八月，当时托德在西村酒吧玩起了恶作剧，假扮成音乐家本·弗尔兹。他让两个朋友假装成乐迷（接近他），而在他反应过来之前，已经有很多人（以为他正是本·弗尔兹）要请他喝酒，而他的两个朋友则因为“偷窃‘本·弗尔兹’的钱包”而被赶出酒吧。
“从小到大我都是一个喜欢胡闹的人，但这次经历启发了我，让我知道恶作剧还可以这样搞。作为一名刚来到这个城市的新演员，我发现我大可以创造自己的舞台，而不用苦苦等待谁来给我表演的机会。我已经厌倦了跟朋友们讲同一个故事，所以我将它写下来，放到网上去。IE应运而生，”托德在网站上如是说。从那以后，他们共组织上演了超过85次恶作剧行动。
这些任务包括“百思买行动”。那次行动中，80个参与者身穿蓝色马球衫和卡其色裤子，走进“百思买”里，让里面的店员和顾客都看得傻了眼。其他恶作剧任务还包括地铁艺术展（编者注：2009年在纽约曼哈顿第23号街地铁站，IE在车站的每一根柱子或其他空余的地方贴上海报、画作，将车站变成了一个艺术画廊）、华盛顿广场公园喷水池里的花样游泳表演（编者注：2004年，纽约华盛顿广场公园，16个IE人声称他们的花样游泳队要获得28分才能参加雅典奥运会，然后就开始在喷水池里表演起来，另外3名IE人则扮演奥运会裁判，给周围观众带来了欢乐）、美食广场的即兴音乐剧（编者注：2008年，16个IE人在洛杉矶某个商场的美食广场里突然起立表演音乐剧，引起路人围观），还有两千多人遛“隐形狗”（编者注：2009年，2000多个IE人拿着1970年发明的“隐形狗”玩具，在纽约布鲁克林街头表演牵狗链遛“隐形狗”）等。
他们执行的某些“任务”演变成了一年一度的活动。在“MP3实验计划”中，IE组员泰勒·沃克和托德将一段45分钟长的MP3放上网，供行动者下载。他们得到指示要求不得在任务开始前听里面的内容。这段MP3声音由史蒂夫——“来自天堂的声音”——录制，他给参与者作出了许多荒诞不羁的行动指示。每个人都是通过耳机来收听自己的任务的，所以旁人听不见，却能看到结果。自愿参加这项任务的人从不足200人升至超过2000人。
每年一月，IE都会策划一场“不穿裤子搭地铁”的活动，顾名思义，就是行动者不穿裤子去乘坐地铁。这项任务在2002年刚开始时仅有7名男性参与者，如今纽约已有1200名参与者，而在世界的其他21个城市里还有1000多人参与这项任务。尽管只穿内裤出入公共场所不算是什么违法行为，但他们也没少收到警察的警告。2007年，有名警察就逮捕了8名行动者并将他们拘留。
IE也引起了媒体的关注。他们没有官方分支机构，但建立了“城市恶作剧者社区”，让那些对IE式恶作剧任务感兴趣的人们可以在自己的城市里建立群组。如今，IE的地区群组已遍布美国，甚至全球。
IE组织的几个核心人物一般会在“正直市民组剧院”（简称UCB）聚首，那是一所位于纽约的即兴表演学校和剧院。托德正是UCB的喜剧演员及喜剧表演课老师，经常参加演出；司古特拉斯则是UCB的编剧。这些年来，已经有许多人自愿参与到大型的恶作剧任务中来。实际上，参与任务无需任何经验，任何人都可以通过邮件注册登记成为“卧底行动者”。十年来，IE将人们聚到一起，给我们带来了欢笑。
“我们也不知道人们会有什么反应，但这正是即兴精神之所在。有些人把我们的网址写成‘Improve Everywhere’（字面意思是‘改善各处’），我想这个名字可能更能体现我们的初衷，”托德说道。