Do you live in New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, or another large, metropolitan city? Did you ride the subway today? Did you notice something strange?
Like the fact that no one was wearing pants?
Today was New York City-based “prank collective” Improv Everywhere’s No Pants Subway Ride event, which is exactly what it sounds like. Participants were recruited Internet-wide to shed their dockers and leggings, amble on over to their respective subway stops, and climb aboard. The requirements were simply to not wear pants and to “keep a straight face.”
Improv Everywhere said the project was going to take place in different locations in New York, but others have joined the cause.
Twitter and Instagram are lighting up with photos and tweets from both confused passengers and the proud pantless alike. Even though Improv Everywhere urged people to keep it together and resist the urge to Instagram, it would appear that many gave in.
Just got done with #NoPantsSubwayRide 2014 in Philly. Kinda breezy in here pic.twitter.com/ARymFsAsIl
— Jon Gosier (@jongos) January 12, 2014
Did you take the T this afternoon? Did you notice all the people not wearing pants? #NoPantsSubwayRide
— Amanda Gavin (@amandizzleho) January 12, 2014
WERK!!! RT @DustinRossSaid: #NoPantsSubwayRide 2014 pic.twitter.com/CbrV8YHKAt
— Rhea Prescott (@RheaUnplugged) January 12, 2014
What’s the point? Really, it’s the “What do you mean I’m not wearing pants?” of it all. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to raise a child and tell him that blue was red and red was blue and just see how that goes. And what if thousands of other people were in on it with me?
And what if they weren’t wearing pants?!!!?!
One participant, Danielle Feller, told me that she and a group of friends who were into improv (she wasn’t, but joined in) decided to partake to be a part of the random project. She says that while they were able to keep straight faces, that fellow passengers weren’t overly pleased. “People got really, really pissed at us when our response was that we just forgot our pants at home.”
#Nopants bike ride during #NoPantsSubwayRide pic.twitter.com/7A6OmedrIb
— Danielle Feller (@dpfeller) January 12, 2014
“We made a lot of people angry and even [got] a couple of ‘stop f*$&ing lying just tell me where your pants are’ from people.”
And while she admits it was cold, she also promotes the event. “We had a blast and would encourage everyone to participate next year!”
So get out there, pull ‘em down, and take the subway as if you were doing the most average thing in the world. Let the world wonder if you’re in on the joke.
Image via Instagram/Lol_of_the_rings