Over the past couple of years one of the most common ideas emailed to Improv Everywhere has been, “Get a bunch of people to stand behind someone and pretend they are the Verizon ‘network,’ like in those commercials.” We’ve literally had 300 emails over the years suggesting that idea. We got so tired of hearing it that we even put it up on the list of common suggestions on our FAQ.
The main reason we were never interested in the idea is that it would essentially just be recreating a commercial. The funny idea of “a bunch of people standing behind someone” was already in the commercial itself, and the only added comedy would be that it was being done in real life.
Well, as you can see in the video above, Verizon ended up making the idea happen on their own. Too bad they didn’t splurge for the helicopter. You’ll notice they include “Improv Everywhere” in the tags for the video. I’m not sure why, as we didn’t have anything to do with it. I guess it’s not the first time someone’s put a misleading tag on an online video.
Brooklyn artist D.Billy has created several site-specific installations around the city using balloons as his primary medium.
He writes:
Using colorful media such as twisting balloons, party streamers, and artist tape, I have begun to add visual representations of sound effects to public spaces as a sort of dimensional graffiti. After embellishing the found scenes and photographing the results, I leave my additions in place to engage passers-by for as long as the materials hold up. For me, this process encourages a reexamination of surroundings and objects that are usually taken for granted, and injects a hint of the fantastical surreality that I have established in my other work.
Or, at the very least, I hope someone thinks these things are kind of funny.
Today’s post is the first in what will be an ongoing series where we flashback and take a look at awesome projects that while not new, are hopefully new to our readers. If not, enjoy a good idea for the second time or keep moving to the next post.
The Hooter’s Hoax took place in New York over President’s day weekend in 2006. The much loved Second Avenue Deli (a landmark for over 50 years,) had just closed in the East Village. John Grady and Mark Nickelsburg quietly put up a sign on the establishment’s front door in the middle of the night announcing a Hooters location would be soon opening. Clearly this was not going to sit well with the locals. The next day people stopped in their tracks to get a closer look at the sign, and a firestorm of speculation erupted on several NYC blogs. Some bloggers guessed it was a hoax, and others started protest sites to “stop Hooters.”
Grady writes:
Because I inadvertently pulled the prank over a three day holiday weekend (President’s Day) it had unintended consequences: the Hooters main office was not open to take calls from concerned East Village neighbors. Also, Hooters has a policy that it cannot confirm or deny where or when they are opening a new restaurant. Maybe because people would protest? I don’t know, but that definitely added fuel to the fire, when they started fielding calls and emails when they returned to the office that Tuesday.
Eventually the pranksters came clean on eater.com and the controversy came to an end. The Second Avenue Deli moved to 33rd Street, and Hooters still maintains its one New York location in midtown.
Do you know of a classic urban prank that we should cover? Let us know about it!
Jake Bronstein recently bought a toy vending machine off the Internet. He filled the toy capsules with ideas of fun things to do and started placing the machine in various spots around New York. For 50 cents you get the original toy, an idea, and a map to guide you to the location for your idea. Each capsule also contains a quarter, refunding half of your purchase price (the machine wouldn’t let him charge less than 50 cents.)
Mission:Singapore recently threw a party on the Singapore subway system. They write:
We got onto a train, played music and danced. We had balloons, treats and face paint for everyone. We even gave out small cut out hearts to everyone on the train to lighten up their day.
So, we partied till our lungs fall out and our clothes were soak in sweat, everyone on the train were entertained. We got a spectrum of emotions from the riders, from laugher to frowns, from smiles to out right annoyed. BUT all in all, the joy of the atmosphere drowned all the negativities. Our agents went all out and danced, the music was retro with hits like ‘eye of the tiger’ and ‘everybody dance now’ and of course, no retro mix is complete without ‘never gonna give you up’ from Rick Astley.
Eventually, we were greeted by the station managers and a security guard. They informed us very nicely that we had to lower the volume and keep the dancing minimal but we decided to end the party altogether, mostly because we were exhausted.
When we got off, the station managers bid us farewell and we exchanged friendly gestures and even gave them our paper hearts, which they stuck to their uniforms.
This video is a couple of years old, but it was recently brought to our attention recently by one of the participants, Jad Taylor. He writes:
I just graduated from Clemson University in South Carolina and two Decembers ago we organized a synchronized dance on the library bridge (focal point of campus) in order to cheer people up during the pre-Exam week suckiness. We had so much fun we did it again this year.
Several news organizations, including the Daily Mail, are reporting that “faceless” figures are popping up at Wimbledon and several posh parties around London. Blogger Nick Burcher noticed the logos they are wearing are for the car company Lotus, and was able to sleuth out that the whole thing is actually a viral marketing stunt.
He writes:
Given how easy it is to find the facelesspeople.com website through Google I think it is amazing that there has been so much Faceless People coverage and so little realisation that the Faceless people are part of a clever viral marketing rather than a political statement or art!
About
Urban Prankster covers pranks, hacks, participatory art, flash mobs, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world. It is edited by Charlie Todd.
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