No Pants Day 2009 in Phoenix? - Planning Thread

[Jeff]

For new people to the thread, Improv Everywhere is a national group that has done group freezes, MP3 experiments, and a ton of brilliant group improv events in public settings. You can read about some of their missions here.

Since 2002 they have had an annual No Pants Day where they get a bunch of people to ride public transportation wearing colorful underwear, acting like everyone just happened to forget their pants and there isn't anything particularly odd. For No Pants Day 2009 they are trying to get other cities to participate. Magically, Phoenix will have our light rail working by then, which has to be an omen if I've ever seen one.

We will pick a time/train on the Phoenix Metro Light Rail, and have everyone ride at once. Plan on dressing colorfully and creatively, and nothing obscene.

We're still working out the details, but this is the place to watch. There is also a related Facebook group, but that will just be a duplicate of decisions here. Comments, ideas, and help are certainly appreciated.

Date: Saturday, January 10th 2009
Time: 3:00PM
Light Rail Station: Either Dorsey and Apache stop (Stop #1), or 38th St & Washington (Greyhound Park) (Stop #2)
Facebook event is online here.

Edit: Added more information explaining Improv Everywhere background.

[Agent Jade]

Aww I just found out about this group! Nuts, I shall participate next year!!

[Jeff]

WRAP UP:

Thanks to everyone who came out ~ it was a total blast from start to finish. We had about 90 people, no big problems, and were all over the news. We even got picked up by the Associated Press, so footage ended up in (at least) Boston, Minneapolis, Austin, NYC, the UK, and the Netherlands.

I got some tips on managing the media from the main IE board, as I think they ended up being way too intrusive in some cases... especially one station with a full camera rig on the train. Made it REALLY hard to act casual.

Lux was great, and we got a lot of laughs out of it. I'm definitely in for this next year, and am hoping we can use this momentum to jump start more events.

Flickr tagged pix: http://flickr.com/search/?q=nopantsaz&s=int
Video: http://www.viddler.com/explore/brianshaler/videos/82/

Also, if you are on Facebook there is a great set of photos in the event page there.

I'm now an admin on the IE Phoenix Facebook group, so am trying to build up members there so we can use them to help with events. If you want to join, go here: http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=8620607137

Lastly, I would love to hear your thoughts on what went well, poorly, etc., so we can adjust next year. Now we know how it went we can do multiple trains, start from both ends of town, etc.

Thanks for making this such a great event!

[Wyatt]

We were also on in San Fran, and Boston, and a few other cities!

http://necn.com/Boston/Nation/2009/01/11/No-Pants-Subway-Ride-in/12...

I wonder why we were the most featured. Surely our light rail isn't that big of a deal to them.

[asjaljf sklf]

Saw ya'll on the Austin TX Fox 7 News, congrats! As soon as I saw people without pants I knew it was Improv Everywhere. I was surprised to see the Phoenix no pants on the news instead of new york.

[Jill]

Pics from the great train ride:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36091482@N00/

[Jeff]

Thank you for showing up to take pictures! You caught some great ones! I am putting together a list of links and stories and will try to post it here and in the Facebook group tonight or tomorrow.

[Wyatt]

Jeff, this may be unrelated, but do you know a Mr. Jim Mack from Microage back in the day? I told my dad about the event, and he saw you helped organize it here.

[Jeff]

Ha! I do remember Jim. Say Howdy for me. Tell him next year he needs to come down and participate!

[Wyatt]

Sure thing. He says he'll be there!

[Jill]

Nopantsaz tag: Pics from the great train ride:

[Logan Brutsche]

Unfortunately, I arrived at the wrong stop--I went to 44th and Washington, and I didn't have enough time to correct my mistake.

Anyway--I want pictures! Videos!

[Wyatt]

Just to settle a few of my friends minds, what will we say if a overly concerned parent calls the police and they come onto the rail? Because I think that we could be "Disturbing the Peace" similarly to how it's not illegal to carry a rifle slung around your shoulder down a busy street, but once someone calls the police, it's disturbing the peace, and you can be fined or arrested.