Video: When New Yorkers get bored
posted at 11:20 am on February 20, 2008 by Allahpundit
Most of us just drink but I guess this works too. It’s like performance art, except you’re part of the performance!
Five million hits and counting for this idiocy, although it’s nice to know you can hit big on YouTube without having Tay Zonday or Will Ferrell jawing with a two-year-old in your video.
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They’re lucky they didn’t get knocked on their arses by someone in a hurry, as New Yorkers will tend to do.
Mazztek on February 20, 2008 at 11:24 AM
The shear idiocy of it raises it above normal stupidity, actually! That was fascinating.
Gotta say, some of those more uncomfortable positions had to be hell on the joints.
nukemhill on February 20, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Asian chick eating banana was of course my favorite.
Chuck Schick on February 20, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Hey now…Us New Yorkers (Long Islander’s actually) might be in a hurry to get to our destination, but knocking em’ on their a$$es? We’re not all THAT extreme.
I have to admit, that this was actually pretty wild. Wish I woudl’ve been there when it happened to see it.
HarryStar on February 20, 2008 at 11:27 AM
lol…I thought it was pretty cool. It definately turned heads.
Limerick on February 20, 2008 at 11:27 AM
heh…Improv Everywhere never ceases to amaze me…
THIS stunt at Abercrombie is still one of my favorites
JetBoy on February 20, 2008 at 11:29 AM
I liked it, definitely different.
Sanjoboy on February 20, 2008 at 11:29 AM
I LOVED it! Way to add a little interest to the day! Kudos to some of them for being able to hold the frozen pose for 5 minutes!
ihasurnominashun on February 20, 2008 at 11:32 AM
But how did they have non-performers miked up? Were they actors pretending to be bystanders?
asc85 on February 20, 2008 at 11:32 AM
dunk them in a tank of urine and we can then safely call it “art” (according to some people)
BillLalor on February 20, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Very Cool!
kcd on February 20, 2008 at 11:33 AM
The same dopes rode the MBTA in their underwear a couple weeks ago. And, uh, yeah as you can imagine hot chicks in sexy panties were few and far. A creepy sausage fest for the most part, per the DJ’s who covered it.
Alden Pyle on February 20, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I think what they’re trying to say is, “I might be older but I’m still too cool for school.”
snaggletoothie on February 20, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Man, talk about a pickpockets dream come true!
pilamaye on February 20, 2008 at 11:38 AM
That was good.
Zorro on February 20, 2008 at 11:38 AM
It was kind of cool, except for the fear of terrorism factor. It should be a one-time deal, the next time will be just dumb.
PattyJ on February 20, 2008 at 11:39 AM
When I lived in NYC about 25 years ago, none of these guys would have had a wallet when that five minutes was over.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on February 20, 2008 at 11:39 AM
That was cool on several levels…the irony of the busiest place on earth frozen in time (if only just for a moment), seeing the reactions of the non-participants, the crowd’s appreciation once it was over, the nonchalantness of the participants…plus it didn’t really disrupt anything (other than the one dude’s cart, and that was just for a couple of minutes…) It’s nice to see creative thought that is NOT destructive. Cool.
JustTruth101 on February 20, 2008 at 11:54 AM
I have to admit…it amused me. That was fun.
tickleddragon on February 20, 2008 at 11:57 AM
The event where redheads protested Wendy’s logo was pretty funny.
Blacklake on February 20, 2008 at 12:03 PM
I liked it. Creative and difficult to pull off smoothly. Plus they weren’t actually messing anyone’s day up or ruining people’s property.
BadgerHawk on February 20, 2008 at 12:06 PM
You are from out of town when that attracts your attention, or really lame.
Hening on February 20, 2008 at 12:10 PM
I would SO like to have been a part of that.
Shut up! (Well, to be fair, someone had to say it…)
Captain Scarlet on February 20, 2008 at 12:11 PM
…and then they all blew themselves up on cue.
Kensington on February 20, 2008 at 12:12 PM
OMG, I saw this two nights ago. So much awesomeness it almost hurts. :D
I like the Abercrombie and Fitch and Best Buy pranks too. :)
200 Men, many out of shape, walking around Abercrombie and Fitch shirtless. And those hypocrites refused to sell to the shirtless men. :)
JayHaw Phrenzie on February 20, 2008 at 12:13 PM
I loved it! Creative fun just for fun!
H. Allen Smith once had a friend who, on the night of a Presidential election, bought two dozen papers and stashed them away for four years…and the day before the next election, he and his buddies were riding the subway, all reading the papers. Fun just for fun.
Doug on February 20, 2008 at 12:14 PM
A five minute pose is quite draining. This was a refreshing success compared to a lot of traditional performance art which is too often over the top shock crap. Imagine the effect on a young child. Magic.
BL@KBIRD on February 20, 2008 at 12:15 PM
That was very cool! I think it’s amazing that they could stay so frozen for that long. Very creative performance.
Aggie85 on February 20, 2008 at 12:20 PM
I Befuddled.
Kini on February 20, 2008 at 12:25 PM
OK, I’ve gotta admit that was kinda cool.
flipflop on February 20, 2008 at 12:27 PM
I was afraid that guy was going to grope that “frozen” girl. If he had I hope she’d have sense enough to slug him and the go back to being “frozen”.
srhoades on February 20, 2008 at 12:33 PM
That was very cool.
Spirit of 1776 on February 20, 2008 at 12:35 PM
The cell phone orchestra is still the best Improv Everywhere stunt.
I’ve seen this Grand Central clip before. I thought it was on HA. Guess I was wrong.
malan89 on February 20, 2008 at 12:35 PM
No big deal. I’ve done the same thing with the neighbor’s kids. You get down in their faces and scream real loud at them, and they’ll freeze, let me tell you. Okay, five minutes is a long time, but the little buggers were still as fence posts for at least 30 seconds before they ran back into their trailer.
windbag on February 20, 2008 at 12:38 PM
excellent…..now everybody get the f**k back to work.
wildweasel on February 20, 2008 at 12:45 PM
One of my favorites is their fake redhead protest at Wendy’s. ”Biggie Size Bigotry!” Ha!
Mark Jaquith on February 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM
Come on – as a New Yorker, I can tell you that stuff is cool when it happens. A big relief from the protests. And 200 people is a LOT of people. Thinking big.
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
That said – I was looking for the guy with the bomb vest, frozen midst “Alah Akbar” with his finger on the trigger.
Agrippa2k on February 20, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Well, I liked it! Fascinating … wish I’d been there!
reine.de.tout on February 20, 2008 at 1:06 PM
Loved it!
8straight on February 20, 2008 at 1:09 PM
This is clearly the worst terror incident since 1-31 2007
Hiney Von Pewps on February 20, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Oh man, I feel bad saying I thought it was kinda cool after reading some people trashing it… but it was.
RightWinged on February 20, 2008 at 1:39 PM
Mr. Freeze has struck Gotham City again.
Send out the bat beacon signal!!!
Shy Guy on February 20, 2008 at 1:39 PM
I thought it was cool how uncomfortable it made people feel.
oakpack on February 20, 2008 at 1:42 PM
It is awesome, blowing peoples’ minds for no reason. That is art. Art is nothing more than eliciting a response, and that got a lot of responses. It was also harmless.
Rode Werk on February 20, 2008 at 1:50 PM
I thought it was awesome. My kids would have been fascintated, and how neat that everyone stood around to watch and then applauded. Cool.
TX Mom on February 20, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Welcome to 2003. This American Life‘s TV pilot did a story on these (it used to stream free, but now you have to find the audio version and stream that), and there’s more at improveverywhere.com.
That was the best part! I didn’t expect poking…..
calbear on February 20, 2008 at 2:00 PM
http://improveverywhere.com/missions/
Some of you people have no sense of humour at all. And the ‘freeze’ missions are pretty much the simplest ones they do.
It’s called fun…you might want to look into it.
Asher on February 20, 2008 at 2:16 PM
I thought it was good. Creative art stunt. Cheap and nobody got hurt. Well done.
ThackerAgency on February 20, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Yawn.
Andy in Agoura Hills on February 20, 2008 at 2:20 PM
It’s a bleak soul that takes delight in nothing that isn’t serious.
BL@KBIRD on February 20, 2008 at 2:45 PM
That was awesome. Although if it were in London and Christmas I’d be freeking out.
P.S.
Good thing you moved.
MirCat on February 20, 2008 at 3:13 PM
I was hoping it wasn’t another “die-in” popularized by leftists in San Fran.
Black Adam on February 20, 2008 at 3:21 PM
I liked it. I feel kind of naive that pickpocketing wouldn’t even have occurred to me.
JS on February 20, 2008 at 4:46 PM
Umm, am I the only one who thinks these people need jobs or lives or something.
HotAirExpert on February 20, 2008 at 5:40 PM
I’ve never geard of these guys. Awesome!
Tuning Spork on February 20, 2008 at 6:03 PM
Heard of, even.
Tuning Spork on February 20, 2008 at 6:04 PM
I thought it was cool. This group does a lot of these things, basically just stuff you wouldn’t expect people to do (like throw a birthday party on the subway).
Tzetzes on February 20, 2008 at 6:38 PM
Great. The youth have figured it out. We are not able to deal with anything that is unusual or they just blindly follow the leader.
As a kid I used to go to Malls (where something was supposed to take place a book signing etc.) and start a line no where near the event. I would stand around until someone would ask if this was the line for whatever. I would say yes, and as I had ten or more people to line up behind me I slip away watch the the line increase and the first person try to figure out what was going on and they would leave without admitting they were duped, and the line would move up and the process would continue until someone realized a hoax was taking place and break up the line.
MSGTAS on February 21, 2008 at 9:45 AM