blue-shirted, khakied pranksters invade NYC Best Buy

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"Security guards and managers started talking to each other frantically on their walkie-talkies and headsets. 'Thomas Crown Affair! Thomas Crown Affair!,' one employee shouted. They were worried that were using our fake uniforms to stage some type of elaborate heist. "I want every available employee out on the floor RIGHT NOW!'"

http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57

If you check the homepage, No Pants on the Subway is a good one too.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

This seems even more pointless than David Blaine's stunt.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

"Mission"
"Agent(s)"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

"pointless"

― Confounded (Confounded), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:17 (nineteen years ago)

""""

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

I was on the No Pants mission -- prosecuted for it, even -- so I'm hardly a disinterested party.

― Confounded (Confounded), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be worried pantslessness on the subway would render me visibly interested.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

Or worse - barely noticeably interested!

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

People had really different reactions -- thug dudes were visibly upset. Yuppies were curious. Parents were shielding the kiddies' eyes.

Police were partially amused but decided to press charges.

Etc.

― Confounded (Confounded), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sorry, No Pants is the funniest thing I've seen in ages.

(Though it would be funnier if it were the UK meaning of pants.)

― Vernon Jackson (kate), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

Not really -- who would notice if you didn't wear "pants" under yr "trousers"? Or would the speculation be the whole point?????

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

Well, no trousers, either. :-)

― Vernon Jackson (kate), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

what's up with the fuckin' tighty girls khaki's on those dudes in the front? i can see yr junk

― jäxøñ (jaxon), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

Ha! I once knocked out the tooth of one of these agents in my living room. Glad to see he's still chapping peoples' asses.

― scrimhaw1837 (son_of_scrimshaw), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

was that dental maneuver a Mission?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

when theater students attack

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

OK the Moebius one and the Romantic Comedy Cab are priceless too.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

"Ted's Birthday" is awesome. He starts answereing to "Ted" by the end of the night.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

It was a mission when he went to St. Barnabas at 6:15 in the morning to sit in the waiting room and be told they couldn't help him, and it was a mission when he flew a few hours home to see his family dentist, who told him since the tooth came out root and all he could have just thrust it back in the hole and it would have been fine.

But no, it was not an officially sanctioned mission.

xpost.

― scrimhaw1837 (son_of_scrimshaw), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

This is absolutely classic.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

It's really not theater studenty so much as a meta version of the '60s TV blockbuster Candid Camera.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

moebius = totally genius

― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

I KNOW. I love the table of old people, all getting sarcastic about how Katie's just gonna run out again.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

what's up with the fuckin' tighty girls khaki's on those dudes in the front? i can see yr junk

haha yeah i didnt notice that at first

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

I love how people react to unexpected situations, especially people in authority

― Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 04:27 (nineteen years ago)

i worked at best buy a long ass time ago and recently gave my 2 official shirts to goodwill in a fit of spring cleaning. it struck me after the fact how awesome it would be for someone to put that shit on and go into best buy and totally rip them off.

― tehresa (tehresa), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 04:45 (nineteen years ago)

o. nate & gabbneb not fond of playful interruptions of smooth-running chain capitalism. (That BB is 3 blocks from my office, and I'm sure that was the first day anyone found something for anyone.)

ah, men in tighty girls pants need to come back. You should see my HS yearbook.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

More "fun" things these merry pranksters could do:

- Everyone buys one pizza, dress up in pizza delivery uniform, deliver pizzas to entire neighborhood saying, "Oh, well, just take it anyway."

- 200 people show up at Kinko's, make one copy, stand in line to pay for it.

- Run around the fifty states hanging cardboard brochures from doorhandles proclaiming the virtues of a major American political party.

- Attend a Catholic mass and walk out of the service immediately after taking Communion.

- Show up at Little League game and make a show of videotaping and photographing little Billy Simpson whenever he comes up to bat. GO BILLY!

- Sit down in movie theater and do that stomp-stomp-clap thing (like at the beginning of "We Will Rock You") until previews are over and movie has started. (Leave as soon as movie starts.)

- Sit in tank of water for a week and then everyone sticking their head into a camel's vagina afterward.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

Attend a Catholic mass and walk out of the service immediately after taking Communion.

i thought that was standard practice!

― tehresa (tehresa), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

someone should really kill the guy who invented flash mobs, for the good of humanity.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

I thought this was pretty unfunny, but those guys have done a couple that I thought were pretty classic -- the fake U2 rooftop performance for one, and the "best gig ever."

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 11 May 2006 04:02 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah, and "Meet Anton Chekhov" was pretty great too.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 11 May 2006 04:03 (nineteen years ago)

gabbneb not fond of people who think they are a lot smarter than they actually are

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 11 May 2006 04:17 (nineteen years ago)

These are the guys who had a "This American Life" thing done on them, right?

― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 11 May 2006 05:19 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, it's on their Press page.

Haha, the News page has the transit court decision on subway pantslessness! "Officer Panton (yes, his real name) appeared and testified that it was a 'fun day.'"

Haha from Moebius: "You know, there's another Starbucks right over there, I bet this is all happening there, too."

(however smart they aren't, they've created more fun than Democratic consultants)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 May 2006 12:43 (nineteen years ago)

In general I say improv everywhere is more classic than dud. Their happenings may be misses more often than hits, but even when they miss at least they're getting people to loosen up a little.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 11 May 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

I'm partial to the ones where the authority figures go nuts needlessly, like the Best Buy, Look Up More, Megastore, and Anton Chekhov ones.

― Bnad (Bnad), Thursday, 11 May 2006 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, "Democratic consultants" (whoever those are; I'm not sure Robin Toner knows, either), those fucking fun-haters. Stop caring, losers. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the boring inside-the-beltway type who never sleeps and has to schedule their kids and makes a fraction of what they could elsewhere because they'd rather not be just another kibitzer. You know - a roman a clef!

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.oliverwillis.com/wp-content/shrum_sucks.jpg

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

tht's one dude, and can anyone honestly say they have a good undertanding of what his advice was and wasn't. and anyway, "consultants" has become this all-purpose epithet used to describe lots of people who are not actually, you know, consulants.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

Great, thanks for ruining a perfectly harmless thread about a funny website guys, be proud today.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

UPDATE: You're welcome.

I think your right that "consultants" has become a pejorative term, often used carelessly and without understanding, but there are a lot of folks who have complained that there are a small group of firms that the DC Dems go to over and over again despite the results. There are also a number of senate and house candidates who have complained that the DCCC and the DSCC have tied their money to particular consulting firms, replacing the candidate's backwater consultant/advisor types; you know, the guys who know the candidate, the state, and how to win there.

There's more. But suffice it do say that despite the fact that "damn the consultants" is the new cliche, this attitude stems from something substantial.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:25 (nineteen years ago)

What part of "we don't want to talk about Democratic consultants on this thread" don't you understand?

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:28 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i'm well aware of what the attitude refers to, i just find it ridiculously vague (or wrong, until i'm proven otherwise). which results and show me how they're tied to the firms (as opposed to the candidate, climate, etc.)? my understanding was that the DC vs. backwater tension had to do with money men - the backwater dudes can't raise nearly as much as the DC dudes can. anyway, this Fall will be a good test of this stuff.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

I agree. Back to Ted. Ted!

http://www.improveverywhere.com/images/ted09.jpg

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:35 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.austinmonorail.org/40th-derail.gif http://www.mwnews.net/assets/images/Marquette-RR-derail-lg.jpg http://www.katu.com/news/images/story2005/050127train_derail_422.jpg http://zebu.uoregon.edu/1996/es202/derail.jpg

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah, Ted. I liked that one ok, though not one of my favorites.

I was also kind of disappointed with the FoxNews one -- great job snowing FoxNews, but they could have come up with something funnier to do.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 11 May 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Bumped for videos of old pranks, including the Starbucks Moebius.

― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 12 July 2007 14:16 (eighteen years ago)

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