Improv Everywhere

Yep, I’m once again the king of the infrequent post. 

I did, however, want to share a website that I ran across yesterday (and subsequently spent my entire lunch break exploring).  It’s called Improv Everywhere.  Any of my friends who, like me, enjoyed performing improv comedy for a few years may perk up at that title, but it’s not that kind of improv.  Not really, anyway.

The site is the blog of a guy who organizes these events that fall categorically somewhere between improvisational sketch and flash mob.  On the site, he offers text, photo, and video descriptions of all these various events. For example:

• Two hundred Home Depot shoppers who simultaneously begin shopping in slow motion for five minutes, resume shopping normally for five minutes, then freeze in place for five minutes.
• A five-minute sequence of seemingly normal events in a downtown Starbucks that repeats on a loop for an hour, resulting in a bizarre time-warp sensation for the other patrons.
• A fancy-restaurant-bathroom-style setup with an attendant and a table of complimentary toiletry accessories — in a McDonald’s restroom.

That’s obviously just the start.  Some pranks work out really well…others not so well.  Most are very funny, and all of them result in some fascinating insights into human psychology.  It’s extremely  interesting to see how people react when presented with circumstances that don’t make sense.

I also appreciate that these pranks attempt to be as harmless as possible, though part of that psychology I mentioned does mean some adverse reactions to the unexpected — occasionally a cease and desist order or the arrival of the police, who typically wind up seeing the humor.

Plus, you’ve just got to admire their gutsiness.  So check it out…Improv Everywhere.  They cause scenes (get it?).