Yesterday afternoon, thousands of straphangers gathered at various subway rides to participate in Improv Everywhere’s 11th Annual No-Pants Subway Ride. Although I participated one year, I didn’t even bother to give the event any press beforehand. It’s a stale idea that no longer carries with it any element of fun, surprise or prank simply because people without pants now outnumber people wearing pants on the subway when the times comes. AT&T’s flash mob commercial is more original than that.
I’m not the only one who finds the annual event past its prime. Over at Gothamist, John Del Signore urges the organizers to just give it up already. Generally, he writes, we have either no or too much desire to see each other in our underwear. I like the money ‘graph though: “It’s not edgy if hundreds of people are doing it. It’s conformity, not originality, no matter what message you’re advertising on your ass. Want to be bold and daring? Take off your pants and ride the subway on any other day than this. Dropping trou and following the herd as part of a premeditated Facebook status update isn’t outrageous.”
Perhaps Del Signore and I need to lighten up or perhaps you kids need to get off our lawns. Either way, if and when this event becomes but a footnote in the history of the subways, I won’t shed too many tears or my pants.
16 comments
I agree its not funny anymore now that its so popular and has happened so many times. The only ones that enjoy that arent part of it are the confused gawking tourists
Seconded.
I love it! And can’t believe I forgot about it. I was going to do it this year. And based on comments on my facebook and twitter feed most people had never heard of it. Lots of “what is going on” comments. So it’s hardly reached saturation.
I agree with Christopher. I’ve read about it in the past, but this was the first time I was caught in the middle of it and it was pretty damn funny. Sure, seeing people in their underwear was silly, but it was just hysterical watching the reactions of everyone else. I thought for sure everyone in the city knew about this by now, but I was totally wrong. What’s the harm in being goofy every once in a while?
(Full disclosure: I’m not exactly a John Del Signore fan. His writing makes me want to vomit.)
And think of all the precious little children who will not lose their innocence this year!
Wasn’t on the subway yesterday, so I missed it. If it had happened during my commute, odds are I wouldn’t even have noticed.
Well well, look at who got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! It’s no big deal even if it lost some of it’s shock value.
I understand that on some college campuses, they have a “no-pants day” every year. (Sometime in May, I think, because it involves walking outdoors when they go from one building to another.) They even attend classes without their pants. I also believe that a larger proportion of the male students participate, compared to the female students.
Now the point is, that THEY have it every year and the idea is NOT considered to have gone stale.
It’s harmless fun, get over it.
Eh. At this point it’s basically an annual tradition, and it’s just a bit of silly fun. You’re wasting your time by overthinking it beyond that. This is a little bit like insisting we abolish April Fool’s because it’s no longer original and doesn’t serve some profound purpose. It keeps some people entertained, that’s about enough.
I miss annual day that some women rode topless to protest the state’s obsenity laws. Why did they have to stop doing that?
Because it’s legal to be topless in public in New York nowadays.
Del Signore did the same thing with Santacon last month. He’s just mad that the event has passed out of the realm of absinthe-sipping hipsters and now is in the realm of the beer guzzling punters.
Watch him do the same thing with Idiotarod in a couple of weeks.
“Absinthe-sipping hipsters” has to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen you write, Kevin, and I’ve been reading your site for a while. Why do you have so much anger against people who do nothing to harm you? Hipsters! OH NO. Run away.
Anyway, who cares about SantaCon and the Idiotarod? One’s an excuse for public drunkeness and the other is just dumb. I’m not sure what that has to do with an event while thousands of people flood the subways because they think it’s their personal playground.
Hey, I’m using hyperbole and SUPPORTING the damn thing, even though I wouldn’t be a participant. I thought it amusing that JDS, and the Gothamists, would turn on a dime about this once it got popular.
Yeah dude I think you need to just lighten up.