Improv Everywhere No Pants Subway Ride 2011: Big Photo Gallery (dubiously SFW)

The 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride took place on Sunday, January 9, 2011, with 3,500 participants in New York City and thousands more in 50 cities across the world. The event is organized by Improv Everywhere, and involves participants who strip down to their underwear as they go about their normal routine. Above and below, photos from NYC and elsewhere.

Participants in Zurich ride a tram, sans culottes. (REUTERS/Christian Hartmann)

No Pants Subway Ride participants walk through the hallway of the Union Square subway station in New York City. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)

People who took part in the 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride do handstands in the window of a Filene's Basement department store overlooking New York's Union Square January 9, 2011. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi )

A dog looks on as people wait to ride a tram without pants through the streets of Zurich on the day of the 10th Annual New York City No Pants Subway Ride January 9, 2011. (REUTERS/Christian Hartmann)

A man in his underwear takes part in the 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride in New York City January 9, 2011. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)

Pantsless subway buskers, New York City. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)

People who took part in the 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride dance in a window of a department store in New York City January 9, 2011. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)

A man talks on his cell phone after taking part in the 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride in New York City January 9, 2011. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)

More photos and videos on Improv Everywhere's website.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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julicavero

wow….amazing…i imagine that they all naked..mmhh…hehe
forgeweld

The group announced a name change…to ‘massively coordinated, yearly, same stuff as last year, everywhere.’
adamnvillani

Now try this all by yourself the next time you’re on a crowded subway train.
- blendergasket
  
  Can I recommend coating yourself in garlic infused olive oil first?
grikdog

Put it on.
Sekino

I was about to think that only young, hipster types were participating… Kudos to the tie-wearing, lawyer-looking dude at the end!
Anonymous

these people look like they need a good grangling
bcsizemo

@Moriarty

+1, best comment on this thread.

I wonder if those who go commando actually put on something to participate?
irksome

One can only hope THEY use soap.
Antinous / Moderator

Very impressive to wear those tiny, tight knickers without getting camel toe.
bkad

Oh, artsy people. What would we do without you?
- Ugly Canuck
  
  Wear pants more often.
PrettyBoyTim

The only thing that would bother me if those people were on the tube with me is that I would feel a little over-dressed.
Anonymous

As a participant, and journalist, I can assure you that in the NYC event most all races, ethnicities, etc were represented. If you don’t think so, next year I invite you to participate =]
Antinous / Moderator

Picture two on the right is about what I’d wear to the grocery store.
- Anonymous
  
  One of the people of Walmart?
- Xeni Jardin
  
  TMIIIII
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Hey, I have Million Dollar Legsâ„¢.
Anonymous

This is a movement I can get behind.
marymary

eww.seriously. i don’t really get it. it also misrepresents nyc’s pretty diverse popluation. why is that?
- Kieran O’Neill
  
  It’s a public flashmob / participatory theatre. The only people it is representative of are the type who show up to flashmobs.
  - obeyken
    
    Clearly flashmobs deserve a spot on Stuff White People Like.
    
    Also: dubiously *at best*. What workplace would this be NS at? Glad I don’t work there.
    - Chrs
      
      This hasn’t been mentioned already there? Jeez, you’d think it’s right up their alley.
      
      I endorse this on general principle. Winter, you can deal.
    - blendergasket
      
      Levi’s.
- Anonymous
  
  Because white people like No-Pants Subway Ride?
  p.s. The diversity of underwear types is well represented, anyway.
  :0)
Anonymous

“Geriatric Secrets” What untold could the old hold? Looks cold.
Phikus

That’s the kind of rockin’ I need…
lewis stoole

and yet another reason to stand and not sit
- AnthonyC
  
  I’m going to need new bus pants.
pjcamp

Not to point any fingers, but some people need to look in the mirror before participating.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  I strongly disagree.
  
  Here’s a song to tell you how I feel about this:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7QTjyi3Xrs
- braininavat
  
  ugly people got rights too
Anonymous

Pro Pants agents appeared again this year, wearing signs saying “Are You Missing Something? Ask Me About Pants.”

We passed out pamphlets about the wonders of pants, and issued Free Pants Tests to help the pantsless determine if they might benefit from pants. This is our favorite day of the year.

http://jennifersmall.tumblr.com/post/2684911855/pro-pants-2k11

Yours in Pants.
William George

Personally, I’d organize this for July or August some time…
Kieran O’Neill

lol – we ran into Vancouver’s group on the way back from a weekend out of the city. It was kinda weird to see it after having read up on Improv Anywhere a few years ago, and realise what it was…

Meanwhile, back home in South Africa, the Johannesburg event was the only in the world to provoke a police/security response this year, with 36 people arrested and fined…

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/article841297.ece/Gautrain-strippers-spanked

http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/kempton-park/kempton-park-news-general?oid=1347691&sn=Detail&pid=490115&%E2%80%98Pantless%E2%80%99-Gautrain-passengers-end-up-in-police-cells

Of course, this is in the same city that a few months ago broke the world record for the largest bikini parade, so go figure:

http://www.coza.tv/video/South-Africa-Bikini-walk
Anonymous

This would be totally NSFW if it were in the UK, thanks to amusing translation differences…..
George Curious

Beagle Of Disapproval. ()à² _à² ()
francoisroux

Of course as was mentioned in South Africa people were arrested and fined. They were arrested on public indecency charges, but it was soon realised that there was no indecency to charge them for. They were then fined, get this, by the Gautrain(the new fast commuter train in and around Johannesburg) security firm R700 each(that’s about $100). Now I have no bloody idea how a private firm can fine the public in the first place, but if you were stupid enough to give your real details anyway, then your just, well, stupid…LOL
Anonymous

Ok, now try doing this with less attractive people. Lets see if you’d want their junk in your face on the train.

That said if I saw this I’d feel a little bit of appreciation for Islamic countries. Sometimes you can show too much.
penguinchris

As a male, I would feel dumb participating, not because I’m fat and unattractive but because I’m not an attractive female. Does anyone really notice the men who participate? You have to really, really stand out – the “Last Stop” dude qualifies, and the guy with the tie at the end. But all the other random hipster douchebag looking guys, or the normal looking guys with boxer shorts – who cares?
Moriarty

Those guys in the last picture look like they might even have jobs.