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performers were all clothed in all black and were instructed to espouse directions (written down on palmsized sheets) unique to their spot (window). The performance lasted about 4 minutes and included a solo dance by three performers and the spelling of 'Look Up More' with 4-feet tall letters hold up by 10 of the performers.
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This 2005 performance piece, marking the biggest mission to that date both in logistics and personnel size, on line at
Youtube with about 2 million views; shows 70 agents performing timely choreographed moves while situated in each of the 70 windows in a large six-floored Manhattan retail store. The
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show, the UCB often filmed their characters in public places with hidden cameras and showed the footage under the end credits. Both the UCB's show and their teachings on improv have been influential to Improv
Everywhere. Todd currently performs on a house team at the UCBT in New York, where he also
121:, while other missions utilize only a handful of performers. Improv Everywhere has stated that they do not identify their work with the term flash mob, in part because the group was created two years prior to the flash mob trend, and the group has an apolitical nature.
128:, the group has grown in notoriety since joining the site in April 2006. To date, Improv Everywhere's videos have been viewed over 470 million times on YouTube. They have over 1.9 million YouTube subscribers. In 2007, the group shot a television pilot for
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Improv
Everywhere's most popular YouTube video is "Frozen Grand Central", which has received over 35 million views. The two-minute video depicts 207 IE Agents freezing in place simultaneously for five minutes in New York's
223:: Members ("agents") play their roles entirely straight, not breaking character or betraying that they are acting. IE claims the missions are benevolent, aiming to give the observers a laugh and a positive experience.
117:, which they call "missions", in public places. The stated goal of these missions is to cause scenes of "chaos and joy." Some of the group's missions use hundreds or even thousands of performers and are similar to
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The book, written by founder
Charlie Todd and senior agent Alex Scordelis, is a behind-the-scenes look at some of the group's stunts. In 2013, a feature-length documentary about Improv Everywhere premiered at the
277:". The crowd, even those who had realized that this was a prank, shouted "one more song!", and then "let them play!" when the police officers arrived. This mission was number 23 on the
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video in 1987, the police eventually shut the performance down, but not before IE was able to exhaust their four-song repertoire and get most of the way through an encore repeat of "
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that the video was "one of the funniest moments ever captured on tape." According to
Charlie Todd, the prank has been recreated by fans in 100 cities around the world.
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in New York City where he first met most of the "Senior Agents" of Improv
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Look Up More - Surprise
Performance in Retail Store Windows
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Various missions and events organized locally and globally
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192:. Later that year Todd started taking classes at the
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Comedic performance art group based in New York City
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1286:List of culture jamming organizations and people
777:Feature-length documentary on Improv Everywhere
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378:Todd, Charlie; Scordelis, Alex (19 May 2009).
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267:. Just like at the filming of the band's
136:released a book about Improv Everywhere,
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160:In 2019, Improv Everywhere produced the
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281:countdown of the "40 Greatest Pranks."
236:. The video was listed as number 49 in
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968:Society for Indecency to Naked Animals
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596:"The 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos"
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553:"When Chekhov Meets Whoopee Cushion"
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240:'s 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos.
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679:"Where the Streets Have No Shame"
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594:Glazer, Eliot (August 24, 2009).
446:Improv Everywhere (2019-11-15).
256:On 21 May 2005, IE staged a fake
217:All the missions share a certain
1347:Performance art in New York City
782:This American Life radio episode
772:ImprovEverywhere YouTube channel
704:"Vh1's Greatest Pranks on Video"
626:"Improv Everywhere on Nightline"
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157:and other platforms in 2014.
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842:Broadcast signal intrusion
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184:After graduating from the
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1248:Portland Urban Iditarod
1019:Church of the SubGenius
978:Veterans of Future Wars
857:Guerrilla communication
209:taught for many years.
1254:Pillow fight flash mob
1120:Kerry Wendell Thornley
1090:Malaclypse the Younger
652:"The Art of the Prank"
234:Grand Central Terminal
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1168:Book of the SubGenius
913:Billionaires for Bush
265:Madison Square Garden
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578:Frozen Grand Central
422:"Pixar In Real Life"
227:Frozen Grand Central
204:. While primarily a
88:improveverywhere.com
1161:Principia Discordia
1130:Robert Anton Wilson
164:live-action series
98:(often abbreviated
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1311:Operation Mindfuck
918:The Bubble Project
877:Tactical frivolity
630:YouTube.com Videos
606:on 1 December 2009
557:The New York Times
532:on 24 October 2013
496:"Prank You Kindly"
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166:Pixar In Real Life
143:South By Southwest
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837:Billboard hacking
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481:Improv Everywhere
426:Improv Everywhere
408:wecausescenes.com
404:"We Cause Scenes"
382:. HarperCollins.
315:Improv Everywhere
213:Missions / events
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428:. 2019-12-02
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285:Look Up More
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180:Charlie Todd
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67:Area served
53:Organization
45:Charlie Todd
1218:Burning Man
1110:Joey Skaggs
1105:Jerry Rubin
1075:Ron English
993:The Yes Men
953:Negativland
867:Media prank
713:15 December
662:15 December
635:15 December
610:15 December
562:15 December
536:15 December
506:15 December
363:15 December
1326:Categories
1301:Subculture
1296:Street art
1125:Bill Wasik
1115:Ivan Stang
983:Whirl-Mart
862:Hacktivism
458:2020-05-30
432:2020-05-30
320:2008-10-05
294:References
172:Background
119:flash mobs
1095:Ben Masel
1050:Alan Abel
1007:Movements
948:monochrom
898:Anonymous
893:Adbusters
852:Flash mob
656:Maxim.com
246:Nightline
190:Ben Folds
1276:Artivist
1242:SantaCon
1085:John Law
688:July 27,
600:urlesque
238:Urlesque
1264:Related
1182:No Logo
998:Yippies
988:Wu Ming
734:YouTube
583:YouTube
463:Twitter
357:Variety
341:YouTube
275:Vertigo
162:Disney+
155:Netflix
126:YouTube
84:Website
42:Founder
34:Founded
1256:(2008)
1250:(2001)
1244:(1994)
1238:(1993)
1232:(1992)
1226:(1987)
1220:(1986)
1208:(1950)
1199:Events
1055:Banksy
1043:People
958:RTMark
886:Groups
756:, 2009
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151:iTunes
115:pranks
76:Method
1139:Works
1024:Provo
825:Forms
708:vimeo
452:Tweet
311:"FAQ"
58:Focus
715:2009
690:2009
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384:ISBN
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130:NBC
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
